The Ben Mulroney Show - Should Politicians be allowed to give themselves a 35% Raise

Episode Date: May 30, 2025

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Welcome to the Ben Mulroney Show. Thank you so much for joining us on this Friday. What are we, May 30th? Thank you very much. We made it to the end of this week. What a week it has been. There's some good news to get into this morning. There's some bad news.

The most horrific news, obviously, is what we're gonna start with because it has torn a community apart. In Pickering, the police have arrested a 13-year-old boy after he walked up to a innocent old lady, had a brief interaction with her, and then stabbed her, and she is now dead. And I'm not trying to put too fine a point on it.

I'm not trying to be callous, but that's what happened. And now we're having these conversations that we now have in 2025. I heard the mayor of that city who has to deal with sort of the collective trauma that reverberates after an event like this. And he's talking about how this has impacted the young boy's life and talking about his mental health. I don't have any time for that. I don't have.

Let the lawyer of this young man make the case that he has there are mitigating circumstances. My entire heart goes out to this woman who lost her life, to her family, and to her community. I don't have a single drop of empathy at this point for the young boy. That'll come out in the trial. We can figure that out later. This kid is a murderer, and what he did was gruesome, despicable, it was monstrous, and I don't have a single moment or a tear to shed for him. What he did to that woman and the fear that his actions exploded in that community,

that's where my empathy lies. I don't care that he's 13. I don't care that he has his whole life ahead of him. He woke up that morning and took some steps and decisions that led to an innocent person dying and led to an entire community being traumatized. I'm done living in a world where I lead with my heart for anybody but the victim. I'm tired of this. I'm tired of this. And there is a strain in a society where we know that because he's 13, he's going to be treated with kid gloves. And because of that, there are criminal elements that leverage that.

Drug dealers will take advantage of the fact that they'll have drug runners as kids because they know that by the end of the day, if they get caught, they'll be back at home with mom and dad. So yeah, I don't, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm not sorry. This is where we are now as a society. So there you go. I'm sorry that this happened to the people of Pickering. I'm desperately sorry that this, this, this, this woman lost her life, extinguished by somebody who doesn't deserve a tear. There may come a time in the trial where we learn that they're extenuating circumstances. We're not there yet. So until then, everything in me feels for the victims. Doug Ford yesterday did something that required, I think, courage, political courage.

And you know, you may disagree with me, but he did something that should have been done a long, long time ago by any number of his predecessors. He gave himself and his colleagues at Queens Park, politicians, our sitting politicians that represent our interests and try to enact a vision to make Ontario the best version of itself. He gave everybody a raise, big raise. Some will say too big. I don't. The people at Queens Park haven't had a raise since 2009. They haven't had a cost of living increase since 2009. Their pensions were in a sorry state. And so everybody got a raise and everyone at Queens Park is happy with this.

I heard members of the NDP, I saw liberals happy with this. Why? Because it costs something to run a province like Ontario. We are, I think the economy is, I mean, it's over a trillion dollar economy. You got to have adults in the room. You got to have the best people running for these jobs. And if the job itself doesn't allow you to pay your mortgage, then the best people are going to

stay home. And, or they're only going to, they're only going to be there for a short period of time because they can't afford to represent the people of Ontario. And look, not for nothing, but the cost of the pension plan is expected to be about $6.8 million in 2026, 2027. It's not even a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of running a government and the size of our economy.

So I'm here for this. And can you imagine being a member of the government or a member of the opposition and city councilors in your city are making more money than you? Or can you imagine, in fact, you haven't gotten a raise in 10, 15 years and every single day, public sector unions are coming to you asking for raises and you got to legislate on that.

And you're like, when is it going to be my time? Like it costs what it costs. We're either serious about public service or we're not. This shows a commitment to try to attract the best people. The best people are probably taking a pay cut and they're gonna suffer the slings and arrows of the scrutiny involved with being a public servant. There's gotta be something in it for them.

And at the very least, paying your mortgage, staying in your house, being able to put food on the table for your kids, it's gotta matter. And please don't come at me and compare, oh, what the $200,000 is a lot of money. No, it's not. No, it's not.

It's not what it was back in 2009. And if you are somebody who's leaving the public sector, you might have four kids. you might have a mortgage. Like it's not, it doesn't get you where it used to. So yeah, I said what I said and, and it is what it is. And, and I got a producer over here who's scoffing at me, but like, let's be honest, like the cost of living increase, we talk about the cost of living crisis. And these MPPs haven't had a cost of living increase, let alone a raise. So yeah, I'm happy this happened. I'm glad it's received a unanimous consent, which means everybody from all walks of political life thought this was a good idea. And if there is a political cost to bear,

the premier will bear it. And that is to me, like, look, he made a decision. If this hurts him, it's gonna hurt him, but he's prepared to do it because he wants the entire political system to be populated by people who see politics as a worthy and noble sacrifice. But it's gotta, the sacrifice can't be all, to be populated by people who see politics as a worthy and noble sacrifice.

But it's gotta, the sacrifice can't be all, it can't just be, look, you're gonna sacrifice your privacy. You're gonna sacrifice in some cases, a feeling of safety. You're gonna sacrifice a lot of things. You shouldn't have to sacrifice staying in your home. Like to me, this makes sense. So kudos to the premier. I'm trying to get an earful from George

when we go on, go to the break, but we got a lot to get to. $200,000 is a lot of money. No, it's not. I said what I said. Welcome back to the Ben Mulroney Show. I'm not apologizing for that. The reality of life is that the money does not go as far as it used to.

And if you are a family of four, $200,000 in the city of Toronto doesn't get you very far anymore. Huh? Yeah. We want to do it now? Yes. Okay. So here we go.

We're going to change. We're going to pivot a little bit here because I think, I think we're onto something here. I think we've got a tiger by the tail. Give us a call. 416-870-6400 or 1-888-225. We're warring factions here in the studio between me and my producer George. He is gobsmacked at this at this pay increase by the that the premier gave to every MPP. I think it is absolutely required in order to bring the smartest and best people out of

the private sector and into public service. And I want to hear from you 4168706400 or 11888-225-TALK. Who's right? Me or George? And look, I think the evidence is, is, is on my side. The, they haven't had a pay increase since 2009. They haven't had a cost of living increase and their pension is hollowed out. So where's the inducement? Where's the enticement to leave whatever job you have to serve the people? Like I said, it's already a thankless job.

You're gonna be attacked no matter what you do. The public scrutiny makes it so that if you're going to be attacked no matter what you do. The public scrutiny makes makes it so that if you're a certain type of person, the stress of the job is going to get to you. So at the very least, could we at least give them something that allows them to, I don't know, stay in the home that they've built equity in? Joe, welcome to the show. Am I wrong or right? And I'm sorry to say that as soon as George answered the phone, I said I agree with George. Yeah, you agree with George. Listen, I'm sure I'm listening. Everybody is

everybody is gonna believe they're right on this. Tell me why you agree with George. Okay, well, I posted on Dougie's LinkedIn account yesterday. And basically, I said that I don't know who did your performance review because you know the cross town Eglinton line is still you know 13 years from its initial start not completed health care in Ontario is horrible wait times have gotten worse under Dougie yeah education has gotten worse etc etc I'm. I'm not judged based on my performance failing. This government has failed all around. Unemployment in the provinces at 8%.

Yeah, and we just had an election and every party put their best foot forward and he came out with a majority. Like that's the performance review. It's called an election. And if you don't like them, you can turf them. Like that's the, listen, Joe, I concede, I see where you're going and I take your point, but this is the system we have

and it needs to be populated by people. And we need, and elections are prosecuted with candidates. And if we don't attract the best people, then we're gonna get the government we deserve. Thank you very much for the call. And oh, we got Kevin Vong. Kevin, welcome to the show. Hey, Ben.

Okay, it's me versus George. Who's right here? Please, I gotta get a win here, bud. I gotta stand with you you Ben. Thank you We get what we pay for yeah and talent requires Well compensation, you know, listen, I made more before and after my time as a member of Parliament Yeah, and I I decided to serve because I wanted to give back to the country that gave my family everything.

But if it was today with a young daughter at home, diapers are expensive. Yeah. Baby food's expensive and my wife wants a home reno. I'm sorry. I would probably have a much harder time deciding to serve today than I would four years ago. Yeah. Things cost what they cost. And like we have this, there's a really petty, cheap strain inside most Canadians

that wanna nickel and dime their way through government. And we see it with that. One of the reasons 24 Sussex has fallen to pieces is because we're too damn cheap to acknowledge that the prime minister deserves a residence where he can host world leaders. That's right. We're Pennywise pound foolish.

Yeah, yeah. Well, Kevin, thank you very much. And if I haven't said it today, thank you for everything that you've done in public service and in standing up for the rights of Torontonians. You're a voice that we need in this city. Thank you very much, my friend. Thanks, buddy. All right, let's bring Mike onto the show. So far, it's one for me, one for George.

Mike, who? How's it going? It's going well. Thank you. I'm actually a constituent of Kevin Vong. So, hey, Kevin, how's it going? You did a great job as as our local representative. as our local representative. You're here. And I think that politicians should be paid the average wage of their constituents. And if they wanna raise, they should raise the average pay of the people that they're representing.

Okay, well, let's explore that for a second. So you'd have certain people in Queens Park making more than others because the average constituents, that pay changes from constituency to constituency. Absolutely. Okay. And, okay, and I mean, it's an idea.

It's an idea. I don't see the reasoning behind it. The job is different than the average constituent. Average constituent. I mean, the requirements of the reasoning behind it. The job is different than the average constituent. I mean, the requirements of the job are different. Sure, you're right. Only because some people who are into politics have made them that way. Politicians never used to get paid.

You used to be a doctor and a lawyer and then represent your people in your spare time because you like to do it. That's not true. That's not, that's factually incorrect. But Mike, I thank you very much for contributing to the conversation. Call any time. Hey, Phil, welcome to the show.

Team George or team Ben? I guess team George. Ah, OK, tell me why. The money, they get lots of perks or how the allowances have gone up steady. They should have done this before the election. And last, I've been listening to this argument for 50 years. Some examples of where all the pay raises they've given themselves have been beneficial. They haven't had a pay raise since 2009. They haven't had

a cost of living increase since 2009. Give me an example of where this decade of raising their wages has been as better people. But hold on. I want to make sure we're having the same conversation, Phil. Explain to me where you think they've been giving themselves raises. They haven't. We have lots of members of parliament. They've been arguing this since, at least in my case, the seventies, and they've often given themselves. But they're the only people who can give themselves raises. That's how it works. Can I finish once, please?

Sure. Please go ahead. They've given themselves massive pensions in different things. I know my carers took this one away, but I'd like an example over the last five decades where they've always said, we need big pay raises. And they have in the past, this case I know they haven't. Where has that resulted? Do we have better politicians now? In any case, are the federal politicians better? Well, again, but the final choice rests with you, Phil.

Like they present themselves as candidates and then we as a people decide who we want. Like- You said they need to have higher pay to attract good people. Yes, as candidates that to have been true. Okay, well, I don't get better people. I die. I would humbly disagree. But thank you very much. I hope you have a great Friday. Phil. Let's keep this going with George. Oh, yes. George, do you side with

George? Hey, you know what you would think I would, right? Yeah. What a great name. But now, Ben, I'm mostly on your side here. But here's the thing. The one thing that you said that threw me right off was he's a hero for this. If he was a hero, he would have done this before the election call because then it could have been an election issue. I get it.

They need more money. You can't live. You can't live in the city of Toronto for what they get. My good friend, Jerry Ouellette, was the MPP for Oshawa. And I know him and his family struggled until he got beat by that MPP. Yeah. And George, I've heard stories of MPPs who said, I don't know if I can run again. And by the way, it's not just conservatives. I've heard it from members of other parties. I don't know if I can run in the next election because I can't pay my mortgage. And I don't know why that should have to be a choice for an MPP. I agree. I agree 100% with you on that. I'm just saying that you the point. George, thank you very much for calling,

and not just because you're on team Ben. Let's welcome Jamie to the conversation. Jamie, pick a side, my friend. I got a side with George. I enjoy your show immensely, Ben. Thank you. And I've really enjoyed it since you've come on. I think it's the case, the optics are not good,

Foxes are guarded in the hen house, and suddenly a 35% increase, I think it's a case the optics are not good popular garden and house and suddenly a thirty five percent increase i think it's ridiculous by the way there's a part two to this that they didn't probably think about what are you know we barked about term limits forever at every level of government how is this going to encourage term limits the other thing did the did the expense accounts of these of these politicians get increased by the same as well. You know, like there's there's

just so many wrong things. Well, listen, and Jamie, Jamie, thank you. And I appreciate the call. I also appreciate Gordon Philip. I don't think we're gonna be able to get to you guys. I do think it's incumbent upon the Ford government at some point to recognize that now that those pay, the pay has gone up, it's time to reduce the size of the cabinet, because I know that that was a reverse engineered some pay raises by having a bigger cabinet. I can see that. But now that now that this has passed, maybe it's time to give us a leaner, meaner cabinet moving forward. But thank you to everybody for calling in. And yeah, this was in good fun. I hope everybody appreciated that the tone that we were

trying to set early on on this Friday. Don't go anywhere. More on the Ben Moller show. $200,000 is a lot of money. No, it's not. The My Choice sales event is back at Nissan and the choice is yours. Choose our best selling rogue always ready for adventure. Or the Dynamic Sentra, packed with safety features. Or the all-new, boldly redesigned Kicks. And now during My Choice, you can choose up to $1,500 in Nissan bonus or accessory credit. Or choose three-year prepaid maintenance. Hurry into your local Nissan dealer today.

$1,500 applies to Sentra and select rogue models when leasing or financing through NCF conditions apply see nissan.ca for details. Welcome back to the Ben Mulroney show and we just had a lot of fun taking some calls but now we're going to take take things in a more serious tone yesterday I popped off at the announcement that in order to solve the homeless crisis that we have, the city has decided to do something absolutely ludicrous, which is build a black only homeless shelter operated by black people for black people. From what I understand, the justification was that there is anti black racism in some

of our our shelters, and rather than address the anti-black racism, they're doing something entirely racist. And then I found out later on, on the Alex Pearson show, that Brad Bradford said, as a city counselor responsible for at least one of the voices responsible for things like this, he didn't know anything about this. This happened on the cover of darkness and secret.

And why don't we listen to how Brad Bradford actually uncovered and discovered this. Yeah, I got to be honest with you. This is literally the first time I heard about it was in the sun today. And so kudos to them for getting the scoop here. Hold on a second then. Are you not like, is it, was this not debated?

Was there consultation? No, no, this was buried in a procurement document. And if this is something that the mayor thinks is necessary or essential for the city, then she should be out there making the case loud and proud about it and explaining it to Torontonians who I would, you know, sort of hazard a guess that many would be perplexed about this. This stinks to high heaven. This is anti-democratic. I wish I could swear on the radio. This is BS. This is total BS.

And so I wanna hear from you, 416-870-6400 or 1-888-225-TALK. Is anybody surprised? I mean, this is the most Toronto thing we could do right now. We got so many serious issues in this city, and this is such an unserious way to deal with them. How petty, how small-minded, how divisive. Give me a break. I don't have to lay out my case again as I did yesterday, but if somebody has to make the decision to avail themselves of a homeless shelter,

to avail themselves of a homeless shelter. I mean, imagine what that does to your mental health. It can be dehumanizing because we don't do what we need to do to lead with empathy and treat our most vulnerable with the care and respect that they deserve. And to all of a sudden say, yeah, we're gonna prioritize one group over another at a time where every one of those people should be treated as a priority is disgusting. It is disgusting.

It's vomit inducing. It is insulting. It is beneath this city. It is shameful. And the fact that Brad Bradford said that this was hidden in a procurement document buried as a line item somewhere, tells me that these people who made this decision know it's despicable.

They know it. Because if they were proud of it, as he said, they would be out there championing it. Instead, where has the mayor been? Where has anybody who supports this been to talk about this, to go out and come on shows like this to tell us why it's such a great idea? Because they know it's garbage.

They know this is the stuff that swirls the drain. This is toilet level policy. And that's where it belongs, in the toilet. If you got money for a black only homeless shelter, how about use that money. If you believe that anti-black racism is a problem that is pervasive in our homeless shelters, then use the money to solve for that in the shelters that

were there already available to ever or should be available to everyone. Start teaching the people who work there. Start educating the the people who avail themselves of those services. Make sure that there are more toiletries that are specific to the black community because that's the problem. The problem isn't that black people can't use the shelters. The problem is, if there is one, it's that the black people who use them are feeling further marginalized. So fix that problem. Don't create a whole new problem. Annali, welcome to the show.

Hi, good morning. I'm well, thank you. Getting getting hyped up again on this topic was really hurtful. You know, dividing the bottom of people again is just causes more problems to the situation that is overwhelmed with newcomers as well. Family shelters, no space. And then you only imagine how it affects the psyche of someone coming in with already trauma,

looking for space, and then what about the people that are gonna have to, you know, stay, identify as black? What about those people that are gonna start doing black things? Yeah, I mean, somebody could, I mean, I don't, maybe someone could just come in and self-identify as a black homeless person. I mean, like, that I mean, I don't, maybe someone could just come in and self identify as a black homeless person. I mean, like that's the world we're living in,

but Annali, you're right. I mean, this is a, if you are homeless in the city of Toronto, frankly, the city has no business deciding whether you're the right kind of homeless person. And I think that's why, Annali, I think that's why they're not, that's why they're not out there pushing this and trying to educate people like me, because they know there's no case, no case to be made that this is a good idea. Yeah. Yeah. Well, listen, I'm glad,

I'm glad to have heard from you, Annali, cause I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one thinking this. And I really appreciate that. And Frank, why don't, why don't you give us your two cents. Hey I love the passion there so I'll get into the sick my wife actually works at a shelter so I'll give you my perspective based on what I hear from her. First of all if the so called black community which is our community I'm not black but you know it's the community wants a all black show have the black community pay for it have

at it get your private funding from your black sources and do it. So yeah, and to be fair, I don't know that the black community was asking for this. Yeah, exactly. They probably weren't. So this is an Olivia chow ask, which it may not be Olivia chow apps, but this is exactly what I would expect from chow. Exactly. Yeah. If I heard you correctly yesterday, you did say this is not going

to happen till 2030. Yeah, of course. Yeah. Another example of Toronto being Toronto is deciding that they want to do something that's going to take 10 years to get this thing built. I mean, how Toronto is that? So she would brush that under the rug. Yeah, okay. Yeah. In 2030 when I'm no longer the mayor, sure. Yeah, we'll do that. So the issue in the in the shelters isn't isn't black racism. It's it's from this is just from

my perspective. It's the black. Sorry, it's slipping me. It's the entitlement. The entitlement. What do you mean entitlement? Which leads to all kinds of black entitlement there. I think they're entitled to things in the shelter, not really to hate. No, no, listen, to be to be fair, to be fair, from what I understand, there has been, there's evidence that there is anti black racism in in the shelter. So and again, so I have to go back to my original position. And I have to be consistent. If if if we're leading with empathy, and we want everybody to be treated with dignity, that includes making sure that if a black person avails themselves of a homeless shelter, they are not further marginalized and dehumanized by acts of racism.

But that's a problem that can be dealt with within the system that we already have. It's not about creating a black-only shelter. That doesn't solve the problem of anti-black racism in the shelters that we currently have, Frank. Right. So I don't see that as the issue. The reality elephant in the room, I don't know if this is the appropriate thing, is that it's not racism. It's what's perceived as racism. It's by not getting what you want, therefore, hey, you're white and you're not getting me what I demand and you must be right. Well, okay. Well, Frank, I appreciate the call and thank you for for adding to the conversation. I don't have evidence to suggest that that's the case.

I, I will in a good faith, accept that some, that there are bad actors within our shelter system. Deal with the bad actors, deal with the bad apples. But you don't, you don't solve that problem at all. You're not even looking at that problem. You're trying to solve, you're trying to create a whole new raft of problems. Anyway,

thank you to everybody for calling in. Welcome back to the Ben Mulroney show. And we're going to talk traffic now with you here on the show. There is a piece in the star that came out a couple of days ago. It said that we have to rethink our issues with congestion. And, and because of some new data, and a new data analysis model, they were able to determine that 60% of the congestion in a city like Barcelona is caused by 15% of the intersections. In other words, there are bottleneck chokepoints

all over cities like Toronto, that if you were able to clear them up, you would solve a raft of issues. And I had lunch a few days ago with City Councilor Josh Matlow, and we went over some of the issues as I saw them. And he's a very good listener. I don't know if he's going to take any of my suggestions or ideas. But for example, I thought it was a terrible decision under John Tory I don't know if it was his decision to happen on his watch where they started adding advanced walking for pedestrians at lights and What that does is it doesn't recognize human nature because once a pedestrian starts walking they don't stop until they see a red They just don't and I pointed out that when they added the flashing hands and the countdown clocks,

that was a terrible thing for congestion because they did not educate the people of this city to know what that flashing hand means. When the hand and the numbers start flashing, that means that your right of way as a pedestrian is over. Unless you are in the intersection, it is now the right of the drivers to get through. Pedestrians don't know that.

They think that they have unfettered, the unfettered right of forward progress forever. And they will run into the intersection up until the last effing second. And so what happens at that intersection? Nothing. No one goes left. No one goes right.

What they should have done is the reverse. An advance left, an advance right for cars to take a left or a right. Pedestrians stay put until two or three cars get through. Then they can start walking because as I said, once they start, they never stop. A change like that would make it so the issue of the bike lane on Yonge Street isn't such a bad, it's not as bad as it currently is. Because back in the day, when you had two lanes of traffic going north and going south, one lane could keep going straight.

And but what happens now? You have a choke point at every single intersection where lefts and rights are allowed. If you want to take a left and you can't because pedestrians are moving, no cars get through. And multiply that at every single intersection where there is a bike lane preventing forward progress and you have the congestion that we have.

So I want to I'm hoping that we can focus group this. What's the best solution to end congestion? Clearly, I have thought about this and I want to hear your thoughts as well. 416-870-6400 or one triple eight two to five talk. Like I said, this is this is I would have a far less issue with an inner, with a, with a bike lane preventing me from, you know, going around a car that wants to go left or right. If that car could already move, but, but they're stuck there. And, and, pieces. But to me, nobody has ever sat there and said, okay, let's take a holistic approach to congestion in this city. And I think there are certain decisions that have made matters worse. I suggested to Josh Matlow that one of the easiest

ways to address the issue that I just brought up about pedestrians never stopping once they start is to do a flyer campaign down at those big intersections where there's tons of pedestrians like on either side of Union Station. And just hand out flyers so they can learn and know what the rules of the road actually are. None of them know. There isn't a single pedestrian in this city that knows when they're allowed to walk and when they have to stop. They actually think that, you know, if the light is green they can walk whenever they want and that's just not the case. There are certain times where they're

supposed to stay put. And it is so frustrating. I sometimes actually have to roll down my window to say you don't have the right to walk. And it drives me bananas. Hey, DJ, welcome to the show. Hey, good morning, Ben. Good morning. Great discussions this morning. Thank you. I agree with what you're saying here. 100%. I drive downtown all the time for work and the jaywalking and the running into intersections

is brutal. But what I was saying to your producer there is we also need to train drivers to stop slamming on the brakes when they see the pedestrian signals change because they're so afraid to get in the photo radar ticket. Right. Roll through an intersection and it changes. It's congestion all over down here. It's mayhem. Great discussion. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. And yeah, like, look, I think, I think, I think drivers could use an education as well. Not the least of reason is because we added

these lanes of traffic and we added bike lanes and we've got e-bikes that are in those lanes that shouldn't be. And we need to know, drivers need to be better prepared with the knowledge of like, what are my rights and responsibilities when I come to an intersection and I have the ability to take a right, but I see one coming up. Are they supposed to stop

or do I have to wait till they get past me? Like nobody really knows. Education is key here and everybody has a role to play in making our streets safer and move more quickly. But unless we take a holistic approach and bring everybody into it, it will not get better. It just won't. And somebody has to have the courage and leadership

to lead this file so that we can get this city moving. I did want to talk about Paul Kalandra, our education minister here in the province of Ontario, because he's speaking my language. I'm getting really tired of sitting in this chair and talking about the TDSB and it's the activist agenda that seems to have and rather than prioritize the job that it has which is funding our schools and making

sure that our teachers and students are supported they're picking up all sorts of political agendas that that are a waste of time, a waste of money, and I think angering a lot of parents. Let's listen to what our minister of education had to say on politics in schools. I want politics out of the schools, first and foremost, right? I want trustees. I don't need trustees to develop curriculum. I don't need them to give me advice on global affairs. What I need them to do is put money into classrooms and into our teachers so our students can succeed.

When they move away from that mission, I will have the authority under this legislation to put them back on track and ensure that they are focused on their main mission, student achievement. Full stop. I will not hesitate to step in where I

need to step in. I am frankly as done as all parents are and teachers are with a school system that has turned into a political battle zone. Teach our kids, give the parents, the teachers the resources they need, or we will step in and do the job for them. 100%, here's the thing.

Do the thing that you're supposed to do well, and then maybe we can talk about politics, get the test scores up, make sure our kids are well educated, make sure that they know everything they need so that when they leave the TDSB and go to university or do whatever they want with their lives, they are armed with the best possible education. Until then, keep your politics to yourself. And I'm very happy that Paul Kalandra is speaking a

common sense language that I'm sure a lot of parents appreciate. I don't care what your politics are, just as you don't care what mine are. So let's just keep it at that. And, and that is my take on that. Before we go to break, let's take one more call on on congestion in the city. Mike, welcome to the show. Hey, how you doing? I'm well, thank you. Yeah, I'm in the burbs. I'm in Scarborough. And they put red bus lanes everywhere. I just saw my first red bus lane this morning right out right out

outside my office. Yes, they're adding them everywhere. And it's creating bottlenecks galore. And by the way, do you know if you're allowed driving your car in that lane? I don't. Nobody told me anything. I don't know, but yeah, they've just popped up randomly all over. Kennedy Road, which is a major through road in Scarborough, is in areas down to one lane both ways. Yeah. Making a left to right on any street is a gong show. Yeah.

Taking forever. And then even in this day and age, with all this technology we have in our vehicles, why are we driving slower? Why are speed limits down to 50? I know, the cars have never been safer. Anyway, hey, thank you very much for the call, Mike. Yeah, I saw that red bus lane out there. I don't know what I'm supposed to do with it. Nobody told me. Do you know? Yes, the solid red, can't drive in it when it's straight. You can do it. So usually it's around turning areas.

Thank you for doing the job that the city should have done. That's information that might've been useful yesterday. The best high-concept sci-fi rig of our all in the universe is back. What the hell? Oh, shit, how long was I out? Close airlock seven! is back.