The Ben Mulroney Show - Has Doug Ford stepped up as the leader of Canada in place of Justin Trudeau?

Episode Date: December 12, 2024

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Ontario Premier Doug Ford says that there is a nuclear option in our toolkit, and that is to cut off energy to the United States, to over, I think, a million and a half homes, if, in fact, Donald Trump decides to push us so far as to risk our entire economy with 25% tariffs on everything that crosses the border. Let's listen to what Doug Ford had to say yesterday about retaliation. Well, let's see what happens as we move forward. But we'll use every tool in our toolbox, including cutting them off energy that we're sending down there.

Folks, this is coming. It's not if it is, it's coming. And it's coming January 20th or 21st. And we need to be prepared. We need to stand as a country. We need to stand united as Canadians and work hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder with our colleagues across the country. And we're ready to do it. Look, I like the tone that Doug Ford is striking.

I think it's measured. I think it's realistic. And I think he can back this up if he has to do it. I believe him when he says these things. On the Greg Brady show a little bit earlier, there was a caller named Alan who took issue with Doug Ford's position. Doug Ford only opens his yip when he thinks he's going to get some votes. He's acting like a tough guy right now against Trump, you know, just to gain some votes, make him look like a tough guy. When the reality

is, for the last four years, he said nothing about how Trudeau has destroyed not only Ontario, but this whole country. He's done nothing but kiss his ass for the last four years. And now, oh, he's a tough guy now because he stands up to Trump. He's a buffoon. His name is Doug Ford. Well, I politely and respectfully disagree with Alan, but I'd like to hear from you. Do you agree with Alan? Is Doug Ford acting like a tough guy or is he is he taking a leadership position in the in the power vacuum that exists because Justin Trudeau doesn't want to do it? Like he's not only does not want to do it, but he's taking the wrong tactic. Let's take one one more listen to Doug Ford about about how they the the first

ministers chastised Trudeau over his temper tantrum. They aren't helpful at all. And yes, it was brought up in the I'm not going to say who said what, but it was brought up a couple of times. And in our meeting, it's not helpful at all. Donald Trump was elected democratically. If you like him or you don't like him, that's not our issue. We're, we elect Canadians and it was not helpful whatsoever. And I'm sure he, uh, prime minister got the message loud and clear. All right. Time to hear from you. And let's welcome Mike to the Ben Mulroney Show.

Mike, what do you think of Doug Ford's position? I think it's a foolish decision. You know, there are neighbors and we can't cut power off. Like, come on, there's an easy solution to it. Trump said just fix the borders and stop the criminals from going across. That's all we got to do. We don't got to do. We don't got to do any of this cutting off the power stuff.

We just, we need to go up to Ottawa on mass and protest and get rid of Justin Trudeau. He's no good for our country. Well, listen, I appreciate that. And that hadn't occurred to me. You know,

there are a lot of people, a lot of anger out there. I don't know why people aren't, aren't protesting on parliament Hill over, over, over this sort of lack of oversight and lack of responsible governance as it relates to our borders and our national security. And, you know, that's a very good point. I appreciate that. Hey, let's say hi now to Paul. Paul, what do you think? Do we need to retaliate like this?

No, we don't need retaliation. We need negotiation. Doug Ford is wrongheaded by even suggesting turning off the power to those states well paul paul paul i want to keep i i stick with me here and i appreciate thank you for for making that statement but if you and i agree with you we absolutely need um negotiation but if look everyone concedes that that Donald Trump's threat is the opening salvo of a negotiation. And if you concede that he can threaten in order to begin a negotiation, why can't we threaten in response as part of a negotiation? Well, what if Trump retaliates by saying, fine, we'll cut off all food to Canada? We're going to starve to death.

Oh no, we got lots of food here. We got more than enough. But hey, thank you very much for the call. Look, this is part of negotiation, right? Telegraphing what you're willing to do and projecting strength, which I contend Donald Trump respects.

He might not like the person saying it, but if you were he doesn't like Kim Jong-un, I don't think. But he respects the guy because he's got nuclear weapons and he probably is willing to use them. Like he respects strength. So let's project strength

and let's tell them what we're willing to do. Let's say hi to Sean. Sean, where do you think Doug, how do you think Doug Ford's doing on this file? Okay, you know what? I was going to say, I believe the first caller was correct. Doug Ford is being, trying to be a bully when he has no right to be so. One, he's not our premier.

He's only, he's only, you know, Doug Ford. He's not the premier. No, he's probably, he is the premier. You mean prime minister? Prime minister, yeah. Yeah, sorry. No, that's okay. But can I, can I add, can we go back and forth here a sec?

I would contend, I would contend that our prime minister is not acting like a prime minister. Somebody's got to step up and speak on behalf of Canada. Someone's got to be the adult in the room. And right now, I do not believe that Justin Trudeau is projecting that image. I don't think he's up to the job right now. I completely agree that he's not. He's the reason that our country has gone to, like like I've lived here for 48 years, my entire life. And in the last 10 years,

I've watched Canada lose everything that it was ever good. But the strongest thing we've ever had is our alliance to America. Yep. And we can't be saying, oh, if you're going to do that, we're going to do this. That is not the way to go into a guy who is coming in to fix his country,

who has serious, serious problems in all of these areas and says, listen, in order for us to stay tight, we need you to fix that. I agree. He's pointed out some failings that Canada has just been skating on for years.

I'm glad he did it. And I do think the quickest path to solving this is to giving the guy what he wants because what he wants is good for our country. Thank you very much for the call. Let's say hi to Shane. Good morning, Shane. Good morning. Good morning, Ben. Hey, thanks for taking the call. I agree with everything everyone's saying here. But realistically, you're not going to shut off power to the United States.

Essentially, what's going to happen is Trump would then in turn send a battalion of tanks across the border of New York, you know, to show us that, hey, you're going to mess with our people. We're coming. Yeah. Like, realistically, I know I'm being facetious a little bit, but you don't do that. It's a good idea. But you know what? It's not going to happen.

Well, thank you very much, Shane. I appreciate it. Let's welcome Ian to the show. Welcome to the Ben Mulroney Show, Ian. Hey, thanks for taking my call, Ben. What I take what the Ontario government's doing is, yeah, Ford said, yeah, you know, we'll cut off your electricity. But he's just pointing out how much electricity we slide on. Yeah.

Vic Fideli was speaking, how are you going to tax cars? Parts go over the border eight times, you know, like add 200% to a car. But what Trudeau did was he didn't attack Trump. He attacked the American people. He said, you're a bunch of misogynists. We're feminists. You're bad. You're garbage.

You're deplorables. I can't remember the words he used for the convoy protesters. He's a divisive man because he's a foolish man. The worst thing that man ever did in his life was think he could be a leader. He had nothing to do with his life. So he said, ah, what do I do? I'll get into politics. Ian, thank you. I think you highlight some really important points there,

that there was nothing beneficial. Nothing beneficial came from that speech. It was entirely destructive, entirely detrimental, and everybody else is now working to fix the mess that he caused because he needed to feel good. He needed to peacock for a couple of minutes. We've got time for one more call on this side of the show. We'll take all the rest after. So let's say hello to, who do we have here? We've got Rob. Rob, welcome to the show.

You know, your previous caller is so right. This is getting so serious. We need to start protesting in Ottawa. This clown, and I shouldn't name call, but sorry, he is going to do serious damage. It's not funny anymore. It's not a joke. This is serious. People need to start going to Ottawa. So this guy knows the people want him gone. Hey, thank you very much. I think that's a very good point. And yeah, I don't see a whole lot of protests against, against where we

are as a country and, and, and, and the people lining up to fix the problem.