The Ben Mulroney Show - How many Billions does congestion cost us annually?

Episode Date: December 9, 2024

Guests and Topics on Today's Show -Ontario's congestion costs $56B annually, could grow 60% by 2045 with Guest: Nadia Todorova, Executive Director of the Residential and Civil Construction Alliance of Ontario -A Sikh security guard working in Edmonton is shot dead with Guest: Jaskaran Sandhu, Co-Founder of Baaz News and Board Member of the World Sikh Organization of Canada -Justin Trudeau Might Be the Only One Who Still Believes in Justin Trudeau with Guest: Ira Wells, Writer, Academic -He's been barred from his mother's Ontario long-term care home for over a year. Now, he's pushing back with Guest: Paul Ziman -Jay-Z accused in a civil lawsuit of raping a 13-year-old girl in 2000 alongside Diddy with Guest: Neama Rahmani, Former Federal Prosecutor, President of West Coast Trial  If you enjoyed the podcast, tell a friend! For more of the Ben Mulroney Show, subscribe to the podcast! https://globalnews.ca/national/program/the-ben-mulroney-show Follow Ben on Twitter/X at https://x.com/BenMulroney Enjoy

Hey there, it's Ben Mulrooney and welcome to the podcast. We had a loaded show today, including speaking to a federal prosecutor on the Jay-Z lawsuit, the insane cost of congestion in Ontario, and what happens when you're not allowed to see your mother for over a year. That and so much more on today's pod, enjoy.

The first step in solving a problem is you gotta be able to measure it. You can't solve a problem unless you understand what it is. And so there is a study that was released, commissioned by the Residential and Civil Construction Alliance of Ontario and the Ontario Road Builders Association that has described traffic gridlock in the province $56 billion a year. That's a big nut. That is a big nut. So we're going to speak right now with the Executive Director of the Residential and Civil Construction Alliance of Ontario, Nadia Todorova. Nadia, thank you so much for joining us on the Ben Mulroney Show. Good morning, Ben. Thank you very much for having me on. Okay, so you decided to commission this study. Why? Absolutely. Thank you very much for asking that.. Okay, so you decided to commission this study, why? Absolutely. Thank

you very much for asking that. You know, congestion is something that impacts everyone to a certain extent, some more than others. I'm sure that a large percentage of your listeners are right now stuck somewhere on the road due to congestion. So we really wanted to quantify it to your earlier point, we really wanted to measure the impact of congestion, and do it in a comprehensive and long term sort of way. And we wanted to look at not just the the impacts of congestion and do it in a comprehensive and long-term sort of way. And we wanted to look at not just the economic impacts of congestion, which are very critical, but also look at the congestion impact from a social impact standpoint. And we took this initiative because really nobody else is looking at this comprehensively and hadn't looked at it

since 2008. And, you know, again, we want to believe that given the impact of congestion, we need that important quantitative information for decision and for policymakers. And so were you surprised by the numbers? Oh, absolutely. I mean, you know, you kind of, again, because you are impacted by congestion and an ice it in traffic quite a bit as well. I knew that the numbers would be staggering. But when the actual data came out, it really did take us by surprise just in terms of the scope of it. So as you said, 56 billion in Ontario and then 44.7 billion just in the GTHA. And again, I think the- Nadia, those are huge numbers, but in terms of sort of turning them into numbers that people can more readily appreciate, I think the study does a really good job.

Congestion costs directly cost the Ontario economy $12.8 billion annually, which puts 112,000 jobs at risk due to reduced productivity and stifled job growth. Can you talk to me about what exactly that means? Absolutely. And again, I think this is why the study is so important, because it looks at kind of the economic, but also the social impact of congestion. And when we talk about social impact, we're talking about stress, we're talking about lower life satisfaction, we're talking about reduced well-being. And to be able to quantify that and give that perspective for people, I think it's humbling. And again, I think it gives decision makers the tools necessary to be able to say, this is why we need to continue to invest in transit, in transportation, to be able to have a strong future for everyone. Especially when you look at what will happen if we don't invest by 2044, those staggering numbers

that we just talked about are going to grow tenfold. It's going to get much, much worse. It's going to, yeah, sorry, go ahead. No, no, not Natty. I was just going to point out, sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off, but it's, it's a conversation that's close to my heart. So I kind of get a little excited when, you know, when I read that congestion has resulted in a $5 billion reduction in private capital investment, including losses of $570 million in manufacturing, $180 million in construction, $100 million in professional services, as well as 88,000 jobs could have been possible had congestion mitigation efforts been launched just 10 years ago. So you guys sort of look at what could have been had we looked at things through this lens years ago. Exactly. And that's why one of the things that we've always emphasized is you have to build for the future. You have to look at, for example, population growth is a huge element of that. Where is the province going to be in the next 20 to 30 years in terms of

population? And what is that infrastructure that we need to build to support that? Because a growing region requires a growing infrastructure. And if we don't invest in infrastructure, the impacts that you see in this study are going to be staggering and are going to put us at such a huge competitive disadvantage. We already know that people are not, you know, are taking a second look or are second guessing themselves if they're going to be investing in Ontario because it takes so long for goods to get to the market and that costs money. And business people make those decisions on a daily basis. So we need to be economically competitive and investing in critical infrastructure is one of the key ways to do that. Nadia, if I listen to the Ontario government, they constantly talk about the largest investment in public transit in Ontario's history. Currently, the biggest sort of expense going on in the world is happening here in Ontario, specifically in Toronto. So a lot of investment is happening right now.

Is it the right kind of investment, according to you? Is it too little, too late? Is it not enough? Should we be looking at other places as well? So the Ontario government has shown a very strong commitment to infrastructure investment. And again, with our population growing rapidly, that needs to continue. It needs to be long-term.

It needs to be sustainable. And it needs to kind of keep going on the route that it's going. So the congestion report that we've released today really is a cautionary tale that we need to continue to invest. Otherwise, the consequences would be significant and would be really detrimental to Ontario, both from an economic standpoint and from a social standpoint. You know, I'm also in our next segment, we're going to be talking about some of the other reasons that we experience congestion, especially in Toronto.

Everyone knows my opinion on bike lanes. There's a big story in the Toronto Star that says experts are saying that it has a lot more to do with road construction and lanes being taken up by construction in general. You know, I've always believed

that one of the mitigating things that could happen is if the city required setbacks for new construction in this city, so an extra lane of traffic wouldn't have to be taken over. You know, that is a very good point. And I think the first thing that I want to emphasize is that when construction closes lanes, we're doing that because it's necessary for workers and residents' safety. It's legislated. We have to do it. But as our report suggests, there really needs to be more collaboration and innovation between industry and government. So how can we, for example, expedite construction through flexible working hours

so we clear the work faster? How can cities have early tendering and faster project award in getting those projects out in early fall or late fall or early winter so we can maximize the number of working days? You know, how can we incentivize project acceleration? How can we empower decision making by project managers? There are all these things that can be done that I think sometimes we lose track of. Oh, because people like myself, Nadia, who are on this side of the fence, we don't even know that those are issues that need to be addressed. All we see is lanes of traffic closed.

So we think, OK, fix that. But what you're saying is there's about a dozen boxes that need to be checked in order to do that. Absolutely. A hundred percent. And I think, you know, I think government, especially on the municipal side, really have a lot more work to do on that end to make sure that construction is operating smoothly and quickly. And we finish projects as fast as we can in a predictable way. Nadia Todorova, the executive director of the Residential and Civil Construction Alliance of Ontario. Thank you so much. This is a heck of a study. I hope a lot of people dig into it.

Thank you very much, Ben. Have a good day. Thank you for having me on. You know, the algorithm on Twitter is a heck of a thing. Once you start showing it that the content that it's feeding you, you engage with, it's going to feed you more of it, sometimes at the expense of other things. Since October 7th of last year, obviously, I have spent a great deal of time talking in defense of the Jewish people of this country. And so sometimes it crowds out other stories. I'm really glad to be able to do this show because it highlights stories that I might have missed that can then come back into my consciousness and that I can share with you. And on the 6th of December, a 20-year-old Indian man was shot in Edmonton in what the police said was a gang incident.

Two people were arrested and charged with first-degree murder. There is video online. It is gruesome. It's a young man named Harshandeep Singh. He's a young Sikh man who was working as a security guard who was shoved down the stairs. And while he's falling down the stairs, he is shot in the back.

There's no other way to say it. It's disgusting, vile animal behavior. And unfortunately, it is not an isolated incident. This took place on December 6th, and it is the second such case in this week, in that week after a 22-year-old Indian student was stabbed to death by his housemate in Ontario. So we're joined now by Jaskaran Sandhu,

co-founder of Baz News and board member of the World Sikh Organization of Canada. Jaskaran, I'm so sorry that we're talking about this topic, but I'm glad to be speaking to you. Oh, thank you for having me. You're speaking about algorithms. Likewise, my algorithm over the last 6 to 12 months has been a lot of anti-sick content

because we've just been tracking it and following it. And it's horrendous what's happening right now in Canada. Well, I'm glad that we can talk about it here. The number of hate crimes targeting South Asian communities has grown by 143% between 2019 and 2022. That's according to StatsCan. I'll just put it out to you. What do you attribute the rise to?

You know, we use the label Indian and South Asian. But if we actually zoom in to what's happening on the ground, it's almost entirely targeted towards the Sikh community. Is it because they are more visible? Yeah, you know, that's one theory, that you're much more visible. It's a very visible minority, you know, put aside, you know, skin color and a different faith. It's also that the articles of the faith are very obvious. You know, you wear a turban. For those that are fully initiated in the faith, you carry the Quran.

You know, you stand out, and it's intentionally that way. You're supposed to stand out in the faith. That's the whole point. And so you see a lot of targeting of the Sikh community and what's driving it. I think it's a combination of multiple things. One is there's been a lot of talk about international students and the pressure that may be caused by international student populations

ballooning here over the last few years. When you look at where the students are coming from, it's predominantly from the Sikh community or from the Punjab region of South Asia. And so you're seeing a lot of young folks from our community moving out to Canada. And we could talk a little bit more about the international student program that Canada has and some of the problems with it. But in addition to this, in connection with this, you've been seeing the rise online of anti-sick hate driven by two ecosystems. And one is the far right who have kind of went towards the sick community, again, anchoring to the international student issue and blaming it and scapegoating it for a whole host of problems that this country is facing. And then in connection with this, it's being amplified by something we've discovered and heard over the course of the public inquiry into foreign interference

by Hindu nationalist ecosystems coming out of India, which amplify and drive anti-sick hate and rhetoric as well online. And so you have these two ecosystems kind of colliding and amplifying anti-sick hate that you're seeing today, which is now manifesting itself into violence on the streets. Well, and meanwhile, you've got innocent people, some of whom are, as you said, young students who come here for a better life. They take a job because life is unaffordable here. And sometimes they take these jobs that are dangerous, like being a security guard. You know, one of the points of pride I know that my father had in his time in office was, you know, his allowing for Sikh Canadians to serve in the RCMP wearing the RCMP regalia with their turbans and their kirpan. And I know that that was a point of pride for him.

So it's always something that resonates for me. In my mind, growing up, you know, the Sikh community was the Canadian community. And to see these things happening is quite heartbreaking. Yeah, you know, and, you know, Ben, they don't quite make politicians the way that your dad was, you know, that were willing to stand up and say it very loud that, you know, this type of hate is unwelcomed and challenge it everywhere that it appears. And the community is kind of looking towards a political leadership as well. It's like, hey, you know, at what point are we going to start calling it out for what it is? You know, I think there's a lot of hate made

recently about, you know, a conservative MP talking about anti-Christian hate. We've been even mentioning at the beginning of the show the anti-Semitism that we're seeing, which is also horrendous. Islamophobia is on the rise. But anti-sick hate is kind of this hidden, unknown, vertical and this kind of wide horizon of the hate that's been sprouting up in this country. And we need to talk about it more. We've seen now, I think, three or four different murders of folks in the Sikh community, which were completely senseless and almost random. And the community feels that it's all connected to a lot in Canada's big cities, but in my experience traveling this country, I've seen members of the Sikh community clear across the country, big city, small city, a diaspora of the Sikh community. So my question is, is this violence, is this anti-Sikh sentiment, is it pan-Canadian? Oh, it definitely is. One of the incidents we're talking about happened in Sarnia, for example. That's in the north of Ontario. It's a small community.

And then some happen in larger metropolitan areas like edmonton uh where we had the the security guard just again senselessly shot so it is happening across the country uh and that i think is also a product of how we're seeing the growth of uh international students and you know temporary visa holders living across the country and that's actually encouraged by government policy to have newcomers settle in places outside of the major urban areas, which has exposed them to, quite frankly, kind of growing xenophobia on trying to essentially show that

Sikhs or folks of other minority communities are unwelcome in parts of this country, and we have to address that. You know, I've got to wonder, as we're talking, and you mentioned the rise of Islamophobia and anti-Semitism and anti-Sikh violence, I wonder whether it would behoove all of us, for members of all of these groups that have felt targeted over the past few years, and yes, the reasons for that targeting is different, And those targeting them aren't always from the same place. But whether it would behoove us to get prominent members of those communities together and respective organizations work with one another on a lot of different issues. And so, you know, we encourage communities to continue to do that. As far as anti-sick hate goes, one issue that we've had as a community that we've noticed is that it's an ill-defined term. There hasn't been much, let's say, research or dialogue around this term because it's you know it it feels

new uh at least the way that's manifesting itself uh in physical violence and so the world sick organization uh in connection with um the canada race relations foundation uh is embarking on a cross-country tour uh to speak about anti-sacade and then generate a report to define it just garen we're gonna have to have to leave it there. But please stay in touch with us, because if there are any stories that you think should rise to the level of a national conversation, we'd love to be part of that with you. Definitely. Thank you for the time.

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A message from the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association. There is a quote from The Dark Knight that lives rent-free in my head. You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain. And when I saw that movie, it resonated with me, but it resonated with me in the context of superheroes. But now every time I think of Justin Trudeau, I think of that quote that had he left earlier, had he resigned a few years ago, he would have resigned without this feeling of aggression and anger towards him that is going to linger and is going to, he's going to carry with him for a while, probably not forever, but certainly for a while. There's a new article in the Walrus that says if, if polls should be believed, 67% of Canadians disapprove of Justin Trudeau's leadership.

And when asked who will make the best PM, Trudeau barely edges out Jagmeet Singh with Pierre Polyev sailing above 20 points ahead at 45%. That's with five party leaders. The Conservatives have been mostly ahead in the polls since September of 2022. Their most recent lead per an abacus poll was of 22 points. And it goes on and on. Joining us to discuss this article is the author of the article, Ira Wells.

Ira, welcome to the show. Happy to be here. Ira, so it seems that there is there's real anger out there for Justin Trudeau, and yet he hangs on. What do you make of that? Well, I think there are a couple of lessons to be drawn. The lesson that many of his MPs are drawing from this is that it's time for him to go. There was this kind of mini uprising in October where a couple of dozen MPs were pushing for some kind of silent or anonymous vote for the caucus,

and we're calling for him to resign. He rejected that possibility, at least so far, and it leaves things very much up in the air in terms of, if he were to say anything else, he would be a sitting duck, right? He can't announce that he's sort of dangled that possibility out. So I think that he's going to, everything sort of indicates that he's going to hang on. It certainly, to me, feels like he's,

you know, you see him go off to Mar-a-Lago, for example, and meet with Donald Trump almost immediately after his election. He feels like he's still in the game. He doesn't feel like he's letting go. But I think that there's a question around whether the MPs, you know, whether they would be a change at the top would actually do them any favors,

right? That's something that we can talk about. And so I've got a theory about that. I think one of the reasons that he's sticking around is because he doesn't know if he were to leave and say, Melanie Jolie or somebody else were to pick up the mantle, that they may have less of a commitment to his carbon tax, which is what he believes is his crowning achievement than he does. And their goal would be to mitigate disaster or separate themselves from him in a meaningful way. And what more meaningful way could it be than to do an about face on the carbon tax? And he knows Pierre Polyev is going to get rid of it if he becomes leader. He would rather history tell that story than he quits and his successor immediately cancels that one thing that defines him. Well, that's a really good point.

And that any new liberal leader at this stage would need a way to distance themselves from Justin Trudeau as quickly as possible, right? Because when you think about Melanie Jolie, you occasionally hear about Dominic Barton. Their brands are by this point so associated with, not to mention Christopher Freeland. They carry a lot of the baggage that Trudeau has acquired over the years, and so they need some way to pivot very quickly. But the question is, in the public mind, I mean, you tell me, my sense is that they're already so, that those figures are so associated with Trudeau that there's not enough room there for them to significantly change public perception. Oh, I agree. I agree. And I'm going to give you another one of my theories. You can tell me what you think about this one,

because a lot of people try to explain the anger that people have towards Justin Trudeau. You know, he won his majority the first time. But then after that, he received a minority mandate from the people uh saying they said you know we don't trust you enough to give you a majority and then the poll suggested in the middle of the pandemic that he may get the wiggle room at that point to get a majority so he sent us to the polls during a pandemic calling it the most consequential election of a generation uh and it was no such thing he He got pretty much the exact same mandate. And at that point, he decided he needed to govern as if he had a majority,

found common cause with the NDP and has been able to govern as if he had a majority for far longer than the mandate would have justified. In other words, when you get a mandate for a minority government in this country, that means you pretty much have runway for nine to 18 months.

And yet he's been able to govern for coming on five years. And to me, if I were a voter, I would be very angry. I am a voter. I'm angry that I have not been able to hold this government to account as I demanded with the minority mandate I gave you. Yeah. So do you do you express that anger toward the NDP or toward the liberals? Or do you even distinguish between them at this point? Well, I look at who's playing keep away with my vote. Everyone seems to be playing keep away with my vote, except for the Tories, who do not seem to fear the electorate. Although they've also had, or correct me if I'm wrong, but there's been moments in the last few weeks where they've had the opportunity to call the government to account and have them trigger an election.

Isn't that true? What I've seen is every time they've tried, they've been stymied in the House of Commons, but I haven't been following it that closely. All I know is they're the ones who keep calling for an election, and they don't seem to be getting it. It feels to me like there's almost like a toxicity that's been built up in the electorate who have been who have been chomping at the bit, demanding their chance to hold either hold the government to account or support them if that's what they choose. And they have not been able to do that for far too long. Yeah, I think that's true. And I think that that speaks to an anti incumbent mood that you see around the globe right now, not not least in the US, but Britain, France, Germany. It's been sinking governments all over the place. And I think the conventional wisdom is that Trudeau is next, that the polls certainly look that way. But I think that political scientists would tell us that

the polls will inevitably tighten, right? When the election gets called, that, you know, there were these by-elections where very safe ridings for the Liberals went the other way and flipped. But they could flip back, right, when those voters realize that they're not just making decisions for their own ridings, but potentially for the country. So the polls will tighten, things will get more complicated. And I think that Polyev will have to articulate a credible plan on these issues. I mean, he's been very effective in the way that he speaks in these viral sound bites. He makes his points in a sharp, pointed way that gets points across.

But when you hear experts unpack the housing plan, for instance, I think he'll, he does have to have a credible vision. Otherwise, um, a year from now, two years from now, when Canadians look around and we see the tents, we see the very visible, uh, the state of decay in society that, uh, is Polyev going to turn that around, uh, that, that he'll have a, he'll have his work cut out for him. Yeah. He's got to, he's got to show a roadmap at some, at some point. I don't think that point is necessarily now. Um i think i think you know a lot of us were expecting that uh that trudeau as a counterpoint to donald trump was going to get some sort of trump bump after trump got elected oh we've got to we've got to support our guy in the face of this guy who's completely different but when abacus data releases a poll

that says that uh trudeau is less popular in Canada than Donald Trump is. That shocked the heck out of me. Yeah, that is surprising. And yet, Ben, Trudeau's own popularity is higher than that of the Liberal Party, which tells me that when you look back, when you cast a bit of a historical glance on situations where long-term leaders have bailed on their party right before an election, it often does not, like voters will punish. It just confirms a sense that this party is losing air, right? So when you think about the elder Trudeau who

left in 1984, John Turner comes in and it was a huge, a huge election for the conservatives. And the same thing in 1993 when when Kim Campbell took over. So it in other words, I think if I were a liberal MP right now, I'm not at all convinced that I would want Trudeau to go. Ira, we're going to leave it there. But the article is fantastic. It's in the walrus. I appreciate Trudeau is less popular than Trump right now. And the article is called Justin Trudeau might be the only one who still believes in Justin Trudeau. Take care of my friend. Thanks, man.

It's really hard sometimes to look back at the pandemic and realize the sacrifices and the sadness that we endured. And if you had a family member in a long-term care facility and you were deprived of seeing them and showing them love and affection and human connection and you're on the outside looking in it could be heartbreaking in a lot of cases those were the final days of your loved one and you could not be that with them in hospice in long-term care in hospital. And that sadness is going to be passed on from generation to generation. It's a loss that you can never get back.

And so I think a lot of us feel far more empathy towards this next story than we might have prior to the pandemic. There is a gentleman by the name of Paul Zeman who was denied access from his mother in her Ontario long-term care home for over a year. She is suffering from Alzheimer's. He used to visit her every single day and he was told he could not have access to her. And it really did, it seems based on what i've read

we're going to talk to him in a moment uh that it's a case at least at first blush of he said they said and they say that he was banned uh because he demonstrated anger and accused him of behaving in a threatening and abusive manner. But Zeman, who lives nearby, believes he was banned because he passionately expressed concerns about the care of his mother and had told the home he intended to file a complaint. The home has denied this claim. So let's bring Paul Zeman into the show. Paul, thank you so much for being here. Oh, you're welcome. Thank you for having me. First, tell me a bit about your mom. Who is she

and how is she? Well, Anna, my mother, she's 81 years old with Alzheimer's. Unfortunately, she doesn't speak. She's bed-bound. She's a caring and loving person.

She's a caring and loving person you know and uh yeah she's a terrific person and you used to visit her every day every day six hours monday to friday eight to ten hours on the weekend that's a lot of contact that she used to have with you that she hasn't had at this point you still can't see her absolutely yeah. Yeah. That is a lot of contact. No. And, and I, I still can't see. And are you, but I have to assume that lack of contact, even though she, you know, she's, she's suffering from this debilitating disease there, there are positive reasons for you to be there. You know, she, there's, she may not know who you are, but having you there could be of benefit.

Absolutely. Absolutely. Just hearing my voice, you know, she may not know who you are, but having you there could be of benefit. Absolutely. Absolutely. Just hearing my voice, you know, or, you know, brushing her hair or, you know, touching her hand, you know, me tell you just how sorry I am that this has happened to you and your mother. But talk to me about, because it seems like, I'm sure there's something at issue here that you're calling one thing and they're calling another. So what you call fierce defense of your mother, they're calling abuse, they're calling aggression, they're calling anger. So what is this thing that we're talking about? Well, there was a care plan meeting, and during that care plan meeting, they were suggesting some changes. I informed them that certain things weren't being done to their expectations or our expectations, and they dismissed it and when they dismissed that i uh i i informed them that i was going to file a complaint and shortly thereafter is when i received the the ban that simple as that you said you went to them

said i'm going to file a complaint because i don't like how you guys are treating my mother and they and they responded by banning you that's correct and they have the power to do that for a year uh see i'm not too familiar with the law i i've been in touch with Mary Sardellis, a terrific lady, and she's helped me with this. She knows that part of it more than I do. Well, so Mary Sardellis is an advocate for people just like you. And listen, if it were just you, when I read the article, I was like, okay, well, he can't really prove this. And maybe his emotions got the better of him, and they erred on the side of caution. However, according to Mary, there are more than 100 cases across the province of Ontario involving people given no trespass orders who fought against such.

And Mary has fought those battles for them when who had very similar situations. So when I hear that there's over 100 of these cases, I mean, you know, three is a trend. What is 100? Exactly. So where do you stand now? What sort of recourse do you have? Well, I'm not sure. This is something that I've been talking over with Maria,

and hopefully we can come to some kind of resolution. I mean, what's shocking to me is the length of this. Even if you had been overly emotional, sometimes we don't see how, if we're so emotional, we don't see what other people see. So it's entirely possible that they saw aggression where you saw advocacy. But the fact that the solution that they brought to bear was essentially a lifetime ban. You're out of here until your mother is no longer with us.

That's correct. Is dehumanizing. I agree wholeheartedly. is dehumanizing. I agree wholeheartedly. I'm shocked that it wasn't, you know what, we're going to ask you to stay away for 30 days and then we're going to bring you together with a mediator where we can talk this out

and then hopefully we can then reintegrate you back into your mother's life. But to have this power over somebody, and meanwhile, you're still paying for her to be there. Absolutely. So they're taking your money, but they won't let you see your mother. That's right. That's right. And I've contacted many people in local government here in the area, as well as our local police department, the long-term care action line, the minister of long-term care's office, and no one's willing to help. They say, we're sorry, we can't help you. Is this an attempt to get the public behind you?

Because I can't imagine that people are going to listen to this story and want to sit on their hands. They're going to want to write in support. If there's anything, what can people do to help you? Can they write to their MPPs? Absolutely. Write to your MPPs.

And if you're going through a situation like this, I encourage you to contact Maria Sardalis. She's very knowledgeable and very experienced in this situation. I've got to ask, like currently, uh, you know, your mother is, um, is there, but she's, she's elderly and she's dealing with Alzheimer's, you know, there, there will come a day where she is no longer with us. That's right. Now, if, if you aren't there with her, I can't imagine the sadness that you will have, but somebody should be held to account for preventing you from being with her in those last moments.

She should not be alone. I agree. I agree totally. The stakes will be—essentially what I'm asking is, do you think the legal stakes will be raised if that happens? I believe they will. Are you hopeful that this will get resolved quickly? Absolutely, yes. The sooner the better. Christmas is just around the corner

and everybody gets to spend time with their family and their loved ones. And missing this Christmas will be the second Christmas where she's all alone. Paul Zeman, my heart goes out to you. Hearing how much time you spent with your mom, how much you care for her,

I really do hope that this comes to a swift resolution so that you can enjoy Christmas with your mother. Thank you, so do I. Yeah, please, please keep us posted. When Sean Diddy Combs was arrested, people knew there were other dominoes that were going to fall, given the salacious nature of the accusations, given how interconnected he is with some of the biggest names in Hollywood, and just given the nature of the lifestyle that he led.

And if you follow this on social media, people at the periphery of these stories have been suggesting that this person would be involved or that person would be involved it's only a matter of time before this name is whispered and then that whisper is going to become an actual an actual allegation and then from that allegation perhaps even a lawsuit well now we are seeing the jay-z jay-z one of the biggest rappers in the history of the game, is accused in a civil lawsuit of raping a 13-year-old girl in 2000, along with Sean Diddy Combs. To bring us up to speed, we're joined by Nima Rahmani, legal analyst, former federal prosecutor, and president of West Coast Trial. Nima, thank you very much for joining us. Of course, Ben. Thanks for having me.

So this is a wild, wild story. And I want to stay on the facts that we have. I don't want to litigate something before it gets to where it needs to be. But what stands out to you immediately today? Because it's a fast-moving target as well. Well, this is something that, like you said, there was a lot of rumors circulating as to who celebrity a was so there was civil lawsuit filed by this 17 year old the legend that

diddy sexually assaulted her with another celebrity that celebrity wasn't named but it was a male celebrity celebrity and it was a female celebrity, celebrity B who watched. And at the time, I said, the reason the celebrity hasn't been named is they're going to try to settle with the celebrity, keep it confidential, keep it under wraps. Now, after the lawsuit was filed, an attorney named Alex Spiro filed an extortion lawsuit against Tony Busby. That's a lawyer representing 100 of the victims against him. So it's pretty well known that Alex represents Jay-Z and rock nation. And a lot of folks were speculating that it was Jay-Z. It turns out that it was indeed Jay-Z.

And that complaint was amended yesterday to make that allegation. And so what do you make so so that comes out and then almost immediately on the rock nation x account uh what looks like a a defense is put out by i mean by uh jay-z and it doesn't read like a lawyer wrote it. I mean, when you read this, this, this response on the rock nation X account, what did you think? You know,

obviously Jay-Z's not happy. You know, this, it really tarnishes his reputation. I mean, I'm, I'm in LA, you know, and my daughter actually went to school

with Beyonce and Jay-Z's daughter, so I'm sure he's not happy. We're talking about a sexual assault of a 13-year-old, right, so that's something that, he didn't come from his PR team, didn't come from his legal team. It was pretty aggressive. Went after the lawyer.

Yeah. What would you have recommended to a client if they had said to you, I'm going to post something, and it doesn't sound like it, the language used doesn't sound like it was vetted by a lawyer. No, it wasn't. And look, he went after Busby, called him an

ambulance chaser in a cheap suit, and I said he's not going to back down. But the question is this, you know, and look, did he made, we don't know what happened. Obviously I wasn't there, you know, could be true, could not be true. But let's not forget, did he made similar statements in the beginning, right? And this is all a shake down. This is all extortion. It's all about money.

None of this is true. And ultimately the victim after victim came forward. So this is going to go in one of two ways. This is a one-off. Jay-Z is going to win. The victim can't prove her case. Or you might see other victims come forward as well. Let me tell you, when you're dealing with these types of cases that happen behind closed doors, maybe jurors don't believe one victim, but two or three or four, and then if

dozens come forward telling the same story of physical or sexual violence, that's going to be too much for anyone to overcome. Yeah. Yeah. I think you're right. When there's smoke, you know, and when there's a lot of smoke, maybe there is some fire. And then Tony Busby comes back and replies to that post saying regarding the Jay-Z case and his efforts to silence my clients. Mr. Carter previously denied being the one who sued me in my firm. And he goes on as far as the allegations in the complaint filed. We will let the filing speak for itself and will litigate the facts in court, not in the media.

If these stories not and there's going to be more than just this one, are going to be coming up fast and furious. And the name Tony Busby is going to be everywhere. And people are going to ask themselves, who is this guy?

Because it feels like he is the Gloria Allred of this moment. Yeah, and he's representing a lot of these ditty victims. Where'd he come from? Yeah, I mean, he's a big lawyer out in Texas and he's made a lot of these Diddy victims. Where'd he come from? Yeah. I mean, he's a big lawyer out in Texas, and he's made a name for himself.

Look at his strength in numbers, right? So, you know, but like I said, Jay-Z is represented by one of the biggest law firms in the United States, Quinn Emanuel. They're going to throw a lot of resources at this because, look, this is about Jay-Z. This is about his name. This is about his legacy.

And it's bigger than Jay-Z. Let's not forget, Jay-Z is doing the NFL halftime show. You know, what is the Super Bowl going to think about all this, right? I mean, there's ripple effects in the music industry and, you know, the business community. Who's celebrity B? We don't want to speculate, but at the time, did he was dating J-Lo?

Is that who it is? Is she going to be named next, right? Yeah. So this may just be the first domino to fall, the first victim to come forward. Now, what Tony Busby did was he sent a demand letter, right? And instead of responding to that demand letter, entering into some sort of confidential mediation or settlement, they filed an extortion lawsuit.

They really upped the ante here. So the parties are digging in their heels, whether it's Spiro, whether it's Busby, whether it's the victims. And, you know, obviously the Diddy case is going forward, the criminal case. But these civil lawsuits are going to follow right after. Yeah, and I have to think that, you know, if Diddy's got his own version of a little black book, I have to assume that he's going to do everything he can to make his life easier than it is. Are people who could be in that black book very nervous today? takeoff, I'd be concerned right now, because at worst, you're a participant, co-conspirator, you could be charged, you could be sued. But if you're just a witness, right, you're going to be

wrapped into a pretty nasty criminal case, as well as the civil litigation. So celebrities are going to be dragged into this one way or another if they were there. And Tony, the fact that so quickly as this is unraveling, we're already at the top of the musical food chain. Like it doesn't get bigger than Beyonce and Jay-Z. And so I think Jay-Z was just on Billboard Magazine's list of biggest pop stars of the 21st century. It does not get bigger than this. The fact that we are already, they've already been looped into this. I mean, if that's the case,

it almost sends the signal, nobody's safe. If you've got some secrets, if Jay-Z's secrets are coming out, yours are coming out. Oh, I agree. I mean, this is music to me too. So that doesn't matter who you are. mean these are celebrities worth you know a billion

plus dollars right music's royalty you're right it doesn't get bigger than beyonce i mean who maybe taylor swift you know yeah someone tells me she didn't go to a freak off yeah i think that's unlikely but really you know you're talking about, you know, you can count on one hand the number of people who are bigger in the music industry. And it doesn't get much bigger than Jay-Z. So, you know, Diddy's obviously in custody pending the criminal case. You know, what's going to happen? And the game changer when it comes to minors is this. Diddy, of course, is arguing to his lawyers that the free costs

happened, but they were consensual. Well, that argument doesn't work with respect to minors, because minors, of course, cannot consent to any sexual contact. It's gross that we even have to say that, but this is where we're at. This is where we're at. Hey, Nima, thank you so much

for your time. We really appreciate your analysis, and we hope to talk to you again sometime soon. Thanks, Ben, for having me. Thanks so much for listening to the podcast. We hope you enjoyed it and hope you'll join us tomorrow for another loaded edition of the Ben Mulroney Show.