The Ben Mulroney Show - Is AI in Burger King employees ear? And MP Adam Chambers on corporate taxes and butter tarts!

Episode Date: March 3, 2026

GUEST:  FRANCIS SYMS / Head of the School of Clean Energy at Humber Polytechnic Guest: Carmi Levy / Tech journalist GUEST:  MP  Adam Chambers  /  elected to Simcoe North in 2021 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

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. I think what we're witnessing over the skies of Iran is the technological superiority of the American military, the intelligence superiority of Israel. But we're also witnessing Iran go analog. They're going low tech with an army, of never-ending drones that they are sending out across the region for massive damage in countries like the UAE and Dubai. We're going to talk about the impact of that.

We're also talking about misinformation online and how it's a whole other front in this war. And also, there's a butter tart festival coming up in June, and I might be the judge. So we're going to break that down with Adam Chambers, the MP for the region. Let's get right into it. This is the Ben Mulroney Show podcast.

So wait a minute, wait a minute, let me get this show. America and Israel attack Iran. And Iran's answer is to just attack everybody. You know, having been in a bar fight or two in my life, I'm pretty sure the worst thing you can do during a two-on-one beatdown is slap everyone else. Hey, hey, not every part of me is getting punched.

What are you doing? What are you doing? Hey, you! This is the Ben Mulrooney show. Yeah, well, I'm not going to lie. I've never been in a bar fight in my life. As a matter of fact, I've never been punched in the face, despite having what many believe to be the most punchable face in Canada. So go figure that. But that was the Daily Show's John Stewart. And I think his assessment of what's going on right now is accurate. But to talk a little bit more about it in more serious terms. Please welcome to the show. Francis Sims, the head of the School of Clean Energy at Humber Polytechnic. Francis, welcome to the show. Hey, happy to be here, Ben. So we're witnessing an unprecedented air assault by allies, the United States and Israel, over the skies of Iran. And what I think we're seeing is the technological superiority of the United States and the intelligence superiority of Israel. But we're also seeing how drone technology can even the playing field,

even when there's a gap like that between the opponents. Let's start with the technological superiority of the United States. How do you see it? Yeah, so this, according to General Dan Kane in the U.S., he said that U.S. Cyber Command and Space Command were the first movers in the Operation Epic Theory. So basically, the cyber attacks came before what they now call kinetic attacks. And some of the things that they did is, you know, they disabled the internet. The internet traffic went to about 4% of normal traffic. Over 70 million SIM cards basically were brought offline.

State News Media Agency went online. They hacked into this thing called this prayer app, I can't even pronounce the name, that had over 30 million installs, and that was pushing notifications to people telling them to defect. They even hacked into the traffic cameras. And that's how they knew where some of these people were when they launched the attack. So it wasn't improvised. It was like fully coordinated. And in fact, the cyber piece was what they're calling a force multiplier that allowed

them to be so effective so early on. But the stories that we're hearing about this near endless supply of cheap but effective drones that Iran has been able to deploy to do what John Stewart described, which is attack everybody. Does the U.S. not have a technological answer for those? I mean, from a satellite, could they not somehow disrupt the Iran's ability to control those drones? Yeah. So the U.S. has, I mean, at the beginning of the war, they launched aircraft that basically jam the radar and allow them to launch lots of attacks.

But the problem with the drone communication is it doesn't necessarily operate on the same frequencies. are in the same range. It's very customized. And, you know, Iran launched over like a thousand of these drones that only cost, apparently, like 20 grand, like less than a car. And the Patriot Intercept missile costs like a million bucks or something like that. So the problem is that even like at a 90%, you know, interception rate, right? It's easy to shoot these things down. You can just launch many, many of them and like hotels in Dubai were a hit. Amazon data centers were a hit. And so, just the sheer number of them.

It created this situation that just, you know, I think was unexpected. Now, the U.S. does have a response. They have this Lucas drone, which is now about the same cost as the Iranian drone. Same kind of idea that they've started to launch. But the bottom line is like a single engineer can assemble 12 of those drones in a 10-hour shift and basically something that's like a garage. Yeah. So it's not high-tech.

And the communication is not standard communication. So it's really, really hard. It's like mosquitoes in the air. It's hard to sheet them down when there's so many of them. And I guess the question is, how will the U.S. and Israel respond to that? Because I heard Donald Trump say, listen, at some point, we're just going to be,

we will have taken out so many people that they're just not going to be able to, they won't have people to man these drones or operate these drones or just turn them on. And I kind of believe them after witnessing sort of the carnage. I mean, if you're in senior leadership of the, of the Iranian regime or somehow in the chain of command of the military or the IRGC, you might be feeling your days are numbered.

Yeah. And I would imagine to your point earlier that the U.S. and Israel are actively trying to figure out how to hack into the communication system for those drones. Yeah. And to try to disrupt them. And that will probably come to at some point in time. But the bottom line is that it's not happening right now. Those drones are an effective strategy for Iran in terms of attacking.

Really, what are his neighbors, their neighbors. Yeah, which it boggles the mind because I said off the top of the show is, you know, there is the possibility that these Arab nations could join in the alliance and actually join militarily into an alliance that includes Israel, which would have been unheard of just a few years ago. That's how you've got to be, you've got to have pissed off a lot of people to find, to find yourself on the opposite side of an alliance that includes Israel and Saudi Arabia. Now, the other interesting thing here is that AI was in the mix, and there was

talk in the U.S. about them banning Anthropics and Claude because it wasn't, you know, allowing the Pentagon to do what it wanted. But it actually used Claude quite effectively to reduce what we call sort of the attack cycle. Basically, it allowed them to quickly figure out where people were going to be. And I think they targeted like 900 different strikes in the first 12 hours because they were able to use anthropological. or the AI tools to gather that information quickly and make high, you know, high value predictions on where those people are going to be and launched the strikes with high confidence in ways that they've just never been able to do before.

I'm speaking with Francis Sims of Humber Polytechnic, and we're talking about the technology side of this war in Iran. And I remember reading a story on one of the first days, Francis, where the U.S. used drones as well, very small drones that flew into, you know, in the direction of Tehran. And they used airplanes that were at a very high level, high in the atmosphere, to send down, I guess, like, dummy radar information to suggest that these drones that were flying in weren't drones in fact at all, but they were, you know, F-35 fighters. And so the Iranians were focused on that pack of what they thought were fighter jets.

they were able to sneak stealth bombers in from a different direction. Yeah. So they deployed, I think, early on, 15 growler electronic attack aircraft, which are specialized aircraft. They did it from two carrier groups that call what they call whiteout effects. So basically, it does exactly what you said. It messes up the radar screens and it jam their entire defense network. And that's how they got those F-35 stealth fighters in.

It's because they couldn't effectively, they couldn't tell. you know, it's like if you had a backup camera on the car and you tried to back up, but it was giving you the wrong information. They just had no idea where anybody was. And so they just shot into the air. So it was quite effective and allowed the U.S. and Israel to actually come right into Iran's airspace, basically on detective. So in your estimation between the technological superiority of the United States and the seemingly never-ending supply of cheap but effective drones that he roared. has in its possession between those two forces, which one are you more bullish on?

I think that the U.S. and, I mean, I think that, you know, I think that leader in Iran was, that was not one that was well-like. And I hope that the people are supported. And I think the U.S. and Israel, from a technology perspective, you know, have time on their side. They have money on their side and they have, you know, intelligence on their side. Now, I think the hard part here, though, is that There's a lot of hacktivists and militant groups that will come out and start attacking. So they may not be able to reach North America with missiles, with kinetic force, but they will be able to reach North America with cybersecurity attacks. And, you know, the Canadian Center for Cybersecurity, even today,

people can look at it on the web, issued a notice telling people to be careful. You know, and you think about, like, critical infrastructure, like they may want to, they may want to go after a water treatment plant and stop us from getting our water, things that you might not consider part of a cyber attack, but very effective in disrupting life here. And that's what I think the concern is going forward. I don't think missiles are going to reach us, but it's those types of attacks that might.

Well, Francis Sims, thank you so much for breaking that down for us. We appreciate your time. My pleasure, Ben. Thank you. And when we come back, we're going to be talking about the misinformation campaign of this Iranian attack by the United States and Israel. Don't go anywhere. The Ben Mulerunee Showketeen. Another front has opened up in the,

war with Iran and it is the misinformation front. If you are on social media, you have to be vigilant to recognize that what you're seeing or what you're hearing may not be real. And, you know, we've all fallen for them. I've fallen for it myself. And so you've got to be careful. Some people don't care and they will peddle lies and others do and they try to fix and correct their mistakes. But all the more reason in a time like this to bring on our good friend and tech journalist, Karmie Levy, to talk about the impact of misinformation and AI deepfakes that are giving people a false sense of what is happening in this

extremely consequential battle over the skies of Iran. Kami, welcome to the show. Good to be with you, Ben. Yeah, I mean, I think we could have expected this, right? Global military conflict, it also plays out in the digital space, and we're seeing that with just misinformation, disinformation, deepfakes absolutely off the charts since this conflict began. And it's probably going to continue to get worse.

Yeah. And so I just learned right before the show that X is taking a pretty bold step. And they're saying that creators who post artificial intelligence generated videos of armed conflicts without clear disclosure will be penalized under the platform's new policies, which could include a 90-day suspension from the platform and from their creator revenue sharing policies. So that's a pretty big deal. It absolutely is because X in the past has been probably one of the most lenient platforms in terms of reining this kind of thing in. So for them to take a hard line on it now, I think is

notable. They have not done this previously. And so it all comes down to labeling. I don't think anyone really cares if an AI asset or video or whatever is posted. And it says this is AI that it uses common or standardized labeling techniques. For example, Google has something called Synth ID. Put a synth ID watermark on it. And I don't think anyone has an issue. The problem is that these are assets that are being passed off as legitimate when in fact they're not. In many cases, they're old footage. So, you know, from a previous, maybe from Ukraine a few years back, a Chinese missile tester, in some cases, even video game footage, right? So it looks real, but it clearly isn't, but it's been

passed off as that. And of course, in social media, it then gets engaged with. People believe that to be true. They start rage baiting. They start sharing it with their followers before you know it. The lie has spread around the world. And by the time the truth comes out, it's already too late. People have made up their mind and they've moved on to the next thing. So, you know, the problem absolutely not solved. You know, this week has been really funny when a lot of people saw the CEO of McDonald's eating a burger. And they thought that he didn't, he looked like he'd never eaten a burger before in his life. And then that was followed up by Burger King's CEO,

taking a massive bite out of a whopper. And so that was a win for Burger King. But now we're learning that Burger King is going to be bringing AI into their restaurants. Yeah. So it's an app. It's called Patty. I guess we'll give them credit for humor.

So basically what it'll do is for frontline staff in the restaurant, Patty will be playing in their headsets, essentially walking them through conversations with you and me as we go to eat at their restaurant. So they'll prod them, maybe help them upsell us so that we'll add fries to our order or make sure that they're saying thank you. Are they being friendly enough? The AI will listen to the interaction and will coach them to do better. If things aren't available, it'll take those off of the menu and essentially tweak the

in-restorant experience to be a better experience than it has been, which sounds very. Great. They're introducing it in Canada through the second half of this year. They've already got it piloted in a number of restaurants in the U.S., and so they're bringing it here. The plan is to roll it out globally as well over the next couple of the years. And I think this is inevitable. We've seen, for example, McDonald's introduced AI in their drive-thru restaurants a couple years ago. That didn't go too well. And so there will be headlines that are embarrassing to the company. There will be glitches. And I think we can expect that. Yeah, but Karmie, I thought we were moving to a world where as you go into these fast food restaurants,

there was going to be less and less interaction with human beings anyway. I mean, last two times I went to McDonald's, I used the self-serve kiosk, and then I just waited for somebody to hand my food. I didn't talk to a person. Yeah, and I think that's likely where Burger King is going to go as well. I think this is almost, it's almost like a Trojan horse, right? Put it on some headset, see how it goes, collect information from inside the restaurant, And then maybe incorporate those learnings.

Your training models as you go along doesn't really matter where that training occurs or where that data is coming from. And then at some point, you kind of gradually reduce your employee complement in any given restaurant. So they will say that it isn't to remove employees. They will say that jobs are safe, but we know that over the long term, because we've seen this happen at McDonald's and other fast food restaurants, as technology moves in slowly but surely, it sets the stage for those entry-level roles to gradually be rolled out the door, never to come back. They want to tell you, oh, we're going to allow our employees to do more value-added work

to improve the quality of the experience. The reality is they just want to improve their margins. So, Karmie, in a race to create the next big thing in tech, oftentimes the technology companies create a solution in search of a problem, right? And they'll give you a product and you say, who asks for this? Nobody asked for this. And now there is the Ucatelle WP63. Yeah.

So, I mean, this comes to us from, it's an event called Mobile World Congress, which is the world's biggest annual gathering of mobile device vendors. It's in Barcelona and hundreds of thousands of people there. It's kind of like their version of CES. And so it's just like CES where you have all these different phone makers who are screaming over each other, trying to be heard over the noise, introducing ever more outrageous design. So the Ukutel WP63,

it's a ruggedized smartphone so you can drop it and it won't break. But it's got a built-in electric igniter. Basically, it's a lighter. And so they say that it's for camping and emergency response. So if you don't have matches, this thing can light something. They're saying you can't use it to light candles perversely, but I would certainly give it a try. I think they'll sell about eight of these by the time all is said and done.

But what I like about this, and we see this all the time in events like this is, I don't think the goal is for this to become a mainstream thing. I think it's to be heard above the noise because up until I saw this headline, I'd never heard of Ucoteau. It's probably one of the world's smallest smartphone makers. Now I've heard of them, they're on my radar. And because I've been writing and speaking about them, they're probably going to show up in my feeds for the next few months.

So I'm guessing for them, mission accomplished, even if their phone would get them banned by my local fire department. So I am obsessed. If you looked at my Instagram feed, I use it almost exclusively for funny memes that make me laugh from my belly and recipes. I love sending myself recipes that I can then try with my family. But more and more, there are AI, they're entirely created on AI, the person, the food, the recipe, the end result. And this is not necessarily a good thing. It isn't. So the Globe and Mail did a bit of a deep dive on this, and they showed that more of these videos that we're seeing both on Instagram, in TikTok, YouTube, or anywhere else on the internet, increasingly they're what's known as AI Slop. So you think you're watching a human walk you through a recipe showing you how to cook. In reality, it was generated by an AI prompt. That human isn't real. Their backstory isn't real. And the recipes, maybe they'll be edible. In many cases, they aren't. They're just terrible. people actually try making them themselves, they don't come out.

So you wear of AI flop. It's bad enough when you read something AI generated on Facebook and, you know, okay, I've wasted a couple of minutes. It's quite another when you eat something that could literally poison you. So be very careful to make sure that you know where it's coming from. Check your sources. Yes. Make sure that you're aware of that.

Otherwise, you could be in for a nasty surprise at dinner time. Yeah, go look at the creator. Go look at their page and see how long they have. They've had a page for. How many followers they have. How many videos they have. how far back they date, right? Because if it's more than five years old,

chances are it's a real person. Exactly. Although in some cases, what we're also seeing is legacy accounts, so older accounts, in some cases, they're being taken over. No, the lies. Carmi Levy, the lies, I can't take it anymore. It was one thing when it was AI lies about the war, but when you're telling me

that the dumpling casserole that I want to make could get me sick, now that's a bridge too far. Thank you very much, my friend. Don't mess with our food. All right. Thanks so much, buddy. And when we come back,

Adam Chambers, MP for the Conservative Party of Canada, joins us in studio to talk about all manner of political sin. At Medcan, we know that life's greatest moments are built on a foundation of good health, from the big milestones to the quiet winds. That's why our annual health assessment offers a physician-led, full-body checkup that provides a clear picture of your health today

and may uncover early signs of conditions like heart disease and cancer. A healthier you means more moments to cherish. Take control of your well-being and book an assessment today. Medcan. Live well for life. Visit medcan.com slash moments to get started. I love it when we have guests in studio. It makes it so much more real.

Like I love talking to people any way I could talk to them. But having sitting opposite somebody, having a real conversation is amazing. And I'm so glad to have with me, the MP for Simco North, elected since 2021, Adam Chambers. Welcome to this show, my friend. And it's great to be here with you in studio. Okay, so you're advancing a bill right now in the House of Commons, I should have said a conservative MP.

That's just so you get some context. You're advancing a bill that would force the federal government to publicly disclose large corporate tax debt write-offs of over a million bucks. Make that relevant to somebody who's just trying to drive their kids. kids home from school right now. Sure. So every year, the federal government writes off debts that are owing to it by corporations. For the last number of years, that number has been climbing substantially.

A couple of years ago, it was $7 billion. Last year, it was well over $5 billion. Hold on a second. Hold on a second. You're telling me that there are taxes due to the government, that they are lawfully owed to the tune of how much? Well, last year was over $5 billion that were written off. And that money should be going into our coffers, and they are just not, and they're writing

it off, they're not pursuing it, they're not going after, they're not collecting, they're just saying, eh, not worth it, and they're writing it off. What is the justification for that? Well, there are a number of reasons why a debt could be written off. It could be a bankruptcy, it could be. So there are valid reasons. Absolutely. It could also be a fraud perpetrated on the government.

you know, people filing fake tax returns, their schemes to defraud the government out of taxes owing. And so the government will decide it may choose to no longer pursue that debt. And this is all done in secret. So, for example, 10 corporations owed $1.1 billion in taxes that they had written off just two years ago. And we started asking, well, tell us more about these corporations. Like, Who are they? Why were they written off? And the answer from the government is, well, we can't tell you. It's privacy. I'm sorry, but I think if you owe the government hundreds of millions of dollars and your corporation and you choose not to pay, I think the public deserves to know who they are. Name and shame. I mean, $1.1.1 billion could almost pay for the CBC for a year. Not quite, but almost. But no, and that's money that could go into social services. and more importantly, you're treating those corporations differently than you would treat the everyday person.

The people who are listening to this show right now just try to get their kids home. Absolutely. Let's just say you forget to pay the CRA or you file your taxes late and you owe $200. Well, you're going to get a letter in the mail and the interest clock started running when you owed that money in the first place. And they will pursue you until the nth degree and even maybe garnish your wages. So behind closed doors, someone's making a decision to stop pursuing large corporations. we think the first step is transparency and then some accountability on how we can make sure that money comes into the government coffers. As you say, there's social programs to fund,

or how about just cut taxes for people? That would be nice too. That would be nice too. Talk to me about the process. Let's stay in the policy bubble for a second. Explain to the listeners the process by which somebody who's not in government can get something like this across the finish line. Sure. It's actually a really interesting process. after each election, there's a lottery drawn, each private member, so a non-cabinet minister or not a parliamentary secretary, their name's put in a hat, and you draw a number. And if your number's high, you have a chance to have a bill voted upon that you bring forward to the House. Anyone can bring a bill forward any time, but it's that high lottery number that allows that bill to get

voted upon. So I was lucky enough, I was drawn number 40, and this is the issue that I thought would have widespread public support, but also widespread support from other parties in the House Commons. And in, give me context here. Like, is it performative that the government will listen and then just vote it down? And that's not, that's not a condemnation of the liberal government. They, I'm sure, you know, when conservatives are in power, they might treat bills that come from the other side of the House with a little less respect than their own. And so, like, realistically, what are the chances of something like this becoming a law? Well, I would say the chances of a bill becoming a law by a private member are relatively low. For example, in the last

parliament, my first time I had the chance, I advanced a bill, but I missed it becoming, going to the next step by about 11 votes. Okay. So this time I had a better chance. I said, look, I want to bring something that is just, it resonates with everybody, every reasonable person will agree, and how could the government not agree with this? Yeah. We're literally, we want to give you, we want to give you credibility in going after and getting money that is owed to the government. Yeah, I mean, finance minister Champagne is running a deficit, double the size of Prime Minister Trudeau. I want to help him close that gap. See, maybe you don't frame it that way if you want Champagne's help on this.

Well, look, actually, I will say I've had some great conversations with all parties in the house, the NDP, the block, and even the government. They have been collaborative and wanting to support this getting to the final stage. So I've been very appreciative, actually, of all the conversation I've had, including with the government. I'm encouraged. I think it has a real chance of succeeding. Okay, let's move to the prime minister's trip abroad, right? I think all things being equal, it's better to be, it's better to have good relations with a nation than bad. And we've had bad relations with China, India, and the United States for quite some time.

And it looks like the Chinese relationship is improving. And it looks like the Indian relationship is improving. Now we can discuss the trade-offs that maybe had to happen in order for that to happen. I'm going to live in the positive for now. However, and by the way, India said, we want to buy whatever a candidate is selling. So that's a good thing, right? But then the Indian High Commissioner suggested to the CBC that they could help us on a particular file. You have things which we need. We have things which you need.

I mean, for example, simple examples. We have, you're a country of, you're the second largest country in the world with a 40 million population, 40 million population. You need at least about 100 million population. You need people to man many of your resources. We have the capacity. We have the intellect. We have the talent. We have the resources.

So the Indian High Commissioner is suggesting that a country of 40 million people needs 60 million more. And India stands at the ready to fill that void for us. thoughts? Well, maybe he's been talking to the folks in Canada that have been behind the century initiative that were promoting the same aggressive targets just a couple years ago, including the Prime Minister's new ambassador to the United States, Mark Wiseman. But I would say, I think the challenge that we've seen in this country over the last few years is a ramp, a significant ramp up.

You know, we used to grow the country's population by about 1% a year. When I was a kid, we were at 25 million. That's at that, and that number for, in my mind, we're still at 25. But the fact that we're, we're past, we've blown past 40 is insane to me. Well, and when you think, so one percent a year doesn't sound like very, that sounds reasonable to most people. After COVID, there was three, four years in a row where we grew the population by somewhere well over two and almost four percent in some years. I mean, that starts to become very difficult. to manage when you consider housing costs and when you consider access to services, social

services like health care. So I think what we need to do is take a serious pause and a rethink of the entire system. You know, Canada used to have the envy of the world when it came to immigration systems. We had a points-based merit system that rewarded the skills that we need here to help build the economy and get people here that are going to be contributing to our society. My intrepid producer, Mike Droulet, pointed out once, immigration is not designed to help the other country. It is designed to help Canada. Our system is designed, it's selfish. What do we need? What do we need? And how can we attract the talent to make this country stronger? It's not about showing everybody how generous we are and how with our open arms and our open wallet, we can bring in as

many people as possible. That's a perversion of what it's meant to be. And I just want to give props to the intrepid producer because he actually said something smart for once. Oh, there we're good. It's always good to help those that are helping you. Well, I would say, you know, it's important to be thankful that we live in a country that a lot of people want to come to. So that is a good thing. That means that we can be choosy on who comes now.

We also have to be benevolent and we have to take in refugees when we can and those who are bona fide fleeing areas of persecution or being persecuted for religion or their sex or their sexuality. Like we have an ability to take in individuals, but as you say, the primary objective is to make this country stronger. Yes. All right. When we come back from the break, we're continuing this conversation, but we have to get into the most serious aspect of why you're here. Butter tarts. That's coming up next. Are my gloves? Come on, heat. Winter is hard, but your groceries don't have to be. This winter, stay warm. Tap the banners to order your groceries online at

Walla.ca. Enjoy in-store prices without leaving your home. You'll find the same regular prices online as in-store. Many promotions are available both in-store and online, though some may vary. You know, I like to talk on this show about cultural touchstones, about things that we can rally behind and together. And I spoke of how the Premier of Ontario last week, or two weeks ago, let it be known that he wanted every kid in Ontario Public School to take time at school, to watch Olympic hockey. And when my kids ask me why, I said, because it's something that you can all do together and you can enjoy the emotional roller coaster together.

And it's a reminder that we are not so different from one another, despite what a lot of people try to tell us. And so I'm sitting here with Adam Chambers. He's the MP for Simcoe North. And, Adam, you are putting forth something in parliament to honor, to promote national pride. to support domestic bakers, promote national pride by what honoring the butter tart? Absolutely.

I mean, we honor already in this country. We honor National Putin Day and Animo Bar Day. And I think with all that's going on in the world, we need a little bit of national unity around the butter tart. And so, you know, I can't take credit for it. It's not my idea. I was reached out by a gentleman John Meisner, who, a former graduate of, Georgian College. And he said, listen, the butter tart was invented.

The first recipe was in the Royal Victoria Cookbook in Barry in almost 1900, year 1900. The woman who submitted it, his name Mary McLeod, and he wants to honor her on April 19th, that was the day of her passing, as a national butter tart day. I thought, you know what, if you get a petition, we'll get it going. And I love it. And, yeah, I said, we're kind of joking about it, but these things matter. These things matter and acknowledging these things that have a unifying aspect to them are important to social cohesion, to a national identity.

I will give you a couple of hot takes. Actually, I'll give you three hot takes. You're ready? Nanaimo bars are too sweet. I like them. I'll eat them, but they are too sweet. I find it very funny. As much as I love my Quebec roots, I find it very precious how Quebecers are so protective and they think that they're the only people who can make a good putteen.

when in fact it's made of French fries, a very simple gravy, and cheese curds that you can buy as an impulse buy at gas stations. Okay. And I'll say, I like, I don't require, but I do like raisins in my butter tarts. Wow, that is, their last one is a very bold, bold choice. I couldn't possibly comment as a politician. You're absolutely alienated, at least half the people. As a radio host, I'm exhibiting a bravely. that politicians are incapable of.

I'm putting myself out on a ledge. I mean, I just disparaged like this. The best putteen in the world does come from Quebec. I concede that. But good putteen can come from anywhere. I like all the butter tarts, Ben. Yes. Thoughts on sugar pie.

Wow. You know, I'm not actually much of a sweet tooth, but I will say, because Midland has the best butter tart festival going, every year, there's 50, 60,000 people. This year, there's 300,000 butter tarts are going to expect it to be brought. When is this? When is it? Absolutely. It's June 13th, Saturday, June 13th in Midland. Do they need a judge?

If you're offering to judge, I think we might be able to make that happen. Have you ever been a judge at this thing? I have been a judge. It is a commitment because you eat a lot of buttercharts, but they're fantastic. I would like to be a judge. I think it'd be, I think I, should we cover it for the show, Intrepid Producer? Mike Drillet. Yeah. Should we, should we cover it?

Should we cover the butter tart? I offered myself up as a judge for the butter tart festival. I offered myself up as inside person. Body man. No, no, body man. I got to try them out before because you never know. Well, I think we can make that happen. You know, it's sponsored by Chapman's.

It's been a great way to bring people together, bring people to the town of Midland. it's a fantastic experience. It's been going on for a number of years. And as I say, there's thousands of people that show up to this thing. And they will run out, you know, 300,000 butter tarts. They will run out well before the end of the day. In our last few minutes, Adam, I'd love to get your take on, you know, the, I think, the home run after home run.

And I know that might be overstating it. But really, the strategy that Pierre, Pollyette, has been putting forth over the past few days, communication strategy, presenting himself as a statesman in waiting, presenting a vision, a slightly alternate vision to Mark Carney's vision that he promoted at Davos, and now being in the UK for his first ever international trip as a leader of the opposition. I think it's a great beginning, but it's probably going to require a lot of consistency over the next few months

to make any inroads in those traditionally liberal, voting blocks like Atlantic Canada, the boomers, and the women. Well, I've been encouraged by what I've seen from Pierre, even shortly after the election and up until today. But I think what you're seeing with these couple speeches, they are, the tone is right, but they're also packed with some ideas, you know, talking about a strategic minerals reserve,

but only countries that have no tariffs with Canada will be able to access that reserve. I think that's a fantastic idea, making sure that IP that is taxpayer funded and developed in Canada will remain in Canada. You know, if a company wants to leave Canada with the IP that was developed here with taxpayer money, well, let's make them pay it back. Yeah. I think there's just some fantastic ideas there. As you mentioned, you know, I think the tone is correct.

I think it meets the moment and a willingness to collaborate with the government on areas where there's shared interest. And we're not going to let them, we're not giving them a blank check. We're not going to let them run away with it. and we're going to hold them accountable, as we should, but there are certain areas that we think we are able to work with them on, including on international trade, which is the file that I follow very closely. You know,

we've been collaborating with them and bringing their trade bills forward before the committee. Take me behind the, oh, what's this? Pierre Pellier proposed his new Anglophone alliance that excludes Trump's America. That's true. It's at Canada, Australia, New Zealand, UK, Kanzuk. He wants to deepen ties with those three other. nations. And he proposed sort of harmonizing our regulatory bodies so that, what did he say? He said a car part that works in London, Ontario should be valid to work in London, England as well. And a

doctor who performs surgery in Sydney, Australia, should be able to perform that same surgery in Sydney, Nova Scotia. I mean, these are common sense ideas. Absolutely. You know, credential recognition is huge, especially for the health care sector. You know, nurses and doctors, of course. But let's also talk about, you know, competition. Canadians pay some of the highest prices for, you know, financial services or telecoms or even airlines. I mean, why don't we look to liberalize and compete with our Commonwealth neighbors in those sectors? And, you know, we don't have to let the big American companies come in and swamp Canadian companies. Why don't we just open up competition to our Commonwealth brothers? Take me behind the curtain a little bit because

Pierre is the leader of the party, but it requires the entire party to row in the same direction. So as he unveils this new perspective on, I think, how he wants to reintroduce himself to people, was there any talk in caucus meetings

about, hey, this is how we're going to approach our role in the House of Commons. This is the tone we're going to strike. This is how we're going to deal with our colleagues that we might not agree with. Is there ever in talk like that? Just educate me on on sort of the culture of a party.

Sure. You know, we meet every week as a caucus. On every Wednesday morning, every party meets as a caucus. But we meet. And we have very open and very frank discussions as a caucus, you know, what we think is working, what we think can improve. We here have a chance to hear from the leadership team, including Pierre, about his strategy and how he thinks about framing as we move forward and the big announcements that

he wants to make. And he asks us for feedback and input. it. And so that process allows the leader and Pierre to take all of that feedback, to digest it. He gets feedback from us. We get feedback from him on, you know, here's where we think that we should be really holding the government accountable. And on these things, you know, how can we, we can work with them. So I think it's just, you know, that weekly meeting is an opportunity for us to let Pierre know what we're hearing back home in the riding. And that's what everybody does when they come to that meeting on Wednesdays.

Adam Chambers, thank you so much for being here. And I'm going to, a reminder, I'm not joking. I will come be a judge at the Butter Tart Festival. Well, we're going to follow up on that, Ben. Yes, please. Hey, thanks so much for coming. And we're going to see if we can ban the raisins. No.

Hey, if someone wants to put raisins in, they have every right to do so. And I will not judge them. I will not besmirch their hard work. Sorry, I will. Hey, just a reminder. If you want more BMS, we put out a podcast every day. You can find even more content on X on Instagram and on YouTube. When you're in routine, rapbox keeps up.

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