Barris Beat

Merge at our peril

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John Cleghorn, in 1989 Chair of Royal Bank of Canada. torontopubliclibrary.ca

The meeting happened on a November afternoon in 1998. A big merger was in the wind. Rumour of “Yea” or “Nay” ran rampant across the country. One man in the room at a Montreal home argued his industry needed to grow bigger in order to compete globally. The other feared that sector’s customers, Canadian consumers, might not be well served. The industry man got riled.

“You’re not listening to me!” complained John Cleghorn, chairman of the Royal Bank of Canada.

Paul Martin, in 1989 Finance Minister. National Post.

“Mergers … are not in the best interest of Canadians,” said Paul Martin, the MP and cabinet member.

This exchange, described by the Canadian Encyclopedia, recreated the meeting between banker Cleghorn and then finance minister Martin at the latter’s Montreal home. (more…)

Barris Beat

Earth, wind and fire

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Fire – one way to use the elements against the pandemic.

It’s euphemistically called an “RFP.” But if you really want to get technical, it’s Section 3, under Article 2.6.3.4 of the Ontario Environmental Protection Act, and it says:

“Notwithstanding, any provisions herein, no person shall cause, permit or allow a fire to be set or cause, permit or allow a fire to burn in the open air…”

Just before Christmas, I grabbed my COVID mask and my wallet and visited the firehall to buy an RFP, a Recreational Fire Permit. It all began – a just before the second emergency lockdown over New Years – when one our daughters suggested I build a portable firepit so that handful of us (in the immediate family) could gather ’round a small fire on chilly evenings.

“Great idea,” I said. “I get right on it.” (more…)

Barris Beat

An international day for aunts too

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Mary Kontozoglus with her grandchildren, Christmas 2020.

The family had gathered from all over the continent. Some from Maryland. Others from New York and Florida. We had travelled from Toronto to Allentown, Pennsylvania, where my mother’s “baby brother” George was getting married to his fiancée Mary. But I had a problem.

“The battery in my camera’s dead,” I moaned. “And I want to take pictures of the wedding tomorrow.”

Since we were all foreigners to Allentown, except Mary, my future aunt, none of us knew where to buy replacement batteries except for her.

“I can help,” Mary said. Remember, this is the eve of her wedding to the family’s favourite uncle. So, no doubt, she had a million things on her mind. (more…)

Barris Beat

In search of a new Governor General

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John Ralston Saul offered much insight to the role of a Governor General.

As we filed down the loading ramp toward the flight, there was one face in the group of passengers around me that looked familiar. Was he a TV host? Maybe a sports personality? Possibly a politician? As passengers began stowing their bags overhead, I realized he wasn’t any of those guesses I’d made on the ramp. Then, it hit me as I sat down beside him.

“You’re John Ralston Saul, aren’t you?” I said.

He nodded, smiled and said, “Or, as some call me, Mr. Adrienne Clarkson.” (more…)

Barris Beat

Flag Day dreaming

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Feb. 15, 1965 – Red Maple Leaf flag unveiled for the first time. Radio Canada International photo.

It was a crisp, cold winter day. The sunshine was minimal. But the group of spectators on Parliament Hill was unexpectedly large. People in Ottawa sensed if they didn’t attend they’d miss some history. Next to a flagpole specially erected outside Parliament, then prime minister Lester Pearson arrived. Indeed, he did make history. The Red Ensign, Canada’s flag for a century was lowered for the last time. And Canada’s new flag was raised in its place.

Fifty-six years ago, last Monday, the Red Maple Leaf flag flew nationally for the first time. As noted in his book I Stand For Canada: The Story of the Maple Leaf Flag, Rick Archbold quoted Globe and Mail columnist George Bain who witnessed the flag-raising that day.

“And the feelings that a flag is a flag is a flag,” Bain wrote, “were dispelled, because it looked bold and clean, and distinctively our own.” (more…)

Barris Beat

Music that fills the distance

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Frank Zappa’s “Hot Rats” album and memories of meeting him, help fill the COVID gap.

Until about a year ago, it sat there, unused. It was just a piece of furniture filling a corner of my office, covered in dust and unopened. Its knobs, glass dials and chrome corners pretty much untouched for years. Then, shortly after Trudeau and Ford locked things down, the result of the pandemic, I unlocked its lid, turned the dial to “phono,” and got reacquainted with an old friend – my record player.

I should say friends. In the opposite – and equally dusty – corner of my office, I pulled out some of my favourite vinyl. And I got lost in the leisure of pulling discs from their cardboard jackets and paper sleeves, sliding them onto my turntable, dropping the stylus in the groove and turning up the volume. (more…)

Barris Beat

Cure within our grasp

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Technologist at Connaught Labs in Toronto. Toronto Archives.

It took fluid in glass vials, monkey tissue and a gentle rocking motion to make a Canadian research scientist a heroine and put her laboratory on the international pharmaceutical map.

It 1952 the worst polio epidemic was spreading across North America. In Canada, the disease peaked in 1953 with 9,000 cases and 500 deaths, the worst national epidemic since the 1918 influenza pandemic.

However, Dr. Jonas Salk, an American biologist and physician specializing in the study of virology, experimented with inactivated poliovirus cells to generate the first successful killed-virus polio vaccine.

Salk’s dilemma? How to mass produce the vaccine. Tucked inside the Department of Hygiene at the University of Toronto, a small lab had discovered that the polio virus grew rapidly on monkey kidney tissue in a synthetic liquid form. A PhD fungus specialist named Leone Farrell managed to adhere the tissue to the inside surface of a five-litre bottle. Then, she continuously agitated the bottles to allow the medium to generate cell production.

Dr. Farrell’s system became known as “the Toronto technique.” (more…)

Barris Beat

Alone and unhealthy

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The pandemic of being alone.

How seriously we are all craving social contact. As I do my daily walks around town these mornings, I’ll wave or say “Good morning” to anybody and everybody. That’s why, when a friend I hadn’t seen in months pulled up in his car, I jumped at the chance to talk – he in his car, I two metres away. We talked about work, or lack of it. Then, I asked how his family was doing, in particular his university-age daughter.

“Well, to be honest, not great,” he said, “COVID.”

“Really?” I said, thinking that she’s awfully young to be infected.

“No, not that. The isolation at university, never leaving residence.”

(more…)

Barris Beat

So, you want to write a book

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Alex Barris – my father and mentor – had a sign over his desk to inspire him to write.

My dental hygienist has her eye on a second career. The other day, after I’d passed the temperature test and questionnaire at the dental office, one of his hygienists, Vivian, got to work cleaning my teeth. Naturally, with my mouth wide open and instruments inside, she had me as a captive audience. So, she told me about wonderfully uninhibited things her children say. For example, one time her toddler son searched for the word to describe his elderly grandfather’s face.

“It’s crumply,” he said.

“He probably meant ‘wrinkly,’” Vivian said with a chuckle. Then, she added, “I think I’ll write a book about the darnedest things kids say. Maybe you can help me get it published.”

I mumbled an “Uh-huh,” through the gauze and dental instruments in my mouth. (more…)

Barris Beat

Hitler in a blue suit

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The Reichstag (German Parliament) torched in 1933 by Nazis.

They gathered in front of the presidential building. Business people, magnates and hand-picked allies were invited to attend and listen to their incumbent leader. The country faced a winter election. And those invited, that day, were told their leader would assure them of victory.

“We must stand before the election,” the leader said to the assembly of his faithful. “Regardless of the outcome, there will be no retreat. [If defeated] we will remain in power by other means, with other weapons.”

The date was February 20, 1933. The location was the presidential palace in Berlin. The election was the last election in Germany prior to the World War II. Seven days later, Nazi sympathizers used a secret tunnel to enter Germany’s national assembly building. Inside the Reichstag building, they scattered gasoline and lit the fire that would destroy all but the outer shell of the Parliament (not restored until German reunification in 1990). (more…)