The Ben Mulroney Show - Friday Political Panel -- Poilievre suggest counter tariffs are necessary

Episode Date: August 8, 2025

Guest: Warren Kinsella, Former Special Advisor to Jean Chretien and CEO of the Daisy Group Guest: Michael Burns,  Canada's Valour Games www.canadasvalourgames.ca  (former head of the Invictus games, Canada) If you enjoyed the podcast, tell a friend! For more of the Ben Mulroney Show, subscribe to the podcast! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://link.chtbl.com/bms⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Also, on youtube -- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@BenMulroneyShow⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Ben on Twitter/X at https://x.com/BenMulroney Insta: ⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠ Twitter: ⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠ TikTok: ⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠ Enjoy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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welcome back to the ben mulrooney show and welcome to this week in politics the friday edition we're joined by two great friends of the show we got mike burns who's in a room that looks like a waiting room at a doctor's office and we're We got Warren Kinsella, who's multitasking like a mofo, driving and doing political commentary simultaneously to the both of you. I say happy Friday. Eyes at 10 and 2, hands at 10 and 2, eyes on the road, please, sir. There you go.

Yeah, no, I'm observing the Highway Traffic Act. It's mounted properly, and I'm not looking at you guys. Do not look at us. We're not a sight to behold, except for Micah, you could get lost in those blue eyes. All right, let's let's talk about, let's talk about Pierre Poliyev. You know, he's got a, he's got a very interesting needle to thread in reintroducing himself all while holding to account a very popular government right now if the polls are to be believed. Warren, in a speech that he gave in Calgary, he said that Prime Minister Carney has broken his promise to deal with U.S. President Donald Trump to find a resolution to the ever-expanding trade. war. And he suggested that the tariffs that have now been levied are unjustified and unfair. And he

suggested the remedy of extremely targeted counter tariffs. Now, I've heard that before. We heard that from this liberal government, that that was a tactic that they were going to employ. We saw that they quietly rolled back some counter tariffs a little while ago. I don't know how effective this criticism will be. What do you think? yeah and that is exactly the question how effective will the criticism be like like substantively what he's saying is logical and makes some sense yeah the issue is who is saying it and you know i'm a mean guy i'm not nice like you two but um i actually feel sorry for pierre a consensus formed about him about you know how he is and his style and his stylistics and you know he's

the angry man and he's kind of stuck now because if he he gets too negative too tough on carney or whoever kind of fulfills that prophecy it makes true that criticism and if he whips out and pulls his punches well then he's not being leader of the opposition yeah and i want to stop you for one sec because i don't disagree with anything you've said but if we go back in history just a little bit you know you had a candidate that you backed there was a consensus around him he there was He was called, quote, yesterday's man. And somehow he broke that consensus and won back to back to back majorities. So tell me, like, tell me the difference between those two situations.

Well, in that situation, you know, with Mr. Crenzian, we leaned into it. And so in 93, I mean, we are facing a very different proposition. Your dad had retired. He would have been a more formidable opponent than Mrs. Campbell, for sure. but we thought they might go after his face and they did uh you know with the approval of john tory regrettably and um it kreche was ready for it and he actually made it work for him that's the challenge polyev's got to answer your question is how does he make his persona work for him because his persona was used against him in the campaign like he it worked yeah it worked for two

years he's great in the house of commons he's great in committee he's great in scrums he's you know tough he's aggressive and then all of a sudden people said you know what i don't like that anymore so that is the problem he's got is does he lean back into who he is as a guy or does he do a kinder gentler pierre pauliev and potentially lose some of his base uh michael burns is could there be a third option here which is just to sit back um play the magnanimous leader of the opposition, supporting the liberals when they deem acceptable, not attacking just for the sake of attacking, and waiting for this government that has set expectations way too high to fall short. Yeah, no, I think that that is an option. I just don't see it in his DNA to make that

pivot. And that, to me, is a blind spot for Pauliev. I think it's pretty clear that the speech he gave in Calgary is he's trying to brand the prime minister's weak on trade and soft on Trump. And Carney, you know, true to form, is trying to avoid a full-blown trade war. Now, that may be smart in theory, but I think it's going to be politically risky. If Canadian producers start getting hit and we don't hit back, people are going to start wondering if the prime minister is rolling over. Yeah. Well, let's pivot to a disappointing story, but not surprising story, where Melanie Jolie, who

a member of the most pro-Palestinian government in the history of this country, found her house where she lives in a residential neighborhood with other people walking about living their lives targeted by Palestinian protesters to the tune of about 60 of them with pots and pans projecting things on the house. Warren, I'm going to start with you. And if I don't get to you, Michael, we'll pick it up after the break. but make this make sense to me

because what it tells me what it tells me is everything will never be enough for a certain type of protester no matter what you give them it's not enough absolutely

yeah and I you know she doesn't like me she blocked me even as a cabinet minister she blocked me on Twitter for years and I didn't like her a terrible minister but she doesn't deserve

this nor did anina and nann's constituency staff last week like they had to shut down their off because of these jerks showing up to you know advocate on behalf of a state run by a terrorist entity so like they are alienating people in my opinion but melody joan and nand any people making bad decisions even people are making bad decisions and i know people go there's some shot and fright here yeah i don't think they deserve their their personal lives are personal. Oh, yeah. And they should be able to live their lives in private. But Michael, we have, we have been so permissive with these protesters across this country on every front, allowing them quarter, any time they've asked for it or pushed over any line

that's been drawn in the sand. This is, this is what they expect. They expect to be able to do and say and behave in any way they want with very few repercussions, even if they go into a residential neighborhood and make a cabinet minister who votes in favor of their cause more often than she should. Yeah, look, I don't care where you land on the politics of this.

Protesting outside someone's home crosses the line. These people should be arrested. This isn't democracy. This is just flat out intimidation. Yeah. But again, why? I'm still trying. Yeah, I agree with all of that.

I think it's disgusting behavior, and people's homes, politician or otherwise, should always be off limits because the spillover is, even if you think that person deserves it, by definition, the person next door doesn't. And so to me, they should all be arrested. But if you are protesting Melanie Jolie's house, then nobody is safe, like nobody. And if you're allowing it to happen to her, then you're going to allow it to happen to anyone. Warren I'll let you have the last word and we'll pick it up after the break I completely agree I think when you bring the fight to someone's front lawn

you're not just protesting that these are threats frankly there's just no place for it in Canada yeah Warren you want to you want to button this up for me I agree with everything you guys are saying it's wrong this is not how our democracy works yes you're entitled to protest yes you're allowed to do that public they're not allowed to go to somebody's house

It's like, okay, so to get biblical about it, okay, but then we're going to come and do it at your house. How about that? Yeah, yeah. How about we terrorize you in your home? You're not going to dig it. It's wrong to be doing it. Look where it's happening. It's happening in Olivia Chow's Toronto, right?

It's happening in Valetti Plants, Montreal. It's happening in two places in particular. This ain't happening in my hometown of Calgary. Yeah. And, but again, this is the, we set the rules of engagement two years ago. and they were completely in the favor of the protesters. And I've been saying it about more generally about crime in this country. If there is no time associated with the crime, you are more likely to do the crime.

And if you believe that a lot of the people in these cases are acting criminally, if they are not facing real legal consequences, they will continue to do what they do. In fact, they will be emboldened to do worse. So I don't think we've seen, I don't think we've seen the basement or the depths that they're willing to plumb just yet because we haven't seen any pushback. Without pushback, it's going to keep going. All right, after the break, we're going to continue this conversation, including what are we going to use for mixers with our vodka if there's no orange juice? That's next on the Ben Mulroney Show.

In the 70s, four young women were found dead. For nearly 50 years, their cases went cold. I'm Nancy Hicks, a senior crime reporter for global news. In the season finale of Crime Beat, I share how investigators uncovered shocking evidence of a serial killer. And hear exclusive interviews with the killer's family. Listen to the full season of Crime Beat early and ad-free on Amazon music by asking Alexa to play the podcast, Crime Beat. Welcome back to the Ben Mulrenny's show. Welcome back to the Friday edition of This Week in Politics. And welcome back to Warren Kinsella, the former special advisor Jean-Cretienne and the CEO of the day.

group as well as our good friend Michael Burns from Canada's Valor Games and the former head of the Invictus Games. To the both of you, I say thanks so much for sticking around. Look, the numbers are out and the, as we're dealing with this new world of Donald Trump, orange juice that's coming into this country as just, it's just, what's that? Oh yeah, we got a clip. Ors juice is a very important drink when it comes to mixers, if you will. And some people don't know that some people have enjoyed so many vodka soda or vodka orange juices that they don't know that orange juice can be drunk on its own. Let's listen.

Oh, dude. I thought you said they didn't have alcohol. Look, they got screwdrivers. Oh, no, Charlie, it's just orange juice. Orange juice, like the mixer? Yeah, yeah, people drink it. People drink it, yeah. That's crazy to me.

When was the last time you drank a straight mixer? That is from, it's always sunny in Philadelphia. Listen, whether it's something that you drink first thing in the morning to start your day or whether it's your nightcap as a cocktail, orange juice is a very big import and it's fallen off the shelf and it's an indication that it's not business as usual. Is this a one-off issue or does this speak to a larger issue that the fact that we don't have a deal with the Americans is something that is going to become a bigger problem? in the next few weeks and months and years. Michael Burns. Yeah, look, I mean, only in a trade war do you wake up and find orange juice on the front lines. And I think if this keeps up, we'll be mixing our vodka with sparkling water and sadness. Now, it's funny until you realize that these terror fights are going to drive up costs for regular Canadians.

And once you go down the retaliation road, it could get messy and affect a lot more products than just orange juice on the shelves. And Warren, you know, I go back to a study that came out a few months ago that indicated that all everything that we threw at the Americans in terms of our attempts to hurt them where they lived and target them with the most painful retaliatory policies that we could find amounted to a rounding error for them. So I don't know what and this is, this is not meant as an attack on the government, because I would say this about whoever was in Ottawa. I don't know what kind of tools we have in our toolbox in a quote-unquote trade war.

Yeah, you're absolutely right, but I don't think we have much choice for two reasons. Firstly, domestically, if the voting public and, you know, we've been voting in Ontario both provincially and federally just in the past few months, if we saw a government or a political party saying well we just need to take it there's nothing we can do that's a political party that's not going to form government so i don't think ford or carney or pauliev had any choice but to say yes we need to have retaliatory tariffs but you're right too you know they don't have as much impact on americans generally speaking because while they are nearly 90% of our export market we're you know we're a fraction of that for theirs so what do you do i think what ford and eb

and Carney and the other premiers are doing, which is you make it, you be surgical, like a sniper. And so, you know, lots of Canadians go to Florida. So Canadians aren't going to Florida so much anymore. You got Ron DeSantis, Republican big name. And it's like, you know,

you're not buying orange juice. Yeah. That's tough on Canadians because we're not growing oranges up here. But like, it has an impact. Like right now, I'm supposed to be, for 25 years, I've been going to Maine. And Ben, you know how many French Canadians go to old orchard in Maine, they're not going this year.

Yeah. They're hurting badly. So if we can, you know, could have hit them in certain vulnerabilities and make them notice and pay attention to our argument, I think it's the way to go. But you're absolutely right. Having a big impact on them, we're not going to. You know, and I know this wasn't a story that that we highlighted for you guys to pay attention to, but I know you know it.

You know, Doug Ford, the Premier of Ontario, went on to CNN yesterday. And he, and he said, you know, he got pretty personal with the president saying he's the most disliked politician in the world. It goes on CNN, which means the intention is for him to see it. Now, if I take issue with the liberal government going down a path of recognizing a Palestinian state knowing that it doesn't help our cause with Washington, I have to say the same thing about the Premier of Ontario. What do you make of that tactic yesterday. Mike, he's not wrong, but is that helpful? What end does it serve? What end does it serve? Yeah, I think I think the short answer is no, that was that was not a good strategy for

the premier. I think he had been quite effective up until that point. And I think he did a lot of things that Warren just outlined both in terms of his actions as well as focusing on on the policy and trying to raise awareness among Americans. I think getting personal with this president is a dumb strategy. Yeah. Warren, you want to say anything about Doug Fort? I loved it. Yeah.

Sure. It scratches an emotional it's for sure. I knew it was unstrategic. I knew he'd react badly to it, but I still loved it. And I suspect most Canadians did. I mean, the one thing I regretted on the morning that we realized that Trump was going to be back is like, here we go. four more years of trying to figure out the psychology of this psycho and like you know what's

the impact of this decision or that decision going to be on what donald trump's thinking about us and like to me i've kind of reached the point where it doesn't matter what he says pay attention to what he does yeah and so you know like for last time when he threatened to turn off the power to those three u.s states that's when the americans started taking us really seriously yeah so maybe throwing the Throwing them a few uppercuts, maybe it's the way to go. Lastly, I wanted to talk about this new project where hotel and motel staff are going to be educated in recognizing the signs of human trafficking. That's according to the chair of the Ontario Restaurant, Hotel and Motel Association. And, you know, I take this for the public benefit that it will offer.

But I'm also somebody who takes the world as it is. and human trafficking is not one person doing bad. It's an entire ecosystem that's been built around the abduction of women and the trafficking of women. And you need multiple players in multiple places to either turn a blind eye or get paid off in order to have this thing be successful. It's a multi, multi, multi, multi billion dollar business. And I don't know that education is going to stop somebody if somebody offers them a massive paycheck to look the other. way. I might be overly cynical about it, but yeah, I mean, I think a lot of these people probably already know the signs and if, and they're either going to do the right thing or they're being

paid off to do the absolute wrong thing. Mike? Well, look, I mean, first of all, it's great to see that something that is actually making a difference doesn't cost a fortune. So I think training hotel staff to be aware of the signs is going to be critically important in this fight against human trafficking. There's no doubt in my mind that hotels and motels are on the front lines of trafficking, whether they know it or not. And training staff to spot these signs, I think it's a great move. And honestly, something we should be doing across the country. Yeah. Okay. Warren, how do you see it? I agree with Mike. As I've agreed with most things, Mike said, and you've said, Ben, however, just to be the jerk and put on my lawyer hat, you know, are we deputizing people?

to interfere to intercede and that attracts legal liability i remember when my daughter worked at a well-known retailer uh that uh sells boots okay marks murk warehouse and um they they're educated like somebody can walk in and grab a 350 dollar pair of construction boots and just walk out and i said well what do you do she said we're not even allowed to touch them we just have to watch them walk them walk out and they'll walk in the next day and try and exchange them for cash right so um i understand the desire but there it you got to be careful here you get what are you going to have like somebody who cleans room sitting over the head with a mop yeah you're kidding so yeah it's there's some risks here all right well gentlemen thank you so much for helping us end the week

in style i hope you have a wonderful weekend and we'll talk you next week you too thanks guys I'm Jordan Bonaparte, and this is your invitation to join me for an exploration of Canadian crime, mysteries, and the just plain weird on the nighttime podcast. Over the years, we've dove deep into many of Canada's most unique cases. From the haunting disappearance of Jack and Lily Sullivan in Nova Scotia, that's something I have to live with until truth makes its way out, and the truth always makes. it's way out. To the bizarre mystery of the unexplained death at a Halifax Walmart. Walmart says a large bakery oven will be removed. And of course, we provide a weekly roundup of Canada's weird news stories. Psychic said he could make the woman fall madly in love with him.

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