The Ben Mulroney Show - Hope & Hard Work...& Hype? Trudeau Launches Film Production Company

Episode Date: September 15, 2026

On this episode of 'The Ben Mulroney Show,' Ben welcomes back Tony Chapman, Host of the award winning podcast 'Chatter that Matters', and Founding Partner of Chatter AI. Former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Katie Telford launch a film production company. And MrBeast proves yet again that he has the golden touch, this time for Old Navy. 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   Executive Producer:  Mike Drolet Reach out to Mike with story ideas or tips at ⁠[e-mail]⁠ Enjoy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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it might have irked you when you heard Justin say, we often used to say, whoever can tell the best story wins an election. I was like, okay, I would have preferred to be, you know, the policies. But okay, sure. And I'm not saying this is a good idea or a bad idea. It could be either one, depending on how it's executed. But here to talk more about that. And Mr. Beast joining Old Navy, we're joined by Tony Chapman,

the host of the award-winning podcast, Chatter That Matters, and the founding partner of Chatter-A-I. Tony, welcome. Always the pleasure. How are you doing today? I'm doing well. I think a lot of people reflexively want to vomit when they hear. hear about anything that has to do with Justin Trudeau. But let's not do that. Let's look at this impartially. Because I think it could be a good thing. It could where a guy who can get,

who can get, he could get a, his phone calls returned pretty easily by the powers that be, because he put a lot of them in place. He could be a really good conduit for the creative class who want to see their content put in front of everybody. I totally agree. I mean, he is someone that could make his network work for all the reasons you've cited. I think that, and I said this on your show about a year ago, that if we took some of the money we just put into CBC and repurposed it to create Canadian content that the world would have wanted, it could be a phenomenal place for us to build this sort of creative content studio.

I mean, there's a documentary at TIF you had to be there talking about Godspell that took place. And all of a sudden, you know, Martin Short and Eugene. Levine and everybody showed up, it just shows you how much talent we have in Canada. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that it's smart for him to do this. I think it's trading on his celebrity.

He's certainly got contacts within the Liberal Party. And we know that if you are in that inner circle, there's a great financial and benefit to you. I'm not saying that in a criminal way, but you certainly have access to their attention and with their attention, the money is. For what I understand, there's absolutely nothing wrong with, you know, he's been out of the, out of power for a while. I think the year of the rest period between the time both of them were in office and our left office is done. So the cooling off period, if you will. So there's nothing untoward there. And yeah, you're absolutely right.

They signed with a big U.S. management firm, Three Arts Entertainment. And they, so they don't have eyes on just having stuff broadcast on the CBC. I think they want to take these stories global, and that could be good. I do see two potential problems. One is if they get caught up in sort of the self-importance mind virus that others have had where they want to change the world with their production, right? And in doing so, they end up producing stuff that nobody wants to watch. It's not about that.

It's about giving people entertaining content. And if you're going to make stuff that lectures people and brings you. your politics into their homes when they think they're going to be watching something entertaining, you're not going to get a whole lot of chances with those people. It really depends on, it really depends on, and I agree with you, by the way, whether it's funded by the public service or private sector. The private sector is going to very quickly go, you're not capable of creating stories that we can monetize.

Yeah. And you'll be out of business. You look at, you know, what happened with it, you know, when the, uh, uh, Prince Andrew and I can't even remember her name. Sorry. Just because you're a celebrity, just because you get access to stories, if you're not creating stories the world wants, you're going to, that capital will dry up. And also that's the thing, the world, right?

You have to, that's another question I'm going to have watching them build out this content. Are they going, this was, you know, they launched it in Toronto at the film festival. I saw the people who were at the party. These are all people who've been, it's a small bubble. It's a small cultural bubble in Toronto. Are they going to be telling stories for that small group and for themselves? Or are they going to recognize that in order to tell stories for everybody, they may have to bring people in who don't share their politics and don't share their values,

but can appeal to a different group. And that it really comes down at what you're saying, which is if it's public sector funded, which is just another storytelling arm of, you know, feel good Canada. Canada's in great space. They don't have to, you don't even need an audience. Yeah. They're just going to get money and produce content.

If they want to survive in a world where we are drinking content from a fire hose, you've got to be very, I mean, some of the most amazing contents on TV that you'll never even hear about, let alone watch, because you only got 24 hours a day. So if they're going into one of the most competitive gauntlets in the world, so if they're going to try to do it by raising capital and actually delivering content, they better have some very compelling stories or no one's going to take their call because it's not that we don't owe audiences do not owe Justin Trudeau anything and certainly not our time

so you better make it worth it worth well. If they can pick good projects and highlight really great creatives of all walks of life, right? Not just people who all look different but all think the same way, then they have a real shot at benefiting Canada's cultural community writ large.

But if they fall into the same trap that others before them have fallen into, yeah, they'll get a few kicks at the can and then that'll be it. But I do, I mean, you're right. There's the possibility that the two of these people can do something that really could benefit our reputation internationally. And that would be a good thing. Well, I have a couple of minutes left, my friend. Let's move on to a guy who can move the needle on anything he does, Mr. Beast,

working with Old Navy. Yeah, this is a great example. I mean, here's somebody that has 500 million followers. He's created this community mostly using gamification. And on the side of that, he also has a very strong charitable side. So when he takes on projects like this, more often not nowadays, he no longer sinks for his supper. He goes and it actually buys the business.

Remind us what he did. So what he's done is he's created this whole empire that's all around a community of people coming together as underdogs. And Mr. Beast, what he does is he offers you a chance. Whoever holds on the car the longest get a million dollars. Right. Yeah. Like just crazy, crazy stunts.

But what he's built is he's built these people that believe that we're a community. We have purpose. We don't need the world, the way we thought we needed it. And he's created so much money. He just raised over a billion dollars private equity. He bought a bank called Stapp. He's buying a mobile company. What he's doing with, obviously what he's doing with Old Navy, is saying to him, I will create

content for you. I will create content people will watch my 500 million people will watch. In exchange, you're obviously going to pay me a lot of money, but in turn, you're going to do some charitable things like free lunches for equity deserving neighborhoods. And that resonates with that young audience. They want to know they're having fun. They want to know they have a chance to win, but they also want to know you're taking care of the little guy. And I think that's what Mr. Beast does better than anybody else. He's in touch with his audience. Can I also say something that I like, he knows that his brand is Mr. Beast, but everyone calls him Jimmy

because that's his name. I refuse to live in a world where I'm going to refer to an adult human male as clavicular. That's not your name. And then people turn that into a nickname. They'll say, oh, did you hear what clavs said?

No, I'm a 50-year-old man. That guy's name is not that. I'm not calling him that. And I totally respect that a guy who's built a brand as big as Mr. beast still goes by his name, Jimmy. And it's a small thing, but it's a telling thing. And that's why he calls it Mr.

Beast enterprises. And he has a very smart way of differentiating himself between who he is and why his empire matters. And I think, again, authenticity is very important, especially on YouTube where he lives and breathes. And he does an amazing job. I look at it. I say to major corporations, don't take him seriously. he could if he starts a bank and only one percent of his 500 million people decide to join that bank,

his cost acquisition is zero. Yeah, all right. Well, you're spending three or four hundred dollars per customer. We got to leave it there, my friend. Hey, thank you so much. Tony Chapman, everybody.