The Ben Mulroney Show - Carney's "Oprah" Moment: You Get a Sub, You Get a Pipeline, You Get a Condo!

Episode Date: July 9, 2026

In this Wednesday's "Hot Takes" segment, 'The Ben Mulroney Show' welcomes back guests Regan Watts, founder of Fratton Park Inc., and Andy Gibbons, former vice president of WestJet. The trio explores Canada's recent defense procurement, infrastructure projects, political accountability, and give insights on national security, political dynamics, and nation-building efforts. 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   Executive Producer:  Mike Drolet Reach out to Mike with story ideas or tips at [e-mail] Enjoy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This podcast is brought to you by the National Payroll Institute, the leader for the payroll profession in Canada, setting the standard of professional excellence, delivering critical expertise, and providing resources that over 45,000 payroll professionals rely on. Two people I'm very excited to see right now are our good friends, Regan Watts, and Andy Gibbons.

Regan is the founder of Fratton Park and former senior aide to finance minister, Jim Flaherty. And Andy is the principal at Wals. former VP at WestJet and he is doing his best Kim Jong-un impression at the stampede. He's a Kimmy the Kid. Welcome to the show.

You're more than welcome, Ben. I'm hoping to catapult this into replacing Rip Robbins in the next season of Yellowstone. So, you know. Yeah. No, absolutely. We'll start here.

Well, we'll start there. But listen, we're talking about cowboys or we can talk about submarines. And it looks like Canada, our prime minister putting our money where his mouth is. And he said he was going to commit to taking care of our military, make sure our military can take care of us. And it looks like we're buying 12 new submarines,

the four that we got, those Victoria class ones, they're practically at the end of their lives, if not already there. So this is, I think, a good thing. But I'm going to ask each of you the same question. When you saw this announcement, what came to mind? Regan, you go first. Well, my first reaction was good. I think the Prime Minister was quoted as saying that we only have one functional submarine that's

currently in use. That is a problem for a country with three coasts, the Pacific, the Arctic, and the Atlantic. And so this is a Prime Minister that has committed to, quote unquote, get things done and get things moving. This type of procurement is long overdue. My expectation as a result of this decision is that along with the Defense Investment Agency, led by a gentleman by the name of Doug Guzman and Minister Stephen Fierre, who both have done an exceptional job since taking their respective roles, that we'll see a number of economic benefits that spin-off for Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises as well.

So, you know, good on the Prime Minister for tackling a real issue. And when you have as much coastline as we have and the Arctic is among the new frontiers in defense and security, particularly with the presence of alleged presence, I should say, of Chinese ships and submarines. in our own waters. This is a welcome development and the Prime Minister deserves credit for it, even if the haters and the YouTube comments don't want to give them any credit. All right.

All right. Andy, your thoughts. When you saw this, what did you think? I thought it was one of the best announcements the Prime Minister has made because one, Ben, you mentioned that there's one operable submarine. So Canada, let's be honest, has been a joke

on this. And so this purchase is necessary. and timely, but also we should note for your listeners the speed at which this procurement has taken place. So there's been a lot of criticism and discussion on the show things moving fast enough, are they not? The time that it took curment to take place is like record lightning speed for Ottawa. So that needs to be noted as well.

So both the critics and supporters of the prime minister should all be united and agreeing that this is the right decision. And I also love it because it's a German submarine. and our ties to Europe. And I think that that improves our standing as a country and shows that we're serious. And this is, yeah, so I'm all on board. I think it's great. And not to mention, Andy, that I think one of the things the Prime Minister deserves credit for is that this announcement came just prior to NATO.

So he's now gone into Turkey for a NATO meeting, putting some real cash on the table, demonstrating his commitment to defense and security from a country that has, I think three of us would have knowledge has lagged, certainly over the last decade known as the long national nightmare. Well, there was a white paper issued in 2017 that said that we needed to get this done then. And so he's been there a year. And in that year he got this done. I'd go back and look at Justin and say, like, what the hell, man? You coulda.

You had more money than we have now. And yet, here we are. So I do, I appreciate the speed with which this prime minister is honoring the commitment that I think all three of us agree is, is and should be not just a priority today, but a sustained priority until the end of time. I don't think a serious country is a serious country without a serious army that can they can do what we need to do. So this is a great announcement.

This is not the only announcement. It has been Canada land referred to this almost like a Mark Carney's Oprah moment where he's like every guy going across the country and make an announcement. for everybody. He did the condo thing. And then he moved over to Alberta and he did the pipeline thing. And then he's doing he's doing the submarine thing. I mean, there's a lot of announcements. Where are we landed now?

We're going to start with our cowboy there. Where are we landing today on the pipeline? You know, we still don't, I don't know if it's still as a private sector backer. I know that the Ontario government announced a willingness to create this Northern Shield pipeline to Sarnia. Wab Canoe has said he's not participating in that, so I don't know how you get.

I don't know how you get a pipeline to Ontario without going through Manitoba. But, you know, like there's a lot of movement, it feels, but I don't know if that movement's going to translate into anything, Andy. Yeah, but let's stop and reflect for just a second. Here we are in Canada in July 2026 talking about which pipeline's a better pipeline

and which route is worth. or not. And politicians are coming out and extending their hand to proponents and extending their hand to government to say, we're going to create the space and investment climate to make this a viable project for you. So hallelujah, look at where we are in this country and let's just take stock of where we are versus where we are even two years ago. That's a seat change in Canada. So I'm focused really on that positive element of it. I think the government knows that there are there are barriers that need to be lifted for private sector components. And I don't doubt them anymore in terms of their seriousness of taking this on.

And, you know, everyone seems to be tasked with nation building. And isn't that great? Doug Ford was here in Calgary and had a great announcement with Premier Smith. This is what people want from their leaders. Yeah. Is leadership and vision and wanting to achieve things for the national interest. So here we are, guys. That's not where we were a year ago.

So I see it very positively. Good. Regan, let's talk about Wab Canoe and let's look at it through, who's saying, I'm not doing this, I'm not participating in this pipeline to Ontario, because you didn't start with indigenous conversation and consultation. You're doing it after the fact. Now, I'm looking at that and wondering whether that is a, whether he could learn some lessons from David Eby, who sort of threw up the white surrender. a flag and said, I can't fight this pipeline anymore.

It's coming. I wonder if he did that after he got the check for the condos. Well, maybe, maybe Ben, he did learn a lesson from Premier Eby, who, you know, must be acknowledged is pretty useless. But on this file, he's managed to extract concessions out of Ottawa that has landed, you know, billions in new investment in important infrastructure and port projects in British Columbia. And that is part of the grand bargain between the federal government and the horse trading.

Horse trading, let's do that. What do you need for me to get this guy? Yeah, and so I think Premier Cano's posturing may be in the same vein as Premier Eby and his posturing from earlier. But I think Andy's point is the right one, which is, and he's in Calgary, so I'm interested in his feedback on this. But it feels like our leaders in this country are finally rowing in the right direction. They don't have Trudeau in Ottawa pointing his finger down and lecturing the provinces on what should or should not be done with the moral. preening of a drama teacher. We have a serious business person in the prime minister's office who's trying to get the

business and corporate institutions in this country working in one direction. And ground zero is Calvary. So Andy, I'm curious if you have any feedback on how Stamped has felt this year. We'll get that when we come back. And look, you got to take the good with the bad. The sweet ain't sweet unless you got the sour. When we come back, the liberal shutting down debate yet again. It's got to be done.

I know Regan might not be happy with it. But we got to tell the truth on a Ben Mulroney show. Welcome back to Regan and Andy. And Regan, you were asking Andy how Stampede was going. And so tell us, Andy, how's it going over there? Yeah, it's going great. Mark Carney is going to be here, I think, tomorrow or the next day. And I think he's going to get a tremendous reception.

Yeah, I think maybe you should come here next year. I'd like to. I've got my white hat sitting upstairs. It's right by my desk. You were given it by Mayor Farkis, and he likes curfews, so maybe we've got to be careful a little bit. But, no, it's been exceptional. It is Canada's greatest festival, in my opinion. Regan, you want to say, you look perplexed there.

I was just going to say, whatever dress-up games, you and Brokeback, Givie want to play in Calgary, but you should fill your boots. Just make sure, Andy, you take Ben to the food tent because there's no eater in the world. You can eat more or more vociferously than Benedict Morrini. Food gives me joy. It gives me so much joy. It gives me no joy to pivot to this next conversation. We got to talk about what I think is a really bad,

it's a bad habit by this government. And so to like just lay the groundwork. So you got this condo bailout or buyout or whatever you want to call it in Vancouver. And then I'm almost immediately after that, At a liberal party fundraiser in Vancouver, several developers attended paying $1,700 a ticket. Some conservatives suggested that didn't smell right, didn't pass their smell test, so they want to invite these people to the Ethics Committee, and it was shut down. It was shut down by the liberal majority, and for people to remember, after the last election, the conservatives had control of the committees. And they were promised and assured that if the liberals got their majority, they would not change the composition of.

these of these committees during this parliament. Those are their words. And they went back on that word. And since then, in April, they used their majority to send public meetings behind closed doors at four separate committees, ethics, health, science, and transport. They, in June, during the passage of controversial legislation, they shut down debate. And now shutting down debate at the ethics committee. This, whether you like what the conservatives are doing or not, this is not. this is not a good look for a government that got its majority in a very unique and novel fashion, Andy.

I agree it's not a good look and they can be a little, there's two issues here. There's the sloppiness around their fundraising and ring fencing it and the condo deal. So they need to clean that up. It seems like for every two announcements that are flawless for them, there's one that's a bit incoherent and causes them problems. but on the government of the day, shutting down debate, I mean, breaking news, this is a tale as old as time. So I don't like it. I don't think it's a good look.

But the question, Ben, which I think Regan's going to get into, is it going to change anything and does it matter? Oh, I'm not looking. I'm not approaching. I am not approaching this from a perspective of like, how can this help? Is this going to hurt the government? This is going to help the opposition.

I don't care about any of that. I think from a purely democratic and accountability perspective, this is not good. Reagan. Well, Ben, I mean, look, these are legitimate tools that governments of all political stripe have used at the federal and provincial level for many, many, many, many years. And I agree with Andy that it is not a great look, but it is what it is and it doesn't really register.

I will note though that the Conservatives called for an emergency hearing and they were going to drag a bunch of people before a parliamentary committee because of this fundraiser that Andy referenced and you hit referenced. And I got a newsflash for Aaron Gunn and the rest of the conservative caucus. If you think that paying $1,700 is going to get the government to make a decision in your favor, you really haven't spent a lot of time in the real world because I can tell you that doesn't matter one I over. I agree that it's sloppy and the developers probably shouldn't have been at the fundraiser. And liberals need to be more disciplined about that.

And I should admit, or at least my experience is they are quite disciplined about excluding lobbyists and special interests from fundraisers, this seemed to be amiss. But there's no reason I don't think that there's anything nefarious about or narrow do well about developers attending a fundraiser because provincial governments and into politicians, just as much as federal politicians, raise money from the same community people.

No, and again, I don't know that there's anything wrong here. And frankly, I don't care. I find we play small ball with a lot of this stuff. But that's what the conservatives allege, right? That's what Aaron Gunn was getting. getting that. And, you know, I'm not sure there's votes in that for the conservative party. I'm not sure that that's a better look for the party. I do think, though, that they've at least made an issue of it. It will see if it registers. I doubt it will. But I'm interested in what

Andy has to say on this. Yeah. Well, here's the difference for me, guys. The condo bailout was announced because Premier David Eby requested it. Yeah. And thought it was a good policy solution for the federal government. Not because, like, this isn't the We brothers. Remember this keelberger scandal it's not like the government it's not like mark carney and gregor robinson like reach into the pile into the donation list and said hey these guys condos are struggling yeah the premier british columbia brought the policy forward the the government of canada uh ratified it so i it's just not it's not a keelberger brother's caliber reach in yeah it's it's that's That's for EB to answer.

The government of Canada has to be responsive to that need. I'm not defending the policy. I'm just saying like the conservatives are overreaching a little bit here. I'm with I'm with Regan on it. All right. In our last few minutes, let's finish up with the summer that is and the fact that our time as FIFA World Cup co-hosts in Canada has come to a close. There are those who are saying that the juice wasn't worth to squeeze.

I don't know that every single. one of these events, Regan, needs to be calculated exclusively on how much it costs and what was the return on investment. Because I'm seeing, at least in Toronto, I can only speak to my experience here, I'm seeing the city coming alive at a time where, frankly, it just feels good. And I've been told feelings matter. And so how do you see things? Well, I think a couple things. One, there are going to be infrastructure legacies that result from this world. and there's been some news articles over the last few days about improved municipal and community infrastructure,

additional soccer pitches and things like that for Canadian youth to use that will remain, as well as some stadium upgrades in BC and in Toronto that needed to be done as a result of the World Cup coming to Canada. Look, I love soccer. I work with the Canadian Soccer Association. I've attended the World Cup games. It's been a magical month and it's still not over. And I think the performance of the Canadian men's team in the World Cup, was remarkable. I think anything, and the Prime Minister, if you think about the work he's doing, he's really trying to change the mood of this country in supporting these types of initiatives. Eurovision is another one. Whatever one thinks about Canada participating in Eurovision, it will galvanize Canadians into something bigger than themselves.

And so I think the World Cup is value for money on the feelings basis alone. People have been in better moods. There's been some new soccer fans, and there'll be an inspiration of new kids who are playing soccer in the coming years. just as, by the way, there will be new kids and there are new kids playing baseball this summer after the Blue Jays run to the World Series last year. And guess what? When you're a G7 country that has money to spend,

hosting international events is something you should do. What it made me think is I wish we did more of this. You know, we should host more Olympics. We should host more World Cups. We should go after the Pan-N Games another time. You know, I think there's more of this is good for Canada and it's good for nation-building. And I applaud the Prime Minister for leaning in on soccer

as much as he has. Andy, the last word goes to you. If this country were to do the Olympics ever again, my vote would be for Calgary for Winter Olympics again. So much that infrastructure is still there. So much more has already been built. I've been told all it needs is they want to train from downtown to the mountains and then they're set.

Well, I would love a Calgary-Edmonton joint bid to make it the Alberta winters. But that's just me. I don't know, guys. Look, I'm a soccer fan. I went to the Switzerland game in Vancouver. and the patriotism was unreal and there's an incalculable thing there. So I agree on all of that. But at the same time, when I stayed in Vancouver, the downtown occupancy rate was 59%.

There were problems with this World Cup and a lot of taxpayers' money was spent. And, you know, bread lines and soup kitchens are bursting at the seams. So I'm with you guys. I loved it. My heart loved it. My son loved it. I'm all in on all that. but the taxpayers' dollars that go to these events

does need to be scrutinized. And I think we're better for that scrutiny without making it a ridiculous debate. But there were some problems with this World Cup. Yeah. And there was a lot of money spent. And I think that should be reviewed and it's good to review it.

All right. Well, Andy got to play the role of wet blanket in this conversation. Gentlemen, thank you very much. Enjoy the weather. Enjoy the campaign. Regan, I'll see you real soon. And thank you guys very much. Thank you very much.