The Ben Mulroney Show - Ben goes off on the TDSB's hare-brained idea

Episode Date: March 21, 2025

Guests and Topics: -Ben goes off on the TDSB's hare-brained idea -Carney adds Century Initiative co-founder to Canada-U.S. council with Guest: Davis Legree, Reporter for iPolitics 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

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fan is going to love about Bet MGM. Download the app today and discover why Bet MGM is your hockey home for the season. Raise your game to the next level this year with Bet MGM, a sports book worth a celly and an official sports betting partner of the National Hockey League. BetMGM.com for terms and conditions. Must be 19 years of age or older to wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have any questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you,

please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BedMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Welcome to the Ben Mulroney show. We made it to the weekend everybody. Happy Friday. I'm specifically calling out our friends listening to us in London as well as in Toronto, but that doesn't mean I'm not saying thank you to everyone listening on the iHeart radio app and from coast to coast to coast and hopefully beyond on podcasts, platforms like Amazon, Spotify and Apple. Thank you so much for joining us.

We really do appreciate it. We know that you can do anything with your time. And the fact that you wanna spend some of the time with the Ben Mulroney show, well, that means a lot to us. Something else that meant a lot to me was being able to go to Montreal yesterday for the Canada Post celebration of my father as we unveiled a commemorative stamp of Canada's 18th Prime Minister. And so I was with my family, extended family, as well as a lot of friends and a lot of people for whom my dad meant a lot. And the stamp is beautiful. And I said a few words on behalf of the family.

And it was really nice to do that on his birthday. Really, really nice. And it's a beautiful picture of him. It's a picture that we used, he used as the cover of his memoir. And it's in my head when I picture my dad, oftentimes that's the picture I think of. And so to know that I might get a letter

with one day in the mail with a picture of my dad on it. I mean, that's what I've said. I feel so privileged that he lived such a big life that he keeps popping into mind, even though he's been gone meant a lot. But this is Canada which means there's always you can always expect something to go awry and at one point during the cocktail portion after after the ceremony a person I will not call him a gentleman a person lied about

being a member of the press and gained access to an event to which he was not invited and pursued me with his cell phone in hand in an attempt to get a video putting me on the spot asking me about what he claimed were war crimes by Israel. And I often wondered what would happen if one of these guys accosted me. And it turns out here's what I would do. I snatched his phone away, I tossed it on a chair, and I told him to leave.

He didn't, he got his phone back. And as he was trying to set it up again to record, and I told him to leave. He didn't, he got his phone back. And as he was trying to set it up again to record, I had some choice words for him that were I to repeat them here, I would be fined significantly by whoever decides about those sorts of things. And eventually security came and got rid of him. And that was the end of that. And I have to assume that had he been quick enough

to record it, he would have absolutely posted it. And I'm sure, I'm sure that the Hamas mob online would be coming for me right now. And some of them may be listening right now. I'm sure they'll come for me anyway. I don't care, come for me. I don't care. What I saw yesterday was an example of what we saw on the streets of Toronto a couple of days ago. People who feel that they are entitled to disrupt anything, anytime, whenever they want, because their feelings and their priorities

trump everyone else's. That's it. That's what it is. It's petulance, it's entitlement, it's privilege, if I may say, as somebody who is accused of wielding privilege every day, it is the height of privilege to feel that you can do whatever you want whenever you want.

Okay, I'm accused of that. Oh, I, every job I've ever had, I didn't deserve to have. Any success I have was given and granted to me because of who I am and who my father was. Well, these people, I could say the exact same thing. You feel entitled to do whatever you want whenever you want because your grievance is special. Your grievance trumps anybody else's feelings.

So in that moment in a private event where this guy was not invited, he felt entitled because his grievance trumps our right to enjoy a moment that we organized and that was designed to celebrate a man who accomplished so very much. And I was very glad that in that moment I said what I hoped I would say in one of those moments. And then there you go. That's all I got to say about that.

Let's move on. Mark Carney, our prime minister, was asked yesterday if he's going to call an election this weekend and he played coy. The first person who will know whether the recommendation to call an election it will be the Governor-General as for convention. What's clear, Travis, is that in this time of crisis is that the government

needs a strong and clear mandate. We're offering a positive vision for the country, a vision of action. You can see the action that's happened. I haven't been prime minister for a week yet. And you can see what we've done thus far. We can do even more with that strong and clear mandate to move forward for the country for all Canadians. Yeah, I mean, look, I didn't expect him to say, yes, I'm gonna call it this weekend. I don't have a problem with that.

You're gonna call it. We're gonna know when you call it. And so I believe that it's gonna happen this weekend. I mean, what's he gonna do? What's the alternative? The house is gonna be called, he won't have a seat. What's he gonna watch in a gallery? So prior to that uncomfortable visual

that could probably be used in any number of ways by the opposition to suggest how detached he is, he doesn't want to do that. So I expect it to happen this weekend. I still find it odd. I don't think I mean petty here. Still find it odd that if we are in fact in a crisis, why hasn't he at least called the president of the United States? Like, why hasn't that happened? My cynical contention is because he wants to keep this crisis alive. If there is a remote possibility that you could get a deal, because you, Mr. Carney, have the biggest brain in the room,

you understand markets, you know people, I've seen the interviews that you used to do, because you don't do many now. But if you're the guy, why aren't you dealing with it now? I suspect because you want to make it an election issue. And playing politics with a national crisis is, to me, even more cynical than anything I just said.

It's terrible, actually. It's sad. And I do not believe you should be rewarded for that. Bet MGM is an official sports betting partner of the National Hockey League and has your back all season long. From puck drop to the final shot, you're always taken care of

with a sports book born in Vegas. That's a feeling you can only get with Bet MGM. And no matter your team, your favorite skater, or your style, there's something every NHL fan is going to love about Bet MGM. Download the app today and discover why Bet MGM is your hockey home for the season. Raise your game to the next level this year with Bet MGM,

a sports book worth a celly and an official sports betting partner of the National Hockey League. BetMGM.com for terms and conditions. Must be 19 years of age or older to wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have any questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600

to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. At Desjardins, we speak business. We speak equipment modernization. We're fluent in data digitization and expansion into foreign markets. And we can talk all day about streamlining manufacturing processes.

Because at Desjardins business, we speak the same language you do, business. So join the more than 400,000 Canadian entrepreneurs who already count on us and contact Desjardins today. We'd love to talk business. Welcome back to the Ben Mulroney show. Thank you so much for joining us. So in the waning days of the Trudeau government, Justin Trudeau made a decision that I think a lot of Canadians appreciated, including myself. He put together the Canada-US Relations Task Force, or Council of

Advisors, and it was an 18-person body, included Jean Charest, Rachel Notley, Arlene Dickinson, as well as a host of experts in business and trade and diplomacy. And we had a number of them on this show to get updates as to what the government was thinking and how we were going to deal with this looming tariff threat. Very good idea. And I think in practice, it's been very beneficial. And so when I heard and read that Mark Carney, our new prime minister, has added a new member to that council, it's quite, it should be quite telling.

We should wonder why did he pick this one particular person to add to what was already a really robust stable of talent and influential people. And the person he added is a gentleman by the name of Mark Wiseman. And he's the co-founder of the Century Initiative, which calls for a massive increase in Canada's immigration levels, with the ultimate goal of bringing the country's population to 100 million people by the end of the century. If you had told me that that was the plan 15 years ago, 10 years ago, I would have said,

that sounds like a great bold idea. But given how, how cockeyed our immigration system has been over the past years, I'm not trusting that that's necessarily such a good idea. All that to say, I'm here to learn right now because there's a lot of unknowns to me in this story. So let's bring in somebody who knows more about it, the reporter who wrote the story on I politics.ca David

legris, Davis legris Davis, thank you so much for joining us. Thanks for having me, Ben. Okay, so tell me about the sensory initiative and anything that you might know about Mark Wiseman. Yeah, sure. I mean, I'm not an expert in immigration or population growth, but I think this really took hold because the Century Initiative is such a divisive idea. Like you said, it really gained a lot of support.

Starting over a decade ago, it was founded in 2014 by the man you mentioned, Mark Wiseman, and Dominic Barton, who was actually formerly candidate ambassador to China. And it's really about, it's not just about immigration, it's about building a country, a Canada for the next century, building an economy for the next century. But obviously the big headliner is that number

that you mentioned, which is 100 billion people by the end of the century. Math isn't my strong suit, but I think we're only at 40 million right now, adding 60 million people, that's more than doubling our population over the next 75 years, which is pretty intense and it's very divisive as well. Like you said, there's lots of people who think

that this prosperity is needed, that greater population density can help make Canada a major player on the world stage. But others think, you know, they're making that link between the housing crisis and the health care crisis we're seeing and they're saying, hey, we have a lot of people here in Canada who can't find a doctor, myself included. people can't find an affordable place to live. You know, why do we need to add this many people moving, can't we take care of our own first? So yeah, very polarizing idea and it's very interesting of Mark Carney to bring this guy board. I do think it's important, I don't want to

get lost that this is not a council for immigration like you said, it's Canada-US relations. Mark Wiseman has a lot of expertise, a lot of business acumen. He previously ran the Canadian Pension Plan and Development Board, did the same thing in Alberta. So he does have the resume that stacks up along the who's who of business and trade leaders that you referenced that were already on the council. Just interesting that the government's seemingly getting closer to this century initiative

and they're pro, a massive increase in immigration levels. And look, like I said, I speak with a lot of bluster on this show. And sometimes it's, I think sometimes it's warranted. In this case, I'm not trying to suggest one way or another, that either the sensory initiative or Mark Wiseman should raise red flags. However, given the fact that we have been, we have a housing crisis, we have an the fact that we have a housing crisis, we have an immigration problem,

we have a problem accessing doctors, all that's an education problem. Our social safety net is stretched probably beyond its capabilities to a very large extent. I think it is a good faith question to ask, what resonated with Mark Wiseman that you felt that he was the appropriate person to bring on to this task force? And because look, like I said, I bet you 10 years ago,

you would have found a lot of people who said, you know what, yes, let's ambitiously look at growing this country so that we can compete and we can have the economies of scale that require are required to compete on the globe on a global level. But we have demonstrated over the past 10 years that we haven't been able to grow immigration responsibly, even a little bit. So we certainly should really look at that stretch goal of 100 much more seriously. So I think those are fair questions.

And I don't think anybody should look at them as an attack or an attempt to undermine Mark Wiseman. those are fair questions. And I don't think anybody should look at them as an attack or an attempt to undermine Mark Wiseman. Yeah, I don't think you're alone in that either. I mean, public opinion data, especially over the last year, has shown that more or less Canadians have soured on immigration, which is a big pivot from where we were, you know, historically. Obviously, this is a country that multiculturalism is deeply embedded into our identity. And most Canadians would define themselves as pro-immigration. People understand that the value immigrants bring to this country, both economically and

socially. But yeah, people have seemingly, at least according to the various polls and public opinion data, are starting to make that link between the healthcare crisis and the housing crisis and just the sheer amount of people we have in our country. And that's why you saw last year, Justin Trudeau, in one of his last few months in office, made a massive turn in immigration policy by drastically cutting the level of permanent residents

and temporary residents will be letting in over the next few years. We're talking about hundreds of thousands of people who will no longer be entering the country. Five, 10 years ago, that would have been politically unthinkable because immigration is such, like for all the reasons I just mentioned.

But you really didn't get that much blowback. Most people, the reaction was, yeah, that makes sense. We need to kind of take care of our own and get things sorted out here before we kind of open the taps again. The amount of policy accomplishments that are being touted by the liberals, when in fact what it is is a reversal of their own policies,

is quite is Makes me chuckle to a certain extent It'll be very interesting to follow over the next few weeks, especially during an election campaign I hope you join us Davis again over the campaign so we can get your sense of how it's going But thank you so much for joining us. I would love to, thanks again, Ben, appreciate it. That was Davis LeGrie, a reporter for iPolitics, and he broke a story of a very interesting selection by Mark Carney to add to the Canada-US Council, a gentleman by the name of Mark Wiseman,

who co-founded the Century Initiative, which has called for massive immigration increases to bring the country's population to 100 million people by the end of the century. What I find interesting about this is, yes, there is a case to be made, a good faith case to be made that more, all things being equal, Canada having 100 million people would allow us to compete far more on the world stage, but also trade with each other more internally. You got more people, you can build out companies, you can build economies of scale in a way that you can't

with 40 million people. But given that we've screwed things up so terribly going from what, 35 to 41 million, it really doesn't make any sense to go from 40 to 60. I just don't think that we have the know-how or the ability or the expertise to handle such an undertaking without really screwing up this country further. And so I do think it's incumbent upon somebody

to ask the question to Mark Carney, why did you select this man? As Davis LeGree said, to Mark Carney, why did you select this man? As Davis LeGree said, a great many accomplishments besides this, but why did you pick him? And you know what, if he gives us a good answer, I would move on.

I don't even think that. I don't think that it's that big of a deal. So I wanna move on to another story because there is a story out of Hamilton that as many as 80 Tesla vehicles were damaged at a dealership, defaced, scratched, dented. And this is to me an importing of American outrage towards Elon Musk. It is unacceptable. Yet again, I talked about it in the first segment. It's a group of people feeling that their grievances a

Perceived or real are so insignificant and so special that they have the right to Break the law Infringe on your rights in this case the dealers rights And any and also this nonsense world with no nuance that owning a Tesla somehow means that you wholeheartedly endorse everything about Elon Musk, his priorities, his life, and his relationship to Donald Trump.

It is such a small-minded, childlike view of the world. And of course, the most childlike thing you can do is have a violent outburst when you don't get what you want. But this is just, this is shameful criminal behavior. And I do hope that the police pursue the criminals in this case to the fullest extent of the law. Hey, have you ever wanted to order DoorDash? You want that burrito in the middle of the night, but you know that you can't afford it? Well, now DoorDash is partnering with a loan company called Klarna for deferred payments

in case you need a loan to get that late night food. This is asinine. This is terrible. We already know that DoorDash and the Uber Eats of the World, they are a necessary evil. Like, okay, I need the food. They're gonna deliver it. It's gonna cost me an arm and a leg

so far over and above the cost of the food, but I need it. I can't go get it. If you're somebody who's a hamstrung by no money in your bank account, the last thing you need is somebody telling you, you can pay for it over time. You are far more likely to buy something you cannot afford with this option.

And given the fact that we are in an affordability crisis and the least affordable thing you can do is use one of these delivery services, this is deepening our unhealthy relationship with how willing we are to go into debt. I think this is a terrible idea. I do not see this working out very well in terms of PR for DoorDash or Klarna, but what the heck do I know?

Hi, I'm Donna Friesen from Global National. for DoorDash or Klarna, but what the heck do I know? award-winning global news journalists. New episodes drop every day, so take this as your personal invitation to join us on the Global National Podcast. You can find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you find your favorite podcasts. Welcome back to the Ben Mulroney Show. Time to take it to you at 416-870-6400 or 1-888-225-TALK. If you're like me, you've got kids in the Toronto District School Board.

And every now and then, it's time for parents to mobilize and help raise money for your school. So you might have a bake sale or you might have a rummage sale or there might be a fair where kids, you bring a food truck in. I mean, it can be as big or as small as something for a class or the entire school participates. But in every case, you're mobilized by as a parent because you want to raise money to make your kids' school experience better.

So what would happen if in that exact scenario where there's a bake sale and you spend your time baking cookies and selling cookies and, you know, as a group, you collectively raise, let's say, 1200 bucks. What would you do or what would you think if all of a sudden the TDSB came in and took half of that and Reallocated it redistributed it to other schools that's what's being discussed right now the Toronto District School Board is considering a

Policy change that would force parent councils to donate a percentage of their fundraising money to a central fund that would then go benefit schools in lower income communities. What would you do? I know that I would just do it. What am I going to do? I'm not going to fight it. But while it's being debated, I think it's fair to point out that you are certainly going to lose the enthusiasm

of a lot of parents who would normally go out there and raise a lot of money. If all of a sudden they know that the money that they're raising at their school with parent and student and school participation is not going to directly and exclusively help that school, you're going to have fewer parents wanting to participate. So the entire aggregate number number is gonna go down. And when I read in the Toronto Star that, well, on one side, you got people saying, we need to do everything to stop this craziness.

We're putting a tariff on parent donations. I agree. It's mandatory taxation on parent contribution. My sense, and I want to hear from you at 416-870-6400 or 1-888-225-TALK, my sense is this is a TDSB issue. This is not a parents and school problem. If you have a problem with funding at certain schools, that is a TDSB issue. That is an issue that you can bring up with the province. But these individual events are done because parents are enthusiastically trying

to raise money for their school in their community with which they have a connection. And if you're going to say, we are going to dilute that connection by taking some of the money away, you will have fewer parents showing up. You're gonna have fewer people showing up and fewer people wanting to buy those cookies

and participate in the rummage sale. And for those on the side of this is a good idea, they're saying, we need to normalize a tradition For those on the side of this is a good idea, they're saying we need to normalize a tradition of empathy and giving. Okay, first of all, people are giving enough. That we have less to give. And so what we give is more precious. And if you're saying that you're gonna take some

of the money that's raised that was intended for the school and send it somewhere else, you're going to want to people, people are going to want to give less. And the cherry on top of this, my favorite, is in order to ensure that this program is adequately run and the money is being dispersed where it needs to go, the TDSB is gonna have to hire a bureaucrat at about a hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year. I mean if you don't love that, that's my favorite part of this. A hundred and fifty thousand dollars for a person to make sure that money that my my wife raises at a bake sale is adequately transferred somewhere else. And before someone says, well, what about the students that go to schools where they don't have

these sorts of things? Well, I think there's a number of things we can do. You can figure out a way to increase participation by parents in those areas. But most notably, go to the province and figure out why there is less money there. This is a TDSB issue, not a parent issue. And for trustees to say, well, we just have to figure out a way to make parents a little more generous. Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? You're putting this on the parents? Absolutely not. You don't get to pass

the buck on that. This is your problem to fix. And you don't fix it on the back of a bake sale. James, welcome to the show. Good morning, Ben. Good morning. I was telling your screener, I was telling your screener, um, who even have the school boards or, or the unions or any, or schools ask them parents to do fundraising. We contribute our taxes millions and millions of dollars every single year. Yep. They always ask for more money. So where's the money going? It's obviously not going to the students because the test scores nationwide

compared to other countries is, what are we ranked in the 30s or something like that? Nothing's getting better. James, you asked- They need to get the nerves to ask parents to donate money. Well, here's- Unraised for their schools.

James, listen to this. Where is it? I gotta find it. Oh yes, there's a trustee who said, the goal is to normalize a culture of giving, adding this shouldn't be perceived as punitive. First of all, it's by definition punitive. You're taking money that was earned. And having a giving country and giving citizens, we're a population of givers. Yeah, and shame on this person for implying

that it is their job to normalize a culture of giving. You're suggesting that that culture of giving doesn't already exist. Like enough's enough here. You've come for your pound of flesh and I don't have any flesh left. What do you think? Yeah, go ahead, James. Yeah,. It just bewilders me. Yeah.

For the amount of money, like if you really go and look into it and it's brought up by every single year, if you go and look at the money that they're asking for and the increases that they get every year, my god. I know. It's almost like it's the government. I know. James, thank you so much for your hey let's welcome darren darren is this uh is this an idea that you can get behind absolutely as co-chair of the ontario rural uh school uh symposium we looked at this back at 2016 and breaking down going back to grassroots so my my thoughts and my solutions are break it down, rezone the schools and that's where it starts. How big is the school?

How much are they getting? Oh, and by the way, we wanna make sure every student in Ontario is treated equally, that they have the same opportunity. My point is it needs to be worked in hand in hand with the parents, with the school board, with the trustees, with the government and come up with better solutions that whatever education these kids need, whether it's 150 kids out of school or 1,100, break it down and make sure it's not a cookie cutter solution. But the first thing first is instead of $150,000

spend it your own start making it part of the superintendents, the trustees avenues. Darren, listen, look, I want and I believe every good faith, kind Ontarian wants every school funded at the same level. I mean, I think that should be the baseline. But if a bunch of parents in one area kind Ontarian wants every school funded at the same level. I mean, I think that should be the baseline. But if a bunch of parents in one area want to get together

and have a bake sale or get a bouncy castle for a little school fair so they can raise more money for the kids at their school, I don't think the TDSB should come and say, well, that's not fair. No, no, you don't get to do that. That's money over and above what is allocated for the funding of the school. If you want more funding for the school, go to where the funding comes from. This is not school funding. This is parents mobilizing at the grassroots to help their community. I have no problem with that. Yeah. But have somebody

overlooked that, which is part of the superintendent, they don't have to go, you can't do this, this, this, make sure that both that money that is fundraised is allocated for that specific trip. Sure. Yes. Council or something like that. Yeah. And you don't have to pay that 150,000. It's it's it's collab. It's working together.

Yeah. That's what we need to do. Yeah. And you're right, because it feels here like the TDSB has just decided this is the magic bullet and they're not listening to the people who it's going to affect. And fundamentally, Darren, there's a last thing I'll say and then I'll say thank you. Fundamentally, if they go ahead with something like this, you are going to see apparent participation drop precipitously. We've got a bunch of more calls to get to.

I'm going to ask you guys to hold on to the line. We're going to take a break. Don't go anywhere. More on your calls on this when we continue next on The Ben Mulroney Show. Welcome back to The Ben Mulroney Show and we are talking about what I think is a tone deaf conversation happening at the Toronto District School Board level where they've decided that it's unfair that certain schools get more money from things like bake sales and rummage sales and any sort of parent-led activities that can raise money for that school. It's unfair that they have they get to keep all that money and they want to redistribute that wealth across the TDSB to make

things more equitable, though my words not theirs. I think it's a boneheaded move. And I want to hear what you have to say at 416-870-6400 or 1-888-225-TALK. The first person joining our conversation this segment is Rosemary. Rosemary, is this a good idea or am I off base? I think you are off base. Please tell me why. I think it's a good idea because there are different schools that have access to different opportunities. And if the school board realized that there's certain schools that are benefiting more from certain things, why not even the playing field? So I don't see that there's a problem because there are some schools, they don't have access to certain resources. So there's another

school that's benefiting and profiting more, why not distribute the resources equally? So Rosemary, thank you for saying that. That's a fair point. Let me tell you my interpretation. Bake sales and any of those parent led initiatives, they are fueled entirely by parental enthusiasm. That's it. That's the only reason they do it. They love their kid. They love to see their kid happy at school. They are fueled entirely by parental enthusiasm.

That's it. That's the only reason they do it. They love their kid. They love to see their kid happy at school and they take time out of their busy schedules to participate. And then the parents who come in and spend money at them do so because they love their kid at school.

Their kid comes home from school happy and they want to participate. If all of a sudden you say we are going to dilute the impact of your work, that enthusiasm will go down. It is human nature. So what this is indirectly going to do, actually directly going to do, is it is going to lower the enthusiasm of the parents

and therefore lower the total amount of money raised. And when you tack on $150,000 for an administrator to oversee this wealth redistribution, it in my mind fails before it takes off. What do you say to that? So my, this is my premise. The premise is that the assumption is that those parents love their kids more.

No, that's not the assumption. That's not the assumption at all. That's not it at all. I never said anything about love. I said, I talked specifically about the people who engage. I didn't talk about lack of opportunity or lack of ability on the other side. That's not what I said.

Okay, so let me reframe it then, rephrase it. To my understanding, it's not that some of those parents don't want to do those kinds of activities, but they have other issues that they're dealing with, mental health issues and other stuff that makes them financial issues that they can't even focus on stuff, or lack of knowledge, lack of information, what to do to better off their kids.

You are right. So Rosemary, so Rosemary, so how about this? Let's take a step back from that. How about, can we agree that every school in Ontario should be funded, should have a baseline of acceptable funding? Every one of them should get the same amount per capita per student, right?

Okay, if that's not happening, if there are schools in Ontario where there are people in disadvantaged communities where they do not have the resources required to give their kids the baseline education that every Ontarian is entitled to, that is a fundamental funding issue at the TDSB level or with the Ministry of the Education. That's something that should be addressed there. But my question to you then is the parents that have the opportunity or have access

to the actual funding, do you not think that they have a responsibility, just a question, do they have a responsibility for the other students at the other locations that are not going to access or the resources? The responsibility of the student, the responsibility Rosemary of the parent is to pay the taxes they are told to pay that then goes to fund the schools. That's where their obligation to every student ends. But then my question to you is this, another question. As a parent, because I'm a parent, you're a parent, if you know that you are blessed

and you are able to afford certain things for your kids, and yet in the back of your mind, you know that there's a kid somewhere else, far off, that doesn't have access to half the stuff that your kids have. Do you not then have the empathy of this action? Yeah. To say, OK, you know what? Something needs to be done. And if it's just a bake sale, why not?

Why not just do this initiative to help even the playing field? That's just my question. Yeah, and I take the question. and I thank you for the question. I would say again, I go back to this being a government and TDSB issue. They are the ones failing. It is not a question of the parents who want to help their school somehow being greedy or lacking empathy. That is not, it is unfair and I believe wrongheaded to suggest that if there is a problem in this dynamic, it is the parents who are taking time out of their day to do a bake sale.

That's not where the problem is. It is with the administration of the system that is creating inequity from the ground up. Fix this at the funding level. Don't look to parents to fix a problem that you have the power to fix at the TDSB and government of Ontario level. But Rosemary, I thank you very much for your call and let's let's jump on with Donna. Hey Benny. Hey. I think Rosemary needs to take a chill pill.

No no no no that was a fair that was a fine fine conversation I thank her for it. Okay I respect your thing but you know what you're absolutely right it starts with the board and the trustees. Isn't TDSB supposed to be looking to find money as opposed to hitting on the bake sale of parents. Yeah, it feels like a failure on their part. I have a family member who's a teacher and she has to supply pencils and erasers. The board, they get money from the province.

Where is that money? Why are they keeping it away from the schools? And my daughter has to supply supplies to the kids that eat them up like they're dim bits? Yeah, yeah. Donna, thank you very much. Aaron, welcome to the show. Am I right or am I wrong here? I'm sorry I missed that, Ben. It was a ding there. Oh, is that wondering? Wondering which side of the fence you land on here? Oh, I am totally on the side of the parents here. Like the TDSB, they're just out to lunch,

like what they spent on renaming schools. Yeah, that money could have gone to this. Yeah, like I'm a parent, my wife's a school teacher. Her school is in a, you know, kind of a lower income area and we do lots of fundraisings and you know what, there are families that contribute quite a bit, but it's to make the school better. And there's lots of kids there that come from, you know, come from homes that are needing a lot and we give a lot. So we lift those kids up. So to take that money to give to another school because you're you still feel sorry because their parent teacher council didn't work as hard to raise money as another. I'm so excited. I really love your show. Thank you. I just want to share that with you. Thank you.

Yes, so I'm a member on council at my daughter's school and I've always been over the years an advocate supporter of council. I've always been highly involved and I've been a member on council for about 10 years. I've heard this before in the past, back in 2015. And I guess it's circulating its way back. I honestly don't believe it's the parents responsibility to fund other schools. I mean, I understand the idea of giving and we can all participate in being good citizens and giving to those in need.

But I think there is a misconception around fundraising that it really does create this better advantage for students in certain schools. And I actually don't agree with that. Cindy, I thank you very much. Unfortunately, I've got to go, but thank you all for your calls. I really appreciate it.

There's no limit to how far criminals will go to cover their tracks. But investigators will go even further to uncover the truth. I'm Nancy Hicks, a senior crime reporter for Global News. This season on Crime Beat, I'll take you from the crime scene to the courtroom and inside some of Canada's most high-profile cases and some you've likely never heard of before. Search for and listen to Crime Beat on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and wherever

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