The Ben Mulroney Show - Carney and the big bad US deal, and then there's the Pride picture... Oh Mark! lol

Episode Date: August 5, 2025

- Leslie Roberts/Former Journalist - Mohit Rajhans Mediologist and Consultant - Canada Post deal rejected   If you enjoyed the podcast, tell a friend! For more of the Ben Mulroney Show, subscribe to the podcast! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://link.chtbl.com/bms⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Also, on youtube -- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@BenMulroneyShow⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Ben on Twitter/X at https://x.com/BenMulroney Insta: ⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠ Twitter: ⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠ TikTok: ⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠ Enjoy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P.com slash Mulruni. Welcome back to the Ben Mulruni show. Thank you so much for joining us on this, Tuesday, August 5th. Appreciate your time. Appreciate your ears. Appreciate your opinions. Thank you so much for joining us wherever you find us. All right, well, we're living in a world where new tariffs have been applied to the Canadian

economy from Donald Trump and his administration ever since we were not able to reach a new trade and security deal by the August 1st deadline imposed by Donald Trump. And what that means is still unclear. You know, we have the NAFTA 2.0 or Kuzma or whatever you want, USMCA. which applies to the vast majority of the goods across Canada that go into the United States. But we have more tariffs on our economy now than we did before the election. And so look, you can look at this any way you want. But one thing is for sure, and I will not take this away from our government,

is they are working very, very hard. I can't imagine that a day or an hour doesn't go by that someone like Dominique LeBlanc, the minister in charge of the Canada U.S. file is not deep in conversation, deep in negotiations. He is probably earning his paycheck and then some. And over the weekend, he was on CBS's Face the Nation. And here's what he had to say. The conversations have been informative, constructive, and cordial.

I would expect the prime minister will have a conversation with the president over the next number of days. That's certainly my plan again with Secretary Lutnik. recognizing that we think there is an option of striking a deal that will bring down some of these tariffs, provide greater certainty to investment. Yeah, look, it must be exceptionally frustrating to negotiate with this Trump administration, where you don't know what they are going to complain about from one moment to another. It's either fentanyl or it's the border or it's how unfair we are or it's our dairy

sector or our softwood or it's national security and that's why they've tariffed our steel and aluminum. It's always something. And so I do not put that on Mark Carney and his team. And there are people who are looking at the fact that we don't have a deal as yet a proof that Mark Carney did the right thing. Because I guess to those people, it was either no deal or a bad deal. except that's not what we were promised. We were promised that Mark Carney and his resume that was leaps and bounds more significant than his competitor, Pierre Poliev, that was what was going to be the difference in these negotiations.

And by the way, nobody, we can all sit here and talk about how cuckoo it must be to negotiate with Donald Trump. You know what the only people in Canada who have ever negotiated with Donald Trump is the Liberal Party of Canada? They were in government the last time he was president. They're in government now. So they have institutional knowledge of how he and his people operate. So of all the teams, NDP, liberal, conservative, they are the ones with the knowledge on how to negotiate best with him. Then you put Mark Carney at the top of that team, we were told that that was why we were going to elect him because he was going to lead us to a deal. He was going to lead us to the best possible

outcome with Donald Trump. And now we're being told no outcome is the best possible outcome. Well, you know who else could have got no outcome? Me. I could have done that. You could have done that. My producers could have done that. Pierre Poliyev certainly could have done that. That is not what Mark Carney came into politics to do. He came into politics to navigate us through this. And yes, I concede that I would rather hold off on and we should never sign something that is not to our benefit. But Mark Carney, we were told, was a breed apart. He was built different. He was built to do this one thing. And now he hasn't done that one thing. And his acolytes are saying, the fact that he didn't do that one thing is why we brought him in.

That's the exact opposite reason as to why we brought him in. I'm not playing that shell game. The receipts are there. Maybe we'll find them tomorrow. Maybe we'll find them because I'm getting sick and tired of this bait and switch where everything, failure or success, is demonstration that the Liberal Party are the responsible stewards in this moment. Again, I want to stress again, I appreciate how hard the job is that they have. I do not wish I had it. I'm glad somebody else is doing it. And they do have some great people on that team. Dominique LeBlanc being one of them. Mark Carney being one of them.

But he's not doing what he said he was going to do. and he's not doing what he was elected to do. And I'm not going to sit here and let people say, oh, well, the fact that he's not doing the thing that he was elected to do is proof that he's doing what he was elected to do. That's nonsense. And I don't like being talked to like I'm an idiot. And again, he did not shy away.

Mark Carney did not shy away when Christian Amunpur on CNN called him the Trump whisper. And you'll remember during that first meeting with Donald Trump in the Oval Office. The Canadian press could not get enough of how masterful Mark Carney was in that moment to speak to Donald Trump in a way, in his language, flatter him just enough, communicate with him in just the right way where Canada posited itself as the independent nation we were, all while trying to create a rapprochement and create a language that we could both speak. That's, that's, that's, that's, that was the takeaway. It was genius. It was a master stroke. It was, um, it was negotiation 101. Nobody had done it better. So I'll say again what I said last week. Explain to me why in this moment, it was so important for Canada to put forth a promise to recognize a Palestinian state in short order when we know

Donald Trump does not see the world that way. Now, as an independent nation are we allowed to do things like that? Of course we are. But I don't believe

the facts on the ground justify that position. And I certainly know that Donald Trump now has another card he can play as to why we are so difficult to negotiate with.

As a matter of fact, he said as much. Wow, Canada just announced that his backing statehood for Palestine. that will make it very hard for us to make a trade deal with them. Oh, Canada. Now, I'll go back to what I said before. You never know what's going to set him off. And if anybody knows that, even better than me, it's the Liberal Party of Canada because they have negotiated with him before.

So why, as you are working towards a trade deal that you have said is the reason you came back, why would you do this? Why would you give him a card to play? Why would you? Why would you? you give him ammunition to use against us, especially because let's be honest, there is a single expert in this country that isn't politically motivated, good faith analysts. There isn't one of them who's going to tell you that this promise to recognize a Palestinian state in the situation it's in now is a good idea. It's performative. It's possibly crassly political. I don't want to ascribe that motivation, but however there are polls that are suggesting that a lot of Canadians are behind Mark Carney's push to recognize a Palestinian state. So that's telling me that

could this have been a political vote grab? I don't know. I don't know, but it could be. It could be. But if your job, if you say you were singularly laser focused on getting a deal, then this diplomatic foray into the Palestinian recognition. One, it took your eye off the ball. That's proof you weren't laser focused. And two, it does not jive with that first meeting of speaking a language that Donald Trump understands. It shows him that you're more Macron than you are, than you are an ally in North America,

that you are more European than you are North American. And I don't know that that's how you want to be seen as you're trying to show him that we work best together. Hey, remember when Pride was a fight and a party? Well, now it's about exclusion and protests. What's going on? We're going to look into that next. This is the Ben Mulroney Show. And it is the Ben Mulroney Show, wherever you find.

It's the Ben Mulroney show on radio. It's still the Ben Mulroney show on a streaming platform. It's a Ben Mulroney show as a podcast. And, of course, you can find at Ben Mulroney show on all social media platforms as well as on YouTube. The summer months are always the months of pride festivals across the world. We had the one in Toronto. Of course, there was Ottawa and Montreal and Vancouver. And something's going on with pride, where it used to be a huge celebration where the gay community, members of the LGBTQ2A plus community could come together, allies could come, and celebrate inclusion, right?

Everybody could see themselves in that rainbow flag. That's the whole point of the rainbow flag. it recognizes everyone and gives everyone a chance to be seen and respected. And in a city like Toronto, it's for people like myself who are not gay, it was nice to see the progress that's happened in a city like Toronto, where in the 60s there was life for the gay community was not what it is today. And so there was that achievement that was something to celebrate as well, something that a lot of people can get behind.

And look, I know some listeners and viewers of the Ben Mulroney show are not of the same opinion as I, but I love living in a world that is friendly and open and welcoming to members of that community. Full stop. And if you don't agree with me, that's fine, but we're not going to fight about it. And do you remember in 2016 when BLM stopped the parade in terms of, Toronto. Justin Trudeau was walking in that parade and they stopped the parade and refused to let it move until their list of demands was agreed to by Pride. And the head of Pride signed a document. I claim he signed it under duress, which means it has no legal value. Because if I'm the guy who's in charge of Pride and the prime minister is waiting in the parade with buildings between him, You know what they call that in the military? That's a killbox. And so I don't want anything to happen to the prime minister. So I'm going to sign anything to get this thing going. Well,

it was demonstrated in 2016 that if you have an issue and you cause trouble, you're going to get what you want. And the same thing happened in Vancouver this weekend when Prime Minister Mark Carney was there. And there's a picture of him. giving a hug to a guy who's wearing, I guess, just a pink thong, and that is pride. And you might take offense to that. I do not. I smile when I see it. It is what it is.

But while he was there, the parade was stopped. And it was stopped by people who say no pride in genocide. Of course, it was those supporting Hamas that decided that they were going to take issue and they were going to stop that parade until they got something. I don't know what, but they were going to get something out of that. parade. And look, I could talk as long as the segment will allow, but I think it would be important to hear from a member of the gay community, a fantastic member of the media community as well, and a good friend of mine, actually, Leslie Roberts, he's a former television

journalist, a news anchor. He was on a Toronto radio station on this, on 640 Toronto, with Greg Brady. And here's what, oh, before, actually, I got to give you the context, right? So in Montreal, they have their own problem because in Montreal, they decided to deny the Jewish community from walking in the parade. Isn't that great? Here's why Leslie Robert says we should care.

Here's why your listeners need to care if they're not in the community. It's taxpayer-funded. I'll give you the example. Here in Montreal, $7 million budget for the Pride Festival, and 30% of it comes from all levels of government. So these are tax dollars

at work. The problem, and the controversy specifically you're talking about here in Montreal is the decision by Montreal Pride to exclude a group. What group? The Jewish community. Why? Because Pride says they stand for oppressed people in this case, and they mention it specifically in their statement, the Palestinians, and they go on to say genocide. So they're going to say, sorry, no Jews allowed. Here's the problem, Greg. These are Jewish Canadians. These are not. Israelis. What's the connection? Oh, yeah, their identity. This is blatant anti-Semitism, in my opinion. It is anti-Semitism. And look, I don't know what else to do. I can't tell you how many times I open up my phone and I open up Twitter and I see a spokesperson for Hamas saying that when we finally take over, we are going to make sure that every single homosexual is killed and eradicated from our space because they are abhorrent and they are counter to nature and

counter to God, and we're going to kill them all. You know, if this is who you want to throw in with, and you don't want to throw in with the only place in the Middle East where you are free to be gay, I don't know what to tell you. I don't know what to tell you. Pride is not what it used to be. I told you what I thought it was off the top back in the day, and it is not what it used to be.

Here's Leslie Roberts commenting. you know in previous years it's been canceled why because the organizer didn't have a proper security plan the morning of the parade the word went out the parade wasn't going to happen it was probably a better thing because of what has happened in previous years specifically by protesters i think it will will it be a success people are standing by to see what's going to happen that can't be good the whole theory of celebrating the victories to stand on the shoulders who of those who fought for what we have today is all lost. So I think that it's almost lost its meaning, Greg, to be honest.

Yeah, and that's how a lot of people in the gay community feel. They feel it's been co-opted by some radical politics and some pretty violent rhetoric that, you know, if you do not agree with every single thing laid out by a particular group, then you are somebody with a phobia that needs to be eradicated and shouted down and insulted and demeaned and dehumanized. There have been a number of sponsors in Montreal, as Toronto, as well as Vancouver, who have decided to sit out pride at least this year.

Some are calling it a rise of conservative politics. It may just be that the economy sucks and these companies are decided to put their money elsewhere, or it may be that these are becoming polarizing events. What used to be family-friendly, inclusive events have become anything but and brands that want to be inclusive and want as many people using their brands as possible do not want to be associated with groups that shout down, scream, hurl insults, and marginalize anybody that doesn't agree with them. It's not as simple. Just saying, oh, it's a rise of homophobia and transphobia. That's an easy answer with absolutely no proof behind

it. Canada. It was recently said last week, as a matter of fact, it was said, that Canada is one of the top most welcoming countries in the world for the LGBTQ2SI population. If you are a member of that group, you will be welcomed in Canada. So don't give me this crap that there's a rise

of conservatism in Canada. There may be a reaction to some of the nonsense that's being spouted on that side that is being politicized and weaponized by the right. But the genesis of it is started with almost like a militarization and a militancy on the left and amongst certain members of that community. And others are saying, that's it. We don't want to be part of it.

We're not bringing our families down there. We're going to spend our money. And corporations are saying we are not participating either. And as far as Montreal goes, how dare you take public money. and then exclude taxpayers from joining your parade. If you want to take taxpayer money, then all taxpayers should be allowed to participate, including Jewish Montrealers.

Shame on you. Shame on you. And you know what? If you get sued into oblivion, good. Maybe a different group will take your place, one that actually does espouse the fundamentals of the fundamentals of what pride used to be. And if you are going to be this political movement

that does not preach what they say they do, then I do hope that the Jews sue you. I hope they sue you into oblivion. And I hope a different group takes over, one that is much more in keeping with what pride used to be. Ready to flip your idea of Schwarma? Introducing the Walking Schwarma, the viral new creation from Osmos and Doritos that's changing the game. We're talking finely carved, juicy chicken shwarma, loaded with your favorite toppings,

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a limited time. In the 70s, four young women were found dead. For nearly 50 years, their cases went cold. I'm Nancy Hixed, a senior crime reporter for global news. In the season finale of Crime Beat, I share how investigators uncovered shocking evidence of a serial killer. And hear exclusive interviews with the killer's family. Listen to the full season of Crime Beat early and ad-free on Amazon music by asking Alexa,

to play the podcast crime beat. Welcome back to the Ben Mulroney show. And I remember a cartoon. Before there were memes, there were those one-panel cartoons, right? Like the far side. And it was a cartoon of a bunch of pigs, two pigs, looking at a, I guess, like a pork factory, right, of an abattoir. And one is saying to the other,

oh, my God, it's fantastic in there. Everything's free. all the food, all the food you could possibly eat. It's a dream in there. And the tagline was, if you're not paying for it, you are the product. And that always stuck with me. And I recognize that. Every time I use Gmail, every time I use Google, I know that they're leveraging the information I'm giving them and monetizing that data.

I get it. And Amazon, it does the exact same thing, right? They take all the data that they acquire from us from Prime and from our shopping habits, as well as the conversations we have with Alexa, and they package that and they sell it, right? I get that. So when I hear that they are considering or they're not considering, they are going to start adding ads to our conversations with Alexa, I'm thinking that's a bridge too far because you're already making money.

I'm already the product. Don't sell an ad to the product. And on that, let's welcome in someone who knows more about this stuff than me, Mohit Rajans, friend of the show as well as mediologists and consultant at thinkstart.ca. Mohit, am I wrong? I don't think you're wrong, but I don't think you're going to stop it from happening. So basically, Amazon has put itself in a situation where they're not hiding how quickly they've entered the ad sphere. Look at anything you watch on prime right now.

It's three minutes of ads. It doesn't matter what type of prime you have. I think now they've really just confirmed the fact that your Alexa conversations really do provide them with a rich amount of data that they could possibly use and definitely monetize. And what we're going to see is that before your song comes on or before the search answer comes on, you might get an ad that says, hey, thinking about pizza, this is what you might want to check out today. Yeah, well, in that case, I'm just not going to use Amazon anymore. I'm going to use my, I'm going to use Siri because in my, like if I'm, if I've got a pick between the two, I'll just use Siri. or chat GPT on my phone. Sorry, goodbye,

Alexa, it's been fun, but I have no desire to listen to an ad when I know full well. The content that I'm providing you is making you money. I get what you're saying. I think we're moving more towards, though, is the fact that the voice interaction,

the voice speaker, et cetera, et cetera, none of these companies are really keeping up with what chat GPT is putting out, right? And so the voice interaction, think about what's gone on with Apple's native voice command that I don't want to mention right now because three things will go off in my house. But you know what I mean? No one's winning that chat game.

And I think what Alexa is thinking and Amazon's thinking is that, well, Alexa, on the personalization side might work. Therefore, giving you ads might make you feel better. But you and I both agree this is a massive invasion of privacy. Oh, yeah, absolutely. All right, let's stay with Amazon but to a different business unit. Amazon's laying off about 110 employees in its Wondery podcast division. And by the way, not for nothing, Amazon's vice president of audio has the perfect name for a vice president of audio. His name is Steve Boom.

Well, unfortunately, Steve Boom is a little bit in a bus situation. I followed this business case for a while. Back in 2021, they acquired Wondry, right when the pandemic had hit. Many people thought that podcasting was going to be one of the only forms of content that would survive. Wondry had a few hits when it came down to crossover. In Hollywood, it did Dr. Death and a few things. But it was definitely not making back the 300 million anytime soon. So there's a hundred people that have been laid off from there. And that's a sign of the times, Ben, of what's going to be happening in the shape-shifting audio world. But I, you know,

I always wondered, like, because I know for a fact, like a prime video, it's a loss leader for them, right? They're not making any money off of it. Just like Apple TV Plus doesn't make any money for Apple TV, but it brings people into the ecosystem and keeps them on their platform for longer. And again, more data that they can aggregate and monetize. So I always wondered about how much of a loss is an acceptable loss. Clearly, they've gotten to a point where they're losing too much. I think they're prepared to lose some, but not this much. I think they're also at a point where they thought that this business was going to grow exponentially. And they were going to scale it and all of that monetization that Amazon's good for would be there. But

The audience has definitely found different things to engage with and wonder is another example of how companies from just five years ago will soon start to see their demise. Okay. Talk to me about, I've never heard of perplexity before, but its CEO is saying that we should spend less time doom scrolling and more time using AI. Using AI, quote unquote, could mean a million things. What's this guy talking about? Okay, first of all, if you've never used perplexity, I apologize that I put this story in front of you because most people who have used perplexity won't stop talking about it because it is definitely a new window into what AI research can do for the normal person, desktop, et cetera. And it's got a lot of silicon value extremely buzzing about its potential because it's not a part of any of the big ones right now. But that being said, this is what bugs me about artificial intelligence right now. This guy is just another founder who's doing amazing things. I'll give them that much.

But we don't need to hear about him in the news. Don't put this guy on a pedestal all of a sudden. Let him be the authority on how we should raise kids. And I think that perplexity is one of those companies that I would love to see just succeed based on product because what I'm seeing being dismantled right now from the Sam Altman's of the world and Elon Musk's, I think it's a little bit of a setback in what AI can really accomplish right now. All right.

I want to talk before we go, I want to talk about this new laptop, this new, Lenovo laptop that I think I saw something similar to it a few years ago, but I don't think I've ever seen anything like this. It's an extendable screen, almost like a like a foldable screen and a laptop. Well, I think Lenovo and many other products right now are getting more towards you being screenless wherever you go. So you're now in a situation where wherever you want to have a surface to be able to connect things, you're going to be able to. It's all going to be connected to a cloud somehow. I think what you're now starting to see in this back to school plan frame is this ability for people to be able to handle any device anywhere on these different

types of things. And it's just a personalization thing. Would you want something like this? I'm the type of person that you know what? I can't wait till the surface of anything becomes a keyboard for me because then I'm just going to be able to do my word anywhere. Well, I'll tell you what I'm really looking forward to. And you and I can talk about this another time. But I saw a video a few weeks ago, a few months ago, actually, was Johnny I of the former Apple Design Chief. And he's collaborating with OpenAI on a new AI powered device. And what they, what they're saying is the way AI is changing the way we process information, it's going to require a completely different type of sort of piece of hardware. So we've tried to sort of

reverse engineer AI into laptops, into phones, into tablets. But the next generation of devices, which are being built by Johnny Ive, who's he said the high watermark for industrial design, they are saying that what is to come will be unlike anything that preceded it. And that's something I'm really looking forward to. Well, he changed the game in audio, if you think about it, between him and Dre and what they did with beats. at first people were like, no, we're not going to pay that much for headphones and look what they

did with both the brand and the quality of that technology. I think there's a huge impact that can't happen here if industries at the table with the people that actually have built some of the best creative products of our generation. Well, yeah, I'm just, I'm really looking forward to seeing what they do here because, again, if it's, if it's the industrial design is from Johnny Ive and if the guts of it are open AI, like I have no idea what this, but this could be this could be a game changer the way a laptop was or a personal computer was or the iPhone was. I mean, it could be an entirely new, an entirely new product, creating an entirely new need that we didn't even know we wanted.

And in a few years, it's something we won't be able to live without. And let me ask you one last question, if you don't mind me asking you this. In all of the AI hype cycle right now, what are you not there for? Like, what topic, is it the slop you see on the internet? Is it the video? What is it something that you just don't care for? Well, I'm just trying to keep pace with how quickly this stuff is advancing. I don't think I have time to sit there and say what I like and don't like,

because every day there's a new announcement about a new, like I said, high watermark. But we're going to have to leave it there, my friend. Thank you very much for joining us today. Okay, take care. Welcome back to the Ben Mulroney show, and thank you for joining us wherever you may find us, but I want to pay very close attention to YouTube. The Ben Mulroney show is there for you to, if you ask yourself, gee, I wonder what that Ben Mulroney looks like.

Or, oh, I miss Ben Mulroney's face. That's where we can satisfy both of those itches. But also I want to talk about Instagram for a second because my boss here at the radio station threw down the gauntlet. And he said that if we at the Ben Mulroney show can get 30,000 followers on Instagram by Labor Day, he's going to give us all the tequila and ribs that we can handle. Tequila and ribs, just so you know, two of my favorite things. We are almost there.

I'm pretty sure we're at like 20, almost 28,000. So let's make it happen because Benny needs some baby backs. I love my, I love my baby back, baby back ribs. And you know what? He's not lying. No. He really does. I do.

I do. He thinks about baby back ribs and talks about them endlessly. It's in my head now. It's in my head now. Oh, boy. All right. Hey, let's talk Canada Post here because the dramatic back and forth, the soap opera that has been the contract negotiations that go all the way back. Well, it's been years now, but really they came to a head at, you'll remember at Christmas of last year when the workers at Canada Post decided to walk out on the job right when entrepreneurs and small businesses across this country needed them most to help them with their deliveries.

their Christmas present deliveries, that all important fourth quarter that helps them through the leaner months early in the next year, they decided that they were going to try to leverage that pain to get themselves a better deal. And I beg them on this radio show. I said, please don't do that. Please don't do that. You're going to take somebody who could possibly be an ally and you're going to turn me into an enemy. And that's what they did with me. I saw just a terribly self-indulgent and boneheaded move where they tried to get job security on the backs of people who have no job security. It was a disgusting display of craven self-interest. And they were forced back to work. A new and best and final proposal was put forth by Canada Post. And I believe on Friday, the vote came through at 5 p.m. just over, I think, 60 some odd thousand. 60-some-odd percent of the workers voted against the deal. And you'll remember the union recommended that they vote against the deal.

So just so we are all clear and we all know what's going on here, Canada Post, previously said its operating losses amounted to $10 million a day in the month of June. So what you have here is you've got the people with the money saying, this is as much as we can possibly offer our workers. We cannot offer anymore. And then the workers turn around and say, we cannot possibly accept that amount of money. So the gap between the two is a demonstration

that the business model is broken. Apparently the key reasons for the rejection were that accepting the offer would undermine union democracy and signal it's acceptable to override collective bargaining rights. The offer proposed adding more part-time positions, which the union opposes. The deal did include 13% wage increases over four years. And the union argued that was not enough given ongoing inflation, cost of living increases, and the scale of operational demands on workers.

Here's why that doesn't resonate with me. I have worked for private companies my entire career. And when things were going well, I was able to go into my contract negotiations and ask for more money. and when things start going very badly and I work in media so once things started going badly they did not start getting better every single time I went in

for a contract negotiation I was asked to take a pay cut every single time and so when I see the Canada Post is posting operational losses of $10 million a day and the union is saying that 13% over four years

a pay increase is not enough because it doesn't factor in ongoing inflation. The fact that the health of the Crown Corporation doesn't factor in to what the union asks for or wants. The fact that the health of the company does not play into the demands of the union blows my mind because that's the only thing that matters in private companies. That is the only metric by which you can determine whether you can ask for more money or not. because if they're not making money, you're not making money. And if they're closing shop, you don't have a job.

And these guys would rather play chicken than accept the fact that, you know what, for the next few years, maybe we're not getting a raise. Let's just be happy we have a job. So I'd love to hear from you. Give us a call here at the Ben Mulroney Show. Are you a Canada post-employee? Am I missing something? I've told you my perspective from my very personal and unique point of view, but I may be missing

something. Maybe you're a member of the union. Maybe you think that Canada Post has not done right by you. Maybe you are one of the people who voted in favor of the deal. I would love to hear from you. If you think I'm wrong, try to convince me otherwise. But what I've witnessed is behavior that is untethered from reality, it's also precipitating what I think is the speeding up of the inevitable for Canada Post, which is a reevaluation of whether or not we need it or a reevaluation of what kind of Canada Post we need. This is, this to me is, this is where, this is where the government's going to have to decide what they want to do here. Hey, let's welcome Jonathan to the show. Jonathan, thank you so much.

Hey, thanks for taking my call. I'm in business. And about 10 years ago, we spent about $4,000 with Canada Post approximately. In the year of 2024, so last year, we spent about $80. So you used to spend how much? You went from what to what? We went from just over $4,000 to just under $80. And where do you spend that money now? well we don't we don't spend money uh sent mailing out checks yeah we don't spend money out mailing out brochures or uh you know things of that nature so all done online yeah and so jonathan when when you hear that the union doesn't want any part-time workers even though the workload probably befits more part-time workers

And they want more money, even though they're losing $10 million a day. What does that say to you? But they are so out of touch that they have no idea what reality is. Yeah. People need to get, you know, their headshakes. And I, and the unions, I mean, this is my 1920. Yeah. You know, it's 2025 business changes.

Yeah. I've had to pivot many times throughout my business career. And I want to be clear. I'm not, when I say, when I take issue and when I criticize, I am not criticizing the hard work that these people do. I am criticizing the tactics that the union has taken to try to squeeze every penny they possibly can out of a company that doesn't have any pennies anymore, Jonathan. I don't disagree. Well, thank you very much, my friend. You have a great week.

You as well. And fundamentally, that is the issue to me. Like, look, I would never tell a union is going to do what it's going to do. And they have a mission, they have policies, they have procedures, they have values, they have responsibilities and obligations. But if I'm doing business with a company that's losing $10 million a day, maybe in this contract negotiation, I say, you know what, for the betterment of our long-term health. And for respect for the taxpayer and to the end user of Canada Post, we're going to do a wage, we're going to recognize that we need to do a wage freeze for four years. Nobody's going to get a raise at all. Do you have any idea how much goodwill you get from people like me if you said something like that, recognizing that you know what, we're going to share in this pain?

But with a promise of bargaining and building a better Canada Post together, I would 100% co-sign that. Instead, you're trying to get money that doesn't exist. And consequently, there's businesses across this country that depend on you aren't going to be able to take advantage. I'm Jordan Bonaparte, and this is your invitation to join me for an exploration. of Canadian crime, mysteries, and the just plain weird on the nighttime podcast. Over the years, we've dove deep into many of Canada's most unique cases. From the haunting disappearance of Jack and Lily Sullivan in Nova Scotia. That's something I have to live with until truth makes its way out, and the truth always makes its way out. To the bizarre mystery of the unexplained death

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