The Ben Mulroney Show - Ben takes issue with Mark Carney absolving the Liberals of blame for the state of our economy

Episode Date: March 21, 2025

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What's been the biggest story this week? What's been the story that's permeated almost every conversation? The lost liberal decade. I mean, that's what I'm calling others will call it the lost economic decade. But the liberals have been in power for 10 years, and the charts have been stark and depressing and concerning. That's what we've been talking about. And so Mark Carney, our prime minister, has an interesting take on the economic crisis. He doesn't want the clock to start 10 years ago. He wants the clock to start today. Here's him assigning a particular blame

on the economic crisis that we are enduring today. We are in an economic crisis that's brought on, sorry I'm gonna answer the question, brought on by the tariffs that have been put on Canada actual and perspective. One of the challenges- The economic crisis was brought on by former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and you were his advisor. I think you would find... These people did not create that problem. I certainly... Hey, nobody in Canada created that problem.

Nobody in Canada created that problem. The US government has decided to put tariffs on all of its closest allies. All of its closest allies. I wouldn't for a moment suggest that anyone in Canada is the cause of this. Mr. Carney, you do know that when you speak, you speak in front of microphones and cameras, and those cameras are attached to recording devices, and the internet is where all that stuff lives forever. It was not hard for us to go back into the way back machine

to just a few weeks ago, to the liberal leadership debate, when you had a different take on the economic crisis that we're going through. Keep in mind, you just said that the economic crisis is due exclusively to Donald Trump. Here's what you said a few weeks ago. I want to be clear, and Canadians feel this, I want to be clear about the quote strength of our economy. Our economy over the last five years has been driven by a big increase

in the labor force, which was largely because of a surge in immigration, is now trying to be controlled, and by government spending that grew over 9% year after year after year, twice the rate of growth of our economy. So our economy was weak before we got to the point of these threats from President Trump. I mean, I quote it way too many times for, it's bad for my health, I'm going to quote Mugatu in Zoolander, I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. This is insane. He's our Prime Minister. He literally said one thing to get himself elected liberal leader, and now he's saying something different to get elected prime minister. These are diametrically opposing views. One cannot exist if the other also exists. Someone needs to hold

him to account and ask him to explain the fact that he is saying two mutually contradictory things and sir just because by and large all things being equal you are probably the smartest guy in the room Doesn't let doesn't let you off the hook for saying things that make no sense Full stop that being said he did He did have other things to say which we will explore in good faith. And one of them was talking about Canada's need to expand our trade partners. Do we only have one customer to the south of us, the customer that's attacking us, that doesn't respect the trade agreements that they signed? Or should we develop new

customers, new customers in Europe? What's required, if I may, what's required for those new customers is to build out trade corridors and infrastructure, including what I referenced in my previous answer and discussed with the Premier, is the potential to go north, go to new deep water ports, Churchill as an example, Grey's Point in Nunavut as another, and that creates the whole new set of opportunities for albertans as a whole for people across the country uh... for these uh... hard-working people around me and those like them in the trades and that's so what my my job is not as a no-no you'll take that is a very comprehensive

answer to your question it first of all that's a hell of a way that a mic drop way to answer and an answer. That was really well done. I like that. However, how can I say this without sounding too partisan? Why should we believe you, Mr. Carney? Everything you just said should make people feel really good. But I don't care about how you make me feel with your words. I want to see what you do with your deeds. Because the last time we had a liberal candidate say, oh, what did Justin Trudeau say? It was something to the effect of only an idiot, only the dumbest of countries would have the riches that Canada

possesses beneath its feet and do nothing to monetize that to the benefit of Canadians. And then what did he do? He proceeded over the course of a decade to ensure that everything under the ground was locked up tighter than Fort Knox. All right, that's a fact. And so I can hear him say these things. And also he, let's not forget, there is a very famous back and forth between Pierre Poliev and Mark Carney

from a few years ago during COVID where Pierre Poliev challenged Mark Carney from a few years ago during COVID where Pierre Poliev challenged Mark Carney on his opposition to Canadian pipelines all while investing in pipelines in other parts of the world. Okay, so he is not somebody who has demonstrated that he is a believer in the extraction and transportation of all of this stuff. And let's go back to those graphs

that have dominated our feeds for the past week. When he says all these things about having only one customer, and what we really need to do is build out to the East and to the West and to the North, we could have been doing those for the past decade. We haven't been doing those things for the past decade, which is why we call it the lost liberal decade.

And it's not like everybody supported Justin in this boneheaded vision for Canada. The Conservative Party of Canada was demanding and begging for the exact opposite. Now all the things that Mark Carney is saying were things that Pierre Poliev and the Conservatives had been saying for a decade. Which is not so surprising because I think Mark Carney has realized that Pierre Poliev has some good ideas. Case in point, eliminating the GST on new homes under a million dollars. Remember that one? Pierre put that in the window a little while ago.

Let's see the massive announcement that Mark Carney made yesterday. in the window a little while ago. Let's see the massive announcement that Mark Carney made yesterday. My new government will eliminate the GST for first-time home buyers on all new and substantially renovated homes under a million dollars. This is a big deal because first-time home buyers are the major purchasers of new and substantially renovated homes. This can provide up to $50,000 in savings for families entering the housing market. Okay, so he didn't even go the whole way. Like to his credit and because liberals be liberals, it's a half measure. But I heard somebody refer to Mark Carney as Copycat Carney. That's the new nickname for him and I kind

of like that one. Another thing that Mark Carney and the liberals like to do regarding Pierre Poliev is say that he is negative, that he says everything's broken, as if that's not a condemnation of the lost liberal decade. They claim that that's him being negative on Canada. Here is Pierre Poliev talking in what I think is one of the most optimistic ways I've heard a leader speak about our country in a very long time. And we should be the richest country in the world, by the way.

We have the second biggest landmass, the third biggest proven oil reserves, the six biggest lithium reserves, the biggest uranium and potash reserves, the biggest oceanic coastline of any country in the world, 154 million acres of farmland. We have an abundance of energy that can power these massive data centers and we have the cold weather to cool them. We have 41 million highly educated, hardworking people ready to get the job done. All right, look, Pierre Poliev knows this country and he loves this country. I've told you he's earned my vote and I like what I hear.

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