The Ben Mulroney Show - Education Minister says we need to take the Politics out of schools

Episode Date: May 6, 2025

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Welcome to the Tuesday edition of the Ben Mulrooney Show. We are so thankful that you join us each and every day. You may be listening on the radio. You may be listening on a streaming app. You may be listening in podcast form. I take you where I can get you. And I had a doozy of a time getting to work. I don't know if this ever happened to you, but I woke up, I guess I fell asleep in my clothes, watching my iPad. And I woke up in a start, freaked out it was seven o'clock. And typically I'm at work at seven. So I was behind the eight ball and I did out, it was seven o'clock. And typically I'm at work at seven. So I was behind the eight ball and I did not, I don't like being late.

And so I'm freaking out. I take a shower, I run upstairs, I get in the car, you know, it's light out, obviously at that point. And I turn on the radio expecting to hear Greg Brady and he's not on the radio expecting to hear Greg Brady. And he's not on the radio. Because it was 7 p.m. I fell into such a deep sleep that when I woke up at 7 p.m. I thought it was 7 a.m.

And I don't know if it's ever happened to you. But it literally took another, I don't know, 30, 45 minutes for my brain to truly appreciate what was going on. Anyway, I'm glad I didn't just put on some music and drive to work because it would have been a sorry state if I'd been down here at 7 p.m. I don't know what I would have done. Anyway, that was my night. And I hope you had a more a less eventful one than I. Doug Ford, the Ontario premier

seems to have an eventful day every single day, at least as it relates to the Trump tariffs. Because yesterday or the day before, Donald Trump started floating the idea of tariffing films that are not made in the United States. Now, how he would go about doing that, I don't think anybody knows. But here's what Doug Ford had to say about the impact on the Ontario film industry. It's every day something new with him.

You know, we built our film industry up to about $3 billion. Our goal is $5 billion. But again, he's just going after the entire world. It's obviously backfiring. You see his polls the worst in 80 years. He's down to 39% of approval rating. And I think he has to start moving quick before the midterms because it's not going to look good for him. Yeah, you know, you may like Donald, you may like Doug Ford, you may not. You may

think he's a great leader, you may not. But I think one thing is, should be universally appreciated, is that when he speaks about Donald Trump, he really does, it feels like he captures what most Ontarians feel. You know, there was a time where Doug Ford was a big fan of the Trump movement and thought he was a good, a voice of reason, whether you take the good with the bad with Donald Trump, but he was the right guy to write the course in the United States. And then when these tariffs came, you know, he spoke from a position of pain and of hurt.

And I think a lot of Ontarians felt that. And he tried to be as constructive as possible possible going on American TV, the charm offensive, Amcam Fortress, Fortress Amcan, as he called it, and trying to get them to hear the voice of reason in the United States. And now that that, that the tariffs are in place, I Think he's he's he's approaching it from a perspective of like hey listen, you're gonna pay the price You're gonna pay the price already people are are thinking you're on you're you're going down the wrong path and 39% Approval rating and you're gonna you're gonna get you're gonna get what's coming to you Donald Come the midterms and I don't know that he's wrong.

The good news for Doug Ford is it's really not his responsibility anymore. You'll remember one of the reasons our premiers went down to the states is because we had a complete absence of leadership at the federal level. You know, our Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had been cut off at the knees. He was ineffective dealing with Donald Trump, and then he resigned. And so our our premiers had to go down. Now we have a prime minister with a mandate to go deal with Donald Trump. And he's he's in Washington right now. I'm not quite sure when the meeting is supposed to start.

And Donald Trump says he's not quite sure what this meeting is about. I don't know. He's coming to see me. start and Donald Trump says he's not quite sure what this meeting is about. I don't know he's coming to see me I'm not sure what he wants to see me about but I guess he wants to make a deal everybody does we have something that they all want China wants to make a deal very badly you see what's happening to China China's being decimated and I don't want that to happen. You don't know what he wants to talk about? You have been railing against Canada since January. We have been the big bad boogeyman to the north and you don't know what he wants to

talk about? You've been complaining about NATO. You've been complaining about subsidizing our nation to the tune of $200 billion a year. You're complaining about the cars and the lumber and the gas. You're telling me you don't know what he wants to talk about? Now, when I hear that, I really do think Mark Carney has his work cut out for him. But he did say, I'm good in a crisis. I came back because Canada is in crisis and I'm the guy to deal with it. And you got elected on that promise. So while I appreciate you guy to deal with it. And you got elected on that promise.

So while I appreciate you want to keep expectations low for this first meeting, and I'm willing to give this first meeting to you like as a gimme, you're going to have to start working really hard, Mr. Prime Minister, because this is the job. This is the job you wanted, and this is the job that you said I'm best suited to do it. So I wish you well. I appreciate you want to keep expectations low but this this file better move fairly quickly because if you can't get it done then the question is why'd you come back? Why'd you come back and why did you present yourself? But like I said I really do want our prime ministers to succeed, because if he succeeds,

we all win. And meanwhile, the conservatives have been signaling that they're actually willing to back Mark Carney and the liberals on some legislation. You'll remember in the previous parliament, the Tories voted against almost everything, if not everything that was put forth in the House of Commons by the liberals. But Andrew Scheer, who a lot of people believe will probably be the House leader, he'll probably be the person representing the Tories in the House of Commons until Pierre Poliev

is able to win his seat. And we'll be talking about that whole thing a little bit later. But he said, look, see how Mark Carney adopted so many of our policies and a lot, there's not a lot of daylight between what we were campaigned on and what he won on. Yeah, there's a lot of stuff that we can work

with this party on, especially as it relates to the dealing with Donald Trump. And if they can move quickly on issues related to crime and natural resource development, yeah, there's a lot of stuff we can work on with them. And I, for one, would like to see a little more compromise in the House of Commons, a little less digging into the heels and more working across the aisle.

I think that would be good for the country. If these parties can find common cause every now and then, then maybe the dialogue between people on opposite sides of the aisle could be a little more congenial. That's my hope, but what the heck do I know? Hi, I'm Donna Friesen from Global National. Life moves fast these days, but what the heck do I know? New episodes drop every day. So take this as your personal invitation to join us on the global national podcast You can find it on Apple podcasts Spotify Amazon music and wherever you find your favorite podcasts Welcome back to the Ben Mulroney show and as always it's the time of the show where we turn the microphone over to our listeners at

416-870-6400 or one-888-225-TALK. We're talking about education, we're talking about politics in schools, and Ontario Education Minister Paul Calandra said this yesterday about classrooms being too political. Politics has no place in schools at all. Unless you're teaching politics, politics should not be in the school. That was the bargain that we had in this province for a very, very long time. Students respected teachers, teachers respected parents, and parents made sure that students respected their teachers as though they were their parents. That was the bargain

that we had in this province and that has changed, Madam Speaker, because politics has entered our schools through school boards. And when school boards get into politics, when the classroom becomes political, it is the students who suffer. And I can tell you this, Madam Speaker, I will work with the opposition on this new mandate that we all seem to agree upon. Get the politics out of the classroom. They're here. Put the education back in and put students first. Yeah, I mean, that was a pretty pointed accusation to level.

And I got to wonder whether the Ontario education minister was thinking about a teacher like this. Flag behind me seems to really trigger a lot of snowflakes. And yes, I am your worst nightmare. So let's get one thing clear. If you have a problem that I have this flag in my classroom, stop following me right now. Just block me. Or better yet, leave a comment so I know who I can block.

Because I will never stop supporting the rights of all individuals to be loved for who they are. And yes, I do teach about stuff like this in my classroom. Thank you for asking. I teach about Marxism. I teach about socialism. I teach about trans rights. I teach about LGBTQ history. I teach about black history. I teach about the racial history of our country and the genocide that we've inflicted upon indigenous people. I teach about redlining and Africville and the starlight tours. I teach about the history of Sir John A. McDonald.

I teach about wealth inequality in Canada and the concentration of wealth in the 1%. I talk about the prevalence of LGBTQ and trans people in millennial and Gen Z generations and compare it to left handedness. I mean not for nothing, but I didn't hear this guy talk about teaching reading or writing or arithmetic, you know, the stuff. And so look, I don't know anything about that guy. Apparently he was quite a big guy online his name is Frank Dominic and He could be a great teacher. I have no idea. I do know that he was a very staunch Staunchly against the conservatives online. He's sort of an influencer. I guess but yeah, I think that person is a

Prime example of what Paul Kalandra says has broken the bargain that parents and teachers and schools and kids used to enjoy. Now there's a woman named Catherine Cronus who seems very invested in education as well, and she tweeted something that I think is a great counterpoint to what Paul Kalantra said, said, I agree with you, Mr. Minister, but please stop blaming school boards, your government controls the curriculum, the policies and the funding. If you want identity, politics and activism out of your schools, then direct the boards accordingly. I think that's a fair point. But I want to hear from you at 416-870-6400 or 1-888-225-TALK.

Where's the onus to get politics out of school? Is it on the teachers or the government? As a parent, when you hear that teacher's rant, is that what you want teachers teaching your kids? And by the way, that teacher continues. He says, I'm not breaking any laws. I am following the laws that have been afforded to us. I'm doing everything according to the rules that may be true. My contention though, is years ago, this probably the rules were the same as they are. But teachers became at least this teacher, and I'm

sure there are many more like him, became more activist minded. and they decided to bring their own personal politics and values into the classroom and therefore it's probably incumbent upon the the Ontario education minister to change the rules and I guarantee you once that happens once a change in legislation is brought before Queens Park there will be a charter challenge to the rights of teachers. If someone's going to come out and say, you are infringing on my right as a teacher to do what I have to do, my free...

Who knows? I guarantee you a charter challenge would be imminent. Hey, Rob, welcome to the Ben Mulroney Show. Hey, Ben, how's it going? It's going well, thank you. So where do you land on this debate? I hate the fact that everyone blames the government and pushes it back to the government. So the government doesn't own the buildings. The board owns the buildings.

They get their funding and they spend it on silly things. So they should get audited. But in terms of curriculum, just because the government says they have to teach something or this is what they're going to teach, the school boards and their unions get involved and they do what they want regardless. Look at the uproar that happened when Kathleen Wynne changed the sex ed curriculum. Did the teachers stop teaching what she wanted? No. They just kept pushing their agenda and increase it to the alphabet mafia, and dudes dressing up as women reading the kids in kindergarten class that happens I've had it happen that I've had the discussions with my kids teachers. I don't want my kids being taught that stuff

They were way too young at the time when that was going on Like if they want to get back to reading and writing and arithmetic and respect. Yeah, they don't do any of that anymore They're just so focused on every other thing except for what's a metric that actually should dictate how much money they get. Hey, Rob, thank you for the call. I got a lot of other calls to get to. And look, I haven't read the legislation that dictates what the curriculums,

I haven't read what the curriculum's supposed to be, but something tells me a smart teacher who knows a thing or two about the English language could gerrymander and shoehorn whatever they want into that curriculum and say, it applies, I'm doing, I'm subscribing to the letter of the curriculum, probably not the spirit. Hey, David, welcome to the show.

Hey, how you doing? I'm well, thanks. I mean, it's 100% on the teachers, to be honest. Like, I mean, there's a whole core of these new teachers, they've been growing up in this Marxist land, this kind of like, you know, ideology, they believe that they're not just their job, but their duty, their moral code to break and to mold these new minds and what they consider to be not just right, but the only thing that's right.

Well, David, I've watched the entire video. I only played you a clip of that guy. At the end of it, he said, something like, my job will be done when your kids go home and they cannot believe that you think the way you think. Essentially, he's- They think the parents are just wrong, but they need to be re-educated.

The language, it's almost like the cultural evolution in China. It's the exact same stuff, that path they're leading us down. It leads to some very scary places that people don't understand human nature. It doesn't change, you know, it's, yeah, it's a scary road. Yeah, well, thank you very much for the call. Who do we have next? We've got Peter on the line. Peter, welcome to the Ben Mulroney Show.

Hey, how you doing, Ben? I'm good. Thanks. I have a teacher in 1977. His name is Mr. Stoclazza and he taught in Jalbur, Ontario, and he would lecture us for an hour and a half. And his family ran from the chief. So he wasn't much in a communism, but he was a a fantastic teacher and we would go in and say something and he would lecture for an hour and a half and then we'd go, oh, read chapter 15, we're going to test next week. Yeah, yeah. I mean, that was the Socratic method, right?

Like the teacher had all the information, didn't really care what the students had to say. I'm just going to impart my knowledge and then I'm going to test you on what I told you. That was the old school way of doing it. I don't think teachers do that anymore. I also, from what I based on my experience with my kids, I'm still not seeing enough homework being given to my kids. Call me crazy, but I think knowing that your responsibilities of learning spill over after you're done with school, I think is an important lesson to learn. It's less about

the homework and more about the duty to get the homework done. But that's a debate for another day. Let's see, who do we have next? We've got Dan. Welcome to the show, Dan. Good morning, Ben. Good morning.

Two points. One is if you add up the hours spent indoctrinating the kids. These are hours not spent doing math in English. And so in both cases, both this whatever these subjects are these political subjects, which are just dividing kids at too young of an age for them to comprehend, nor to have experience, they don't have the experience to even critically analyze or the skills to critically analyze whatever the teachers indoctrinated and to be fair, by the way, I don't know enough about this teacher who's whose video I highlighted, I don't know how young or old the kids are that he teaches. recently, the parents like mine and parents, we just tell them it's at least a few hours a month. They're repeatedly every, you know, going to the gymnasium, doing these classes, and we tell the kids just leave the school, go take the day off, do whatever it is, because they're not learning

anyway. It falls on the ministry. The ministry sets the curriculum. And further than that, it should go to the universities. Where are these, all these teachers are getting these left brain Marxist divisive identity politics. They can't teach math. We have studies where they're ill qualified to teach math. Oh, I know. And listen, get the basics right. And then we can have a debate over your politics.

But until you show me that you can actually teach my kids what they are required to learn, keep everything to yourself. Like, honestly, stick to your lane, get good at one thing and then we can talk about it more later. And speaking of more, we got more of your calls on this very important topic when we continue that is next right here on the Ben Mulroney show. Welcome back to the Ben Mulroney show and we are still taking your calls at 416-870-6400 or 1-888-225. Talk Ontario Minister of Education Paul Kalandra yesterday committed to getting politics out

of schools. He said that our classrooms have become too political. I played an example of a, I mean there's no other way of saying it, he's less teacher and more activist and he's quite self-righteous in his belief that he has the right to teach kids about issues that at the end of his video, he says, I want your kids to look at you like you are some, like you're some sort of regressive old school obstacle

that needs to be overcome. Literally looking to drive a wedge between kids and their parents. That's what he says with glee at the end of his video. So I wanna hear from you and let me know your thoughts on this. Where's the responsibility here? Is it the government?

Is it the teachers? Is it the school boards? What do you think? Give us a call and let's say hi to Justin. Welcome to the show Justin. Hey, Ben, I was on yesterday is this kind of relates to the same issue when it comes to how the left views the world. I take great issue with the idea that Canadian parents need some sort of teacher to to relay information to their children. to their children that would make them good people. Canadians are some of the most accepting, tolerant, welcoming people on the planet. And we don't need some teachers out there trying to

create a world in which they envision to be the one that's better. Especially in a time when so many competitor countries, and that's exactly what they are, competitor countries, take no focus on this. And in fact, as we were talking about earlier, take more focus on the arithmetic, on the writing and the skills that are necessary to succeed to add to the economy. So I don't want to take too much your time. No, you're right. No.

And thank you for the call. I mean, do you honestly think that teachers in China are spending time on everything that that teacher just listed as his priorities? Do you think Russian kids are sitting around learning about all the ills of their society? No, they are learning the skills to dominate in the world of the future. And this teacher is messing around

with his own priorities as opposed to the priorities that matter to parents, getting their kids ready for the next step in life. And if you're not gonna do that, get the F out of the way. Welcome to the show, Frank. Good morning, Ben. I agree with Paul Conrad. My view, this just a form of social engineering

and brainwash and brainwashing children on the subject of ideology. Yep. And the problem with that is that, you know, one of your previous callers made a great point there. You're dealing with critical thinking stills and really, really complex and some controversial issues how certain politicians and teachers take a certain stance. I don't like it. And there's some similarity with same-sex education.

You defer to a later time in the child's education to get into the more complex issues. So, it's the same thing. Yeah. Hey, thank you for the call. Now, let me play devil's advocate before we continue with the calls. What about this idea that the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party has been in government for years. They are now in their third majority government. And this is not an idea that

snuck up on anybody. The question is why why have they waited until now to deal with this? This could have been dealt with years ago. And I it's a good faith question. I would love a good faith question. I would love to know the answer. What took so long? Why haven't we dealt with this already? And I will say again, while I do appreciate that it is within the purview of the government

to deal with it, I think it's activist teachers that have been shoehorning their agenda into the curriculum. And they've been able to say with a straight face, hey, I'm following the letter of the law here, but they're probably not following the spirit of it. Who do we have next? Brad, welcome to the show. Yes, good morning, sir.

Morning. Just a quick thought. My wife and I are both atheist and our children go to a Catholic school. Now we've chosen the Catholic school board because we felt that it was just a little bit than the public school board. Now when our eight-year-old comes home and she's talking about Jesus, you know all that kind of stuff, we allow that to happen because we want

her to form her own opinion on she gets older like my wife and I did. I think it's very important that our children have access to every possible thing that they can learn. Okay. And they should be able, if you think your child is being indoctrined by a teacher, then that's your fault. Well, hold on, like you've chosen, listen, I don't think that's fair. It's a false comparison to say, well, I've chosen to put my kid in the Catholic school. That's part of the curriculum. Like you know what you're doing. You're going in eyes open.

To suggest that I have any idea what the personal politics of every individual teacher is versus the Catholic curriculum, which is there for everybody to see. You know exactly what you're getting in the Catholic education as it relates to Jesus, for example. I don't know what the heck I'm gonna get

from one teacher to another. Are they an activist? Are they a teacher? So that's not a fair comparison, I don't think. Well, I don't know, man. No, I mean, well, I do appreciate you calling in and thank you very much, Brad. Who do we have next?

We got George. Welcome to the show, George. Hey, yeah, yeah, your last caller there, that was a demonic move. and thank you very much, Brad. Who do we have next? We got George. Welcome to the show, George. Hey, yes. Yeah, your last caller there, that was a demonic move. Well, not demonic. It just wasn't a fair comparison. Well, let's go back to the original word.

This was all written out for people. It came out in a manifesto back in the 80s. So it shouldn't be anything new for parents if they're aware what's going on in society. But we got to get to the root cause. Why are these teachers emboldened? Who's given them the power? They're not scared to lose their job to push this agenda. Yeah, we've been going on for a decade. Yeah, this is

what we got to get into. We can talk about it a talk show like yours, which is great. You're bringing awareness to it. But if we don't get right down to the bottom, it's a problem. Yeah, I agree. I agree. And we have to have an honest conversation. And by the way, we have to have a conversation where we're not afraid to hurt somebody's feelings. Like, enough, okay? I'm a taxpayer. I'm a parent. I'm entrusting my kids to a school board. And if they're getting a teacher like the one I highlighted earlier, I feel I'm like, I'm sorry. I'm not getting what I... You've broken the deal with me. You're not doing the thing I'm paying my taxes

for you to do. Let's welcome to the show, Dorothy. Dorothy, thanks so much for calling in. Oh, hi, good morning. Morning. So what I wanted to say is that it all started with somebody came up with the idea that children learning is parent and school responsibility.

I only accept that statement in the small percentage. I'm responsible for my child, you know, good manners. I'm responsible for opening the word to her the way I see it. But in terms of simple maths and you know, and English, that school responsibility. I'm highly qualified professional. I'm not the teacher. I don't have the skills to teach child properly. I don't have the time to spend hours and hours with the child to do the homework. Why schools and teacher are not subjected to testing?

They listen, there should be regular testing and the metrics by which a teacher is determined to be successful is how successful the kids are at tests. Full stop. We got time for a couple more calls. And by the way, thank you so much for everybody calling in. I very much appreciate everybody's opinions, including Mike. Mike, welcome to the Ben Mulroney Show.

Hey, good morning. Yeah, if you're about to have a kid going going to school 100% advised going to a Catholic school my company has Contracts with the public school board and even prior to having kids I just remember being going through the schools and disgusted by just the woken dockernation everywhere And I don't want to paint every teacher in the public school board with the same brush, but you do get a lot of those lefties with that short haircuts,

the pride flags all over their classrooms, and you don't get that in the Catholic board. There's no work indoctrination, no 426 genders or whatever the hell we're at now, nothing. But look, again, if you want to teach religion class dominates Yeah, but if you want to teach your kids that it if you if you want your your kids to learn Those values that that teacher espoused then you get to do that at home You can if you want to teach your kids about trans rights, and if you want to teach your kids about

to see the world a certain way, that is your choice as a parent. I'm not sending my kids to school to learn a worldview. I'm sending them to school to learn reading and writing and history and geography. And then you're going to say, oh, well, the history is subjective. It is, but it isn't. I mean, for the love of God, how subjective does it have to be for a seven-year-old or a 10-year-old

or a 12-year-old? Get off your goddamn high horse and teach my kids how to read. Welcome to the show, Lena. Absolutely. I applaud you. I applaud Dorothy, the other gentlemen. Come on guys. Honestly, teach them math and English. I was at a store the other day, I had to tell this 17 year

old how much change to give me back. She was staring at it as if it was a foreign object. It was ridiculous. My kids, you know, my kids, there's a place and a time for all this. When they went to university, of course, all this was thrown at them. They dealt with it, but they were mature enough to deal with it. They were adults on a different level in elementary high school, teach them math and English properly, have the teachers tested to see if they're qualified to teach them this because a lot of them are not. Yeah. And politics stay out. I agree.

This is ridiculous. Well, Lena, thank you so much and thank you to everybody. And I did get a little worked up there, but you know, kids are kids and they matter to me. Welcome back to the Ben Mulrooney Show and we're going to pivot to a different topic. You'll remember last year in an attempt to curry favor with with the people of Canada the Liberal government gave everybody a GST holiday or that was this year that was this year in February I think I ended in February and and gave everybody a GST holiday didn't really move the needle in terms of as spurring

the economy in the way the Liberals. The economy was stalled, it kind of still is stalled. Not a lot of growth out there. However, the one place that did see the knock-on benefit of the GST holiday was the food industry. Restaurants saw an uptick in business. Because you know, if you only have a finite amount of money in your pocket and you need to stretch it,

going to a restaurant knowing you can save 30 bucks that you otherwise would be paying in taxes, you're going to spend there so that you can enjoy a night out. And so there is a group, Restaurants Canada, an industry group, that is suggesting that the GST and HST should be removed permanently from restaurants. And I'd love to hear from you at 416-870-6400 or 1-888-225-TALK. Look, on one side of the equation, makes a lot of sense to me.

I have so much respect for entrepreneurs and there is no more brave entrepreneur than a restaurateur. They bet on themselves in an industry that is stacked against them. It is so hard to be successful in the restaurant business. They bet on themselves in an industry that is stacked against them. It is so hard to be successful in the restaurant business. Most restaurants close, I think, within the first year, more than 50% of them.

If you open, there's a good chance you're going to close. So you really have to believe in yourself. And if we can help them, then we should consider it. That being said, if we keep removing the GST from things, and there's carve out after carve out after carve out, then the value of the GST goes away. You know what, look, my dad was the dad of the GST. So the GST is kind of like my brother. And I got a lot of time for the GST. The GST was brought in at a time when we needed a tax reform and it was very helpful in slaying the deficit. Today, every penny of the GST goes into servicing

the debt. So without that, the debt would spiral out of control. And you know, we need to tamp down on that a little bit of fiscal responsibility would be nice to see from Ottawa. And getting rid of the GST, I mean, at some point, if you keep carving out the GST from things, how much is it going to bring in? And so I got to wonder. You got to pay taxes. We got to pay for stuff in this country.

But I'd love to hear what you have to say. Richard, welcome to the show. Morning, Ben. Love the caution. Thank you. Well, I, love the passion. Thank you. Well, this, you know, I was all in the hole. I remember when we had this GST break, sometimes three times a week, you know what?

Let's go out. Yeah. Or let's go order takeout. But then now that you talk about, well, if we keep cutting out GST here, let's say we do cut it out for the response, you know that another group is going to want the same thing. Yeah. And like you said, we need taxes collected to pay for things.

Yeah. So where is the stopping point? Yeah. You can't tell me that there wasn't there isn't value in the GST. You know, people are used to paying it. And yes, it's a bummer that when you tack that onto all of our other taxes, that we've got a huge tax burden and we're not really getting much out of it.

But the GST has proven its worth more times than most people would like to admit. And when Stephen Harper cut the GST from 9% to 7%, a lot of people said, myself included, great politics, terrible policy. And you know, we the lost revenue from from the fight, don't forget, there was a there's a fight to get the GST adopted and accepted. And once it was accepted, you know, we should have just let it lie. But instead, we've been carving at it and cutting a death by 1000

cuts. And I just don't know where the value in in the GST is going to be, we're certainly not going to get back what we put in because of it. But like I said, I've got a very particular perspective on that. Who do we have next? We've got Mike, welcome to the Ben Mulroney show, Mike. Ben, you really lost me. I'm not a big fan today, Ben. Okay. I'll tell you, I'll tell you why. Okay. I'll tell you why. The government has a spending problem. The GST goes to pay down the debt. The debt has actually increased over the years. Why?

Because there's a spending problem. Yes, but two things can be true at once, my friend. We can have a spending problem and the GST can be good policy. And just because one actually has nothing to do with the other, you know, there have been responsible governments prior that where there was the GST. And at that point, the GST was helpful. It helped us pay down the debt, the deficit.

We had Jean-Claude Chrétien and Paul Martin take credit for getting rid of the deficit. They could not have done it without the GST. Thank you, Brian Mulrooney. Right? So just because Justin Trudeau never met a program he couldn't overspend on doesn't mean the GST doesn't have value as part of our tax system. Anyway, we got time for Robert. Robert, welcome to the show. Yeah, then it'd be a good idea to take the GST off of meals under $20 and the families under

$20. It would stimulate the economy, make a lot more jobs, get people going, and let families and people have a little bit of a break for once. Yeah, I just think we look to the GST as the problem and as opposed to what it has been, it's been part of a solution in the past. And instead we're looking at a problem, and well, if we just carve out this, then things will be better.

Or we could look at, take a good hard look at our tax system and maybe overhaul it in a more effective way, as opposed to looking at the GST as the problem that if we just reduce it, or if we just carve out, we're going to have, things will get better. Oh, we'll spur the economy if we give everybody a car, or give this group a carve out. Because then somebody else is going to come and say, I want to carve out. You know, we want it taken off of books and it's already coming off of homes. Anyway, we've got time for

one more call. Joe, welcome to the show. Hi, I was just started your screener there. Yeah. And I said that the other thing I would like to see curb is every public sector union, the pensions that we pay them and the money because the government get the money to pay them. I was talking to one public sector union, he said he pays taxes, I go, no, you don't. You don't pay taxes. Where does the government get to pay you?

Because you work for the government? Well, the government is charged private sector. So private sector is really flipping the bill for your wages, your benefits and all this other stuff. Yeah, well, look at a lot of things that could be curbed down. Yeah. And you bring up you bring up a good point like a lot. Listen, I would I want to help restaurants. I want to help entrepreneurs. I love restaurants. And I love entrepreneurs. But the GSC, A, is not a problem and B, it's not a cure-all. If we have problems in this

country, we have to take a step back and look more broadly at the tax burden on everyone, on entrepreneurs, on restaurants. How can we lessen their tax burden and how can we have a more effective tax system so that the money that we do bring in ends up being more effective? And that's my two cents. Want to transform your space and your Sundays? Well, Home Network is giving you the chance

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