The Ben Mulroney Show - Did the PPC suggest Conservative influencers were child predators?

Episode Date: February 3, 2026

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Drive, design, deliver, make it sing. AI builds the deck so you can build that thing. Do that, do that, do that with Acrobat. Learn more at Adobe.com slash do that with Acrobat. Welcome back to the Ben Mulroney show. A story that we covered yesterday that was perplexing and left us with more questions than answers started at the conservative convention in Calgary. When a number of conservative content creators got together, there were eight of them. They included Jasmine Lane, Mark Nixon, Sondren, Pleb reporter, and a number of others.

And they posted a picture of themselves that said this conservative, convention has been legendary. And things got confusing when the People's Party of Canada reposted that and also wrote, thanks for making it easy to identify who targets our kids. Now, we had Sonderen on the show yesterday and he threw his hands up and said, I have no idea why they would come after us. But it's now been well over 24 hours and the post is still up. And so we reached out to the People's Party for comment, and they did us one better, and they offered up their leader, Maxim Bernier,

who joins us now. Mr. Bernier, thank you so much for being here. Thank you, Ben. I'm very pleased to be with you. Yes, indeed. So, like I said, I have lots of questions here. Can you, as best you can explain

or justify this tweet? Yeah, first, you know, I know that I listened to your show yesterday, and yes, the conservative component creators, like you said, the political influencer Sandrine said yesterday and repeat again, like, you know, coming from the talking points of the Conservative Party of Canada, that, and I quote, I must come back out of Florida and come spend times with Canadians.

But I'm asking him and all these influencers to stop, you know, lying about myself. They're saying that I have a many. a big house on an island in Florida and that I live there and I'm not in Canada. I'm coming in Canada only during the election. That's what they're doing. They said that they're citizen journalists. If they're citizen journalists, they must tell the true and stop repeating lies. That's what they're doing. So I just want to say they must apologize for what they did the last two years and lying about myself and telling Canadians that I'm not there. And for me, it's important then because like Sandlin said,

they are very influential, and they said they have a huge reach, a little bit more than the legacy media. So if they want to be real journalist, they must apologize now. Okay. All right. Well, listen, thank you for saying that. But that opens up a whole other part of a discussion because what was posted by your party could be read by a reasonable person as insinuating that these are child predators. I'm trying to figure out, Mr. Bernier, I'm trying to figure out how you get from they,

you believe that they are misleading people into believing that you're a tourist in Canada and accusing them, or at least it can read like you're accusing them, of some pretty serious inflammatory things. How do you get from one place to the other? Let's me answer to that, Ben. So that tweet, you know, was all about policy. And I think you had that discussion. as you know, the Conservative Party of Canada voted against a motion to stop the radical gender ideology.

And all the conservative members of Parliament voted for the Bill C4. So that was about, you know, protecting children. And because the conservatives believed that the kid can transition that, you know, some kids may not be born in the right body. And for me and for the majority of Canadians, there's no. transition. A boy is a boy and a girl is a girl. And that's a position. Yes. And Monsieur Bernier, I

respect your position on that and I've seen a number of your posts. You and your party are very clear on that. I still am trying to figure out because these guys were observers. They did not vote. They were there as observers. So again, I'm

trying to figure out how a tweet like this would go out. It's, I I'm not a lawyer, but I know the benchmark for civil litigation. And the benchmark is, would a person reasonably believe that you could be insinuating that they are predators? And I think, if I'm being completely honest and good faith with you, sir, that's how it reads to me. Okay. So this tweet has been removed, delete.

So this suite does not exist. anymore. Why? Because, like you just said, the discussion is not anymore about policy and politics, but some people, you know, try to change and do the false insinuation that we never made in that tweet. And so that's why, you know, we deleted that tweet and we want to have the discussion back on policies. And people on social media, they were, you know, they had a bad faith interpretations. And so that's the case. Our discussion wants to be on Bill C4 parents' rights and stopping the radical gender ideology. So that's why we deleted that tweet. And listen, I think, if I may say, I think ratcheting down the temperature is a good idea. But I do want to play

just a little quick clip for you from Sondering yesterday saying what he was hoping for. I would ask Mr. Bernier, and we are actually working with counsel now, to get an immediate apology, retraction of that statement. And I'd ask Maxine Bernier to come back out of Florida and come spend time with Canadians. And he would realize that everything that that post talks about with those content creators that he posted with the People's Party of Canada is totally false. And the other impact of this is many of those creators, we have children. We have full-time jobs. And these statements coming from an official political party are extremely. extremely flammatory. It is liable and it's defamation to the character. And it's honestly

disrespectful because I know, you know, just like you, you work so hard. We all work so hard to bring real life stories to Canadians every day for the betterment of all of us. Now, Mr. Bernier, I know what you told us at the beginning and how it's, you believe that they are being, they're acting in bad faith by suggesting that, like I said, you're a tourist in Canada and you just heard it again there. That's what he said. But in any recognition, reconciliation in any compromise, someone has to take the first step. You have taken that first step. Would you take the next step and formally on your Twitter apologize? Absolutely not. He has to apologize for what they did. And he just said on your on your show yesterday and I'm very disappointed then because he didn't correct him about saying that's coming back from Florida.

And you know, but to be fair, sir, I have not been. following your, I promise you, if it, if it was in my knowledge to correct him, I absolutely would have. But I, but I, I could not speak to it. I'm hearing it from you now. And I can appreciate that, that, that, that, that you feel that it is, it's insulting. I, I, I, it's almost, I, I'm, I'm, I'm, I don't, I'm not in a position to offer legal advice. But if, sir, it feels like, on one hand, these guys are, are doing what what happens in politics. They needle someone that they disagree with. but on the other hand, it feels like what was put out there by your party on your official Twitter, to me, it feels like that one could run afoul of the law.

I don't know that the two things are the same. And I'm saying this, sir, I'm saying this with respect. I wouldn't want to see anybody go to court if they don't have to. And so, but you tell me. Yeah, they're doing politics, you know. They're doing politics. And you said it, you know, conservative. content creators. So they're

entrants, they're doing politics, and, you know, they were at that convention. They saw that, and their role is, for me, if you're an independent citizen journalist, you must tell the truth. They're not doing that about me, and they're lying all the time about

the fact that I'm not here. And on good faith, we decided because I told you before, the interpretation of that tweet was not the one that we wanted. We wanted to have more debate on policy, and that's why it's important for everybody to know that the conservative party of Canada is for the radical gender ideology, and they believe that the kids,

a boy, can be a girl. And so if they're promoting that, they are promoting very bad ideology in Canadian. Well, Alice, I appreciate the clarification, but just one last yes or no. On the Ben Mulroney show today, you are not apologizing for the tweet. No, if they apologize of the fact that they're lying to me I may consider that Monsieur Bernier, the People's Party of Canada leader

I thank you for your time and I wish you the very best thank you for joining us on the show Thank you Ben, have a nice day So we have an explanation We also have a deleted tweet Wausa is back at food basics Get 24 double rolls of cashmere bathroom tissue

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Like Dempster's 100% whole grain bread for only 277 each. And selected varieties of crispy cookies or crackers just 222 each. Only till February 4th. Shop in store or at metro.ca. To remind you, yesterday we had Sondren on the show from Life with Sondren. He's a content creator who along with seven other content creator, who along with seven other content creator, conservative content creators, went to the conservative convention, and they posted a picture of themselves that said the conservative convention has been legendary in the People's Party of Canada replied to that tweet saying, thanks for making it easy to identify who targets our kids.

We were lucky enough to have Maxim Bernier on the show with us, the leader of the People's Party, who said the tweet had been deleted, but he was adamant that these content creators have been insulting him on. online, lying and saying that he lives in Florida and only comes back for elections and said that he would not apologize until they apologized. And he believes that they are not upholding the ethics of journalists. And I cannot speak as a lawyer, but it feels to me based on my experience that one is an insult that's sort of par for the course in politics. And the other is possibly liable? I don't know. So I want to hear from you. And let's start with James. James, what do you think? Well, Ben, you just said it best right there, possibly, possibly liable. And they're coming for your kids. So there's not a further explanation. I'm not following this. But I could see

both ends of the argument here. But as far as Maxi Berniego, it's not as simple as saying, oh, this comes with the territory. When you're implying that a politician is only here, for those couple of months or a time period just to get elected in, you know, that's degrading to their profession. Well. So we can, oh, we can elaborate. Saying you're coming from my kids doesn't mean I'm a father of two. Saying you're coming for my kids.

No, no, no. Didn't say coming for kids. Targets our kids. Okay. Targets our kids. Okay. But the test in civil litigation, civil liability is it's not beyond a reasonable doubt. You have to ask, would a reasonable person,

assume what they would what they would say he meant. And I believe that that test could be passed. Again, I'm just one man. I'm not a lawyer, but I'm just telling you it's a lower bar to clear. And because one of these people, at least one of these people, has been receiving really vile exchanges online

where people are calling them a predator and a peto and things like that. Well, then that tells you that. I am not going to speak to that. Well, I'm going to say, is this based on information provided and what was said? I am not agreeing with Maxi Bernier, you know, retaliating in some shape or form, because as a politician, he must be a lawyer of some sort if he's a politician. I would imagine he would have access to, you know, experts.

And could have targeted this in a much more professional. Well, yeah, now he's got a mess to clean up. And I'm sorry, James, I got to let you go because we're going to go to, we're going to go to Dan. Dan, welcome to the show. What do you think of this mess? It's disgusting that they Because he you know As a politician

He has a certain decorum to carry And calling basically somebody a predator Just because they said you live in Florida It's disgusting if I was them I would look at a lawsuit against them To the PPC I don't believe anything Maxie Burney says

Because I can remember when a little issue He got as public safety minister I wouldn't trust them as my prime minister get him. Thank you for that. I'm just talking to my producer. I'm sorry, we've got to let you go because we're going to take another call, but we're going to try to get Sondering on the line because he was listening to that exchange with Maxim Bernier

and would love to get an update from him. In the meantime, John, all the way from Calgary. Oh, my goodness. Did I have a great time in that city? Oh, and you're missing all the best weather, Ben. It's like 14 degrees right now. Oh, God. God love everybody in Calgary, man.

So what do you think? It's a he said, it's a he said, they said, which side do you land on? 100%. I, well, I'm not going to land on any side. I just wanted to make a point that my 70-year-old daughter has a little bit more maturity than this leader of the people's party here. You know, they come to me all the time whining about, you know, oh, my older sister called

me a name and I said, okay, well, did you call her name? Well, yeah. Okay, well, it's like, you know, let's mature up here a little bit. We're all adults. And I mean, there was no need for his comment on this picture. I don't know where that comment comes from. It has nothing to do with anything. John, yeah, yeah.

I thank you for the call. Yeah, last point. Last point. Go ahead. I was going to say bad publicity, not going to be good for this guy. Yeah, and it could cost him. I mean, I saw the financials of the party. Thanks so much.

I saw the financials. It's not looking good. So, yes, we're going to go to Angelo. Angelou, real quick. Tell me your point. And welcome the show. I'm good. Like the previous gentleman, this guy came across as a pestil, little child.

He's spoiled. You know what? I'm going to call him baby Donald Trump because, you know, you offend that guy. He comes back at you with guns of blazing, and this guy had a chance to take the high road. You laid it out for him perfectly. You've been he did such a good job in the interview. Take him a high road. And this guy failed to take you up on your offer to take the high road.

Angela, thank you very much for the call. And now we're going to close the loop on this conversation because we were curious. We want to know how the content creators felt. We got some answers as to why this thing started in the first place by the leader of the people's party. So let's go back to our friend Saundran. Sondren, welcome to the show. Do I have them here? Yes, you do.

There you are. Sondon, yes, welcome. Okay, so you listened, you heard. What do you make of the justification? What do you make of the retraction of the tweet, but no apology until you apologize? Yeah, so this is what I make of it. I hope Maxime is listening. Number one, I never ever said online outside of the call that he insinuated he was out of Florida.

And because I am a person of integrity, I apologize. That doesn't take away from his party's libel and defamatory statements, accusing us as being child predators in that statement, which has been viewed over 150,000 times just in his post and was reposted everywhere across various social media platforms. We've received many threats from people. people calling us child predators in the comments and in DMs. And it's really unacceptable. And the fact that you gave him the high road. And as a leader of a political party, he didn't take it.

He didn't simply come out and apologize. I'll be working myself with the others that were identified in the photo because we can't stand for this, Ben. We can't stand for political parties and leaders to just defame innocent, independent content creators with families and jobs of something so radical and disgusting. We can't sit back and do that. So we're going to take every opportunity in legal action. to hold them accountable.

And I will still open up that line of communication with Maxine Bernier for an apology to get up in front of everybody and apologize for these statements. I think every Canadian knows what he said was wrong. It was far too far in terms of the rhetoric. This is beyond rhetoric. This is accusing people of being child predators. But yeah. And I'm like, well, so the way I read it is the people's party didn't accuse you of it, but they opened the door to people thinking that. And that's right.

I think the reasonable person would assume that. And just to also make something very clear, the insinuation that he said this in response to us calling him out in Florida, that's not true. I've never said he was in Florida. And I don't believe any of the, I can't speak for everyone. I don't believe any other content creators ever said that to him.

But I do apologize that I said that after the fact. I said that after that comment happened. Okay. So let me ask. And I know you can't speak on behalf of everybody. has everybody retained their own counsel or are you operating with one with one lawyer? We're working together. We're figuring out what we do.

We were really expecting someone, Maxine, to come in and apologize and be a person and a political leader we thought. So had he apologized on the show and if it had been a fulsome apology, an honest, good faith apology, you think that that would have taken a lot of wind out of the legal sales? I don't know that exactly. I think as we deliberate and discuss what we have to do, that would have been added to the consideration. But the truth is, as you've said before, Ben, the damage is done. And they put out this statement, they just removed it now. It's been more than 24 hours.

It's got in, I don't know how many views, probably half a million or more views. If you count up all the people that have re-shared that screenshot and story, it's gone out everywhere online. And the fact that he came on here and the high, you gave him the softball to do what was right and he didn't, I think speaks unfortunately a lot to his character because I just came on here and apologize for a statement that I made for the first time because I tried to understand how could the people's party and Maxine Bernier ever insinuate of this, of these content creators. And my point that I was making to him was if you ever watched any of our videos, if you've known anything about what this group talks about, we are patriotic Canadians that are just fighting just like he is and others for the betterment from our perspective of all of our families. We got to leave it there, but please come back for updates, my friend. And good luck to you. And I'm sorry you're dealing with this stuff.

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