forgotten corner

Check out Part 2 here.

Ryan Jespersen stormed onto the podcasting scene a few months ago with his daily news program, Real Talk. The show quickly became one of the most popular shows in North America, as the former longtime radio host seamlessly mixed daily live talk radio with the freedom of independent podcasting.

The Forgotten Corner is pleased to welcome Ryan to the show for a two-part interview, where we learn about the lifelong Albertan and what led him to radio, plus we talk politics in Alberta, how they’ve changed over the years and what it’s like being in the media under the current United Conservatives.

Follow Jespersen on Twitter at @ryanjespersen and listen to his show weekday mornings at ryanjespersen.com.

Check out the Harbinger Media Network.

The United Conservative government announced in February its plan to close 20 provincial parks and seek third-party management for 164 Crown sites, and the public was furious.

Then COVID-19 hit.

With all that has occurred in 2020 to date, it’s easy to understate the importance (and danger) of this decision, as what is already a vastly under-protected environment is opened up to the possibility of exploitation for profit. But a 57,000-signature petition urging the reversal of the UCP’s decision suggests plenty of Albertans are fighting for parks, and with the pandemic highlighting our need to preserve nature, this is a story that deserves more of our focus.

Grace Wark is a conservation specialist with the Alberta Wilderness Association, a Calgary-based, non-partisan, non-profit group devoted to promoting community care of wildlife and wilderness. She joins The Forgotten Corner this week to offer expertise into the impact that park closures of this magnitude will have.

In an environmentally essential episode, we dissect the UCP’s shortsighted decision and discuss some of the various for-profit results that could emerge at the literal expense of Albertans and the wilderness surrounding them.

Follow Grace on Twitter at @WarkInProgress
Follow the Alberta Wilderness Association on Twitter at @ABWilderness

Read Grace’s op-ed in the Narwhal here.

Read more on the parks closures here:
https://calgaryherald.com/news/politics/ucp-moves-forward-with-plans-to-delist-alberta-parks-as-government-commits-43-million-to-improve-existing-sites/wcm/2c11bb0f-6d8a-4c6c-ad0b-19bfbab253d7/amp/

https://globalnews.ca/news/6899395/alberta-government-parks-partnership-rules/amp/

https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.5484095

If you don’t yet know the name Elizabeth Strange, you might want to make your acquaintance soon.

The born-and-raised Hatter has wanted to be prime minister since she was seven years old, and at just 27 now has already racked up a dream resume for the world of politics.

Elizabeth has already received a Masters in Law and is about to begin the pursuit of her PhD, and she officially wet her feet in politics in 2019 when she ran under the banner of the federal NDP — she has been a supporter of the New Democrats at the provincial and federal levels for several years.

Elizabeth joins the Forgotten Corner this week to take listeners through her life growing up in mostly-conservative Medicine Hat and what prompted her to pursue her degrees in law, her move to the U.K. and foray into the political world, and then her move home to put her name on the federal ballot. We finish by tapping into her expertise in criminal law and find out why she thinks Canada missed out on the UN Security Council seat, and what we as a nation could do to improve our human rights record.

For the first time in our short history The Forgotten Corner moves away from politics for the most part to finally welcome a guest from our own neck of the woods.

Mark Sakamoto is a best-selling, award-winning author and the host of a new show on CBC Gem, not to mention being executive vice president of Think Research, a digital health company out of Toronto doing some innovative things at an important time in history. He was also born and raised in Medicine Hat, Alta. — the son of the first Japanese Canadian to be born in the Gas City — and the story of his family’s history is one for the ages.

Fighting through the tragedies and destruction of the Second World War, Sakamoto’s grandmother Mitsue and grandfather Ralph each had to fight for survival through the kind of hardship most Canadians will never have to endure, so that one day their children would be alive to meet and start a family.

Mark takes our listeners through his own personal journey growing up in the Hat with a mother battling alcohol addiction, and his eventual departure to pursue a career in law on the other side of the country. He talks about writing the tragic, yet triumphant stories from his family’s history, outlines his new docu-series Good People and discusses both the systemic issues his show pinpoints and the people on the frontlines working to make the world a better place.

Follow Mark on Twitter at @MarkSakamoto1.

Stream Good People here.

Learn more about Mark’s book here.

Buy Mark’s book here.

Check out more on Think Research.