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0:34

Welcome back to the Ben

0:36

Mulroney show and this is it. This

0:38

is the the panel to end

0:40

all panels prior to the election It's

0:42

for the whole enchilada. Welcome to

0:45

this week in politics Very pleased to

0:47

have an all -star panel including Brad

0:49

Levine president of council PA and

0:51

DP strategist Selena Cesar Chauvin former liberal

0:53

and MP rather and parliamentary secretary

0:55

to the prime minister and Kate Harrison

0:57

vice chair of summa strategies to

1:00

all three of you I say happy

1:02

Friday and thanks Thank you so

1:04

much for joining us. Happy Friday.

1:07

I wonder what we're going to talk about today. Excellent

1:09

point. Excellent point. Now, I've been

1:11

beating this drum all day. I'm

1:13

going to welcome opposing positions. My

1:15

position is the uncovering that the

1:18

first call on the 28th of

1:20

March between Mark Carney and Donald

1:22

Trump, the fact that it was

1:24

misrepresented, changes a lot for me

1:26

on, is he the man for

1:28

the moment? He told us that

1:30

this was a crisis that only

1:32

he could deal with. And the

1:34

prerequisite to talking to Donald Trump

1:36

was no more of this 51st state

1:38

talk. And turns out his first

1:41

call with Donald Trump, a lot like

1:43

the last call that the Trudeau

1:45

had. So not much has changed there,

1:47

but I'm willing to have my

1:49

mind changed. Who wants to start? Brad

1:51

will go with you. Ben,

1:54

I'm surprised that you've changed your

1:57

votes and no longer supporting Mr.

1:59

Carney. I'm

2:01

surprised that you waited this long to change

2:03

your mind. Normally you lock in early, which

2:05

I appreciate. I do too. We're

2:07

very similar that way. Look,

2:09

I mean, you know, it's common for

2:11

the last couple of days, you know, we

2:14

call it, you know, the last minute

2:16

surprise in an election campaign, something may

2:18

uncover, something may come up. The

2:20

question becomes, is this enough to change people's

2:22

minds? Do people follow it? Was it

2:24

that clear that he misrepresented? I know that

2:26

there's certain media outlets that are playing

2:28

this up big, maybe try to get some

2:30

momentum from Mr. Pollyyev. I know that

2:32

the last couple of days are important. And

2:34

some people haven't made up their minds

2:37

just yet. A lot of people have, but

2:39

there's still a few. I know that

2:41

some people are pushing to see if they

2:43

can make it. To be honest with

2:45

you, Ben, I just don't see this changing

2:47

too many minds. I think most people

2:49

Right now, just thinking tactically in their writings

2:51

on things like outcome. If you're with the

2:53

conservatives, I don't think this was ever

2:55

going to change your mind. Selena, the thing

2:57

that makes no sense to me is

2:59

in justifying why he said that the outcome

3:01

of the call was different than what

3:03

it actually was. We said, hey, when we

3:06

were talking, he was talking to me

3:08

as if I was the leader of a

3:10

sovereign nation. And I thought to myself,

3:12

well, of course he would. You are the

3:14

leader of a sovereign nation. And if

3:16

Jugmeat Singh or heck, Elizabeth May had been

3:18

the leader of Canada, he would have been

3:20

talking to her as if she was the

3:22

leader of a sovereign nation. That has nothing to

3:24

do with the fact that you didn't tell

3:26

us the truth. It

3:28

doesn't. But to the

3:30

previous point, like this

3:33

is this is just moot at this point.

3:35

I don't think it is enough to make

3:37

anybody go, oh, my God, we got you. This

3:40

isn't a gotcha moment that it really

3:42

needs to be. We all

3:44

know that Carney has said

3:46

that Canada is a sovereign

3:48

state, and the fact

3:50

that the president treats world maps

3:52

like it's coloring books is

3:54

something that I think most Canadians

3:56

who have their elbows up

3:59

are not expecting that Carney is

4:01

going to even entertain this

4:03

conversation about the 51st state.

4:06

I don't think it's as big a

4:08

deal as people are making it, and

4:10

I think that people have made their

4:12

minds that Carney's the right person for

4:14

the job on the 28th are going

4:16

to continue to vote that way. And

4:18

I take your point, Selena, but Kate,

4:20

it's not that he's the right guy.

4:22

He told us he's the only guy. He's

4:25

the only guy who could do this. But

4:27

then he turns around yesterday in his

4:29

defense saying, listen, Donald Trump is going

4:31

to say what Donald Trump is going to say. And

4:33

you're not going to change his mind. He's got

4:35

these ideas in his head, and you're not going to

4:37

change them. I mean, that's what he said. And

4:39

if you take him in his word, you then have

4:41

to ask the follow -up. So then what are you

4:43

doing here? If you can't change

4:46

those circumstances, why are you here?

4:49

I think it is a strategic misstep

4:51

on the part of Carney to suggest that

4:53

he or anyone can manage what is

4:55

happening coming out of the White House. That

4:57

is why much of the conversation I

4:59

think that the conservatives have been trying to

5:01

have is, what are we doing to

5:03

shore up our own backyard? Because

5:06

Donald Trump is going to say and do

5:08

whatever it is that he wants to do.

5:10

So coming in to suggest that you are

5:12

different and that he's going to listen to

5:14

you when it's pretty clear he may not

5:16

even listen to his own people most of

5:18

the time. That is setting a really

5:20

false expectation. I'm not sure

5:22

though, Ben, this is about

5:24

the moment of the call. I

5:26

think this is about a broader

5:29

trend here with Mark Carney saying

5:31

some things that may not be totally transparent, may

5:33

be not being the most honest. That could

5:35

be about the use of tax havens. That could

5:37

be about conflicts of interest. That could be

5:39

about the nature of these phone calls with Donald

5:41

Trump. So, I think that if you were

5:43

on the fence about Mark Carney's character and the

5:45

kind of person that he is going to,

5:48

the kind of leader he is going to be,

5:50

and you already had your spidey sense up

5:52

that maybe you weren't getting the full story from

5:54

this guy, this most recent revelation

5:56

will help reinforce that trend. You

5:58

know, if there ever was a

6:00

conversation or a topic in this

6:02

election that deserved empathy and

6:04

emotion and honesty. It's the issue

6:07

of the drug epidemic in

6:09

Canada, and Mark Carney was in

6:11

BC yesterday, and a journalist

6:13

asked him why people in the

6:15

lower mainland should trust the

6:17

Liberals to solve the drug crisis,

6:19

citing the fact that under

6:21

their candidate, Gregor Roberts' leadership, Greg

6:23

Roberts, Greg Roberts's leadership when he

6:25

was mayor of Vancouver overdoses

6:27

in that city rose by 600

6:30

% and I found his answer

6:32

Selena lacking he said look

6:34

the issues are around the epidemic

6:36

are myriad there's a lot

6:38

of them and we are going

6:40

to address them head -on but

6:42

so but we also have

6:44

to recognize that we have whatever

6:46

we do we have to

6:48

walk in lockstep with with provincial

6:50

authority. I didn't hear I

6:53

didn't hear any humility in that. I didn't

6:55

hear him say, you know what? Our party got

6:57

it wrong. We're wrong and we're

6:59

sorry and we are gonna change. And

7:01

I think the victims of the drug

7:03

epidemic deserved to hear that from the

7:05

people who want to solve the problem

7:07

that a lot of people blame them

7:09

for. Yeah, you

7:11

know what? I was gonna come

7:13

at this answer completely from a different

7:16

perspective, but you're right. The lack

7:18

of humility that was in that response

7:20

didn't transcend, but the point

7:23

that he was making...

7:25

is salience, wrapping this crisis

7:27

in sort of this

7:29

municipal undertaking and pretending that

7:31

one mayor was the

7:33

whole problem. It's convenient, but

7:35

it's misleading. The

7:37

wraparound support, accessible housing, integrative

7:40

social services, mental health care,

7:42

and low barrier treatment

7:44

options that don't criminalize people

7:46

trying to survive. If

7:48

Carney talked about that in

7:51

a little bit more depth,

7:53

a little bit more understanding

7:55

of the comprehension of a

7:57

problem of a 600 %

7:59

overdose increase, which people are still

8:01

reeling from. These are people. There

8:03

should have been a little bit more

8:05

empathy to your point and compassion, because

8:07

he has the power to actually do

8:09

something about it as prime minister. So

8:11

this is a national emergency that he

8:13

needs to. take a little bit

8:16

more seriously in its responses.

8:18

Brad, you and I come at

8:20

this from completely different perspectives

8:22

on the political spectrum, but do

8:24

you sit here in this

8:26

election campaign and shake your head

8:29

at the fact that we

8:31

are looking at the prospect of

8:33

the Liberal Party gaining control

8:35

again, winning a mandate again, without

8:37

having to be held to

8:39

account for anything that's happened over

8:42

the past 10 years? Yeah.

8:44

Yeah. This is, as we've talked on

8:46

this panel before, this is this,

8:49

this, unfortunately for the challenging parties, that

8:51

is the conservatives and the NDP, this

8:53

is a looking forward election

8:56

campaign, not a let's look back

8:58

and prosecute the incumbent on

9:00

all of their failures on the

9:02

issue of, of, of the,

9:04

the opioid crisis, particularly in the

9:06

lower mainland. This is a,

9:08

this is a significant crisis that's

9:11

been going on for many

9:13

years. Yes, Gregor Robertson was the

9:15

mayor, and I'm not defending any member

9:17

of the slate of Mark Carney.

9:19

I'm voting full -throated NDP in this election

9:21

campaign. But at the same time, and we have

9:23

to be careful on this, Gregor

9:26

Robertson was the mayor of Vancouver

9:28

between 2008 and 2018. But

9:30

Gordon Campbell was the

9:32

premier. Now, Mr. Campbell is supporting Mr.

9:34

Paul Yev. At the same time, for

9:36

most of Mr. Robertson's tenure as

9:38

mayor, Stephen Harper was

9:40

the prime minister of this country. And

9:43

he is also endorsed, Mr. Pauliak.

9:45

This is not, I don't think that

9:47

you can solve the crisis. And I know

9:49

that Phillip Owen, former mayor, he was

9:51

a conservative. Other, you know,

9:53

mayors of various stripes have all

9:55

took stabs at this crisis. And

9:57

we've barely made a dent, unfortunately. some

10:00

of the deaths are going down now, but

10:02

this is after more than a decade since the

10:04

crisis has been called. But I

10:06

don't believe that we gain the

10:09

public's trust by saying you happen to be in

10:11

office for a period of time during this crisis. He

10:13

was at one level of government, but conservatives were

10:15

at the other two levels of government. Brad, we're going

10:17

to leave it there. Kate, on the other side

10:19

of the break, I'm going to get your take on

10:21

this. And will our political panel tell boomers how

10:23

to vote? That's next on the Ben Mulroney Show. Welcome

10:29

back to the Ben Mulroney show and

10:31

I promise Kate Harrison and I would

10:33

give her the final word on the last

10:35

conversation that we were having before the break

10:37

where Mark Carney was asked why people in

10:39

the lower mainland of British Columbia should

10:41

trust the Liberals to solve a drug crisis

10:43

that at least a lot of people feel

10:45

they had a hand in creating. More

10:48

people have died because of the

10:50

federal crisis. More Canadians have died

10:52

than Canadians did in the Second

10:54

World War in the last 10

10:56

years. It's claimed over 50 ,000

10:58

lives. This is a national crisis. Mark

11:01

Carney answered that question

11:03

without empathy. He

11:05

did not admit to any wrongdoing, and it

11:07

was a status quo answer. But we've

11:10

seen that he has the ability to acknowledge

11:12

when the Liberals have gotten it wrong. He

11:14

said that for the carbon tax. He

11:16

has said that for capital gains changes. Why

11:19

not the fentanyl crisis? I think the

11:21

reality is he will have a very status

11:23

quo approach to this issue that is surrounded

11:27

in ideology in terms of safe

11:29

supply. I'm using air

11:31

quotes as I say safe and that there's

11:33

not going to be a real change

11:35

there. There was a moment he could have

11:37

taken to acknowledge that in the leaders

11:39

debate or yesterday he declined both opportunities. So

11:41

don't expect a different approach. I think

11:43

a lot of us were happy for

11:45

the health of the Canadian democracy when

11:47

we saw how many people showed up

11:49

in advanced polls. I think if those

11:51

numbers bear out, we could see as

11:53

high as 75 % turnout this time,

11:55

which would be, I think a feather

11:57

in the cap of anybody who is

11:59

proud of Canada as a democracy

12:01

and a participatory democracy. And

12:03

so let's view that

12:05

possibility as an opportunity. And I

12:07

want to start with Selina and ask

12:09

you, Selina, If you're talking

12:11

to people who have been mobilized to get

12:13

off the couch for the first time in

12:16

a lot of cases to vote in this

12:18

election, what do you tell them? What should

12:20

they be paying attention to moving forward before

12:22

they cast their ballot? Oh

12:24

my goodness. Well, first of all,

12:26

I mean, I think everybody would point

12:28

their heads towards the Donald Trump

12:30

and what's happening in the US. But

12:32

I think looking at those lines

12:35

and seeing that we are

12:37

pulling together as a nation,

12:39

is something that people will be

12:41

paying attention to, looking out

12:43

for each other, looking out for

12:45

our economic interests, our housing

12:47

interests, our affordability interests. I think

12:49

the domestic situation is just

12:51

as palpable and strong as what

12:54

is happening on the international

12:56

side, and it's going to

12:58

drive people to the polls to make sure

13:00

that we as a nation stand strong. Brad,

13:03

make sense of the pivot that I

13:06

think I saw from Jugmeet Singh asking

13:08

people to come back to the NDP

13:10

because now he doesn't want Mark Carney

13:12

to get a majority. What's

13:14

the last minute pitch

13:16

to vote NDP? That

13:20

Mark Carney is likely going to

13:22

win the most seats. I

13:24

think it's overwhelming consensus going on in

13:27

this country. Think,

13:29

don't just think of election night. Think

13:31

of a month, two months from now,

13:33

when the House of Commons reconvenes

13:35

and big decisions are going to get made,

13:37

the budget will get formulated. Do

13:40

you want the only

13:42

voice that's whispering in the

13:44

ears of government or that

13:47

are calling on the government

13:49

to be Pierre Polyev's conservatives? You

13:51

know, he's going to call for huge cuts.

13:53

Carney will try to meet him some halfway.

13:56

So the cuts will be. less so

13:58

than polyab, but there's still be cuts or tax

14:00

cuts for the rich. All of

14:02

the poll right now is going

14:04

to be a Carney, which is a

14:06

center -right liberal prime

14:09

minister. And all the poll,

14:11

just like in the 1990s, will be

14:13

to the right. And that means that

14:15

the liberal party will not govern as

14:17

a progressive party, they will govern

14:19

as a conservative party unless there

14:21

is a strong presence of New

14:23

Democrat MPs in there. And so the

14:25

call is, If you have an

14:28

NDP member of parliament today, then

14:30

it is safe to ensure that

14:32

Polyev will not win because the

14:34

Conservatives aren't going to win that

14:36

seat. And in many cases, particularly

14:38

in Western Canada, British Columbia, Vancouver

14:41

Island, voting for the Liberals

14:43

at this stage may end up

14:45

electing a Conservative in your riding.

14:47

So if you want to make sure that

14:49

the Conservatives don't win in Western Canada in

14:51

dozens and dozens and dozens of ridings, The

14:54

NDP is the only chance to stop

14:56

Paulyev in Western Canada. Kate, I suspect

14:58

that you're going to have a different

15:00

perspective, but before you do, I'd love

15:02

for you to comment as well on

15:04

this notion that I'm seeing for the

15:06

very first time ever. We always talk

15:08

about the vote inefficiency of the Tories,

15:10

given the fact that you've got such

15:12

a concentration in Western provinces. But now

15:14

that there's been a significant bleed from

15:16

the NDP to the Liberals, especially in

15:18

big cities, the argument is

15:20

now that it is the liberal

15:22

vote that is less efficient than the

15:24

Tories. I mean, they could win in

15:26

downtown areas across this country by tens of

15:29

thousands of votes and they'll get one

15:31

seat. And so knowing that,

15:33

what's your pitch? Yeah,

15:35

well, they're just on that there are

15:37

going to be weird things that happen

15:39

on Monday. I would be looking particularly

15:41

at Southwestern Ontario and Northern Ontario where

15:43

there is some of that inefficiency playing

15:45

out that may allow conservatives to actually

15:47

come up the middle in a rare

15:49

circumstance. So I think this has been

15:51

a weird election election night is going

15:53

to be weird as well. For the

15:56

conservatives closing pitch, it really is not

15:58

much different than what it's been throughout the

16:00

campaign. Do these guys deserve another

16:02

fourth term? I would ask Canadians,

16:04

did your problems start on January

16:06

20th when Donald Trump was inaugurated in

16:08

the White House? The answer, of course, is

16:10

no. We need a prime minister that

16:12

is going to be able to lead this

16:14

country for more than the next six

16:16

months. We need somebody that's going to solve

16:19

the problems that have been created over

16:21

the last 10 years over the course of

16:23

the next four. So don't be

16:25

distracted by the short term

16:27

sugarhead of the Trump pain.

16:30

think about the pain that this country has been in

16:32

for the last ten years. How can we expect the

16:34

people that made the mess to be the ones to

16:36

clean it up? Brad, given

16:38

the fact that already before this

16:40

election campaign, the NDP were in

16:42

a in a tough financial

16:44

position to prosecute this election. If

16:46

it doesn't go the way that

16:49

stalwarts of the party hope and

16:51

they end up with a smaller

16:53

cohort in the House of Commons,

16:55

how likely is it that they

16:57

can rebuild and prosecute another election,

16:59

especially if we find ourselves in

17:01

a minority situation and back at

17:03

the polls in nine to 18

17:05

months? Yeah, that's one

17:07

thing that's dotted the history

17:09

of the New Democratic Party

17:11

is that even in elections

17:14

where, you know,

17:16

there was a, let's say,

17:18

lack of growth to put

17:20

it politely. There's

17:22

always a core that are ready to

17:24

pick up and take it on.

17:26

It's going to be outcome. We're going

17:28

to talk next week after the

17:30

outcome of the election campaign. A lot

17:32

of people are projecting, oh, what

17:34

if this happens? We don't know. We

17:36

just saw the provincial election in

17:38

Ontario where the NDP won 27 seats,

17:40

official opposition, two days before they

17:42

said it was going to be an

17:44

absolute wipeout. It wasn't the case

17:46

because of the efficiency of the NDP

17:48

vote and the strength of the

17:50

NDP ground game, particularly in incumbent writings.

17:52

So I think that there's

17:55

going to be a good cohort

17:57

being sent back to the

17:59

House of Commons and ready to take

18:01

on the next federal election, whether it's

18:03

four years or earlier. Selina,

18:05

have you gone to vote yet? I

18:07

have. You have, huh? I

18:09

haven't had a chance. It was Easter weekend. I

18:11

was too busy. I wish I could have. went

18:14

at 8 30 on the Monday

18:16

night and there were still people trickling

18:18

in. It wasn't there wasn't

18:21

a big crowd, but there were

18:23

still people in the parking lot coming

18:25

in, moving out. So I am

18:27

really inspired by the the the energy

18:29

around this election. Did everyone

18:31

vote? Kate, Brad, have you both voted?

18:33

Well, I voted Easter Sunday. Yeah, no

18:35

lineup. And Kate, you too. Well, Friday

18:37

for me, I tried twice, had a

18:39

two hour weekend each time. So

18:41

went to my returning office and got it

18:43

done. But yeah, it's been encouraging to see how

18:46

many people are getting engaged. And that's the

18:48

thing. I mean, we're going to end it here

18:50

and maybe just some final quick thoughts from

18:52

everybody. But given, I saw Tristan Hopper posted, he

18:54

said, look, given the fact that we were

18:56

seeing such voter turnout and we don't know where

18:58

it's going, I like this, the

19:00

polls could could be right, they could

19:02

be wrong. I've never

19:04

seen an election where I just don't

19:06

know what's going to happen. I'm

19:08

not going to ask you to make any predictions, but

19:10

are you fairly certain that you know what's going to

19:12

happen, Brad? Oh, yes. Yeah. You

19:15

know what? You do this a number of times. Eventually,

19:17

you've got to go with the gut, which is informed

19:19

by the data. And I think I have a pretty

19:21

good sense as to what's going to happen. Kate, don't

19:24

tell me what's going to happen. Do you think you

19:26

know what's going to happen? No.

19:28

No. And

19:30

I hope that I don't

19:32

know. Very good. Selena, what about

19:34

you? I don't know,

19:37

but I hope I am correct in my

19:39

thinking because I have bets with all my

19:41

neighbors. You have bets? Oh,

19:43

my goodness. Oh, hey, Brad, Selena,

19:45

Kate, thank you so much for being here. Thank

19:47

you for helping us and guiding us through

19:49

this entire election campaign. I wish you all the

19:51

very best and we'll see you on the

19:53

other side. Thank you. Take

19:55

care. Hi, I'm

19:57

Donna Friesen from Global National. Life

20:00

moves fast these days and we want to

20:02

make it even easier for you to get

20:04

the news you need. That's why you can

20:06

now get Global National every day as a

20:08

podcast. The biggest stories of

20:10

the day with analysis from award -winning

20:12

global news journalists. New episodes

20:14

drop every day, so take this as

20:17

your personal invitation to join us

20:19

on the Global National podcast. You can

20:21

find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon

20:24

Music, and wherever you find your

20:26

favorite podcasts. Welcome

20:31

back to the Ben Mulroney

20:33

Show. My BS meter is

20:35

pinging at 11 right now

20:37

ever since uncovering. We uncovered

20:39

that Mark Carney positioned his

20:41

call on the 28th of

20:43

March with Donald Trump as

20:45

a seminal moment that he

20:47

is the leader. was going

20:49

to change everything and he

20:51

got respect where no respect

20:53

was being offered. Turns

20:56

out that was BS and we've been we've

20:58

been dealing with that this entire show

21:00

so now we're gonna see now that if

21:02

my BS meter is all the way

21:04

up to 11 is it going to survive

21:06

this next segment it keeps getting a

21:08

ton of love on the podcast it's the

21:10

one uh one of the most downloaded

21:13

segments we do and since adding Dave Bradley

21:15

to the mix he offers um Gravitas

21:17

and seriousness that I simply am not capable

21:19

of but before we start I gotta

21:21

warn you sensitive language on this part of

21:23

the show frankly I don't know how

21:25

we get away with it but we do

21:27

if you don't like this type of

21:29

saucy language turn the turn the radio down

21:32

or go do something for a few

21:34

minutes some of the clips have that colorful

21:36

language and with that being said it's

21:38

time for is this BS or is this

21:40

real? is

21:44

bullshit. Man, this is

21:46

some bullshit! You

21:48

want answers? I think I'm entitled.

21:50

You want answers? I want the truth!

21:52

You can't handle the truth! You

21:55

are fake news. Yeah, I haven't

21:57

run the table yet, but I'm feeling that today

21:59

I may be able to Dave Bradley because like

22:01

I said, we've been dealing with BS all day.

22:03

I have faith. Okay, let's start

22:05

with story number one. So

22:07

mortars paying their final respects to

22:09

Pope Francis has been disturbed

22:11

by others. So why so? Well,

22:13

because some of the visitors

22:16

were snapping selfies. beside

22:18

the Pope's body in his open

22:20

casket. Some even posting smiling

22:22

photos online. Tens of thousands have

22:24

already flocked to St. Peter's

22:27

Basilica in Vatican City to see

22:29

the late Pope. many using

22:31

it as a grim photo op

22:33

rather than a moment of

22:35

somber reflection. While some look sad

22:37

in their selfies, at least

22:40

one Instagrammer posted a photo of

22:42

herself smiling as the Pope

22:44

lies lifelessly in a coffin just

22:46

feet away. People were being

22:48

asked to put their selfie sticks away when

22:50

they got to the front, said one tourist.

22:52

Some 50 ,000 people have made their way to

22:54

St. Peter's Basilica from across the globe to

22:56

pay their final respects to the Pope who

22:58

died of a stroke on Easter Monday. The

23:01

crowds were so large that the Vatican

23:03

kept the doors open overnight on Wednesday. All

23:06

right. Yeah. This

23:09

is gross. But we've

23:11

seen versions of this in the past. And

23:14

I mean, with the advent of social

23:16

media, it just opened the door for people

23:18

to just act so very gross. So

23:21

I'm going to say it's real. I'm going

23:23

to say it's real. I wish it didn't exist,

23:25

but I bet you it does. Is it real? Is

23:28

it possible this story is true? Yes,

23:31

it is. Yes, it is. Yeah, that

23:33

doesn't surprise me. Kind of makes me weep

23:35

for humanity. Yeah, it doesn't disappoint me

23:37

because I'm not surprised by it, but it's

23:39

who we are. That's who we are.

23:41

All right, story number two, my friend. Okay,

23:43

so did the first ever robot versus

23:45

human marathon take place? In recent

23:48

months, there have been plenty of

23:50

developments in robotics. The latest and other

23:52

small step, including thousands of steps, humanoid

23:54

robots ran alongside actual humans

23:56

in a half marathon in

23:59

China. So the robots

24:01

of various makes and sizes

24:03

navigated the 21 kilometer course

24:05

in Beijing last week, supported

24:07

by teams of human navigators,

24:09

operators and engineers, What event

24:11

organizers called a World First?

24:13

Competition featured 12 ,000 human participants

24:15

and just 21 robots. Now,

24:17

despite what you might think,

24:19

the robots did not outrun

24:21

the humans during the long

24:23

-distance marathon. Many could be

24:25

seen falling over needing help to

24:27

get back up onto their feet. One

24:29

robot crashed into a railing after

24:31

we're running only a few meters. That

24:33

caused its human operator to fall

24:35

over with it. The Sky Project Ultra

24:37

Robot claimed victory among the non -humans

24:39

crossing the finish line in two

24:41

hours and 40 minutes, which was nearly

24:44

two hours longer than the winner

24:46

of the men's race. All

24:48

right. The easy answer

24:50

would be to just assume that

24:52

the robots are going to take over.

24:54

And so I should say this

24:56

is real. But Dave Bradley, I suspect

24:58

it's not because I don't know

25:01

that the battery power is at the

25:03

point now where a robot could.

25:05

Run for two hours and 20 minutes

25:07

without getting recharged. So I'm gonna

25:09

say it's false It's fact ah Damn

25:11

it. I'm see I'm overthinking this

25:14

stuff man. I'm oh, so we're almost

25:16

there The the the robots are

25:18

mobile and they've got the battery. They

25:20

got the juice to take us

25:22

out. They're coming again They're coming to

25:24

get us. All right story number

25:26

three a couple in Mississippi has drawn

25:29

attention sparked intense debate after naming

25:31

their newborn son MAGA An acronym for

25:33

Make America Great Again, of course.

25:35

The political slogan that has been popularized

25:37

by U .S. President Donald Trump. Mark

25:40

and Angela Kluber, the residents

25:42

of a rural Rankin County,

25:44

say the name is a

25:46

personal and political statement that

25:48

reflects their deep -seated beliefs

25:50

and vision for the country. The

25:53

couple, both in their early 30s,

25:55

said the name raised some eyebrows

25:57

among family and friends. However, they

25:59

were undeterred. The baby, whose full legal

26:01

name is Maggot James Kluber, was

26:03

born last week at a local

26:05

hospital, reported to be healthy. Reaction

26:07

online has been swept and divided. Supporters

26:10

praise the couple for standing

26:12

by their convictions. Critics accuse them

26:14

of politicizing a child's identity

26:16

and trying to make it a

26:19

polarizing era of American politics. And

26:21

despite the attention, the clubbers say they

26:23

don't regret their decision. I

26:26

remember reading Malcolm Gladwell's

26:28

book Outliers. And there

26:30

was a story of a woman

26:32

whose two favorite desserts were orange, jello,

26:34

and lemon jello, and she named

26:36

her kids Orangelo and Limangelo. There

26:39

was also a woman who named

26:41

one of her sons Winner and

26:43

another one Loser. Winner

26:45

became a criminal and Loser

26:47

became a police officer. I

26:50

remember that a person who used to

26:52

love the sports channel ESPN so much,

26:54

he named his child Espen. So

26:56

this is absolutely in keeping

26:58

with some of the outliers

27:00

of American culture, I'm going

27:02

to say it's true. Oh,

27:06

come on. Oh,

27:08

I thought I made such a

27:10

good impassioned well -reasoned case for

27:12

that being real You had good

27:14

reasoning. I had good reason. Okay,

27:16

so I'm down to one one

27:18

win and two losses. We got

27:20

time. Yeah, of course we got

27:22

is there another story? Yes, let's

27:24

go to number four mistakes in

27:26

the media often rightly criticized the

27:28

latest involves a Chiron that briefly

27:30

aired on Fox News late Tuesday

27:32

So the headline which appeared for

27:34

approximately 47 seconds during a segment

27:36

of the, uh, Ingram Angle

27:39

read, A .G. Pam

27:41

Bondi, 15 years prison

27:43

for anti -Trump speech. The

27:45

claim, which is entirely false, was quickly

27:47

corrected by Fox News, but that didn't stop

27:49

the internet from doing its thing. It

27:51

became an internet meme for the evening in

27:53

trolls. and had they

27:55

had their fun, Fox News

27:58

attributed the incident to a production

28:00

error and said the internal

28:02

investigation is now fully underway. Okay,

28:05

so this was when? It

28:08

was this week? It was

28:10

this week, it says Tuesday. Tuesday,

28:12

Tuesday this week. Okay, so

28:14

look, these mistakes happen in TV.

28:17

They happen, I've seen it happen

28:19

myself. And,

28:21

you know, and a lot of times

28:23

they can stamp for a while. I mean,

28:25

I stare at the TV here and

28:28

I'll catch typos on the TV screen all

28:30

the time. But I'm also

28:32

on social media. I'm on the

28:34

Twitter machine quite often. And I

28:36

was at work on Tuesday, which

28:38

means I was gearing up for

28:40

work on Wednesday. And

28:42

I didn't see anything

28:44

about this on

28:47

Tuesday. So, oh, my

28:49

God, this is really messing with me. I

28:54

really want to say I want

28:56

to say it's true because it

28:58

can be true But I didn't

29:00

see anything about it, so I'm

29:02

gonna say it's I'm gonna say

29:04

it's false This is bullshit. Yes

29:06

Okay, I redeemed yourself. I have

29:08

redeemed myself. Do we have time

29:10

for one? Is there one more?

29:13

I think we can squeak it

29:15

in. OK, squeak it in. So

29:17

this is a groundbreaking experiment. Scientists

29:19

have discovered a brand new color,

29:21

one they say has never been

29:23

seen before. It's been dubbed. OLO.

29:25

The color is described as

29:28

an intense blue -green that sits

29:30

outside the usual range of what

29:32

the human eye can see.

29:34

Now the study details how a

29:36

team of researchers pioneered new

29:38

technology called OZ. This innovation allows

29:41

scientists to stimulate individual photoreceptor

29:43

cells in the human retina using

29:45

laser light. How it

29:47

works is the AUZ system selectively targets

29:49

only green sensitive aspects of the eye

29:51

with a laser light thus leading to

29:53

the participants able to see a color

29:56

that doesn't exist in nature. The

29:58

team believes this could one day

30:00

help improve tools for studying color blindness.

30:02

Okay, I don't feel like I cheated. I heard

30:05

this on another radio station, so I know

30:07

it's real. Similar event.

30:10

Yes, and he's back in the

30:12

game. Dave Bradley, thank you very much. Thanks for playing

30:14

along at home. Welcome

30:19

back to The Ben Mulvaney Show

30:21

and when we all head to the

30:23

polls for this federal election every

30:25

party leader is promising to solve your

30:27

problems. I promise to do that

30:29

in a far smaller way with our

30:31

Dilemma panel every week. If you

30:33

have a personal dilemma, it may be

30:35

with someone you work with or

30:37

someone you love or someone you live

30:39

next to and you want a

30:41

solution to a problem, let us know

30:43

what that problem is by emailing

30:45

us at askben at chorusent.com, askben at

30:47

C -O -R -U -S -E -N. And

30:50

then I, alongside two other very

30:52

incapable people, are going to try to

30:54

solve your problems. There's always a

30:56

lot of fun on a Wednesday. I'm

30:59

very happy to be joined again by a good friend of

31:01

the show, a good friend of

31:03

mine, as well as someone whose birthday

31:05

is coming up this weekend, Adam Zivo,

31:07

the national policy columnist, national post columnist,

31:09

rather, and executive director for the Center

31:11

for Responsible Drug Policy. Adam, welcome to

31:13

the show. Thanks for having me.

31:16

It's great to be here. Okay, so earlier

31:18

today We've been talking about a response

31:20

that Mark Carney gave while he was in

31:22

the British Columbia in the lower mainland

31:24

Talking to a journalist who said why should

31:26

we trust your party? to

31:28

solve the drug epidemic in

31:30

this country when when your

31:32

your party was essentially responsible

31:35

for a 600 % Overdose

31:37

increase in Vancouver and your candidate

31:39

is the former mayor who oversaw

31:41

that and his his answer to

31:43

me Adam was it was very

31:45

lacking and that it was lacked

31:47

complete empathy or understanding that his

31:49

party while he was not in

31:51

charge But it was is his

31:53

party was responsible for a lot

31:56

of that suffering and he didn't

31:58

really take accountability for and said

32:00

well We're gonna attack this problem

32:02

from a lot of different ways

32:04

Yeah, I mean look so Obviously,

32:06

under the liberal government for the

32:08

past 10 years, we've seen a

32:10

significant explosion in overdose deaths. We've

32:12

seen a rise in public drug

32:14

use. We've seen

32:16

streets become unsafe. And

32:19

I think a large part of

32:21

that comes from the fact that for

32:23

10 years, the liberals only embraced

32:25

radical harm reduction and completely ignored drug

32:27

treatment, drug prevention, and law enforcement.

32:29

And one would hope that if Carney's

32:31

going to position himself as a

32:33

new face of the liberal party as

32:35

someone who's going to change the

32:37

status quo and take us in a

32:39

new direction, that he would articulate

32:41

what that new direction would be in

32:43

his platform. But when he

32:45

actually goes through the liberal platform,

32:47

it says almost nothing about drugs.

32:49

So there is no clarification about

32:51

where the party stands on drug

32:54

decriminalization or safe supply or overdose

32:56

prevention sites. All of that is

32:58

absent and in the absence of

33:00

a new direction. I think that

33:02

we can assume that we'll just

33:04

see more of the status quo.

33:06

The only thing that they've really committed

33:09

to is I think about $500

33:11

million put towards drug treatment in some

33:13

capacity, but the fund that they

33:15

want to give this funding to is

33:17

one that also supports radical harm

33:19

reduction as well. So I don't really

33:21

know why Mark Carney can be

33:24

trusted. to reduce overdose, if he

33:26

just seems to be perpetuating the problem.

33:28

Yeah, when asked about it, he said,

33:30

oh, there's a lot of reasons for

33:32

the opioid epidemic, and we're going to

33:34

attack all of them, but we're also

33:36

going to work in lockstep with our

33:39

provincial partners. That's not an answer. That's

33:41

an answer that somebody gives if you're

33:43

called on by a teacher and you

33:45

don't have the answer, that's what you

33:47

say. Exactly, and look.

33:49

He's very correct, though, in saying that there

33:51

are many different reasons why we have

33:53

this catastrophe. And to be

33:55

honest, many of them are because of

33:57

liberals. And I hate to sound overly

33:59

partisan here, but part of the reason

34:01

why drug traffickers are allowed to operate

34:03

with such impunity is because our justice

34:06

system is currently broken. And if you're

34:08

a drug trafficker, it's very likely that

34:10

you'll be let out on bail very

34:12

easily, and that if you are eventually

34:14

convicted of a crime, that you'll face

34:16

a light sentence. And part

34:18

of that is because back in

34:20

2019, the liberals passed Bill

34:22

C -75, which greatly loosened bail

34:24

conditions and mandated that arrested individuals

34:26

be released as soon as

34:28

possible. And then in

34:30

2022, there was Bill C

34:32

-75, which removed mandatory minimum

34:34

sentences for traffickers and imposed

34:37

greater use of house arrest. If

34:40

you, for example, are a

34:42

street -level, fentanyl dealer in BC,

34:44

and it's your first conviction, then

34:46

you're going to get maybe

34:48

about 18 months to three years

34:50

for that crime, for selling

34:53

lethal poison that kills people. How

34:57

was this acceptable? Yeah, and Carney hasn't

34:59

really, he hasn't provided any real solutions to

35:01

this. He hasn't, and I tend to

35:03

look at who are the police endorsing? Who

35:05

are the police associations? They're the ones,

35:08

they're the frontline workers who have to keep

35:10

our streets safe. And if they're telling

35:12

me that the guy with the plan to

35:14

make our streets safer is Pierre Polyev

35:16

and the Conservatives, I'm going to believe them.

35:21

There's a strong reason why, right? Because

35:23

policing feels almost pointless

35:25

if you can't keep people in jail.

35:28

And if you want to keep people in jail, if

35:30

you want to keep them segregated from the rest

35:32

of society so they can't pray upon the vulnerable, if

35:34

you want to deter criminals, you

35:36

need bail and sentencing reform. And

35:38

that's something that we just don't see

35:40

in the liberal platform. The only thing

35:42

that they have on bail is for

35:44

people who are to engage in violent

35:46

carjackings or house home invasions, You know,

35:48

Carney wants to ensure that they have

35:50

a reverse onus when it comes to

35:52

bail, which essentially means that they have

35:54

to prove that they should be released

35:56

into the public instead of the crown

35:58

proving that they should be detained. But

36:01

the thing is that we already have

36:03

reverse onus for many of these crimes and

36:05

reverse onus just doesn't work because of

36:07

the framework created by Bill C 75. So

36:10

unless you eliminate Bill C 75

36:12

and change the wider bail norms that

36:14

we have right now, reverse onus

36:16

is not going to keep these people

36:18

off the street. Yeah. Yeah,

36:21

and similarly for sentencing, right?

36:23

For sentencing, they want

36:25

denunciation to be emphasized

36:28

for people who are

36:30

once again engaged in

36:32

home invasions or car

36:34

theft. But why is it

36:36

limited to that? Why don't we see sentencing performed for

36:38

drug trafficking? It doesn't make any sense. I

36:41

want to take our last few minutes to

36:43

turn our eye to Ukraine. You

36:45

know, Donald Trump claimed had he been

36:47

in office, When the war had

36:49

started it never would have started and

36:51

once he came into office He

36:53

was gonna end it pretty quickly if

36:56

not immediately that hasn't happened yet

36:58

and for some reason mean we've heard

37:00

some pretty bananas things coming out

37:02

of him and some of his team

37:04

members that you know somehow Ukraine

37:06

started this war and they are responsible

37:08

for it well now He's Trump

37:11

is pleading with Putin to to to

37:13

stop his attacks on again be

37:15

his deadly attacks on Kiev how how

37:17

How does he message this? Because

37:19

he's put all his eggs in being

37:21

the broker of a peace deal

37:23

here and throwing a lot of negativity

37:25

towards Ukraine, but it's

37:28

so clear to anybody watching

37:30

that Vladimir Putin is

37:32

the aggressor. Well, yeah, he's

37:34

clearly the aggressor. I think

37:36

any person who's watched this conflict closely would

37:38

be, would have been able to tell

37:40

you months ago, years ago, that any attempt

37:42

to negotiate with Putin needs to come

37:44

from a position of actual strength and not

37:46

appeasement like Trump has been doing. Trump

37:49

wanted to present himself as the strong

37:51

dealmaker, but the tone of rhetoric that

37:53

he's been using with Putin sounds like,

37:55

I don't know, some

37:58

like an abused woman who

38:00

that she can fix her dangerous

38:02

boyfriend, right? Yeah, I see

38:04

you mean. Yeah, his true social post

38:06

said, you know, Vladimir, no, don't do

38:08

this. Which I'm

38:10

sorry, this is not a strong response.

38:12

It feels weak. It feels like he's,

38:14

it feels like he's begging Putin to

38:16

be, to not, to not bomb civilians,

38:18

but he's begging in a way where

38:20

it feels like he's not actually holding

38:22

Putin accountable as if he's not recognizing

38:24

the fact that this is who Putin

38:26

is. And there's been an

38:28

interesting contrast in the kind of

38:30

rhetoric he uses uh... with putin

38:32

versus the lens key you know

38:34

he'll write these long incredibly aggressive

38:36

uh... diatribe against the lens people

38:38

when it comes to putin he'll

38:40

write something short and and uh...

38:42

and and indulge but what what's

38:44

what's putin's uh... end game here

38:46

me seems like he had he

38:49

had at the most favorable conditions

38:51

with a president who is willing

38:53

to give him the benefit of

38:55

the doubt walk why then poke

38:57

the bear mean that's a good

38:59

question uh... i think I

39:01

think that fundamentally Putin wants to get as

39:03

much as he can. And

39:05

although the Americans have been whites, I

39:07

mean, they've given Putin much of what

39:09

he wants. I don't think that's enough

39:12

to appease him. The fact is that

39:14

historically speaking, when you show weakness to

39:16

Putin, he acts more aggressively. And I

39:18

don't see why Trump would be the

39:20

exception. Trump is being weak and Putin

39:22

is taking advantage of that. And we

39:24

see that that's paying off because Trump

39:27

can't even provide a full -throated condemnation

39:29

of this major attack. which only illustrates

39:31

that Putin has no reason not to

39:33

escalate going forward. Yeah, I'm still waiting

39:35

for somebody to point out that this

39:37

this war was supposed to end the

39:39

second that Donald Trump came into office. And

39:42

yet that has not come to pass.

39:44

Adam Zevo on these two important issues. I

39:46

always love having you on because there

39:48

is no more sober and reasoned person on

39:50

either one of them than you. And

39:52

I thank you very much. And I wish

39:54

you a very happy birthday, my friend. Oh,

39:57

thank you. There's

40:00

no limit to how far criminals

40:02

will go to cover their tracks.

40:04

But investigators will go even further

40:07

to uncover the truth. I'm Nancy

40:09

Hicks, a senior crime reporter for

40:11

Global News. This season on Crime

40:13

Beat, I'll take you from the

40:15

crime scene to the courtroom and

40:17

inside some of Canada's most high-profile

40:19

cases and some you've likely never

40:22

heard of before. Search for and

40:24

listen to Crime Beat on Spotify,

40:26

Apple Podcast, Amazon Music, and wherever

40:28

you find your favorite podcast. podcasts.