The Ben Mulroney Show - One of the most renowned voices on Epstein/Political panel on latest polls

Episode Date: February 23, 2026

GUEST: Vicky Ward is a #1 New York Times bestselling author, podcaster, documentary host and producer, former CNN Senior Reporter Guest: Dimitri  Soudas, Former Director of Communications for Prime Minister Stephen Harper 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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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. If you ever work in radio or television, especially in Canada, then there are gremlins in the machines. And despite the best laid plans, you can be in the middle of a great conversation. And all of a sudden, your guest drops off due to the fault of no one. And I was in the middle of a great conversation last week with my next guest. We got cut way too short.

And so I endeavored to bring her back. And so please welcome back Vicki Ward, number one New York Times bestselling author, podcaster, documentary host, producer, former CNN senior reporter. and she was the host and co-producer of the docu-series Chasing Gieland. And she knows more about all of this stuff than I could ever dream of knowing. I'm so glad that Vicky found time in her busy schedule to join us again here on the Ben Mulroney show. Vicki, welcome back. Thank you, Ben.

Yeah, I sort of lost you last week and I didn't even know what to do because I was consumed. I had so many questions for you and I didn't know where to put them. So I'm so glad you came back. And, you know, we woke up this morning over the weekend, to learn that the investigation into former Prince Andrew are leading to the uncovering of his expenses as he was an envoy, a trade envoy for the UK government. And I suspect more of this is going to come out. But I really wanted to have you back so that we could, you know, we use this a lot of this expression with Donald Trump. You need to learn to separate the signal from the noise.

What's the fat and where's the meat? Like what actually matters in all of this? And so much of it is sensational and there are names attached to him that there really should, there's no need to pull at those threads and you should be looking at other places. So as you've seen this data dump and boy, is it significant, where do your eyes go? Where does your interest go? What parts of that are you following?

So I'm really trying to follow the money. And in that sense, what is unfolding in England with Andrew and now with Peter Mandelson, who's just been arrested. And for our listeners who don't know, can you give us the Coles Notes version of Peter Mendelsohn? Sure. So Peter Mandelson is a very well-known labor politics. he was with Tony Blair an architect of New Labour. You can hear from my voice. I grew up in England. I have three passports, actually, so I'm a proud American as well.

But Peter Madelson's nickname in England was the Prince of Darkness because he was somebody who had an extraordinary network of rich and powerful people. and he was deemed to be a very effective politician, very charismatic, and that was one reason he was appointed as the ambassador to Washington last year, a position from which he had to resign when his relationship with Epstein emerged to be much closer than he had told the British Prime Minister Kirstarmer, what we've learned in the recent document dump, of the Epstein files is that it was not only a really close friendship,

but that Mandelson, like Andrew, appears to have given Epstein private government-sensitive information when Mandelson was part of the Labor government back in 2008, 2009, he gave Epstein, information which Epstein could use to trade and tell others to trade to benefit himself financially. And that is what both of these men, they're very similar, the allegations against each of them. And I think, Ben, what you said earlier, you know, you have to look at each case separately, how to sort the wheat from the chaff, you know, because there is a drumbeat saying, well, why are the Brits the only people holding anyone to account around Epstein? Well, I think it's important to remember that both Andrew and Mandelson were in government positions.

Andrew was British trade envoy. And so, you know, that is handing him sensitive information really is illegal, if that turns out, to be the case. And is that different? Is that what we're worried about, is that what people are worried about with regard to the, to, Andrew, which is that, you know, as the trade envoy, he may have had advanced knowledge on perhaps a trade deal or an investigation into a business that would see its stock price change. And he could have possibly handed that information over to Jeffrey Epstein, which is essentially insider information. Is that, is that something that could be in the offing? 100%. I mean, you know, because as British trade envoy, he would go around the globe and have meetings with many countries, you know, financial ministers. And they would tell him plans about economic development as well as company information completely, supposedly under the cone of silence.

And so that is what the British police are looking at. the charges against him and Mandelson the same. It's misconduct, misconduct in public office. So, you know, we're going to see what the fallout is there. I also am very interested in the money trail in this country, in America, around Epstein, because I still do not understand why Les Wexner. I was just going to ask you about Les Wexner. Yeah.

If we're following any money, let's follow the billion. that Les Wexner, who was, I guess he was running Victoria's Secret, and would have handed over to Jeffrey Epstein. Yeah, and so, you know, I watched over the weekend, I watched his testimony to Congress last week, and it just left me with more questions than I had before. Why would a self-made billionaire, who's, you know, quite young in his life in his 50s, He'd already made a billion dollars.

Like his company, the limited, own Victoria's Secret, as you say. Hand over power of attorney of an complete control of his finances without oversight to Jeffrey Epstein, a guy who hadn't graduated college. It just makes no sense. And I wish somebody in Congress had really pushed him on that because it just doesn't add up. And I do know from my own reporting that people around Wexner, you know, were vehemently against Epstein coming in and taking over. So why did he ignore them? It just makes no sense. And we also see in the files there's documentation from the FBI who say that they interviewed Wexner a couple of weeks before Epstein actually died, something that he told Congress, he could. couldn't remember. But in the FBI documentation, the FBI wrote down that it seems that Epstein stole hundreds of

millions of dollars from Les Wexner, which he only discovered in, you know, sort of 2008 and broke off ties. And, you know, again, it's just, it's just, you know, why? Yeah. Why? How? How? How? Exactly. But also the, the when must matter as well, because, you know, Jeffrey Epstein may have had a bad reputation prior to 2008, but he wasn't convicted of anything until 2008. And it feels to me like that is, that should be the red line. You know, if you, if you had a friendship with this guy or, or some sort of business dealings with them prior to 2008. Okay. He was recognizing, I mean, we all know people that are bad people, but, you know, to be

convicted of sex trafficking or whatever his conviction was, if you maintain that relationship after 2008, then I believe the level of scrutiny needs to be brought much higher. Right. I think that's absolutely right. And in fairness to Les Wexner, they had no ties after that. There's absolutely not. I think the big point about the Wexner money is that until Jeffrey Epstein got so vastly rich, so incredibly quickly. Yeah.

And until he got the mansion in New York, which had been Wexner's, until he got the plane, until he bought the island, all of it. There's no record of Epstein committing any sexual crimes. Yeah. And so the two go hand in hand. But I do agree. Yeah, Vicki, we're going to leave it there for now. We're going to take a quick break. And when we come back, you're going to answer more of my questions here on the Ben Mulerunee show.

Don't go anywhere. The Hyundai-Alanta hybrid inspires a special type of love. The type that makes you slow down and enjoy the ride. With best-in-class fuel efficiency and a best-in-class new car warranty, it's made for the long run, wherever the road takes you next. because some relationships are built to go the distance. It's that Hyundai Alontera type of love. Welcome back to the Ben Mulroney show, and I'm so glad to have my guest, Vicki Ward, sticking around.

We're talking about the Epstein files, and as an expert in Gieland Maxwell, and by extension, Jeffrey Epstein, she's got some answers to some questions because it seems like as observers from the outside, we're seeing a whole lot of information, and at least on this side of the pond, Vicky, not a whole lot of movement yet.

Do you think that's going to change? I think it could change, Ben, because, you know, I think number one, the files are so voluminous. It's just not possible, even for the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg. You've got an army of people going through them

to have seen everything. And then, you know, you also then, if you find little breadcrumbs, you sort of have to piece them together until they become a trail, if you will. I mean, I think that it's probably not quite accurate to say there's been no movement in the sense that you have had various people

in public companies. Or, for example, the General Council of Goldman Sachs has had to step down, the chairman of Paul Weiss, one of the biggest law firms in the US. also had to step down because of what's in the files. I think I've just come across my desk just now. In fact, Peter Attia, the longevity expert, has just resigned from CBS News.

Right. So there has been some movement. Is there more to come? I would have to think so. I mean, there was a really good piece in Bloomberg last week laying out. Leon Black's finances. Now, unlike Les Wexner, Leon Black is another billionaire who seems to have financed Jeffrey Epstein after 2008. He has said that he paid him for quote-unquote tax advice. Well, it's going to be very interesting to see what the IRS makes of Leon Black's finances

as laid out in the Epstein files, because I certainly had some questions. about it and around Epstein's correspondence around it. So I think there is more to come. But we also have to be really careful because the simple act of being, having one's name included in these files is not necessarily an indication of any wrongdoing at all. And it could be, but it's not necessarily. And, you know, we're in North America, depending on your political leaning,

people are weaponizing your name in the Epstein files for political purposes. I mean, I can't go a day without hearing somebody refer to the president of the United States as a pedophile. And the same goes for our prime minister, Mark Carney, both of whom knew, I either knew him. I mean, I know there's a famous picture of Mark Carney in close proximity to Gieland Maxwell, but that doesn't prove anything. And obviously, the president had at one point a, a social relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. I don't know enough about the files to say that it goes any further than that.

But it's quite dangerous reputationalally for people when their names are so casually, their reputations are so casually weaponized. I think that's right, Ben. And you'll probably, you'll have noticed that actually President Trump has said that he is very sad that President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton are being called to testify before Congress. I think he thinks that that's unfair and he has hated the politicization of these files. I think the question around Donald Trump, to my mind, is really, I find his attitude towards the Epstein files baffling because only because actually he comes out as the good guy in the files.

Yeah, that's the one story I know. Yeah. He comes out as the guy who spoke to the Palm Beach police chief in 2005 when they were looking in Depaksy and saying, yeah, go get him. And, you know, Gelen Maxwell is quote unquote evil. And so I think, you know, Trump's problem is that his story has been a, little bit inconsistent because more recently he said he'd no idea what Epstein was up to. But broadly speaking, he's on the right side of history on this. And so I don't know why he's been so reluctant to sort of lean into the Epstein files as it were. And Vicki, that was a big problem. He got elected

on the promise of opening them all up. And then once he got reelected, he did an about face and said, yeah, we looked into him, there's nothing there. And obviously, I'm not using his exact words, but that's not a good look. I mean, if you have access to those files and you do nothing with them, when you promise you'd hand them over, the promise wasn't, I'm going to look at them, and if there's nothing there, we're not going to release them. That's not what he said. And so in and of itself, he created a problem for himself because that just doesn't look good.

It begs certain questions. And even though, as you just said, and I'm glad to have heard, the only story I ever heard from him, was that he banned Epstein from his club when he heard a story from one of the masseuses from Mara Lago that went over to Epstein's house. Right. No, it is bewildering to me. And I, you know, I happen to speak to a couple of Trump donors, big donors, the day after Trump's Attorney General, Pam Bondi, testified to call. Congress and clearly sort of at his instruction went on the offense and refused to even turn round and look at the Epstein victims sitting behind her. It would have cost to nothing politically to have said, you know, I hear you and, you know, we're doing this to make sure nothing like

this ever happens again. I mean, my own take on it, Ben, and I do know President Trump a little bit, is that, you know, he's a master at controlling the narrative. And the problem with the Epstein story is it's become the runaway train. Yeah. That it's the one narrative he cannot control no matter what he does. And I think that's deeply frustrating for him. Well, I was going to ask, I was going to ask, part of me thinks that this will not fully get resolved in the, in the hearts and minds of people who are following it,

until all the documents are released unredacted. So long as there is redaction, people will assume the worst. People will assume a cover-up. People will assume that very powerful people are being protected against accountability. And until a day comes where the redactions are removed, that suspicion will remain. Yeah, I think you're right. I mean, I think, you know, it's possible that this story will cool down a little bit when President Trump leaves office.

But even then, you're still, you know, Gelen Maxwell is, for the moment, still sitting in prison. But one day, one imagines she might tell her story. There are so many loose threads here that I think this is just going to go and go and go until people feel they've got satisfied. answer to your point. So we were talking before the break about a couple of billionaires who've got some some things to answer for. And is there anybody else that you're keeping an eye on, people who are close to a line where they may feel some sort of the justice system is coming for them? Or are we still in the fact-finding part of the data dump? I think we're still in the fact-finding, the fact-finding bit.

I mean, you know, and I think you're right. The onus on journalists, we have to be so careful not to accuse people just because their name is in the files. And, you know, I mean, it's curious. So, for example, I'm thinking of Steve Bannon. For example, there, you know, there is a lot of email traffic between him and Jeffrey Epstein. There are some videos where Bannon seems to be really unctuous to Epstein,

helping him rebrand his image. Now, Bannon has said that he was making a documentary and that this documentary will be coming out in the next few months and that he's allowed to get close to his source. It's part of what, you know, journalists do. But I think Bannon is... not in government. He's a very influential person,

but I think people will want to see this documentary. And we'll want sort of proof. This is what this is all leading up to. Exactly. Vicki Ward, I want to thank you so much for joining me. Really, really happy to have had you back. And I hope you have a great week ahead. Thanks, then.

Yes, indeed. And welcome back to the Ben Mulroney show. It's time for this week in politics. and we're doing something a little different this week. It's just me one-on-one with one of our favorite guests, Dmitri Soutis, former director of communication for Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Dimitri, welcome. Do you be here, Ben?

Okay, so let's compare then and now. And after Canada's loss yesterday to America in the men's final of the Olympics, well, we'll remember a couple of days ago, a few days ago, Justin Trudeau wrote, tweeted, you can't take our country and you can't take our game to which the White House tweeted a picture of an American eagle just destroying Canada goose. And I guess that's the back and forth today. But in 2010, when Canada won, Robert Gibbs had lost his bet with you,

and he was the press secretary. He had to wear Canadian jersey during one of the press briefings. Let's listen to this. I am making good on my aspect of, my wager with Dimitri, my Canadian counterpart, who is somewhere several hundred miles north laughing. We've instructed the embassy, our embassy, and our ambassador, to make arrangements to deliver one case of Molson Canadian

and one case of Yingling Lager from Potsville, Pennsylvania, America's oldest brewery, to the Prime Minister's office today. I'm sure Dimitri will take most of that home and consume it. So just a correction. I misread it. The Justin Trudeau tweet was from just about a year ago, but it was brought back by the White House. So I guess that's the difference is that we back then, we communicated with our counterparts. And these days, it's all trolling each other on social media.

I think it's more than communicated, Ben. I think the longstanding tradition between Canada and the United States, United States, one of where, despite our disagreement sometimes, we were best of friends, we were most reliable neighbors, and we were staunchest allies. I assure you, Prime Minister Harper at the time did not tweet Canada goose chasing away an American eagle. But it really speaks volumes that once upon a time, a Canadian prime minister and an American president could stand on stage and sing when Irish eyes are smiling that a Canadian prime minister can go for a walk in the middle of a North American leader summit in Mexico.

Stephen Harper, obviously, with George W. Bush, obviously, I was referring to the right Honorable Brian Maroney and Ronald Reagan. Jean-Cretien with Bill Clinton can jump over a fence trying to evade and escape Secret Service and R.C.MP, PMPD, in between a round of golf. that's what the relationship was. But here's something I'm noticing. If you look at this latest poll by liaison strategies, it says Carney's liberal surged to a 12-point lead over the conservatives.

If you look at the poll from last week that says 55% of Canadians view Donald Trump as the greatest threat to Canadian national security, even though we know of foreign interference by Russia and China in our election. even though we know that the CCP has embedded itself completely into the island of Prince Edward Island, to the point that they effectively have a forward operating base on Canadian soil. Despite that stuff, there's this reflexive fear of Donald Trump. And so he's not necessarily, you look at all that stuff and one conclusion that one could gatherers. He's not, he's not the leader of the United States.

he is the fuel that is driving liberal poll numbers ever higher. And when you look at it that way, the government doesn't necessarily want to have the best relations with that government. Because why would they? If we normalize relations with them, if all of a sudden we were friends again, then they kind of have to run on their successes of which there are not that many.

Fair. But as you know, I often like to quote Brian Mulroney. and he also used to say Mother Teresa is not in the ballot. What does that mean? It means that Canadians seem to be shifting to the political leader that is sending a very clear message that I will stand up to Donald Trump. I will protect Canada against Donald Trump. And all political leaders, NDP, conservative, liberal, all had the opportunity to do that

in January of 2025. And the ones who seized that opportunity, because it is, about seizing opportunities. It's about being able, you know, in politics, it's about, again, it's all metaphors today. Wayne Gretzky used to say you got to go where the puck is going to be, not where it's at. It's the ability to say this is where this issue is headed. It's either serious or not, and we will seize this opportunity. At the same time, look at what's happened in the last 10 days. He threatened 100% Paris on Canada because he's, had a hissy fit. He then threatened to no longer allow Canadian planes to be sold to the United

States. He then threatened the shutdown a bridge because some guy went, gave a donation of a million dollars to a Republican super PAC and got a meeting with Lutnik and got Trump to put out a social. He now, he loses the Supreme Court. He says 10%, now it's 15%. It's this erratic behavior that ultimately voters are saying we would like for somebody to get us out of this matter is because the reality is and you're right. Mark Carney has yet to deliver anything concrete, but there are cognitive issues and there are emotive issues and this is an emotive issue where all people want is to be reassured that everything is going to be okay. At the same time, Canada has found itself in a position of weakness because of policies, both on the economy, on crime, on immigration,

that have resulted in a cost of living crisis, that have resulted into a housing crisis, all brought to you by obviously 10 years of a liberal government. And I would, listen, I would be more likely to fall in line with what you just described if what I was seeing out of Ottawa was more urgency in doing an about face on some of the, some of the mistakes made under Justin Trudeau. I'm not seeing that. I'm not seeing that. what I am seeing is a whole lot of jingoistic anti-Americanism.

And so I'd like to see more of what you're talking about for that to be validated. What I'm seeing is, you know, some rearranging in the deck chairs and some, you know, admissions that things weren't working very well. But I'm seeing some announcements. I'm not really seeing any meat on the bone. And I'm not seeing a whole lot of stuff translating into, you know, this government, doing things that is within its own power to make this country stronger. Dmitri, are you there?

Oh, shoot. I could have just kept talking. Well, let's try to get him back. But I completely appreciate Dmitri's perspective. And he knows far more about the inner workings of these things than I. But look, I think when you have, when you got a tiger by the tail, oh, he's back. Demitia, I don't know if you heard what I was saying, but I just, I think what I'm, I, I, I differentiate between anti-Americanism and pro-Canadianism. And I'm seeing, and for me, the difference is anti-Americanism is this reflexive America bad thing.

But if you're pro-Canadian, then you are doing all the things in your power to make this country stand on its own. And I don't, I have not seen this government doing everything it can to make this country stand. on its own. It's very selective in the things that it does. It is, and one of the big challenges Prime Minister Carney has is he still has a caucus that is a left-leaning caucus. I mean, one thing that surprised me is look at Scarborough, for example. They went and they recruited an NDP, a provincial NDP member of the Legislative Assembly. So Mark Carney is trying to do, and he's copied many of Mr. Pueleevs in the conservative policies, but is he going to run into the same issue of trying to be a pale

limitation of true conservatism? Will he be able to get his caucus to follow? And then will he be able to deliver on some of the big stuff? And I would say, and I always go back to Alberta, where he seems to be experienced some kind of a surge in the polls. Is he going to be able to deliver a pipeline, a pipeline to the BC coast? and is he going to be able to deliver LNG terminals and LNG pipelines? So he's now almost in a couple of months.

It's going to be a full 12 months since he was elected. Fair to say, results remain absent. All right. On that note, we're going to take a break. We've got much more to talk about when we come back from the break. It's this week in politics featuring exclusively, Dmitri Soutis. Don't go anywhere. Welcome back to Dmitri Soutis as we go one-on-one for this week in politics.

Demetri, the conservatives are calling for a probe, and they're going to put a motion before the House aimed at reviewing how health benefits are provided to asylum seekers and also restricting who has access to those services. And I don't see a problem with this, although I did see when Pierre Polia put his video out, there were more, there were a lot of people out there who were more than happy to ascribe the motivation of racist. to him. How do you see this? Well, a couple of points. So the motion is actually politically strategic and morally charged. But the issue here is so obvious. The costs have gone from $211 million in 2020, 2021 to almost $1 billion, $900 million in 2024, 2025, with a projection, this is the parliamentary budget officer, with a projection that it will be at 1.5 billion by 2028, 2029. This is not a marginal growth ban. So the issue here is pretty straightforward. We've gone from roughly 200,000 to 624,000 people. Right now, there are 300,000 pending claims at the Immigration

and Refugee Board. And as you know, the health program is carrying the weight of not only this systemic backlog of the federal government's inability to process asylum seeker claims expeditiously and fast. But the healthcare system is failing Canadians. Whether it's family doctor, whether it's specialists, you have millions of Canadians that don't have access to a family doctor, and you have a million of Canadians that have to wait six, 12, 18 months to see a specialist. Yeah. Well, this one of the, listen, last week I made what I thought was a pretty benign point when somebody was celebrating how everything was free on CBC Gem to enjoy the Olympics and I simply pointed out it ain't free. This was just too much for some people. Of course.

You know, Ben doesn't like the people. But quite literally, we have a problem with, there's a chunk of people out there who don't get that ultimately there's a cost to everything. And if we ignore one cost, we're going to ignore another and another. And next thing, you know, we have the budgets that our government puts forth. And my dad, when he when he left, office. I asked him, was there anything you didn't do that you always wanted to do? He said, well, I would have loved to have sent a letter to every Canadian at the end of the year to let them know how much they had cost the health care system. As a reminder that it's not free. Ultimately, there's a cost, and there's a cost that's borne by all of us, and that's the

bargain we've struck, but going to the, well, going to the doctor because you have, you're lonely or going to the doctor because you have a headache when you could have just easily taking an Advil, it ain't free. And these are issues that have to be addressed because it's the drip, drip, drip of, well, that's free, that's free, that's free. And people poo-pooing the cost and not acknowledging the $1.5 billion has to come from somewhere. It's important that we meet these moments and remind people that it's money that somebody has to pay. And as of right now, it's our grandparents, our grandkids are going to be paying this sort of thing.

Right. And we're at a point right now if you actually look at the debt. data, because of exploding deficits, liberals chose to do that, because of the doubling of our national debt, we are now spending more to service the debt, which means interest-only payments, than what the federal government transfers to provinces on health care. And if you look at the conservative proposal, it really has three pillars, which I find very fair. A, review benefits to find savings, restrict rejected claimants under appeal to emergency life savings. care only. And finally, there should be some transparency, annual reporting. And I'll say this, when people come to Canada, and I'll give you an example, this happens in Quebec. It happens in

different parts of the country, big scandals in Ontario. They arrive here with a student visa from a safe third country, be it the states, be it the European Union. And a few months after being here or upon arrival, immediately say, I am an asylum seeker. And I will say this, if you're coming from a safe third country, you should not be asking for, to be an asylum seeker, i.e. a refugee. Number two, if you're coming here under the premise that you're a tourist, if you're coming here under the premise that you're a student or a temporary worker, you can't file as soon as you've arrived a claim to be an asylum seeker. And the government of Canada needs to get its act together and not take two, three, four years to say asylum seeker, you're granted refugee status

or you're not, which means you have to leave. Yeah. Yeah. forcing the issue on getting this government to take this sort of thing seriously, I think is a smart move. I think it will benefit us all in the long run, not the least of which is it will eventually help restore confidence in our immigration system that so many Canadians now feel is not working to the benefit of this country. It's not. It's not just about a feeling. It's not working. No, it's not. No, of course. Let's call it what it is. No, you're right.

Once upon a time, people used to come here, work hard, pay their taxes, play by the rules. and say, I'm in Canada now. Yeah. Listen, I want to spend just a minute on what we witness in Puerto Vallarta. It does seem like things are calming down from what I've heard from the people I've talked to. It seems like this was a skirmish that was initiated by the cartel to remind the authorities that they, even though that the head of that cartel was killed, they still exist. And it doesn't look like anybody who was there as a visitor was a target.

So it looks like stuff is supposed to get back to normal yesterday, tomorrow. However, Heather McPherson, a member of the NDP, who was one of the candidates to lead that party, posted many Canadians, especially members of the 2S-LGBQIA-plus community are in Puerto Vallata where violence has quickly escalated. A shelter-in-place order is in effect. Please stay vigilant. Now, I watched the ratio of this on social media. This was quite a thing to write. I don't dismiss that she cares about the people who are down there. But to add an additional level of victimhood on the, on the LGBTQ community who might be down there that does not exist speaks to the patronizing view that so many on the left have of minority groups in this country.

And I bet you either she or whoever wrote this tweet for it didn't even think they just wrote. They just wrote. We always have always have to make sure that we add somebody else in this. who may be marvell. This has nothing to do with anti-gay violence. And for her to put this in there, speaks volumes as to her worldview. I have truly, I have no clue what sexuality or gender identity

have to do with what's happening in Mexico. What about little kids? Yeah. What about senior citizens? Yeah. I will leave you with this. This is why the NDP is polling at 9%. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

And we've got about a minute left. So, you know, I think you and I were chatting at one point. I mean, that debate that we saw near the end of last week, I don't know that this is a party that is going to ascend like a Phoenix from the ashes. I think that they're very comfortable being a little boutique party. They've given up on Quebec, that none of them speak French. Every single one of them wants to keep all of our natural resources in the ground. So the Saskatchewans out, Alberta's out.

I mean, you're given up on three huge provinces before the writ is even. dropped. Two things on that. The last standing, Quebec, federal NDPNP will be leaving the federal NDP caucus, will be running provincially. And I will bet you a nickel that either the bloc or the liberals will win that seat, which basically means the orange wave is done. And there are no seats left.

And the other point, I will not be surprised to see provincial NDP parties. Because right now the NDP has a rule where if you join the a provincial. NDP party, you automatically become a member of the federal NDP. I would not be surprised to see provincial NDP parties like the Manitoba NDPs who are reasonable, good government, Wab Knoo. I would not be surprised for them to start changing the rules and say, we want nothing to do with these folks. Thank you very much, my friend. You have a great week. Al-a-prochan.

And just a reminder, if you want more BMS, we put out a podcast every day. You can find even more content on all social media and YouTube. Thursdays on Global. I'm Madeline Matlock She's the lawyer with the legendary name Don't underestimate Miss Matlock This woman's a shark You know it, baby

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