The Ben Mulroney Show - BC is burning, and the NDP want to give what's not burning away!

Episode Date: August 11, 2026

GUEST:  Angela Jung  / Global BC Reporter GUEST:   Scott McInnis, BC Conservative Shadow Minister for Indigenous Relations. If you enjoyed the podcast, tell a friend! For more of the Ben Mulroney Show, subscribe to the podcast! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://link.chtbl.com/bms⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Also, on youtube -- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@BenMulroneyShow⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Ben on Twitter/X at https://x.com/BenMulroney Insta: ⁠⁠⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠⁠⁠ Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠⁠⁠ TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠⁠⁠ Executive Producer:  Mike Drolet Reach out to Mike with story ideas or tips at [e-mail] Enjoy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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And we're now joined by Global BC reporter Angela Jung on this very matter. Angela, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you so much for having me and being interested in these communities stories. Talk to me about the communities that are affected. And for the listeners of our show who don't necessarily know the geography, of British Columbia, what are we looking at? So to give you the lay of the land, I'm here in the Okinawagin,

which is BC's wine country. And some of the largest, most explosive wildfires that have happened this season have happened within the Okinawagon Valley. So this is really the closest thing to Canada's desert. It's very dry and it's very hot out here. And we have been dealing with a drought for a few years now, And that's why we're seeing such tough, difficult wildfires.

And I'm here in Penticton. There was a big wildfire that exploded west of Summerland. And these are communities in the South Okinawagan. And I've just been talking to a lot of evacuees who have been dealing with being forced out of their homes and losing their homes. 105 active wildfires burning across the province. 22,000 people forced to evacuate. 10,000 more remain on high alert evacuation notices. Some of these people are leaving their homes, fleeing for their lives,

and they don't know if when the dust settles and the fires are extinguished. They don't know what they're going to be coming home to. What sort of anguish are you seeing and experiencing in the worry and the agony that these people are going through? And that's what I've been hearing a lot. It's that uncertainty, not knowing what they're going to return home to. If they even have a home to return to, I just got off the phone with a newlywed couple. And they were forced from their home that they just bought in December, 2025, after getting married, and they had minutes to escape because this wildfire, the bald rames wildfire, just started.

and really grew. And they got visual confirmation, unfortunately, from social media and their neighbors. And they saw videos that their home is gone. So in some ways, that does provide answers, but clearly not the answers they were hoping for. Well, you know, I don't want to make this political, but we, you know, we talk about the housing crisis and how there are those who have been fortunate enough, either through good timing, good planning, being born at a different. time to be secure in home ownership and those who desperately want to join them, to have taken all the risk and to have made all the sacrifices and to have done all the things right to gain access to the world of home ownership only to have it taken away from you by a wildfire

is got a, it's got it's, I can't even imagine that I can't even imagine the sadness and the worry. Yes, this was a young couple. They had it imagined. imagine starting their family. They wanted to give their family the same childhood that they had because they also grew up in that community. But on the opposite end, a lot of these communities house elderly people. And so they had expected to spend their golden years in these homes. And now they don't know if they even have a home. And in many cases, these homes are gone.

Like I've been covering wildfires in which entire communities are gone. So in this small community of Fowler, we have seen videos that really show, in their words, this is how they described it. It looks like a bomb went off. And just their entire community is wiped out. And just last week, I was in Burnton, which is in the North Okinawagon, and more than 200 homes are gone there. And I've been speaking to young people, old people, it's devastating on both ends of the set. Angela, do you have any sense from officials how the efforts,

to either contain or extinguish these fires are going? What, well, we just got a provincial update an hour ago. And this burn and wild fire that I just mentioned, apparently it's still going. And that is why they've been able to lift some of these evacuation orders and alerts to some places.

But even when they were doing a survey yesterday, they can see flames again. So it's a very tough situation, especially now in the Okinawagon, when it's so hot with just a little bit more heat. It can really cause things to explode. And what caused some of these other wildfires to be so out of control is the wind. So with that unknown element of the weather, it's really difficult for officials to give an exact answer when they can return home.

Well, Angela Jung of Global News, Global BC News, thank you so much. Please stay safe. We really appreciate your reporting. And we hope to talk to you again soon. Thank you. Looking forward to it then. Yeah, this is, my heart goes out to everybody there. We're going to be speaking with somebody in British Columbia who actually was given an evacuation order two days ago due to these wildfires. But the topic of conversation is about his job.

Scott McKinnis, the BC Conservative Shadow Minister for Indigenous Relations, joins us next. As wildfires ravaged through parts of British Columbia, there is a euphemistic. there are entire relations in British Columbia that seem to be getting torched by the current government. I'm now joined by Scott McKinnis, the BC Conservative Shadow Minister for Indigenous Relations, who himself was evacuated from his home two days ago. Scott, thank you so much for joining us. How is your family today? Is everyone okay? Thank you, Mr. Mulroney, for having me all. And actually, just to correct, we were on evacuation alert here in this part of BC. And thankfully,

my family didn't have to pick up and leave, but it is a precarious situation here right now in the province. Excellent. You corrected me and I'm going to correct you. The only Mr. Mulroney I know is my father. You can call me Ben. Thank you, sir. So, Scott, we've, on this show, we've said many times that if the BC government's definition of reconciliation is a one-way and perpetual transfer of funds from a government and thereby the people of British Columbia to First Nations. That is a recipe for disaster. It is a recipe for civil strife.

And it seems like this government is doubling down on this boneheaded, a toxic perspective. Talk to me about what we're learning now, about how much money and how much territory and the value of what's underneath the ground has been committed to First Nations. Well, thank you, Ben. There's a lot to unpack, but you know, the Cole's notes

of what's happening is for nine long years in this province, the BCNDP government has been down a path of what I call the Iron Curtain of Reconciliation. They have done everything possible to shield exactly what they're doing, to

properly put forward a plan to the public when it comes to reconciliation. In fact, as a shadow minister for Indigenous relations in British Columbia. I don't even know what their plan is. There is a huge transfer of wealth and land and power from the crown to indigenous governments in British Columbia. The biggest one that we all have our eye on is what's happening in the northwest of British Columbia. This is an extremely mineral-rich region. We have trillions of dollars worth of gold, copper, other precious metals up in

the Northwest. And the government has, for years, been negotiating what's called a reconciliation agreement with the Tall Ten First Nation. And within that, presumably includes a very large portion of our province by many calculations about 10%, which could become what's called Aboriginal title. Very similar to the model that they did through legislation on Hadegaua, formerly known at the Queen Charlotte Islands, where the government's essentially transferred ownership in its entirety of the entire archipelago of Hadegoy to that First Nation. So there are so many questions to ask here about what the plan is. And again, this government is doing absolutely everything it can to provide the public

with as little information as possible, which is ultimately doomed to fail. Well, I just want to give the listeners of the show and the viewers on YouTube a sense of what we're talking about here. So public accounts lists over 300,000 acres already committed under treaties. And now we're learning about plans to transfer up to 24 million acres, plus $1.28 trillion worth of mineral wealth, along with 30 crown parcels, including major parks and Victoria Waterfront. This is no small amount.

Now, correct me if I'm wrong. Was this mentioned at all? Was this part of the platform by the BC NDP when they tried to get themselves elected? No. You know, this BC government's under the NDP, number one, feels like they own the term reconciliation and everybody should just kind of accept what their plan is. Number two, in no way, shape, or form were voters informed in October of 2024 that these massive transfers would be taking place.

Now, we do have an issue around the lack of treaties in British Columbia. But if we are going to address the land question here, it has to be open. transparent, and the public needs to be brought along in whatever plan is being provided. Now, again, this government has done absolutely the opposite, and this is why we're seeing so much backlash to these plans. Now, again, referencing specifically those millions of acres of land, it's approximately 96,000 square kilometers or about 10% of the land base in British Columbia, that remains to be seen as far as what plan the government has,

with the Tall Tan First Nation as far as recognizing and providing ownership in Aboriginal title to that nation. But what I can tell you right now, Ben, is they are already treating that part of the province like it is Aboriginal title, with the agreements they've signed with the nation to extract those minerals in the Northwest. I am speaking with Scott McKinnis, the BC Conservative Shadow Minister for Indigenous Relations, and we are talking about this. I've never seen a negotiation like this.

And let me just say, for the record, I do not. fault First Nations one bit for any of this. If the people you're negotiating with, if their position, if they're opening salvo in the negotiation is give us a list of everything you want. We'll give it to you and then some. Who in their right mind would turn that down? But this is this is the negotiating tactic of the BC government. What are your, for sane, rational, good faith, citizens.

of British Columbia and members of your party within the legislature, what are your options to slow this down, reverse it, stop it, call it out? What can you do? Yeah, it's a good question, Ben. And I also have never been once critical of First Nations. This government has taken an approach to negotiate a lot of these agreements with groups such of the First Nations Leadership Council, who certainly does not represent. the interests of the 204 First Nations in British Columbia.

Now, for us, my main job and under the direction of our leader, our new leader, Kerryman Finley, is to draw attention to what's actually going on. It's difficult in opposition because we don't control the narrative. The government does. But I certainly feel like when the curtain is pulled back and people see, okay, well, I wasn't actually okay with this as far as a plan for reconciliation. I feel like that's when we can get back. of the drawing board in good faith with all British Columbians, with guardrails and outcomes

that are measurable for everybody in this province, and chart a new path forward with all British Colombians, whether you're indigenous or not. It feels like this government, it feels like the end of times are coming, and this is a British Columbia going out of sale, going out of business sale, and everything must go. And they're willing to, they're given everything away. So let's assume a worst case scenario. for a moment here. Let's assume they are successful in handing the keys of that gorgeous province to any of the takers out there. And you guys then find yourselves in government after the next election. How much of this is reversible? Yeah, it's a really good question, Ben. And it ultimately

comes down to how far down this path the current government is willing to go. You know, we will be reviewing, you know, God willing, that we get into government, that we will reviewing all legislation that has to do with any of these agreements that have been drafted, all policy. And it'll be challenging because there's another reality to this, Ben, is that the expectations have been raised so high as far as, like you said, the negotiations start with, you know, here's what we would like, and the government's sort of acquiescing to that.

Just changing that expectation is going to be something that will be a bumpy road. But again, we are coming in with the mandate or we will come in with the mandate of doing absolutely everything out in the open transparently and with the public interest at the forefront. Well, yeah. Well, Scott, we're going to have to leave it there. But before we do, look, everyone, all these ministers take an oath of office. I don't know what it says exactly. If I were an industrious lawyer, I would take a look and see if they were. betraying their oath, I would see if there was any way to legally stop some of this

destructive behavior because it is not in the best interest, clearly not in the best interest of all British Columbians, which I believe they are sworn to govern in favor of and to the benefit of because these guys have to be taught that this is not what we do in Canada. But in the meantime, I do thank you for being here. I hope that your family and your community stays safe. And thank you, Ben, for the opportunity. I hope to speak with you again soon.