The Ben Mulroney Show - BC's 99 problems and the land claims are more than one

Episode Date: November 7, 2025

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Welcome to the Ben Mulroney show. It's Friday, November 7th. Thank you so much for finishing up the week with us. We hope you started the week with us so we can finish it all together right here on the Ben Mulrooney show. I'm very pleased to have for the very first time on this show, the leader of the Conservative Party of British Columbia. We want to talk about the state of play on so many important files. that sound like they are specific to British Columbia. But if you zoom out, they could have implications across the country.

And before we continue, before I welcome Mr. Rustad, I do want to say that I did misspeak. Actually, I've probably misspoken a few times today, that the BCNDP under Mr. Eby are not in a minority situation. They are one seat above that. 46 is required for a majority. They have 47 seats. So they could fall into that if they lose anyway. But my point was still the same. I don't know that he has the mandate to be saying the things he's saying about pipelines.

And on that note, let's welcome the leader of the opposition, the head of the Conservative Party of British Columbia, John Rustad. Mr. Rustad, thank you so much for joining us on the Ben-Wil-Runey show. Thank you very much for having me on. It's a pleasure to be here. The election from 2024 was something to watch. And it was dramatic. And no one knew which way it was going to go.

and a couple of seats go this way or go that way and you're the one in a majority situation and the NDP are sitting in the opposition ranks and watching the rise of your party is going to be taught in political science classes for years but as you've been as you've been doing your duty as the leader of the opposition what's been your opinion on

on David Eby Mr. Eby's position that no pipelines will go to Tidewater in British Columbia? Well, I think it's an absolutely undefensible position that he's doing. It's ridiculous in my perspective. This is British Columbia's coast, but it's also Canada's coast. And other provinces should have a right to be able to move goods through British Columbia out to tide waters.

And especially when you think about what's going on south of the border, we are selling our oil to the Americans because we have nowhere else to sell it. at a 20 to 30% discount. Yeah. That's like just, we're just giving the Americans $50 to $80 million every single day. It doesn't make any sense to me at all.

We need to get oil out to the coast. And, you know, I think we have the ability to do that. In addition to that, quite frankly, the jurisdiction for actually moving a pipeline through multiple provinces is actually federal, which means David Eby and the NDP actually cannot technically actually stop this project from going forward.

And look, I understand that he's got a base, that is an environment above all else. But he also has, there's a larger base to look at, and that's Canada versus the United States. And six months ago, everybody was supposedly all in this together. We were all rowing in the same direction. And now he's put up not just a roadblock,

but if he were to get his way, he wants to old Yeller our natural resources development. He wants to take him behind the woodshed and call it a day. And I don't understand the motivation. Right. Well, I think it's purely motivation is purely politics from his perspective, but I think we need to think much bigger than that. We do need to think as a country. We do need to fight back against what's going on south of the border. Moving our oil out to the coast is just the right

thing to do, to stop having to pay this discount to the Americans. In addition to that, you know, in British Columbia, most people don't realize we have tens of trillions of dollars worth of natural gas. And because we can't get it out to the coast, we're selling it to the Americans at an 85% discount, and they're in turn then liquefying it and sending it to Asia. It's crazy to think this is where the approach we're taking instead of utilizing our natural resources to bring wealth and prosperity people right across this country. All right. Mr. Rustad, I'd like to move to another topic that is consuming so many of us because it just,

it seemingly popped out of nowhere, and now it's all consuming, and the stakes could have national implications, could have implications for our nation, and that is the land claims, debates and rulings that have come out of British Columbia, specifically the Cowich and Tribe laying claim to property rights in the city of Richmond, British Columbia. And now we're hearing that Camloops, BC, could be in a similar position. And there's an independent MLA in your province who says that we don't even know how many court cases are out there, but it could be in the hundreds. Now, I have no idea if that's anywhere remotely close to being true, but we're also seeing that people are trying to test the waters, land claims, issues in provinces like Quebec.

When you first heard about this initial ruling by the British Columbia Supreme Court, what did you think? Well, I was outraged at this ruling, and I was the minister responsible for Aboriginal relations and reconciliation for over four years. I signed 435 agreements with First Nations, I believe strongly in reconciliation. But we had a rule, which was private property rights were off limits. We needed to be able to protect private property rights. It's the foundation of our economy and it's the foundation of much for our society. In British Columbia, the 120% of British Columbia is currently claimed by First Nations. In other words, with all the overlapping claims, more than 100% of British Columbia. He is under one title claim or another. And many of these are going to

court. I'm sorry, I have to, you got to laugh at it. You got to laugh. How does a, how does supposedly well-read, well-studied, respected jurist make a decision like this that is blowing up in everybody's face? Does anybody believe that we are closer to reconciliation today than we were before this ruling? And the answer is absolutely not. This is a, this is this this BC Supreme Court ruling has put what should be two parties that are looking to find common cause on reconciliation on opposite sides of a table. It's destructive to say the least. You're absolutely correct. I mean, reconciliation in my mind is about bringing two peoples together and reconciling our past. And this will actually create unbelievable divisions.

And I think, you know, when you look back at it, you know, I'm not a lawyer, but I would say this, Private property rights are not protected in the Canadian Constitution. They could have been. They chart. I know they could have been. They could have been. And Pierre Trudeau took them out. I know that.

They were supposed to be in in 1982. And there was a decision not to put them in. And however, indigenous rights are. And so from a purely technical perspective, from a legal perspective, indigenous rights are the priority because they're protected and private property rights are not. However, I think the error that the judge has done here is, did not consider the upheaval as part of our society. When you don't know whether you actually own your property or not,

I mean, you don't know what the value of that property is. How do you get a mortgage? How do you invest? How do you do anything on that is driven by a land base? And so this is what's happened to British Columbia. And I know most of the rest of Canada has historic treaties, but I don't believe those historic treaties actually will hold up in court. Because at some point, there will be a case that will go forward that says,

first stations were taken advantage of 160 years ago and then the rest of Canada is going to be in the exact same position British Columbia is in terms of how do you define and protect private property rights. Yeah, someone's going to point out, look, you as a, you as the newly arrived in Canada, you've been apologizing saying you're on stolen land for years every time you show up at a, at an event, there's somebody who stands up and says, we're not, we shouldn't be here. So at some points, an ingenious tribe somewhere else is going to take it upon themselves to test that in court. And I believe they will be successful in that test.

And that's coming at it from a British Columbia perspective, obviously, but I think, you know, that is the vulnerability we're facing. Well, then what's the solution to this? Yeah, tell me, you read my mind. What's the solution? So the solution is, I mean, we're hoping to be able to put a reference question directly to the Supreme Court of Canada and put that question. Do private property rights extinguish indigenous rights? That doesn't mean there isn't a negotiation or compensation, but it means do we protect the foundation of our economy and our society through private property rights?

And if the Supreme Court agrees, now we know what we need to do, negotiate and away we go. If the Supreme Court doesn't agree and says that, no, no, indigenous rights are a priority over private property rights. Now we have to change the Constitution. But it's important to know just what the difference is here. your private property rights means that you have exclusive use to your land. Indigenous rights also mean that they have exclusive use. They can go on, they can carry out activities, and they can benefit from those lands exclusively.

You can't have two rights that exclusively use private property. And the fact that this mess was caused by seemingly the highest court in the province that is there to bring order speaks to the dysfunction of so many aspects of this country. Mr. Rustad, thank you so much for joining us. I hope it's not the last time we speak to you. Ben, thank you for having me on. I look forward to chatting again in the future. Up next, another BC story that garnered international attention has come to a head.

Welcome back to the Ben Mulroney show. And I want to thank you for listening to the show, engaging with the show, watching the show, because we're on YouTube, we're on social media. We're also a radio show, a podcast. and we are on streaming apps. So wherever you want to find the show, you can probably find the show, and we thank you for doing so. Well, yesterday, the fate of 300-plus British Columbia ostriches

was sealed. After almost a year, they were ordered, destroyed, at Universal Ostrich Farm in Edgewood, British Columbia. The Canadian food, what's the expression? CFIA, Canadian Food Inspection Agency. finally began the process yesterday afternoon. There is some chilling audio, some sad audio, of witnesses, witnessing the moment that the CFIA chases the ostriches into the killpen.

You can hear the yelling as CFIA spook and chase ostriches all around, aiming them into the kill pen. Oh, man, this is gross. Yeah, it does. It's not a good look. And furthermore, the owner of the farm, Katie, Pasitney, was shouting out the names of her ostriches in the hopes of a miracle. They're healthy. They're everything that we have and everything that we've loved for 35 years. They're healthy. Please stop. Canadian Food Inspection Agency, please stop. Please stop. You don't need to kill.

Please stop. It's sad. It's sad. She had hoped for a miracle. She had hoped for the courts to step in. Well, we're going to talk about that because in my estimation, there kind of was a miracle that we're overlooking. We'll talk about that in a second. But how did we get here? That's the question.

In early December, 2024, there was an outbreak of flu-like symptoms. Among the ostriches, 69 of the birds were killed within a few weeks. And so the protocol is the CFIA intervenes, which they did on December 28th, after an anonymous report and verbally imposed a quarantine order. That's the protocol. Then on Christmas Eve, rather, samples from two carcasses test positive for H5N1 avian influenza that the bird flu. And CFIA issues a cull order for the remaining approximately 400 birds, and that was supposed to happen by February 1st. So all of this is by the book, right? This is, and this is what you would want your government to do.

This is why you have government. If there is, if there is an avian flu, a possible avian flu outbreak, these are the protocols you take to ensure that it doesn't spread. However, the court cases, and we won't get into all of them, appealed and delayed the Cullen, most recently the Supreme Court of Canada, issued an interim stay while considering a final appeal, but ultimately refused to hear the case in, November, removing the last legal barrier.

And this is really the reason why. Yeah. So they argued that the flock showed no symptoms, right? Yep. And they developed a herd immunity. Yeah. And that to me is, if you're looking for the miracle, that, I don't think it's a miracle, but if we're speaking in that language, that to me seems pretty miraculous.

A lot of people are scratching their head saying, wait a second, why are they all still alive. And and so the argument is let's study these guys. This is a dangerous flu

that can affect the food supply. It can affect the health of humans as well. This is a, we've gone through a pandemic. We know what can happen when a flu or flu-like symptoms are not taken seriously. And so

we have an opportunity to learn more about these illnesses that we do battle with. That's what those who were supporting the ostriches were saying. And I don't know enough about this to have an overly strong opinion. I'm not attacking the government and I'm not endorsing the position of the owners of the ostriches. But my instinct tells me if all of them were supposed to show symptoms or a great many of them were supposed to, and none of them did, that seems like an outlier situation that, why wouldn't we study it?

Yeah, you have to wonder. I don't think a lot of the support became, was because of that. I think, I always found it a little weird because you did have support from these big names than the states, international support. Yeah. Were really, you said,

RFK, RFK Jr. and Dr. Oz. And they wanted to put some of these, birds, put the birds in some specialty area to be able to, a reserve of some sort. Yeah. And save them. Yeah. And where they could be studied.

So we could learn about, I mean, if we can understand why these birds exhibited herd immunity, maybe there can be a carryover to humanity as it relates to other flu-like problems. And so this went all the way to the Minister of Justice, Sean Fraser. And here's what he had to say. Look, we obviously are pleased to see the decision of the Supreme Court. It's important that the Minister of Agriculture and CFIA are able to protect the health of the general Canadian public and of the food that we consume in the poultry industry as well. This is a decision that is following the science and evidence.

Science at Evans. But see, that's the problem that's sticking in my head. And again, not married to this. I haven't thought enough about this, but the behavior of these ostrich seems to defy the science, which is maybe why we need to check the science. Have they tested them recently? No, they haven't. That's the thing. They don't want to do it because that's not the protocol. But you're the guys who are in charge of the protocol. You can change the

protocol. I hate it when people say, oh, I can't do X, Y or Z because of the rules. It's like, but you are the person who makes the rules. You can change that rule. That rule only exists because you say it exists. So now in your mind, just say it doesn't exist and we can move on. How could we possibly change an amendment? Well, the definition of amendment. But look, you have to respect that these guys have a very serious job. CFIA said that maintaining, allowing the flock to remain, raised risks to animals in human health, as well as to trade.

And this is the big thing, I think. Yeah, trade Canada's poultry industry fears export barriers if the disease spreads. I take that point. It's a fair point. It's an important point. It's an issue of economic livelihood for more than just this one farm. The implications are far broader. But can we not come up with a way to quarantine these ostriches away from any way of contaminating the poultry supply?

Well, if you think about it, over the last year, they have been quarantined. They've just been on this farm. They've been surrounded by the CFIA. People, neighboring farmers, and people have been taking an interest in this. I've been watching them. They have been allowed in through the, they've been blocking the roads. It's been, it's been quite the story. Well, it's, this is where it ends because the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has custody of the birds and is stated it is moving forward with the complete depopulation and disposal, which is a heck of a euphemism, of the estimated 300 to 330 remaining ostriches.

And look, this story means a lot to people. And so for no other reason, I think we have to share this audio. I don't want to, but people have been very passionate about this story. So we're going to end the story with the end of the story. Listen to this is from this. These are the noises that we heard at 610 Pacific. The first gunshot, gunshots were heard. It's all the shots that they've done.

I'm sure. They're all. Are you serious? After they're done shooting. It's exactly what they're doing. It's a gift game. Come, your evil lips. Yeah, you can hear them?

Yeah, and there's, can I say, like, obviously I feel for the ostriches, but I feel bad for the person who's job it is to stand their lives. Like, that's, that's, that's not what you, that's not what you signed up for. I know it's part of the job, but it's not what, it's not what gets you out of bed every day, at least you better or not. Was that the best way to do it? I mean, I don't know. I don't know.

It's just not, it's an icky story. I just don't know that we really thought outside the box to come up with a solution that could have satisfied some. This feels like it satisfies no one except the government. I'm not, I feel, I just feel bad sharing this story, but it's important. We've had so many passionate people reaching out to us saying, talk about this story. A lot of them. And this has garnered international, claim international attention. I don't know. I'm sorry. I'm sorry about that. That makes me feel bad. Up next, I put my two.

Yes, that's right. Say it. Up next, I put my two-week losing streak on the line and is this BS or is it real. I've got to start writing these. Let's face it, finding your next favorite podcast can be tough. But that's about to change. Curious Cast Discovery is the destination for award-winning podcasts from true crime and history like crime beat. Documentaries like Stop, Rewind, The Lost Boy, music with Uncharted, and even the paranormal, like Dead Man's Curse, all 100% ad-free for less than the price of a coffee. Curious Cast Discovery, available now on Apple Podcasts for just $4 a month. Welcome back to the Ben Mulroney show. We're going to slough off that last segment, and we are,

going to walk in the sunlight with a fun segment we like to do every Friday because it's Friday. It hit me about an hour ago that it's Friday. I think my body and my mind realize, ah, yes, I see. Yes, it is the end of the week. And the tank is almost empty. But not before I restore order to the universe. I'm locked in a battle that's a battle in the mind of my producer each and every week. It's not just in my mind. I think he sees himself as Luke Skywalker and me is Darth Vader. I don't know what it is. But every week in the segment we like to call is it BS or is it real, he gets chat GPT to do his work for him and come up with, sadly no. Come up with some fake stories and then he calls some oddball real

stories out of the news. We get Dave Bradley in the newsroom who sounds, I have it sounds everything he sounds says, he says with authority. Hey, the fake ones here, I wrote all myself. Oh, you did, did you? Oh, yeah. This is the first time? No. Second time, maybe. But I'm telling you, no, the fake ones here? Yeah. All right. So anyway, so this is how it works.

Dave Bradley reads the stories that have been given to him by Mike Droulet. And I have to determine with my keen sense of observation if they are real or if they are not. And you can play along at home. Just be warned that off the top of this segment, as soon as I'm done talking, you're going to hear some bad words. You're going to hear some words that got us all in trouble when we were kids. Just get over it. All right. With that, on that note here, it's time.

for is it BS or is it real? See, now that's some bullshit. This is bullshit. Man, this is some bullshit. You want answers? I think I'm entitled. You want answers. I want the truth.

You can't handle the truth. You are fake news. All right, here we go. Let's jump right in with story number one. YouTube megastar Mr. Beast is opening his own theme park, but fans will have to travel to Saudi Arabia to visit. visit it. Opening November 6th in Riyadh, Beastland, will feature rides and games inspired by his viral videos, including catapult challenges and trapdoor competitions, plus what he calls the

world's largest prize wall. Mr. B. says he chose Saudi Arabia to reach his huge Middle Eastern fan base, adding that he wanted to create a park, he'd actually want to play it. Okay. Normally I watch Mr. B's videos with my kids. and by the way he's technically I mean he's technically not Mr. Beast the channel's Mr. Beast his name is Jimmy so normally I watch those videos with my kids but I've been busy recently

and I have been derelict in my YouTube viewing with my kids so I might have missed this I might have missed this I didn't hear this I haven't heard anything of this I would have expected that something like this would have popped up on my feed maybe actually maybe

maybe it would have popped up on my feed at least on Twitter right like the news of this and it's opening in November it's opening now yeah it's exciting stop it it's BS it's fact ah you got me you really you got me there you got me there that was really good that was maybe that was really well done that was really well done I can't believe that this is real uh I can I can't why would you have this in Saudi Arabia no well he's he's a global star they probably paid him exorbitant amounts of money to do it there maybe there's no

safety lines or anything like that I doubt that. No, I doubt that. But listen, they probably brought in temporary workers that didn't pay a whole lot to build it. So, yeah, I think, yeah, I think that's totally, yeah, absolutely. This is part of his takeover the world. That's cool. I mean, I wish I could take my kids there, but we're not going to Saudi Arabia anytime soon. All right.

So I'm in the hole already. Let's go to story number two. In China's version of a dating app, only offline, hundreds of parents gather every week. weekend in a Chongqing park to find love for their single adult children. At this so-called marriage market, retirees display printed resumes listing everything from height and salary to homeownership and even parents' pensions. With China's marriage rate at a record low, these anxious moms and dads swap wee-chat contacts and prop-up profiles on umbrellas hoping for matches their children often have little interest in. Few pairings actually result, but the event

Endurers, part matchmaking fair, part social club for worried parents. And you are going to commit to the statement that you wrote every word to yourself this week of the ones that were written? Yes. Correct. Okay. Okay. Well, that one child policy in China really F them up because it threw the gender balance out of kilter. And there are far fewer women there than they need because you weren't a, they didn't want you to have. girls. And so now there's a whole bunch of dudes chasing far too few girls, women. So, and

it sounds like it, it sounds like a news story. Now you have written news stories in the past? Yes, one or two. I'm going to say it's true. It's real. A similar event did take place. Yes. Yes. And he's back

ladies and gentlemen. back back back back back i'm i'm hitting 500 right now okay uh yeah that that that made a lot of sense to me and made a lot of sense this is this is this is the you re put you sew and if all you sew is men that after when those it's time for those men to get uh married and there are no women around unless unless you know unless unless unless it's it's not going to end well for the guy wants to get married okay let's move on to story number three production on the Mandalorian and Grogu reportedly suffered a double disaster last week when the beloved Grogu Animatronic was damaged. Its backup puppet turned out to be unusable after someone allegedly stole its ears for a Halloween costume.

According to on-set sources, the main $2 million-dollar Grogu puppet was dropped during a stunt sequence, bending several internal servos. When the crew attempted to swap in the backup unit, they discovered the silicone ears had vanished. apparently taken by a co-star not Pedro Pascal who assumed the spare would never see the light of day. Okay, so for this

for this to be real, well first of all, if this is real, then that's three real ones in a row, which I think is what he's banking on. It's really specific. Like, really specific. And again, I keep going back to if he wrote it himself,

that's what I'm getting at here, Canada. He wrote it himself, every word he says if it's real if it's fake I don't see you writing this I don't see you writing this I'm gonna say it's real

I'm gonna say it's real damn it huh really uh you you wrote every word here I wrote every word of course I know how to write I know you do

I know you do. I just didn't think you could write in the entertainment world. I wrote with it in every world. All right. All right. I'm learning more about you every day. You're psychotic in various fields. Thank you. Yeah, okay. Okay, let's go to story number four. A 42-year-old man who had just moved to Alliance, Ohio, was arrested Friday. After robbing a bank of about $400 in $1 bills, the city's first bank robbery since 2010.

Police say Juwan L. Mason, originally from Akron, claimed to have a weapon before fleeing on foot but was quickly found nearby with the stolen money after changing clothes. Mason, who has a lengthy criminal record, was taken into custody with an incident, but he reportedly asked officers to deposit the stolen cash into his jail commissary account. I mean, I love stories of stupid criminals doing stupid things behaving stupidly. I'm going to choose to say this is real. It happened. This one took place. That one was so dumb. I know.

Listen, we've got to get right to the last one here because we're up against the clock. So it's the rubber match. Let's go. Japan has deployed troops to help contain a surge of bear attacks in the northern prefecture of Akita, where encounters with brown and black bears have left more than 100 people injured and 12 dead this year. The bears, forging for food before hibernation, have been spotted near homes, schools, and train stations. soldiers are setting traps and assisting hunters but not permitted to shoot the animals.

Officials blame the rise in attacks on a growing bear population and a shrinking aging rural workforce, leaving few trained hunters to manage the crisis. This one sounds like you wrote it. So it's BS. Is it possible this story is true? Yes, it is. Damn it. There is a, it's, wow, we know that there's a shrinking population because,

of the bear attacks. I don't know what's going on here. I don't like it. I don't like it one bit, Canada. Okay, enough of you. Enough of you. Act like you've been there before. I hope our listeners at home got more right than Ben.