The Ben Mulroney Show - Door Dash sued for misleading prices

Episode Date: June 10, 2025

Guests and Topics: -Apple's new iOS 26 makes live translation seamless with Guest: Mohit Rajhans Mediologist and Consultant, ThinkStart.ca -Door Dash sued for misleading prices with Guest: Sylvain Charlebois, Canadian Researcher and Professor specializing in the Food Industry 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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Find an agent today at Desjardins.com slash business coverage. Welcome back to the Ben Mulroney show. If you've ever listened to this show, we talk technology, you know that, you know, I'm a firm believer in technology is it is neutral, right? It's, it can either be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on sort of who's using it and, and the purpose that they are behind it. And so it's either a thing or a bad thing, depending on who's using it and the purpose that they have behind it.

And so it's either a shield or a sword. It's either a hammer or it's whatever the opposite of a hammer is. But we're talking about smartphones and social media right now. And as always, with both of those things, there is good, there is bad, and there is ugly. And so to break down all of it, we're joined by Mohit Rajan's our good friend, who's a mediologist and a consultant at think start.ca Mohit, welcome to the show. I just hope I'm not bringing the ugly here. No, that's I know.

I told you that's what I was worried about. I was worried that you were gonna throw to me and be like, I'd speak it up the ugly. We have our guest. The first the first time I met you, I saw you, we were working together during the pandemic and we were talking about Apple products. And when I got off, when we got off the shot with you, I was like, my God, he looks exactly like Steve Jobs.

I don't know if he's doing it on purpose, but yeah, everything from the glasses to the hair and you're wearing a turtleneck. And I was like, I don't know if he's trying to, if he's divining Steve Jobs' spirit, but here we are today talking about Steve Jobs' spirit. But here we are today talking about Steve Jobs' spirit in the iPhone. Yeah, it's definitely one of those things

that's taken over the headlines in the last 24 hours. Apple, right? This behemoth. What are you going to announce to the world that'll make them believe that Apple is still going to lead the charge when it comes down to being used for technology by both industry and people

every day. And I'm an iPhone. Well, Mohe, what I've found about iPhones writ large is that they first of all, when they first came out, they created a need that we didn't have. And now we can't live without them. And now it's always constantly about on the apps on them. Which app is going to create a new need, something that we never needed before, and then also we can't live without. And now they're betting big on live translation.

Yes, that's their big update from yesterday. First of all, we should note that people might be confused why this numbering thing has become. So anybody who's in updates with Apple, they'll know their iOS systems, what they call their updates. They've been numbered sequentially. Now they've skipped a step and now they'll be numbered by year. So the next update will be called iOS 26. And that's important to note because somebody might think to themselves, Oh, what's going on here? Did I miss a few?

Yes. Yeah. So with that update will come features like the live translation, which I find very interesting. It gives the ability for you to be able to communicate with somebody in any language, regardless of where you are. And when you're receiving the message, you're receiving it in whatever language you would like to receive it. I have seen the demos of it. I've seen iterations of this used by other technology companies. I do think Apple does have a very interesting product enhancement with this.

Yeah, I mean, Google had this years ago through their earbuds, right? So the phone would act as the translator and it would pump you a live translation. But I'm hearing that in the demo that they had, the person was speaking very regular French, very dictionary French. But the moment someone might step out of that new slang, that's where this AI has a little bit of a problem right now. So it's there's from what I hear there is work to be done. Yes. And that's why so much of the announcements that sort of came out from Apple really didn't connect the avid fan or user to being excited about what Apple has coming up. And I think a lot of the social media talk right now is just about the underwhelming

ness of a lot of Apple's announcements yesterday. Well, I saw something yesterday. I'm so glad I'm talking to you today because I don't know whether this is a rumor or whether they're actually working on the iPhone Ultra, which is the foldable phone. Is that do you know anything about that? I've only heard that as a rumor. Okay. I have not, and you know what's amazing is that

the rumors are going to be pushed even further right now because the Apple evangelists don't want, right, the negative publicity that they're sort of defending against right now. There's sort of a lack of a real flare around Apple intelligence. And there's a worry that some of the partnerships that they're trying to lean into, it's a little bit late. Okay, well, let's talk about something good that came out of

a lot of school boards about a year ago. By and large, it was recognized that it was time to do something about the scourge of cell phones and how they were impacting learning in public schools. It's been about a year, especially in the province of Ontario, where there are actual policies in place, allowing schools to ban cell phones in classrooms. And I guess there's, the kids themselves have sort of what, they're resigned to it now? Yeah, it seems like a lot of these reports that are coming out now are basically a pat on the back

to the administration actually going ahead and going ahead with this provincial ban of and removing, you know, teachers are saying, yes, they're reclaiming their instructional time. It's the device distraction is no longer there. And for the most part, they're not dealing with some of the hurdles that people anticipated, including just pure on disobedience, which is what I assumed because kids had phones in their classrooms to begin with. Now, Ben, I think you and I both know that this is yet,

this is not the data that we can rely on right now. Like you said, when we have artificial intelligence and all these other things creeping into what kids are going to be learning with, we can't just take it out of a school environment and think to themselves that they're not necessarily going to be able to utilize the benefits of it. And so we're in this weird cross section, right?

I don't think the phone is the thing that should be allowed in classrooms, but I think we need to hurry up with what education tools kids need to learn with. Listen, if I had to pick between my kid having access to his phone in the school, and not relying on AI in the classroom like if it's the binary choice like the the only way they can access AI in the classroom is through their phone I still don't want the phone in the classroom

because there are too many negative knock-on effects from that and if if that's the binary choice then the school has to figure out a way for them to use AI when they get home. But for the purpose of being in a classroom, the phone is too much of a disruptor and to offset the benefits of teaching them about AI in that moment. That's my opinion. 100%. I agree. And there's no way I would refute and ask them to go back and start letting kids use cell phones. However, the one thing that I do want to make sure is that there was a gray area and a lot of kids did get reprimanded

in this weird gray area when the cell phone can be used and can't. And I'll be honest with you, I've texted a kid during school and they've responded. So I'm not 100% sure. No, I've texted my kid all the time. He still has his phone, but that's the school's problem to figure out.

And by the way, my kids' grades have been going up steadily this year, very proud of Brian and John. So they've been working their butts off. So if their phone is still in their pocket and they've managed to get their grades up, more power to them. You and I have talked about the idea that the horse has left the stable

as it relates to limiting or capping kids' use of social media today. They've had unfettered access to it for over a generation now. It ain't coming back. And yet here the UK is eyeing a two hour daily social media cap for kids. I'm wondering what you make of that. And if this thing passes muster, can we bring it over

to Canada as a best practice? It will give the UK this much credit, which is they will try anything to actually disrupt big tech and social media. And this is a good attempt by creating a two hour daily limit that they're they're saying plus a 10pm curfew. Like you said, like you preface, this is impossible. This is also not only impossible, but we are going to get to a place sooner not bad where we aren't even going to call these apps social media. If your kid is on Fortnite the whole time, you consider that gaming. Yes. If your kid is on Roblox the whole time, that might just be for chatting with people in his community. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. That's right. We have to rethink what we're calling social media right now

and then make sure those guardrails are set for the companies that are creating apps. Yeah, that's how I feel about it. And lastly, I would file this story under Yeah, I know that the compulsive smartphone use is like an addiction. I don't know how this is a story that today is a story that should have been written 10 years ago. Well, it's from the University of McGill University of

Toronto. So lots of people have been working on it, apparently. Yeah. And yes, they did come up with the idea that problematic smartphone use can mirror addiction addictive qualities. I think you and I have done the Macarena before where we tried to figure out where our phone is. Yeah, and we you know, we look weird. And we sometimes, well, we've done the 50 yard dash. Well, because we realize it's not about whether you ingest something that's good or bad for you. It's the effect it has on

your brain. And they've done these studies that say that, you know, you get that was a dopamine shot every time you see a picture that you like, and which is similar to to a hit of drugs. But anyway, like I said, this is stuff I already knew, but I'm glad that we're getting the data to back it up. Mohit Rajan is always great to chat with you and geek out on tech. Okay, Ben, take care of yourself. Welcome back to the Ben Mulroney Show. Thank you so much for joining us.

Wherever we may find you, either on the radio, on a streaming app, or in podcast form, and now on YouTube. Very happy to be joined by the food professor himself, Sylvain Charlebois. We've got a number of food-related stories that affect your life. Sylvain, welcome to the show. Good morning, Ben. So I don't think a week goes by that most Canadians don't interact with one or many of the food delivery apps out there and now they're coming for the Competition Bureau is coming for at least one of them. Yeah, absolutely DoorDash. So we learned yesterday that the Competition Bureau is suing DoorDash Canada. It sounds like we're in the US but it's

actually happening in Canada. And what's the issue? The issue basically is that apparently the app is offering false promotion, misleading rebates. There were a lot of rumors for years, a lot of people were wondering, okay, so are these deals actually good deals or false deals? And the Bureau looked into some of these deals only to find out that some of them are actually false promotions, if you will.

They're just bait for people to order food. And frankly, Ben, I mean, when you, I don't know if you ever use some of these apps, but I mean, fees will add up. Oh, if you ever use some of these apps, but I mean, fees will add up. Oh gosh, yeah. It will increase your costs. So I'm actually happy that they're looking into this. In the US, they've done so like many years ago.

This is the first time the Consulate Bureau in Canada is suing a company in the food space after the alleged chocolate cartel, which now they went after Hershey and Cadbury and other brands and that investigation is still ongoing, but that's the first time since that event that the Bureau is actually suing a company. Well, I just remember years ago I was using Eats, and I saw that there was this new option that for $1, you could be the first person that they deliver to. And I thought to myself, this is not going to end well. And sure enough, sure enough, a few years later, it's that that same option is now $5.99 in some cases.

And then I found out Sylvain that if I order from them on that platform, and the same driver is also using the DoorDash platform, he can double his, he can double dip and because someone will say, I'll be the first on the DoorDash platform. So one of those two people who paid the $5.99 is going to get screwed. Absolutely. So, and it really just makes food more expensive. Now there is an aspect of laziness, I'll be honest with you. Oh no, it's true. There's plenty of times where I could have gone to the store to pick it up and I've chosen

not to. And then I see the hit that I take for that laziness. In most cases, I said to myself, I deserve that. But in a lot of cases, as I guess the competition bureau is looking to find that maybe this is by design. But so you just talked about food getting more expensive. Last week, we used a graph on our show that you put out there laying out how expensive,

food inflation in 2025. And at the top of the list was a couple of two or three different types of beef, which is perfect for barbecue season as that approaches, isn't it? Yeah, it's painful, really painful. And so the weather is really getting better. So a lot of people are thinking about barbecuing. And so they've been to the meat counter only to realize that prices have changed dramatically since last year. We're talking 35% more since January for strip loin cuts, sirloin cuts, specialty cuts are above 30% plus and even ground beef in Canada. That's the cheapest bovine protein. It's up 22 percent year to year. And so a lot of people are noticing that. So I can tell you Ben,

right now the conversion from beef to pork or from beef to chicken is really high right now because people are just walking away from beef. I remember a few years ago when it was the exact opposite where we were having a problem with our with the pork stock in Canada. And I think it was almost impossible to get ribs or get ribs at a decent price. I know. Well, last year pork helped us because of the China situation. Right. I was was not buying Canadian pork. So we had lots of pork. Inventors were pretty high.

But now this year, pork prices are back. So all three components of the meat trifecta, chicken, pork, and beef are all more expensive. But beef is really an outlier. So if you had the ear of the government right now, and you said, look, the first quarter of this year is a wash. There's no way it's going to, like, everything went became more expensive. What would you tell them about what needs to be on the table in terms of legislation to drive those prices back to a place that is more affordable? Well, it's a good question. I've always wondered about meat packing

in Canada. We basically have three plants in Canada owned by two major private companies, privately owned companies, GBS and Cargill in this country. One plant is in Guelph and two others in Alberta. We don't really know anything about their margins or anything like that and I know that inventories are tight and supplies are low. Fewer farmers are farming or producing beef I get it but at the same time in the US they did go after former president Biden went after meat packers like Tyson and GBS and Cargill and National Beef and since then we've seen a slew of checks written to Washington Companies like GBS just set a lot of

court $83.5 million just a couple of months ago. Yeah, but hold on, I need to go back to something you said off the top. We've got three major packaging plants in the entire country. We have manufacturing producing about 85 to 87% of all the beef we consume in Canada. Yeah. Well, that that feels like a choke point if I've ever heard of one. And frankly, when you look at increases this year, I have a huge question mark. I mean, 35 percent for strip loin.

And in the US, we've seen some increases. And you have to understand, Ben, the cattle industry in North America, while both the Canadian industry and the American industry in North America, while both the Canadian industry and the American industry, they work in lockstep. It's just highly integrated. So if you're seeing inflation in Canada, typically you see the same in the US, but this year, some increases here in Canada are double, even triple, than what we're seeing in the US.

So I'm just wondering what is going on here? Because we were expecting increases. You and I spoke about Canada's food price report. I didn't mention beef is going to be a problem for 2025. But the increases I'm seeing right now is beyond reasonable. Lastly, let's talk about a post that you put on X about how Canada, our addiction to dairy, and our particular love of it is making Canada trade pariah. I think I know where you're going with this. I think it has to do with supply management. Oh my God. So parliament number 45 is making the same mistake as parliament number 44.

So parliament number 44 adopted a bill, Bill C-282, to basically grant immunity to supply management should Canada enter new trade negotiations with anyone, including the US or Mexico and other places. And just last week, we learned that Bill C-202, basically is doing the same thing. So they actually brought back the bill that we saw last time and it went through parliament like butter. No fun. I mean, so here's the deal. I mean, this bill is actually making Canada much less attractive when it comes to negotiating a trade deal. And the Americans have just settled something with the UK, and we want to deal with the UK, but guess what? As soon as you legislate protection for one sector, which represents barely 1% of the

economy, it is going to make Canada a less attractive partner. And so the bill itself, 202, is gone to Senate now. And I'm hoping, I'm hoping that Senate will do it. Yeah. Sylvain, thank you so much. Far reaching conversation today, and I really appreciate it. All right, take care, bye bye. The best high-concept sci-fi rig of her all in the universe is back. What the hell?

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