The Ben Mulroney Show - Ben fires away on Donald Trump's threats to Canada and Doug Ford's appearance on Fox News

Episode Date: January 8, 2025

Ben fires away on Donald Trump's threats to Canada and Doug Ford's appearance on Fox News If you enjoyed the podcast, tell a friend! For more of the Ben Mulroney Show, subscribe to the podcast! https://globalnews.ca/national/program/the-ben-mulroney-show Follow Ben on Twitter/X at https://x.com/BenMulroney Enjoy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With TD Direct Investing, new and existing clients could get 1% cash back. Great! That's 1% closer to being part of the 1%. Maybe, but definitely 100% closer to getting 1% cash back with TD Direct Investing. Conditions apply. Offer ends January 31, 2025. Visit td.com slash di offer to learn more. We really thought we were going to turn the page on two days of wall to wall Trudeau coverage and focus on all the stories that sort of fell by the wayside over the past couple of days. And then Donald Trump decides to Godzilla his way through our national sovereignty yesterday in a long and meandering press conference where he

said all sorts of oddball things. He said that he wanted to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. He said that he was willing to use force to occupy and take over Greenland. He said he would use force, military force, to reassert control over the Panama Canal. And he said he would use economic force to subjugate Canada, take over our national sovereignty, and have us become the 51st state, whatever the heck that means. It takes such a simple mind, such a simple mind to think that a country as diverse as ours would all fall. I mean, all you got to know is the Quebec of it all, the Quebec, take everything else out of it, the Quebec of it all. You think that you're going to come in

and convince Quebecers to just give up their, their, their, their, their national aspirations and be the part of the 51st state alongside 10, nine other provinces and three territories spanning four and a half time zones. Good luck. But anyway, he said it, so we have to deal with it. That's where we are today. Let's listen to what he actually had to say. of a circumstance would not ever be the 51st. Maybe he won't win, but maybe he will. To Dave's point, you had suggested that you consider when you're speaking to the civil defense, you're considering military force to acquire Panama and Greenland.

Are you also considering military force to annex and acquire Canada? No. Economic force. Because Canada and the United States, that would really be something. You get rid of that artificially drawn line, and you take a look at what that looks like and it would also be much better for national security.

Don't forget, we basically protect Canada. We lose in trade deficits, we're losing mass. We don't need their cars. You know, they make 20% of our cars. We don't need that. I'd rather make them in Detroit. We don't need the cars. We don't need their lumber. We have massive fields of lumber. We don't need their lumber.

Okay, I don't know that anything he's saying is rooted in actual fact, but he's saying these things and so we have to treat them with seriousness. Our prime minister, who was silent for three weeks on the Trump threats while he was on vacation and reflecting and doing whatever he does, came out forcefully against this and been pushed back against Donald Trump via tweet because he said, there isn't a snowball's chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States. Workers and communities in both our countries benefit from being each other's biggest trading

and security partner. Oh, great. David McNaughton, Justin Trudeau's former ambassador to the United States. Let me repeat that. Justin Trudeau's former ambassador to the United States. Let me repeat that. Justin Trudeau's former ambassador to the United States had this to say in response to Justin's tweet.

I don't think it's particularly helpful for Prime Minister Trudeau to be making comments. I think that will simply spur Donald Trump on. And given the fact that the prime minister is stepping down or has stepped down, I think he should leave the field to the premiers and other members of the federal cabinet and the opposition to react to this and he should stay out of it. Think about that for a second. His former appointee who represented candidates interest in the United States is saying to the sitting prime minister,

stay out of the most consequential and possibly existential battle that we as a nation have faced in our history. Now I know it's not gonna happen, but something's gonna happen. And Donald Trump wants to make sure we know it right now. but something's gonna happen. And Donald Trump wants to make sure we know it right now. Pierre Poliev, the presumptive leader of the future,

said this and juxtapose this to what Justin Trudeau said in his tweet. Canada will never be the 51st state, period. We are a great and independent country. We are the best friend to the US. We spent billions of dollars and hundreds of lives helping Americans retaliate against Al Qaeda's 9-11 attacks. We supply the US with billions of dollars of high quality and totally reliable energy well below market prices. We buy hundreds of billions of dollars of American goods. Our weak and pathetic

NDP Liberal government has failed to make these obvious points. I will fight for Canada. When I am Prime Minister, we will rebuild our military and take back control of the border to secure both Canada and the US. We will take back control of our Arctic to keep Russia and China out. We will axe taxes, slash red tape and rapidly green light massive resource projects to bring home paychecks and production to our country. In other words, we will put Canada first. to our country. In other words, we will put Canada first. That sounds like a leader. And I should point out that after Justin Trudeau lobbed his snowball in hell at Trump, Elon Musk decided to troll him and say, girl, you're not even relevant anymore. He actually called him girl. He's an empty suit at this point.

He's an empty suit. The emperor has no clothes. Use whatever imagery you want. He's bereft of vision. He's bereft of power, bereft of authority, bereft of respect. And he has put us in the most uncomfortable, precarious and dangerous of positions.

Rather than do what he should have done, because the people demand it, because he's in a minority setting, because of the internal turmoil of this country and the external threats that we face, he should have called an election. We would be in the frozen election campaign right now. I went online to see how long is the shortest possible election campaign in Canada. 36 days.

36 days. We could have a new government in waiting in six weeks. I don't know how long you got to wait between the time you get elected and the time you're allowed to form your government, but I'm pretty sure that we could shorten that to a few days. So, in six weeks, we could have a new government sitting in Ottawa. Instead, we don't even know if the Liberals are going to have their act together and give us what we need, which is a leader at the top. And let's not forget, under the current rules, non-Canadian citizens can vote for the next Prime Minister. Non-citizens are going to have a chance to pick a leader based on the Liberal Constitution

before you, a Canadian citizen, have the right to exercise your democratic right to go to the ballot box and hold this government to account. It is an affront to all things sane and moral and right. It is a disgusting perversion of our democratic process. It is nonsensical. It is unserious. But you know what? It's the stock and trade of this government. Doug Ford took to American airwaves again last night the Ontario Premier sat with Fox News host Jesse Waters and Jesse who those people have said this about me so I'm gonna say it about him he's got a very punchable face he's got a very punchable face and he knows it and he plays that role very well it's it's smarmy well. It's smarmy and it's goading and he's being very deliberate in playing the role of, I don't know, almost, I don't know, I think he enjoys playing the villain, if that's the right

word. But I have to believe that to a large extent there's an act to it. I don't believe that if I were to meet him at a restaurant, that he would be this guy who's on TV. And he plays it to great success. He had Doug Ford on to respond to Donald Trump's threats of economic force to bring us to our knees and have us exceed to his wish that we become America's fifty first state. Here's what Jesse Waters had to say. Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario, Canada joins me now. All right, premier. By the way, I loved your brother.

We did an interview. Great guy. What's your problem with the United States absorbing Canada? Well, first of all, Jesse, you know, I love the US, I love Americans, and I get it. You know, President-elect Trump is a real estate tycoon. He's made billions, but that property is not for sale. As simple as that. But I have a better idea, Jesse. Why don't we create Fortress Amcan and make sure it's the richest, wealthiest, most prosperous jurisdiction in two countries anywhere in the world.

We have the critical minerals. We have the energy. We have the electricity that America needs. And there's only one place I'd want to sell it to, and that's the US. So Jesse is trying to set a tone for this interview. It's smarmy. I think it's Trying to be light-hearted, but Doug Ford stays on message. He stays on message and doesn't take the bait and as a matter of fact Doug goes even farther and

reminds him, reminds the host where the real threat is coming from and how America, by focusing on Canada, is actually taking their eyes off the prize. You say this isn't for sale, but everything has a price. The million dollar man says that. Can you think of this more as a merger instead of an acquisition? Don't think about being taken over. Think about this as a coming together. Yeah, we can come together on a great trade deal.

We're two greatest countries in the world. Do you know what the problem is? I've lived 20 years in the US. Matter of fact, I spent a lot of time in Philly where you did for seven years and in Chicago. There's not one American that I speak to out there, Jesse, that has a problem with Canada. Do you know what the problem is? China's the problem. China's shipping in cheap parts into Mexico, and then Mexico's slapping a Made in Mexico sticker on, shipping it up through the US and Canada, costing American and Canadian jobs.

And see, that's where I think his leadership on this file is essential. And I want to hear from you at 416-870-6400 or 1-888-225-TALK. You can also text us at 416-870-6400. Look, most Americans don't know who Doug Ford is, and those who know him are probably not following him on social media, but they are watching Fox News. And he is saying something that a lot of Americans don't necessarily know. There's a loophole that allows Chinese companies to go into Mexico, set up a subsidiary, call themselves Mexican, and then take advantage of NAFTA. And after that, our good friend Jesse, you could tell he was getting a little disappointed that Doug Ford was not playing with him,

but was rather playing the role of Canadian ambassador to the American people. And let's finish up with what Ford and Waters had to say. You say that Americans don't have a problem with Canadians, and we don't, but it seems like you have a problem with us. Because if I were a citizen of another country and I was a neighbor of the United States I would consider it a privilege

to be taken over by the United States of America. That's what everybody else in the world wants American citizenship. For some reason that's repellent to you Canadians and I find that personally offensive Premier. Well you know Jesse, we're proud Canadians, just like there's proud Americans. And if we join together and take on the world with a great trade deal between us, I think that'd be fabulous. No one could stop us. Yeah, he didn't take the bait. And you could tell that Jesse turned it up to 11 there near the end. No sane right-minded good-faith observer thinks that Jesse Waters actually believes what he was saying yesterday, but Doug Ford took advantage of that massive platform to advance a vision of

the future for Canada and the United States that I think would benefit all. And as a great man once told me, true leaders convince you that it's not me versus you, but it's us versus the problem. In this case, it's us in Canada versus China. Let's welcome Mike to the show. Mike, what did you think? How did Doug Ford acquit himself yesterday? He nailed it, Mr. Mulroney Jr. How are you? I'm well, thank you. Attaboy. Yeah, he nailed it.

I mean, a lot of people don't realize Doug has a pretty good business experience running his labeling company, but his father left him and all that stuff. He's a nice guy. He doesn't get the credit he deserves, and he stayed on focus. The problem is China, not just with car parts going to Mexico and being re-badged and labeled. They've re-badged a lot of products and we get them here in the dollar stores. That is the biggest problem. The environment, the biggest problem are all the shipping container ships from China going

to Long Beach and Vancouver on a daily basis and through the Panama Canal. That's the pollution in the globe. So he stayed unfocused. I wish Trump would do the same thing or get back on his meds. I don't know why he keeps going on about Greenland and Canada. It's stupid. It's now the jokes over. Yeah, and Mike, I thank you for your call and really great points. It doesn't matter if they're stupid. It doesn't matter if they're stupid. It doesn't matter if he's deranged. People can launch as many insults as they want at Donald Trump.

None of that matters. That is the noise, not what he's saying. Your response to it, your character assassination of him, which may or may not be accurate, what you're doing is wasting time because he's the president. He has a mandate. When he speaks, There are consequences to sit around and, and throw a tax at him. That's the, that's the uselessness in this debate.

You know, you got to remember he gets to say what he wants and what he says will affect markets, will affect jobs, will affect security. He, he moves the needle, criticizing him on this side of the border is useless. You have to engage with him and assume that what he says he means. Let's welcome Daniel to the show. Daniel, I thought Doug a state on message, state on point,

and I thought he did a great job. What do you think? I did as well. Like I told your producer, I think that Doug Ford speaks in reality terms or with sincerity. I've always liked him. He relates to the regular person. And that's why he did well yesterday

on an American television network where he stayed on his message. I mean, he's basically for me right now, the only politician that took Trump's threats a little bit seriously. But instead of attacking Trump, said that you know we can work together with the things that are necessary for us to make work as a cohesive unit especially economically. Yeah you're absolutely right thank you Daniel thank you so much let's say hi to Steve. Steve how do you think uh how do you think what

did you make it yesterday? Well I think he had a good message, but you know, in reality, it's easy to buy a weak company and it's really hard to buy, you know, a performing company, you pay top dollar. And I think, I think Canada is like, you know, teetering on bankruptcy and he sees that advantage. Oh, I, I, yeah. I think, I think you're right. I think he sees us as absolutely weak and he's right. He's right. But these are self-inflicted wounds, Frank. We have, I don't know if we, I wouldn't say we had this coming. We know no country, no sovereign nation deserves

to be dressed down by its closest ally in such a demeaning fashion. But we are not presenting well to the world, my friend. We haven't been for quite some time. And despite warnings by Pierre Poliev and by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and by advocates for a strong military, our government has chosen other priorities for close to a decade and this is what you get. The chickens have come home to roost and the foxes in the hen house and again pick your

favorite imagery. But none of it is good. I think we've got time for one more call before the break. Let's say hi to, oh, no, it is Frank. Frank, welcome to the show. Good morning, Ben. I think Doug Ford is bang on. He's focusing on the positives rather than the negatives

and looking at building and creating economies of scale, both with the United States and Canada. The other great thing about it, what Ford has done is he's keying into Trump's and his allies value system. They've elected or they've appointed or he's going to appoint Senator Rubio as Secretary of State. And Senator Rubio's hawks towards China. So with Ford making comments about China, as he is,

in terms of the advantage they've gained with Mexico, he's actually keen into the Trump's administration, their cabinet and their value system. So I think Trump understands the language and will appreciate it. And that hopefully will get us closer to making a deal with the Americans. Well, I agree with you. And some of it's wishful thinking, some of it's optimism, but some of it's also the belief that cooler heads will prevail. And thank you for your call. If you're on the line, stick around because more of your calls next on the Ben Mulroney show.

We're talking about Doug Ford defending Canada, defending our national sovereignty, defending our value as a honest broker, good faith partner to the United States on Fox News yesterday. I am he has my full throated endorsement for his performance. I think he did a terrific job. Some people feel otherwise. A number of the people on the text line think that he did. He did. He made himself and Canada proud. Loving what Doug Ford had to say to Jesse. You know, there's someone who says Trump is making Trump is proof that anyone in the good old USA can grow up to be a convicted felon. Again, you're just wasting your breath by insulting the man. He's the president now. It doesn't matter.

Doesn't matter what you think of him. You have to listen to what he has to say. And you have to take it seriously. Meanwhile, let's see, let's welcome what Nathan's been waiting patiently on the line, Nathan, welcome to the Ben Mulroney show. Hey, good morning, Ben. Thanks for, thanks for taking my call. I gotta say that I'll make a couple of comments and then hang up. So Doug, Doug Ford, I don't think if he if you had those questions lined up in front of you and you knew what was going to be asked of you, I don't think most people or most scriptwriters could come up with better answers than he did on the spot.

He did phenomenal. He did make Canada proud and he made us look competent. Yeah. And can I say, Nathan, had I been in Doug's position, I would have gotten down in the dirt and fought with Jesse. I could feel my blood boiling listening to him. And so the fact that he kept his cool speaks volumes to his commitment to really get this done in any way he can. Well, it made us again, sound serious. And it made us, in my opinion, anybody who watched that

would have said, hey, you know, we got to a we got a our our opinion of Canada right now is misaligned because I'll tell you when we have a leader who goes who does an interview and says Canada is a post-nation state with no national identity what that tells me is to the rest of the world hey this business is for sale yeah the highest bidder or it's a lot. It's a yard sale. I spend a lot of time down in the States and hockey rinks with my kids. And I'll tell you, I've talked to Democratic and Republican supporters at length, multiple, many times over the last couple of years. One thing that's a consensus down there is that Justin Trudeau is a total cataclysmic

joke. Yeah. Hey, he's a loser. Yeah. Whether you're a Democrat or Republican supporter, they all have the same opinion. Nathan, I'm going to thank you for your call. I appreciate it. And and but you make you make a very good point. Somebody on Twitter yesterday made me chuckle when they said I find it really funny watching all of these people on the left who have been speaking disparagingly about Canada for a decade saying we are colonialist, genocidal, imperialist scourge on the world, all of a sudden rediscover patriotism. All of a sudden this is a country worth saving when for years you have been telling Canadians that everything in our history needs to be dismantled, that every system in place is designed to keep certain people down, where anybody who is

a success in this country did so because they had their foot on the neck of somebody else. But now, because Donald Trump is calling out the failures of your side of the political spectrum, now you're patriotic. That makes me laugh. I'm not laughing right now, but I chuckled. I chuckled for quite some time last night. Let's, uh, someone said, thank you, Ben. Well, you're welcome. Let's welcome Justin to the show. Justin, welcome to the show. What do you think of how things went yesterday? Hey, good morning, Ben. How you doing?

Nice for having me this morning. It seems to me like everything is just kind of up in the air with everything, you know? And especially when we're going into uncharted territory with this guy and his last time in office, office you know it's pretty pretty scary man the guy is like you never know what he's gonna do right so as you know as Canadian as a Canadian that's kind of beyond standby with this it's like what is what is he planning on doing when he talks about the fact that we don't have lumber and we can't provide

I'm pretty sure aren't we like second in the world for oil like yeah producing oil right so like you know we do have something on the table here and I really feel like Premier Ford kind of came out and he was the voice for us yesterday and I appreciate him for doing that. Yeah well I agree with you and yeah we don't know what he's going to do he is unpredictable all the more reason for us to have done the responsible thing, got our house in order and our ducks in a row so that we could have clean hands when we go into a negotiation with them and say, we are, we are committed to our military. We are committed to border security.

We are committed to keeping drugs out of your country and keeping illegal migrants from entering. It doesn't matter whether his perception is a real reflection of reality. If he believes it, then it is so. That's who you have to deal with. We knew who he was from 2016. Why haven't we been prepping for this since 2016? Because our government has had different priorities that have been untethered from the reality of real Canadians and what we need as a country. And now, like I said, we're dealing with the consequences. What did this person said Justin is like a cat. Trump is like a cat and

Justin Trudeau is the mouse and he's gonna bleep with him as long as he's there in the house. Probably probably Hey, Sam, welcome to the show. Today. Welcome. How you doing today? I'm well, thank you. Okay, compliments on how you're hosting the show. Thank you. I like how you didn't allow anyone to name call. It's useless.

It's pointless. I think Doug Ford stood strong. But I think he has to be careful not to poke the bear. Yeah, but I believe that he walked that line very well yesterday. Every time, because he could have gotten into the mud. He could have said, no, Donald Trump is wrong. Instead, he highlighted the positive of our relationship. As I said, good leaders convince your opponent. No, no, we're not opponents.

We have another threat out there. It's China. I'm not your enemy. I'm your friend. And let's go fight the real enemy together. And I think he did a great job. Al, welcome to the show. Hi, Ben. It's a pleasure and honor to talk to you. Thank you. Doing you know, who would have thought that you're so so

engaged and so smart about this, but then you're the Prime Minister's son. So I can promise you being a prime minister's son does not guarantee intelligence. Well, you're you're well read and well researched and it's fantastic. And the thing is, what would your dad have thought about all this mess? What would your dad have thought? What would he have done? Oh, boy, I can't. That's a good question. I can't really speak for him. I think he would, I think he, well, I can promise you one thing.

He would find the power vacuum in Ottawa, the fact that the House of Commons is not sitting, the fact that we're not in an election, the fact that we do not have a government with a real mandate to go toe to toe with Donald Trump for four years. He would find that to be dereliction of duty. And I think most Canadians at this point would agree

that the prorogation was self-serving and cynical and detrimental to our national interest. That's, so I don't even think I'm speaking for my dad there. I think I'm speaking for a great number, if not the majority of Canadians, the plurality of Canadians on that. As it relates to the, you know, the back and forth squabbling and this threat of taking us

over, I think, I think that's a, I think he would think that was a tempest in a teapot, that it's going to require serious people to sit down at a table and have a serious conversation instead of this back and forth on Twitter. But I do believe that he would think that Doug Ford did a great job yesterday. Thank you so much for the call. And thank you for asking my opinion. Doug Ford did a great job yesterday. Thank you so much for the call. And thank you for asking my opinion. At BC Children's Hospital, we believe caring for kids goes beyond medical treatment. We infuse joy, play and compassion into everything we do. Young patients energy and resilience create an uplifting, vibrant environment where both relationships and health care matter. Join us in making a lasting impact where every interaction can help children thrive.

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