The Ben Mulroney Show - GTA schools can't seem to get it right -- anthem and prom fiascos

Episode Date: October 8, 2025

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This podcast is brought to you by the National Payroll Institute, the leader for the payroll profession in Canada, setting the standard of professional excellence, delivering critical expertise, and providing resources that over 45,000 payroll professionals rely on. This podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. If you've been following the news, like really following it, you know how exhausting it can be. Politics, conflict, uncertainty. It's a lot to carry. And for many men, there's this expectation to stay calm, stay in control. and not talk about how it's affecting you. But the truth is, you're allowed to feel overwhelmed. You're allowed to say, I'm not okay right now. And trust me, I have been there.

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Don't worry about it. It's payday. Payday, huh? I bet you it went straight into your bank account and you didn't even check your pay stuff. My what? Your pay stuff. Back in my day, you had to wait for a physical check. Then you had to go to the bank.

Deposit it and wait for it to clear. Your pay really meant something. Payroll was incredibly complex. It's art and the science. It literally keeps the economy moving. Parole professionals do a lot for us. You know, it's about time we do something for them. How about we ask our leaders to name a day in their honor,

a national day to recognize payroll professionals? I got it. This is perfect. Why don't we explain to people just how important the roles are the payroll professionals play in our lives? We can even ask them to sign a petition. We can even ask them to sign a petition to recognize the third Tuesday in September as the National Day to recognize payroll professionals. We'll rally support and bring the payroll party to the next day

the payroll party to the nation. A national payroll party? Precisely. Sounds like a plan, you know, just one thing. What's that? I'm choosing the music. What? And I'm sitting in the back seat.

The whole way? The whole way. Welcome to the hump day edition of the Ben Mulroney show. It is Wednesday, October. 8th, thank you so much for staking your claim to your part of the Ben Mulroney show. We appreciate you. We appreciate your engagement. We appreciate that you listen to us wherever you may find us.

And we really, really appreciate the community that we're building. It is never lost on us and we never take it for granted. Some people were taking for granted that the Jays were just going to, I don't know, walk all over the Yankees. And that did not happen yesterday. losing to the Yankees 9-6. Despite that, you know, there was some good news. We got another homer from Vladi Guerrero. That's his third of the postseason.

So he's definitely, he is definitely making a statement that he is not, you know, a cold, a dead fish in the postseason. He has come to play, but things did not come to pass. There's another game. What time is the game tonight? 708. So tune in for that to see if the Jays can close. it out and move on to the championship series. We have been following

the story of the 30 beluga whales at Marine Land. They are sort of in this in limbo, what to do with the 30 beluga whales. The marine land at this point is now saying

that it may have to euthanize all the whales if it doesn't receive emergency funding from Ottawa to cover food and care costs. Meanwhile, Premier Doug Ford is urging the feds to reconsider their decision denying permits to move the belugas to an aquarium in China. Ottawa says doing so would violate Canada's 2019 law banning the captivity and performance of marine mammals. And listen, I like that stance, right? I like the

Canada stance for that, but we are in an emergency situation here. There's a couple of things that should be, I think, should be done simultaneously. There should be an immediate audit of whoever owns marine land to see what they how much money they've got right because if they're claiming poverty here we had some people on the show recently who said that that is not the case the people who own marine land first of all they own a ton of land was it 700 acres 700 acres in in Niagara Falls sell that off sell off every square foot and take that money and take care of these belugas right marine land has uh or whoever runs it in my humble opinion has demonstrated that they have absolutely no moral authority to do anything here.

They should not be deciding anything. They should not be calling shots. They should not be making threats. Adults need to be brought into this equation. And heck, I mean, there are 30 animals who did not ask for this, whose lives are in danger. And if I had my druthers, the people who own marine land, it would be taken away from them. It would be sold and the money would be used to take care of these animals. Now, depending on who you talk to, sending these animals to China is either a

terrible idea or it's a lateral move with a slight uptick because apparently, yes, they would be in captivity and they would be performing, but apparently the facilities there are world class. so the move from marine land to a Chinese version of marine land which is closer to what like sea world where they actually what I get most people don't like the idea of these animals in captivity but if they are going to be in captivity put them in a place that at least cares for them and if the alternative if the option is between

killing them or sending them to China I think that's a pretty easy choice and so this is not a good look for anyone and the swifter, we can come to a resolution, and the quicker we can find a way to save these animals, I think the better we'll all feel. Yeah, so Doug Ford put his stamp on that saying,

let him go to China. He was also, he's also been very vociferous in his rejection of speed cameras. You know, you'll remember that there has been a push to get rid of them. There have been a number of mayors across Ontario who said, well, perhaps you'll at least give us the opportunity if we want to keep them and use them. Here's what Doug Ford said about that. What's unreasonable is a total cash grab. And we know speed cameras do not work.

Simple as that. I have an idea that we're putting forward that we're going to put traffic calming infrastructure. And that will bring it down to zero. Yeah. Look, so he's essentially told all the mayors forget it. The days of even having the speed cameras as an option, gone. It's costing drivers too much. And yes, listen, I know they work. Despite what the Premier said, they work because I have slowed down. But they work to get you to slow down in front of the camera. And then you speed up again. If you really want people to slow. down for a significant amount of time, there are cheaper options that will do that that don't cost you anything, that don't ding you for a ticket. And when he says traffic calming infrastructure, I assume he means speed bumps and probably rumble strips and God knows what, whatever other tools exist to slow people down.

And it'll slow you down. And if you go too fast, you'll fly off the speed bump and hurt your car. but nothing no tickets anymore and I'm very glad to hear that I really am because you know you know who's got to be nervous the mayor of Toronto because she's she's she's losing even more money right she's uh that I this did this has been a significant driver of revenue for the city and that's just going to dry up like that and which means she'll probably probably come with another add another point to our um tax increase property tax increase you think that she's shy about that?

No, no, no. She's very, she's very candid about that. Look, yesterday was, should have been a solemn day. And yesterday should have been a day where those who wanted to remember the one-day Holocaust perpetrated on the Israeli people by Hamas, they should have been able to do that in peace. That did not happen. Obviously, we know we live in Canada, and there was no way that was going to happen. But I'll tell you what I do. did not expect. I did not expect the the toxicity of our public discourse in the streets of

Toronto to have begun to occupy space in our schools. And it happened in a number of ways yesterday, but the one that really gets me is at Earl Hague School, the Canadian Anthem, the National Anthem, On October 7th, on a day that should have been about honoring the memories of those lost on that day, the Canadian National Anthem was performed in Arabic. There is no way you are going to convince me that that was an accident. Earlier today on the Greg Brady show, there was a parent of a student from Earl Hague, and they gave us the lay of the land. Earl Hague Radio, which is a group of students who run the announcements then gave a bit of a talk about Islam in Canada, how it is the fastest growing religion in Canada, and proceeded to mention, I believe, something about, you know, prominent Muslim people in Canadian society.

My assumption is that this is in honor of Islamic Heritage Month, which seems to be taking place at TBSB this month. So the decision, obviously, to have that coincide with October 7th is an incredibly poor one at best. Yeah, she's being very diplomatic, very diplomatic, because we've watched enough, we've seen enough from teachers and organizers within a TDSB to suggest, I doubt this was an accident. The principal, by the way, made comments about October 7th that apparently didn't mention Jews or Israel in his comments. And meanwhile, our education minister said,

it's hard to believe that no one recognized the significance of this day. I'm disappointed that I would have to direct that school boards demonstrate appropriate respect for our national anthem by ensuring that it is played only in its official. form. Yeah, this is, I did not expect this yesterday. That was not on my bingo card. But we'll be talking about that later this hour. We'll open up the phone lines when we do. But first, a trio of schools in the GTA have decided to eliminate prom. Don't go anywhere. This is the Ben Mulroney show.

All the times three and together. And as our lives change, come whatever, we will still be friends forever. This is the Ben Mulroney show. Prom at the end of one's time in high school. It's a rite of passage. It's something that is earned after four long years of high school. school before you are shepherded off to the next chapter, be it at university college or whatever. It's that one chance, that final chance to be with your friends and celebrate that

wonderful accomplishment. And I can say that after hearing that song, I feel you should be wearing a corsage. Yes, exactly. Exactly. I mean, everybody, I have memories. We all have memories of prom. I didn't wear a corsage. I got memories of prom. Everyone's got memories of prom. So what does it say that we learned just yesterday that three Durham region schools, Brooklyn, Brock and Uxbridge High Schools have canceled prom for whatever reasons. We'll get into that in a minute. But I want to hear from you at 4168-0-680-60400 or 1-3-225 talk. If you are a parent or a student at one of those schools, Brooklyn, Brock, Uxbridge, let us know. Give us a call. Tell us what we don't know. Let us share it with our audience. and we'd love to know what is going on because from what we understand, students say they were not consulted.

They are furious. They're calling it unfair. Yeah, that's an understatement. After years of anticipation waiting for this, it's your, you get to claim it. It's yours. It's your event. There are a number of kids who are very upset.

Despite that, the Durham District School Board supports the cancellations, but ask schools to meet with students to find meaningful alternatives. Give me a break. Give me a break. Prom cancellations were common during COVID, and that's what we have to remember here. These kids who are graduating now, who will be deprived of prom, had their primary school upended by COVID, and we've been making damn sure that when these kids get to university, that experience is going to be mucked up too. Just watch and look at these college campuses and tell me that that was your experience when you went to college, 23rd.

years ago. So every aspect of their education is getting screwed up. But this one, this one was canceled because of, I don't know why it was canceled. There might be issues of rising cost, liability, and safety concerns. And to that, I have one simple thing to say. To the representatives of Brooklyn, Brock, and Uxbridge High Schools, just tell us what is different about your schools from every other school in North America that has a prom. Why can't you make it work? Everyone else makes it work. And if it's issues a rising cost, bring the cost down. It's pretty simple. Liability? What is what liabilities are you are you worried about that other schools everywhere else in the country and in North America

is not worried about? Safety concerns, look, I don't know what to tell you. They do prom in South Central and the Bronx, like, uh, uh, Oxbridge. That's a problem. Safety concerns. Something doesn't smell right here. So give us a call 416-870-6400. 1-3-2-2-5 talk. Listen, if you don't go to one of those schools, just give us a call. Tell us your favorite prom memory. I'd love to know. I can't think of, let's break it down. Yeah. So money-wise, I mean, you have to rent something. And even if you run out of money, you can maybe do it in the gymnasium. Use the gym. But then you have to pay the teachers to be able to be there to monitor.

So there is a cost involved. Get parents to volunteer. Yeah. Like none of these things are actually problems. And they always have it that the kids have to buy tickets. So make them. I don't know what to tell you. Like don't reinvent the wheel here.

Find a neighboring high school that's doing their prom and copy them. You remember what we did during COVID for graduation with the kids driving in the cars? Yeah. In a parking lot? How about you just get a parking lot? Come on, but think of these kids. They worked their butts off for four years. And prior to that, they had, like I said,

their education upended while they were in primary school. Come on, like, show a little respect for them. And the fact that it was canceled without any real stakeholder conversations is insulting. I also want to know what is going on at Brooklyn, Brock, and Uxbridge, as you alluded to that where liability concerns, what kind of liability? Safety concern. Safety concern. So what, our kids, are they going to drink? I mean, they, that happens, sure. But again, these are all things that happen. That happened without prom. And they've been going on for, like, there's, there have been a million proms in the, a million proms have been held around North America. Just copy one of them. Copy one. You'll be fine. The sky will not fall. Unless, unless this is cover for like, oh, prom isn't inclusive enough. blah, blah, blah, woke language,

woke language, word salad nonsense. I would, honestly God, that's the way I would lean. I would think that that's the most, that's the most reasonable explanation. Because I don't see cost or liability as, I mean, that seems to be, that's an excuse. Something's not working here, but my producer, Mike,

looked into what the impact of prom and missing prom might be. And missing prom may contribute to feelings of loss, reduced closure, fewer opportunities for social bonding, which are important for adolescents forming identity and peer relationships. And let's not forget these kids had years where they were not bonding with their peers. It might exacerbate anxiety, depression, feelings of isolation, especially in use already vulnerable in terms of mental health or already socially isolated. This is an entire cohort that was socially isolated for years.

They need more opportunities like prom, not less, not fewer. This is us getting in our own way. this is us getting in our own way and look there may be real concerns but the way this has been laid out the way this has been explained does not lend to

hearing that there's a real problem here this sounds like they want to cancel it and reverse engineered an excuse and given the fact that this is our kids and what's important to our kids and what they've earned

what they have earned after four years of high school that is the disappointing thing and hopefully this is not the end of the story. Mike, welcome to the Ben Mulroney Show. Happy Wednesday. Big Ben, how you do, buddy? I'm good, thanks.

Good. It's Mike here. Yeah. And I don't understand. Like, I graduated, as I told Mike there, I graduated in 1985. And I heard a list of potential problems there that just don't make sense to me. But they're not problems.

We didn't have to buy tickets. Exactly my point. Yeah. We didn't have to buy tickets to the prom. The teachers weren't paid to chaperone. They chose to be part of it because they wanted to. to celebrate with the kids. And just tell me, just tell me what the liability issues are.

And why are you faced with onerous liability issues that no one in the, no one else, except for those other two schools are claiming, like, just make that makes sense, you know? I like to think I'm educated and I cannot come up with anything. No, no. I just can't. Not in those little communities. Yeah.

This needs to be about the students. Oh, like if there was ever a time, if. Mike, if there was ever a time to really do it up big for students, it's now, given what they've gone through, right? Never, never has it been more thus for those people to have the camaraderie of each other. Agreed. Agreed. Hey, Mike, thanks so much for the call.

We appreciate it. Peace, buddy. Yeah, this is, I cannot make sense of it. Let's see if Darren can help us. Darren, can you help us make sense of this? Sure thing, Ben. I'm a parent up in Uxbridge. I've got a daughter.

going to Uxbridge High School. She's in grade 11, so it doesn't impact her this year, but it will next year. And they did, in the letter, I don't have it with me, but they did talk about liability, et cetera. But then they also then fall back on equity,

inclusion, all this kind of stuff and saying that not all the kids can make it. That's not, I'm sorry, that's a you problem, not an us problem. That's not a prom problem. That's a people who don't want to or can't attend the program. And just because everybody can't attend, doesn't mean you throw the whole thing out.

Absolutely. I couldn't agree more. I mean, if you've got 100 kids and one can't do it, the other 99 shouldn't suffer. Yeah. Like, plenty of people miss out on things. That does not mean we cancel it because one person can't attend.

To be, that's a life lesson. Yeah. I mean, you're not, not everyone can do everything. So what are you teaching the kids? Yeah. I say, hey, I can't do this, so therefore no one can. I think that's a bad lesson. I agree.

Hey, thanks so much, Darren. We appreciate it. And Frank, I wish I could. get to you, but we're running out of time. Thank you so much to everybody who called in. Up next was playing the national anthem in Arabic on October 7th, an oversight or a message. We're going to dig in next right here on the Ben Mulroney show. This podcast is sponsored by Better Help. If you've been following the news, like really following it, you know.

know how exhausting it can be. Politics, conflict, uncertainty. It's a lot to carry. And for many men, there's this expectation to stay calm, stay in control, and not talk about how it's affecting you. But the truth is, you're allowed to feel overwhelmed. You're allowed to say, I'm not okay right now. And trust me, I have been there. Whether it's the state of the world, stress at home, or just feeling like you've got to have it all together and have all the answers. You don't have to hold it in. Better help is here to help with the world's largest network of licensed therapists. They've already supported over 5 million people. You can

connect with a therapist online from wherever you are. No wait list, no office visits. And if it's not the right fit, you can switch any time. It's time to put your mental health on the agenda. Talk it out with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash Mulruni today to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp

help.com slash Mulruni. With most Subaru models, all-wheel drive come standard. Heated front seats, high ground clearance, Apple CarPlay, standard. Eye-sight driver assists to help when you're distracted by fall foliage? Standard. Guy announcing the radio ad now wanting a Subaru?

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Hey, Canada. Sick of American News? Then check out the peak daily. Every weekday, we break down what's happening. happening in Canada and around the world in business, finance, and tech all in 10 minutes or less. And always from a Canadian perspective. How does it impact you, your job, or your business?

Yeah, we cover the big stuff, AI, terrorists, but also stories you might have missed. Ponzi schemes in cottage country, mushroom wars, and Hollywood's gamer obsession. And yes, Canada's trench coat companies are in the crosshairs. You know who you are. The peak daily, weekday mornings, wherever you get your podcast. Welcome back. to the Ben Mulroney show. We're going to go back to the story that we talked about a little bit earlier, where on October 7th, at a school in the GTA, they decide to play the Canadian National Anthem in Arabic. I have no problem with you playing the national anthem in any language that you want. But on that day, in that moment, as Jewish students were, or as we as a society, as a Western society, we're looking to commemorate and remember in a solemn way the death of Israelis at the hands of Hamas, that to me sounds like

it wasn't an accident. So to discuss this, we're joined by Joe Warmington of the Toronto Sun. Joe, welcome. Yeah, it's good to be with you, Ben. You're right. It's a shocking thing, but it shouldn't really shock us because there's been so much anti-Semitism, as you and I well know and have documented, that it's become normalized. And so, you know, and emboldened. I mean, people think that they can do this. And so there's a couple of things at play here.

I mean, the fact that they thought they could do this and they did it, because not only did they play that, but they never mentioned anything about, you know, the Jewish people that were, you know. That's right.

The principal in his, in his sort of remarks about October 7th, never mentioned Jews or Israel. There you go. So this was, you know, and the other thing that came out of it was the fact that we're starting to see some politicians act differently. In this case, Education Minister Paul Calandra, you know, he didn't do this kind of mealy mouse play a safe thing. He just came out and said, you're full of it. Yeah.

And we're not buying it. And he put that out in a statement. And, you know, I was able to get that in the sun. He subsequently has put it out on social media on X, et cetera. But, you know, I think that's a really positive thing. because the one thing that when it comes to Antifa or, you know, the people that support Hamas and all of that, they're used to sort of getting an inch taking 10 miles.

They're used to doing what they want. They order the police around. The reporters are getting hit and bang around all the time now. It's very dangerous to go out there. I've been doing this for 40 years and, you know, generally you don't get hurt of things, but now you do and they can get away with it. And, you know, as I wrote last week, there was a guy walking around with an axe, like, you know, attached to his jeans and they gave it back.

to him. So things are a little bit, you know, because of the politics, because we've got, you know, a mayor in Toronto that doesn't really, you know, is a sympathetico with things. And we've got a lot of people that are really afraid of the power of things that we're losing grip on what is just decent. And that's what I think we're, you know, chronicling here. Joe, what I pointed out of last week, and I think it applies in a lot of these situations is that we as a society by, by, by, by, by, by, by, by, allowing certain behaviors and by normalizing certain behavior, we've created a permission structure for a certain type of person with a certain type of view to push the boundaries of what is acceptable. This is not acceptable. It is disgusting. It is insulting. This was a slap in the face. And given what we have detailed about the, say, the TDSB, for example, and the taking of kids without permission to a to a protest a few, last year. I mean, there are political, there are people who are far more political than they need to be in the school system.

So you're not going to convince me otherwise that this was a simple mistake. So we have this permission structure for them and it requires people like Paul Calandra to be very cut and dried, not mince words, so that we can bit by bit, eliminate the permission structure and get back to a place where when you do or say something, there are consequences to those actions. Well, as well said, I mean, this morning I was listening to on Greg Brady's show, the parent had called in and said that this isn't new either because in the bathroom, there were swastikas and different slogans that were horrible.

And again, you know, you mentioned that thing about the protest, taking people to the protest. And even in Mississauga, there were students that were leaving them. classroom with Palestinian flags and all this river to the sea stuff walking around the school so again you know like where's the principals the adults got to say look you can't do that you can do it on the weekend or at night and do it at wherever you want but not on you know the schools belong to us and they're there to learn not to learn hate and not to learn you know this stuff I'm not trying to be like an old man screaming at clouds but I'm sort of old school

when it comes to education like I think it's not sense when we hear about student strikes, right? If you want to strike, great, we'll fail you. We'll take your, in university, we'll keep your tuition and we will fail you. You can come back next year, you can pay again. And when it comes to schools like this, you're going to walk out in the middle of a school day, you're going to get a failing grade. I don't understand why we don't do those things.

The fact that these kids felt they could get up and walk out in solidarity with the rapists and murderers of October 7th. to me is okay guess what you have failed your class today whatever class you left you got an why can't we do that but you've hit on the thing it's not really the students it's more the educators yeah it becomes so entrenched in all of this you know woke ideology or religious ideology all of that and they're very very strong i talk to teachers that say in the staff room if you're you know semi-conserved you just keep your mouth shot but joe they're going to come after you so this is the problem. Joe, given the fact that the Minister of Education has thrown down the gauntlet,

and he has said, we as a province are not putting up with the shenanigans that we've seen in the TDSB and the TCDSB and in Ottawa as well. We're not putting up with it anymore. And he took some pretty radical, he brought some pretty radical medicine into the system to fix it. And then you see stuff like this, do they think that they're going to get a pass on this from this education minister? He seems to be like he seems to be ready for all of this stuff and there will be, I don't

understand what their end game is here. Well, it's a battle. I mean, it's a war. It's a war for control of the young minds and the premier and the minister have decided that they've seen enough of this nonsense and they want it to stop. Whether they can control it, I mean, we saw

that when they had that teacher and you know, over there in Oakville and then later in Hamilton that was dressing up like a woman and all that. We did a lot of stories on that. They had no answer for that. They couldn't just say, look, stop it. Finally, you know, someone came along and said,

enough is enough of this. And, you know, just take off that, you know, that costume and go back to teach. And that's what you need. Leadership, you don't have to start a war. You don't have to cancel people. You just have to, like a good teacher, coach, or parent to say, this is it.

This is the line. You don't cross it. End of story. You don't have to yell or get angry. And so that, you know, I think that they, I think that's the biggest story here is not just what happened. I think that's not a surprise that somebody tried to sneak in an anti-Semitic thing right on the worst, you know, days since the Holocaust.

But I think the story is that the minister really, really stood up. I'm very impressed with him. I thought it was the right thing to do. And I was kind of proud to see that because you won't see it again at Earl Hague. Joe, remind me, what did he say about the national anthem? He said, moving forward, it has to be done on either English. English or in French? He did say that.

And, you know, I was just talking to your producer, Mike Drolay, who's a great reporter for many years. I've known him. And he's, he looked it up and, you know, from what I understand, it may not say that in the act. But I think the spirit of it, whether it says it or there's a loophole or not, English and French are the languages. So at the school, his point is, you play it in English or French, or you play it just

musically. Yeah. But you know, you don't change it to another language. If you've got a culturally diverse school with people from all sorts of places, you just play the instrumentation and let people sing it in whatever language they want or not sing at all. It's not an Arabic school. So in an Arabic school, maybe they can sing it in Arabic. But, you know, it's an English school.

And, you know, Canada can be played. And everyone knows that. And you can mess around with, when you start messing around with the flag and the national anthem and all these. things you start to break down the country and you know that's exactly what some people want to do but you know real leaders don't let it happen we have leadership role in the media to bring these things out but the real leaders are the ones that are elected like paul calandra and he did his job i think he did i think he did a great job on that i just it's it's just exhausting and disappointing that that that we can't turn our back for a split second on these schools without them trying to pull some

sort of fast one like this. It's so disappointing, it's frustrating, and it doesn't feel like they have the best interests of students at heart. They've got political agendas. And if we don't pay attention, and if we don't keep our eyes on them, if we're not vigilant,

they're going to do this again at a different school. It's like a game of whackamol. But we're glad that you wrote the piece and we're glad that you joined us today. Thank you very much, my friend. All right, Ben, thank you for having me and have a great day. All right, let's open up the phone lines. Was it an accident?

Are you bothered by the anthem in languages other than English and French? us a call on the Ben Mulroney show. Welcome back to the Ben Mulroney show. It's time to turn the microphone over to you, our listeners. We ask you to call 416-8-870-6400 or 1-3-8-225 talk. The question is what happened at the high school with the Canadian National Anthem played in Arabic on October 7th was that. that by accident? Was that by design? And are you bothered at any event? Are you bothered

if the anthem is played in a language other than English or French? We want to hear from you. Let's start with Dennis. Dennis, welcome to the show. How you doing? Well, thank you. My attitude is whether or not it was deliberate or not, and that still is a question, if they really want to put a stop to this, start firing people, fire the principal. Yeah, listen, from what I understand, the principle, not only, like, this happened on his or her watch, but they also, in their remarks, about October 7th, mentioned neither Jews nor Israel. That is, that is feckless. That is the definition, that's the antithesis of leadership. Well, what are they going to do?

You can't fire these people. This is where a lot of this problem is coming from. You cannot fire the incompetence or those who are, quote, anti-Semitic, unquote, whatever start firing people the other teachers will wake up and maybe we can put the education system back where actually johnny learns to read yeah yeah yeah that well that's a crazy concept dennis thank you very much for the call we appreciate it all right let's uh let's welcome andrew to the show andrew what do you don't think this was an accident it definitely wasn't an accident been a great great topic um i think we really need to start being careful what we

allow these schools to to get away with um if roles were reversed and we were talking talking about an Arabic school that we turned international anthem into an English version, there would be a massive uproar. Yeah. Just using an example, my brother went into his kids, his daughter's school for the teacher night. And above the blackboard was a free Palestine flag. And he asked about it, and he said, listen, I'm not saying I disagree or agree, but this is not the place to take this stance.

this is not a place to take a political opinion stance. This is where your kids go to get educated on the curriculum. And we just, we keep allowing it to happen. And we, we fluff it off like it's not a big deal. But all these little situations are leading to a bigger problem. Yeah. I agree. I agree.

Hey, Andrew, thank you for the call. And look, I'd like to, I'd like to make a point because I find sometimes we have these conversations. It's important to level set every now and then. The idea of mourning and remembering October 7th in my mind, in my heart, is not in any way, has nothing to do with how I feel about how I want and hope very much for one day the Palestinian people to have their own country, right? Has nothing to do with that. It is commemorating the passing, the death. It's commemorating a tragedy. And there are those out there who, when I say, I want to commemorate October 7th, the victims of

October 7th, that must mean that I am standing in opposition to Muslim Canadians, to Palestinian Canadians, to the Arab world. None of that is true. None of that is true. I stand firmly with the people of Israel, and I want right. next door, I want there to be the full expression of a Palestinian state when Hamas has gone the way of the dodo bird. And I don't live in a binary world. I'm not going to say that because I support, I want to mourn and remember the victims of October 7th, that must mean all these

other things. And I'm sorry, that's not the world I live in and I'm not going to play that game. Mike, welcome to the show. Good morning, Ben. Good morning. Is it all situations like this? Tomorrow, it'll be a story in a week from now. The media won't even worry about it. We've totally forgotten about it. These individuals will go unpunished or made to be unaccountable.

And we'll just get outraged in a month or two when a similar thing happens and blah, blah, blah. Well, yeah, there will be something else. There always is something else. What I don't understand is why, given the fact that schools and schools, And teachers and administrators are under a microscope, the likes of which they haven't been in a very long time. Paul Calandron, the education ministry, is paying very close attention to schools and teachers and administrators that aren't doing their job. And they're stepping out and focusing on pet projects, pet political projects. Why they would do this now is beyond me.

Well, it'll be interesting on what the repercussions are, what the minister will do. I mean, what will he do? What are the repercussions? Well, we'll have to see. Is it going to be for the students? Is it going to be for the principal's statement was just laughable? So let's see what's going to happen. And is it going to be enough of a deterrent for just not to happen in the future?

I doubt it, but we'll see. Well, thank you very much for the call. Let's welcome David to the show. David, thanks so much for calling in. Thank you, Jeremy. Yeah, there's definitely not something that's by accident. I mean, it's the seventh. It's only two years ago.

We know what happened. They know what happened. This was a celebration call for them. And I think what we're really missing, too, is that this is a deeper, deeper issue. You've got a whole group of teachers that are using their classrooms to politicize and to mold the minds of our young. Don't forget, every big revolution starts with the students. You had to hail their youth, even a cultural revolution in China. It was the students that drove it.

They turned on their parents. They turned on their teachers. They destroyed their society because what you have to do when you've got to rebuild it. Look, there was a teacher, I think in Niagara region who during the last election campaign made himself Internet famous because he put part of a video out that said my job. Essentially what he said is my goal is to indoctrinate your kids so that one day they turn around and look at you and say, my God, I can't believe I'm related to you. They're trying to destroy our society from the classroom. Well, listen, we got a few more, I've got a few more calls I've got to get to, David's, but thank you very much. Naim, welcome to the show.

Hey, good morning, Ben. Good morning. So, I mean, I'm looking at this from so many different angles in that it is Islamic Awareness Month. Yeah. Now, did they have to pick October 7th? That's where I would question it for anything other than optics. But having said that from what I understand and from the mother that was on today, they did not address the Palestine, Israel conflict. That wasn't their

focus. They were talking about whatever kids who are organizing an Islamic Awareness Month or Hindu Awareness Month or Christian Awareness Month were done. Talk about the religion, what they consider to be the plus ones of the religion. That's what they discussed. And they said, look, we even have a national anthem.

We're Canadian and we're Muslim and here's our National Anthem. That's an Arabic. So are we taking umbrage with the language that the National Anthem was played in or the fact that it was played in a different language? I don't, my personal take is, and especially, you're right, during a Muslim Awareness Month or celebration month or whatever it is, to play the national anthem in Arabic, sure, that's on brand. I got no problem with that.

October 7th. You could go to a high school where it's very diverse in that. And all that's great. I got no problem with that. On October 7th, that is not a mistake. That is not an accident. So I guess what we're doing is we're actually cloaking the narrative that, no. matter what, there is forever to be a rift between people who are Muslim or Arab-identified

and Jews. No, I dispute that entirely. Absolutely not. I do not look at the Palestinian people and Arabs writ large as responsible for October 7th. Absolutely not. I look at Hamas as being responsible for that. Right. But now we're branding these kids for for- No, no, I'm, I am suggesting that the administrators and the teachers, and I've done enough stories on this show to know that the teachers and administrators, they've got their own political pet projects. And I have no doubt that this was one of them. And if it plays out that way, then obviously there's probably a bit more scrutiny that needs to play.

I'm just saying from the perspective, I'm neither Arab or Palestinian. I am Muslim. but I would say the way it plays out for me, just listening to all the previous callers, that this is becoming an onslaught against Muslims when really this is a geopolitical conflict more than it is a religious conflict. 100%.

But in that moment, it's the teachers of the administrators that cleaved a wedge between two groups that didn't need to be taken apart. I run to the chaos, and Survivor is chaos. As a mother of a four-year-old, this is vacation. Canada's number one reality show is back. This is when Survivor turns into a horror movie.

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