The Ben Mulroney Show - Ben sits down with Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie

Episode Date: February 25, 2025

Guests and Topics: Ben sits down with Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie Guest: Bonnie Crombie, Ontario Liberal Leader 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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And in just two days, this province will be going to the polls. Actually, most of us, I think only 6% of us used, availed ourselves of the advanced polls. So a lot of people still to vote in this election where Doug Ford and his progressive conservatives are attempting to get a third consecutive majority, but not if my next guest has anything to say about. Please welcome to the Ben Mulroney show, Bonnie Cromby, the leader of the Ontario Liberal Party. Good morning, Ben. Good morning. Love that

music. That really pumped me up. Yeah. Bonnie, like this is the sprint at the end of the campaign. It sure is. How do you feel right now? I feel really good. I mean, it's been an incredibly short, fast campaign, but we are breaking through. We are resonating. I can feel the momentum, the wind in our sails. I hear it at the doors, everyone I meet that goes, come on, you keep going, girl, you got this. So, you know, that's why I'm asking people, I ask them every day, do you have a family doctor? And if the answer is no, I said, well, the only,

the only choice you have is to change the government. And the only way we're going to change the government is to vote Ontario liberals. We're going to get into all of that stuff in a moment, but if you had your druthers, you will be elected the premier of this province. And your counterpoint in Ottawa would be, according to these reports, Mark Carney as federal liberal leader because you are set to endorse the man. So yes, I think we need a strong leader right now, decisive, someone with a lot of experience with

respect to the economy. And I think Mark is that man. I think he's the guy that will stand up in the face of tariffs with Donald Trump. But yet he's the guy who'll also get the basics right at home here for people in Canada. And that's so important to me to get the basics right for people. So it's my team and his team have worked together in the past, as you well know, we have supported each other and I want to thank him for his support of me and my campaign and what we're trying to accomplish here in Ontario. Well, you've criticized the previous government about the reason for this election and focusing on Donald Trump,

but if Trump is taken at his word, tariffs are coming. So whoever forms government is going to be thrust into it immediately. How do you handle Donald Trump differently or better than Doug Ford? So it starts with having started seven years ago when you first get elected and having a plan to deal with bolstering our economy and diversifying our economy not putting all our eggs into the EV basket. Let's start there and now we see the Stellantis plant potentially closing in Brampton. That's 2200 jobs. So where did we insulate the economy and diversify it?

What about our trading partners? How what could we have done better? What about breaking down inter-provincial trade? You know that Jason Kenney, when he was Premier of Alberta, tried to get the other Premiers onside and the one holdout was Doug Ford. So we could have been trading with other provinces, but that didn't happen. But with respect, Bonnie, I'm asking what you would do differently, not all the stuff that's not been done right in the past. You know, we need a strong, united approach with our federal government. We need to be there for them. And we need a lot of patriotism right now and to stand up.

But we need to buy local. Like yesterday I was speaking with the folks in Hamilton, and local procurement is so important. We need to buy Ontario produced steel, go, you know, Hamilton steelworkers, of course. So we have a different approach, but Steel workers, of course. So we have a different approach, but a united team Canada approach is what we need right now all the premiers to come together and believe me, there's not a premier in Canada who would choose this moment right now to have called an election, they need to have their foot on the gas, they need to be prepared, they need to be at their desk working to protect

jobs not just their own job, Ben. One of your promises on the campaign was to install safety barriers at every TTC subway station in Toronto. Now you've promised the details in the fully costed platform. I don't see the specifics yet. The reason I ask is that John Tory in 2018 said that it would cost Northward of a billion dollars and that was seven years ago. So I'm assuming after seven years that cost has doubled, maybe tripled.

And I like the idea. I've seen it in Japan, for example. But for us to retrofit the entire TTC would be a really tall mountain to climb. So what we're talking about is safety and security, right? And we know that violent crime is up about 350% since Doug Ford took office. We see carjackings and home invasions, violent crime generally, and we see a threat on the subways.

People don't feel safe riding the subways, late at night or early morning. It doesn't matter. So yes, we need to make that kind of investment. And what would that investment be? What's the number? You know, it's a phased in investment and my, my take of it is about 35 million a station, by the way, and you would do, you know, it's a phased in investment and my, my take of it is about 35 million a station, by the

way, and you would do, you know, young and bluer, and then you would do Scarborough and you would roll that out over time, but it needs to get done. And I think everyone agrees with me. They, they want more to feel safer and more secure on the, on the subway system here in Toronto, put up those barriers, have those security individuals walking through the

subway cars. I mean, we, we security individuals walking through the subway cars. I mean, we've all ridden the subway, you know, it doesn't feel safe anymore. Life doesn't feel safe anymore. I'm glad you said that because that dovetails right into my next question. The city doesn't necessarily feel as safe. And one of the reasons I believe is the incessant threat

that a protest, Hamas protests could pop up at any point. And one of the things I like in your platform was that you would ban organizing, participating in hate motivated activities or protested in site violence or intimidation within a hundred meters of the property line of any vulnerable social infrastructure. Used examples of places of worship, schools,

childcare centers, hospitals, all great ideas, I think. We saw protesters this weekend try to intimidate Bill Blair at his residence. Now how would you... It's just so wrong. And the frustration, Bonnie, is we feel that there might be some sort of plan by the city to tell the police, back off, we don't want you to do too, too much here. How would you communicate your priority to the city? So look, tone at the top, right?

We have to make a firm stand against hatred, against anti-Semitism. We need that bubble legislation. I think it's so important. People need to feel safe in their place of worship. Bottom line, they want to go into their into their mosque, into their synagogue, into their church and feel safe that they can go in and pray without threat. And that is vitally important. And I think it's the same of individuals at home and Bill Blair shouldn't be facing that. Okay, so I don't know much about a budget and I'm not a politician, but I am in communications. And so I want to talk to you about a head scratcher that I heard from you a few days ago when you said you'd be open to working with the NDP in a minority government situation.

I never said a thing like that. Come on, come on. I didn't get it. If I'm part of your team or if I'm on team Bonnie, and I'd say, well, I'm sorry, I thought we were playing for first place here. We absolutely are. We were in it to win it.

Let's start right there. You know, you watch hockey, look what happens in the last minute of play. You watch football, how many touchdowns in the last minute of play? We are playing to the very end. We are in this to win this. But why answer that question, Bonnie? Why not say I'm focused on winning this election?

I am focused on winning this election. I don't know what context that was taken out of, but we are focused to win. I feel it. I feel it at the doors. I feel it on the streets. We have momentum. We have them. And you know what? The only way we're going to accomplish what we want to accomplish is to welcome people from other parties who may have voted for another party

in the past. Lone us your vote this time if you want to have a family doctor. If you want tax cuts, you got to vote Ontario Liberal. And so that's my pitch to everyone today. But how do you square that circle that you're willing that you're because you're pitching a centrist message that should appeal to the meat of the order right in the centre and then to say, and but we'd be willing to work with the leftist NDP. We've seen it play out in Ottawa. Yeah, we need everyone. People do not like that. But that's the specter people don't want. I'm telling you the messaging

is no good. It's no bueno, Bonnie. I think it was I think this out of context Ben honestly we need everyone to come together for sure right? It's a centrist message so every anyone who has voted for another party there are liberals that may have voted for another party You need to come back. This is the time if you want tax cuts you want a family doctor If you want to reduce wait times in hospitals, we need to change the government The only way we're going to change the government is if we all come together and we all vote Ontario Liberal on February 27th. So you just mentioned the doctors and you've been very vocal about connecting two and a half million more people with a family doctor. You said it could be accomplished in four years,

but unless we have those people in the pipeline, that can't happen. Yeah, no, no, we have a plan. So where are those people? Because you can't happen. Yeah, no, no, we have a plan. So where are those people? Because you can't just divide them. Yeah. No, I got a three-prong approach. One is to attract, retain, retain more doctors. The other one is to ensure that we have the capacity, the operating, that hospitals are

paid their operating costs and more nurses and PSWs that are paid a living wage inequitably and that we fund mental health and that's so vitally important for our young people. But so the doctors, we got them in the pipeline, we got to double the residency programs, we got to double the number through the mentorship program called Practice Ready Ontario. We got to keep people in place who are about to retire and attract docs back from other disciplines. And you know, attract our young people who have been trained abroad. Bring them back. They have no path back because the residency programs are half the numbers that they are in other provinces. I can't tell you how many doctors I've heard who've left this

province for Texas. Right. You gotta pay them properly, Ben. But our dollar is in the tank compared to the United States. So how, that retention thing, I don't understand how we can get there. We can't compete on price. Yeah, so they want to be here because this is where they grew up and this is where their families are. It's the best country in the world. We're going to bring them back. You know, we got to pay them properly. That's number one, we got to pay them properly.

And I have an incentive plan. It's a kind of a little patriotic plan right now. I'll pay your moving costs to come back $150,000. Come back to Canada. Maybe you're in Detroit, come back to Windsor. Maybe you're in Buffalo, come back upstate New York, California. I don't care. Come back to Canada.

We need you here. Bonnie Crombie, the Ontario Liberal Leader, two days out from the election. Thank you so much. Don't go anywhere. We've got more with Bonnie Crombie after the break on The Ben Mulroney Show. Welcome back to The Ben Mulroney Show. So happy to have Ontario Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie in studio with me today. Two days out from the election. I appreciate your time. I appreciate you coming in and answering my questions. I like to think that the questions

I asked are the questions that matter to our listeners. And so thank you so much. Right before the break, we were talking about the liberal plan to add more doctors into the system. You also touched on how you want to make mental health eligible under OHIP, which I think is a laudable goal. But we've got to talk about the cost of something like that. Because when you, when my contention is that for those people have to pay out of pocket for it, they'll grin and they'll grit and bear it, which means we don't know how many people are suffering. They're suffering in silence.

That's right. And so if all of a sudden you open up the floodgates and say it is now covered by OHIP, the number of people and the number of claims could triple. Look, so a couple things. Obviously there'll be some strict parameters about how many visits you get, et cetera, but look at what's the cost of not doing it

is the bigger question here, Ben. And I look at our young people and they seem to be disproportionately suffering with anxiety and mental health issues and eating disorders and, and drug addiction, quite frankly. And we need to ensure that they get the counseling, the treatment and the help that they need. It's so vitally important.

And you well know that I'm personally affected by this. I was a young child and my dad, my biological father, had some serious addiction, I'll call it alcohol addiction issues, but his life spiraled and it took him away from me and my mom and you know he spent the latter years of his life at the Seton house and thankfully he had some supportive housing. It's a men's shelter in Toronto and they gave him the counseling and the treatment and recovery. So I know how vitally important it is for people to get that kind of treatment. People who want it can't get it. There are long

lineups at facilities and they can't afford, many can't afford to pay for it themselves in private clinics. So yes, we absolutely need to do it. Mental health is health care and should be covered under OHIP. And so how we would structure it is if you don't have a package offered by your employer, and I think most people don't, we will provide you with some counseling and some... Is there a cost associated with this? It's about a billion dollars once it's up fully running, right? And we know money exists

because we know the federal government transfers money in for health care etc and it gets put into general revenue and never used for health care. So absolutely the money exists in the system and is vitally important. The cost of the economy I would argue is greater. Look at the effect on our young people. Even eating disorders as well. The young people are the concern. They are the iceberg, right? That's right.

Because if the polls are to be believed, the surveys and studies are to be believed, the younger generation, those that are in high school right now, they are the ones, it's the highest rates of anxiety. It's anxiety, right? It's suicide rates among young people. And here we see, you know, they have the highest unemployment rate too. And you've got to wonder, they

don't have opportunity on the other end for jobs. But maybe many of them are crippled with anxiety and other mental health issues too. Now you say you'll fund some of these promises by finding $7.1 billion in savings, value, efficiency, and reallocation of existing spending, but there are no details. So how are you sure you're going to find these? So our program is is is really affordable. It's nine billion dollars net new. So yes, a lot of it is

reallocation of money that's there now. Obviously there won't be any waste like there is today. Now I'm a mayor of a former mayor of a city that found five million in savings every year. I know how to look for more efficiencies. We'll have an office of cost control that will analyze, you know, look for efficiencies and programs. You're gonna have your own dose. I'm gonna, but listen, we're not gonna give away two billion dollars to a foreign-owned spa, right? We're not gonna spend two billion to expedite the sale of beer and wine or even give you a $200 pre-election check that cost us $3 billion. There's seven right there, Ben, seven billion right there.

Where do you see, is there a role for technology in government where it doesn't exist yet? AI is going to play such a huge role, we can't even define what that's going to look like right now. It's going to take many jobs too. So we have to ensure our young people are trained for the jobs of tomorrow. So yes, I've committed as well to fund our colleges, our universities properly, build 90 new elementary and post secondary schools, you know, hire more teachers to a one year teachers program, get those special ed teachers in the school and pay them properly for goodness sakes, and even offer a lunch program for our young people. When governments have been in power as long as Doug Ford's government has been, there's a lot of targets there.

It's a target rich environment for its critics. Is there any, are there any key policy initiatives of the previous Doug Ford governments that you would unwind? Well so many of them, right? But at the same time, I've been told you need to build on what exists. You know, there are health care measures in place that are not well thought through, but why reinvent the wheel if something's working? Invest in it, fund it properly to make it work.

Like, our hospitals are working well. They're just underfunded. And, you know, we could find some efficiencies there as well we need to hire more doctors we well know nurses and PSWs and pay them properly the reality is we need to focus on the basics so it's our health care it's finding family doctors reducing wait times in our hospitals it's hiring teachers right it's getting our education system which is crumbling up to speed it's making life life more affordable for people. You know, this government's platform does nothing to make life more affordable for people and we're offering tax cuts. We're going to take the HST off home

heating and hydro. That'll put $1,150 back in your pocket. That's huge. And we'll build housing that's affordable. They started out, listen, even as a former mayor, I was excited about one five million homes we're gonna build. We haven't done it. We built more homes in 1955. Their record is abysmal. Let's focus on that and how do we improve it? And I would of course remove the development charges, which are those hidden taxes, which will save you $170,000 in the price of your home. I'd cancel the land transfer tax if you're a first-time home buyer, senior or a not-for-profit. That's another $13,000 and the price of your home a cancel the land transfer tax if you're a first-time homebuyer a senior or a not-for-profit That's another 13,000. We're gonna make building more affordable and we're gonna make the price of a home more affordable for people

But with respect Bonnie I they've been in power for eight years Is there are there any policy specific policies that the that the Tories have enacted over the past eight years that or six years? That you're right. Oh, seven years. Yeah. Seven, right? Seven years, but any specific policies that you,

on day one, you're coming in and saying, no, we're getting rid of that. That was not good for Ontario. Well, we're getting rid of a lot of it. I mean, this abuse of the notwithstanding clause, let's even start there. And the waste, the giveaways to, you know, when you look at, even look at their platform,

it's all to do with rich insiders lobbyists everything is about big business I'm about the small businesses you know let's give them the tax cut to keep them going not like these big corporations that are always seem to be profiting the big box the multinationals you know those US and other foreign-owned companies let's eliminate all that all that you know the those US and other foreign owned companies, let's eliminate all that, all that, you know, the waste going to these big companies that have been prioritized, the rich insiders that are that are profiting.

We're all hoping with the exception of some true believers that the carbon tax will go the way the dodo bird have the next federal election, we will see some savings there. But the progressive conservatives have committed to permanently cut the provincial tax on on gas, saving another 5.7 cents per liter, would you commit to doing the same? They could have done that long ago. And let me just be very clear about the carbon tax. I, I do not support a carbon tax. People are struggling. You know, I watch them, they can't pay

their, their rent and buy groceries and their cell bill, cell phone bill all in the same month. This is not a time for a new tax on people. So I have committed there will be no carbon tax. We will not tax consumers, right, or farmers for that matter, but we will make big polluters pay at the end of the day. Okay, so I wasn't clear on the answer, gas tax. Yes, we could easily make that permanent. It's a needed source of revenue for municipalities. Most of them put it into their public transit infrastructure. So I'm confused.

So you could get rid of it, but you're not going to. No, I said we would. Oh, you would. Okay, okay. Then my fault. I apologize. Last question, Bonnie, you have the ear of a large number of voters. We would continue to cut the gas tax. You would continue?

Keep it in place. You and I are looking at each other, eyeball to eyeball, and not understanding each other. I heard we would continue with the gas tax. Okay, you will continue to cut the gas tax. Very good. Last question, because you got a lot of Ontario listeners right now. Why should Bonnie Cromby be the next Premier? You know, Bonnie Cromby is someone who believes we need to get the basics right. We need to have a strong response federally

to our federal government and to the response that's needed south of the border. But the reality is we need a Premier who will do that and get the basics right for people. People are struggling in Ontario right now. Two and a half million people don't have access to a family doctor. Our wait times in hospitals are 20-22 hours long. People don't find life affordable. I always ask them is your life more affordable under Doug Ford? The answer is clearly no.

We're going to cut their taxes. We're going to take the HST off of home heating and hydro and that'll make their life more affordable by $1,150 every single year and we're going to build homes not just tall and sprawl homes that are affordable for people to buy our young people like my own children who said you know mom we married we want to start a family we can't afford a home the seniors who need to downsize take care of our seniors so if you're if you want a family doctor if you want some tax cuts, you want to make life more affordable,

then you got to vote Ontario Liberals. The only way we're going to get those things is if we change the government. We have the wind in our sails, we have the momentum. I'm asking, you may have voted for another party in the past. Please vote Ontario Liberal on Thursday, February 27th. Bondi Krombe, Ontario Liberal Leader. Thank you so much. We really appreciate you coming in and spending two segments with

us here on the Ben Mulroney show. And you got a couple of days left. So we're gonna let you get to it. Thanks so much. Thank you, Ben. Welcome back to the Ben Mulroney show. And I've got to say it was a really pleasure to sit with somebody who is vying to become our next premier. Ontario Liberal leader Bonnie Cromby sat opposite me here at the studio and took my questions in what I thought was a respectful arena.

And I really appreciate that she did that. And now we want to hear from you, our listeners and voters in this next election at 416-870-6400 or 1-888-225. Talk. The question is simple. If you heard Bonnie Cromby, did she win your vote? Did she win you over? Did she give you pause over who you might vote for? Let's start with Rob.

Rob, welcome to the show. Good morning, Ben. Thanks for taking my call. Absolutely. I listened to the interview and unfortunately, I'm not a supporter of hers, but all I heard was the same old, same old, how they're going to fix it. They're going to fix it.

Ben, I have family that's in healthcare. My own daughter was in healthcare. She did eight years of schooling and in the 20, late 2022, she left the healthcare system. And the main reason was, is because of all all the antics if you recall back in the summer of 21 and 22 when they shut down emergency rooms okay those were all done and my daughter was part of that where the unions came in and said you guys better take your holidays now and my daughter didn't want to do that and she was forced to she she was bullied, okay? The system is set up to fail. It's that simple. We, it's the number one budgetary item. We throw gobs of money at the system,

unfixable. So when I hear Bonnie Comby or anyone else, okay, I went away for 10 days. I got back and I found out family seniors went to the emergency system, the emergency room, 18 hours to seniors 85. You're kidding, oh my God, Rob. 18 hours. So what has changed from now since 20 years ago? It's the same old, same old. So when people say like Bonnie Comby or anyone else, we're gonna throw more money at it, guess what?

The unions ears flop open. That's all they want. It's a, the system, just like I hate to say it, the schooling system, the education system, it's set up to fail, ladies and gentlemen. Please open your eyes. Rob, thank you very much for your call. I appreciate it.

We got a few more calls to get to. So let's say hi to Mark. Mark, thank you for calling into the Ben Mulroney show. Yeah, much like your last caller, that's all I heard as well. I didn't hear anything about attracting new companies to Canada. You know, tons are leaving right now. But yeah, again, the same thing.

Put more money into healthcare, give teachers more money. It's all again supporting our very, very wealthy and entitled the public sector. Yeah, you just think it's just much when you heard Bonnie Crombie speak, you heard the old liberal party of money solves everything. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Just keep funneling into our already well-competed public sector. Well, it's Yeah, yeah. Well, thank you very much. I appreciate it. Yes, there may be a difference between what Bonnie

is hearing at the doors and what our our listeners are hearing. But I want to hear from you for 16870 6400 or one triple eight, two to five talk Joel, thank you for calling into the show. is a much better candidate, but unfortunately, she is in a wrong party. So I'm really confused because Ford is working for the reach, one is too good to be true. The NDP leader, I think, is the best person to vote. Yeah, you know, Marit Stiles, from what I know of her, is a fine, upstanding person. And part of me thinks that she spends a lot of her time dealing with nonsense within her own caucus, where they are so fixated on ideology and identity politics and fixated on the issue

of Gaza at the expense of the people here. I mean, I've seen flyers where candidates are wearing wearing kafias and saying that it all comes back to Gaza. No, no, it comes back to comes back to Ontario. But I want to thank you for your call. And Mike, what say you? Are you voting for Bonnie and the Ontario liberals? No, no, I'm not voting for anyone. I normally bought for for anyone. I'd normally go for Rob Ford, but some of his decisions as a belated kind of turned me off. So you're going to stay home? Or are you going to spoil your

ballot? I'm going to stay home. I'm going to stay home. Now, now if you stay home, are you prepared to live with whatever the result is knowing that you could have exercised your vote? Yes. Yeah, we are. Yeah. I'm not saying that. But all I wanted to say was though, on your interview, yeah. Crombie said there was one I think it was $1 billion that

goes into the medical budget that isn't actually used. Yeah. Well, where does it go then? She said goes into general revenue. But we're gonna have to we're gonna have to leave it there because I've got a few more calls to get to before the break. I want to say hi to Jane. Jane, are you voting liberal red? No, I'm not. I voted already. But no, because the idea is the same as your previous callers putting money into a bottom list. It is going nowhere and it won't fix anything.

Unfortunately, to fix it you have to break it apart and start at the bottom up. You need much less managing and a lot more doing. And that's what people don't like to do and they don't want to be held accountable. That's why the system is unfortunately the way it is because nobody is accountable for anything. So, may I ask who you are going to vote for? Conservative. You're voting for conservative. Okay, so that begs the next question. What party would you like to see as the official opposition?

Would you like to see Mart Stiles and her NDP holding the conservatives to account? Or would you like to see a healthy, robust liberal party back from losing official party status and back sort of as a counterpoint to the Tories? Unfortunately, you're asking me to choose between bad and bad. I don't have a choice. I know for a track record recently the Liberal Party has not delivered on anything that it said it would. And it's not being transparent enough. I understand that's hard for all parties, but it's not.

And it's been a failure in many, many areas recently. If you think back on the MDP's history, it's bad. Yeah, Jane, I'm gonna have to leave it there because I've got time for one more call and it's with Francois. Welcome to the show, Francois. Yeah, good morning. I would say Doug Ford, Bonnie and the rest of them, it's hiking tax.

Stop putting money into big corporations and propping them up because the money that's going into these big corporations is our tax dollars. There was a big thing on CNN or MSNBC, they were talking about that. In regards to big corporations getting all these funds to prop them up, and then the prices don't go down, they go up because it's our tax dollars that are feeding into this. Stop putting money into them, put money into the people. You know, they have to fix things.

Yeah, well, sometimes, yeah, you to break something in order to fix it. Exactly. As we've said, when it comes to healthcare, never before have we put more money into the healthcare system and never before have we had such poor outcomes. So it's not a question of throwing more money at the problem. It's where's that money going and what system is it being put into? Because that right there is the rub. Thank you so much for all of your calls. up funding and comprehensive game plans. We've mastered made-to-measure growth and expansion advice and we can talk your ear off about transferring your business when the time comes. Because at Desjardins Business, we speak the same language you do – business. So join

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