The Ben Mulroney Show - The demands from tent city residents in Toronto

Episode Date: September 22, 2025

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Well, happy Monday, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us. This is Monday, September 22nd. I'm your host, Ben Mulroney. This is the show, the Ben Mulroney show. And I hope everybody had a lovely weekend. Let me just readjust this microphone. A little too high there.

Yes, welcome to the show. Thank you so much. It has been a bananas weekend on so many fronts. And we're trying to make sense of a lot of it today. I had a great weekend. I went to New York to celebrate my friend's 50th birthday in and out, stayed at my other friend's apartment, tried to keep costs down. And it was great.

I hadn't seen some of my friends. I say friends. I was a terrible friend. I haven't seen some of them in 28 years. We graduated 28 years ago. And so it was really, really nice. And I am redoubling my efforts to keep that connection going. Like, I'm almost 50.

and you know what every now and then you got to take stock and you got to be honest and you got to say you know what I have not been the friend I should have been and so I'm going to be a better friend I'm going to be a better friend I stay connected to these people who were wonderful to me back then they were so wonderful to me when they saw me and it's an opportunity that I'm not going to miss let's talk about uncertainty and and how we all deal with uncertainty in some cases some people like to bet some people like to play games of chance with their future. I'm not, entrepreneurs do that, right? We talk about that on this show.

Entrepreneurs bet on themselves each and every day and they bet, and sometimes they bet big, right? They'll bet big, they'll bet everything they've got in the bank. They will bet a loan. They will bet that they can pay back a massive loan in a year, in two years, based on the idea that came out of their mind and their heart and their soul. I'm a little more risk-averse than that. But I saw this guy, this Australian guy on social media and he is on a mission to turn himself into a millionaire by taking $1,000 and try to double it on an online, a single hand of online blackjack.

So he sits in his car every day and he bets a thousand, goes to $2,000, goes to $4,000, and on and on. And I only caught his adventure on, I think, day eight, where he was going from, I think he was going from 120-some odd to doubling that. Let's listen to a little bit of where he is in his adventure. We have one back to back to back to back to back to back. We've turned a thousand dollars into 64,000 dollars. Deal now, please. Oh, my God, my heart, my heart right now. Seven. Two.

17 versus two. 17 versus two. Bust! Bust! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Oh my God! Oh my God!

Yeah! Good on him, man, but like he could have busted. He could have busted. Now he's at over a quarter mill and he if he gets that one, then he's going to go for half a mill and then he's going to be a millionaire. there. And that was the goal. Although something tells me that a guy like this does not stop at a mill. He's going to try to ride. He's going to chase that dragon. But today we want

to start out talking about big bets. This guy is placing big bets. And then let's go to the Jays, right? Let's remember and congratulations to the Toronto Blue Jays for securing a birth in the postseason. Let's listen to a little bit of them celebrating. This is one to celebrate. Let's go. Yeah, so they won yesterday 8-5 over Kansas City, clinching their third playoff birth in five years. But Sportsnet has had to play a little bit of, like I said, to bet a little bit here because,

so Sportsnet owns practically every game, right? The Rogers Sportsnet, J's are owned by Rogers, except for just a handful of games that were scheduled to be played and broadcast exclusively on Apple. TV Plus. And the fear was based on their magic number that they were going to be able to secure the, what, the ALEs? No, that was the wildcard. The wild card. That was going to happen on Apple TV Plus. And so they made a deal with Apple TV Plus that that game, the broadcast itself, So the entire thing, they would just lift the Apple TV Plus broadcast and put it on, or the Apple TV stream and broadcast it on Sportsnet.

So that happened. That's great. However, what people are really excited about, what we really need to have happen is we need them to secure home field advantage throughout the AL playoffs. And there's a chance now that by facilitating this deal, because part of the deal was they were going to give something. back to Apple TV. And one of the things they gave them was the game that could potentially secure that birth. This coming Friday. This coming Friday, the game is now going to be on Apple TV Plus. And if the math lines up, that game will be on Apple TV Plus. What is Roger's going to do? I think they're going to have to go back to them and give them more, right? And if they do,

But I don't know that they had to do this, right? They had to do this for their fans. They had to do this for the viewing public. They had no idea that the Jays would lose 20 to 1 on Friday. Yeah, the game that they got, they lost 20 to 1. And so now we look ahead. But like what else were they to do? Right?

They had to bet on this. And the bet has not paid off. But they would have been criticized had they not made that deal. right so I'm I subscribe to that right and but they're going to have to go back to Apple and say guys we got to work with you again and who knows what Apple's going to get but I like whatever happens a sports net's going to make it up 10 times in the playoffs the the the viewership is going to be through the roof for this yeah but it's something it's somewhat like going to your bookie and saying can you just give me a few more days and he goes all right yeah and then you go back a second time yeah what are you giving up yeah what are you going to give up next time but whatever they give it like Like I said, whatever they give up, this season has been magical for fans, for the Jays. And in a city like Toronto, Christ, we need a little magic. Speaking of magic, the magic number for the Jays is four, with four games, each leading up to Fridays, there's a good chance of Jays clinch the division on Friday on Apple TV Plus to be continued.

So that's a, those are a couple of bets that were happening around here. But here's another bet that is perplexing to me, perplexing to my. drollay, perplexing to a lot of people, the bet that Canada is placing on recognizing the state of Palestine. It is perplexing. We are going to talk about it a little bit later. I don't understand why it happened the way it did. I don't understand why on August 1st, our prime minister set preconditions, which have not yet happened. So I guess they're post conditions now. why this did not get talked about during the election campaign, why this has not been brought to a vote in the House of Commons,

perplexing. And there's got to be a reason behind it. So we're going to dig in and talk about it. Some of my questions are cynical and some of them are good faith. Some of them are recognizing that I don't know everything and therefore I'm on the hunt for that information. And others are simply a reaction to a fundamental disagreement on. this on this issue that anger me. And so it's a mix of those and we're talking about it. And then there's, and then there's the bet that certain quote unquote residents of these tent encampments

across the city are, they are betting that the city is going to cave and negotiate with them and give them, I guess, free housing. I don't think it's a negotiation. I think it's, they're just demands. Yep. Yeah. So we're talking of the Dufferin Grove. encampment where a number of them have said that they've that they are they are be if they're going to leave they're only leaving under certain circumstances and some of them are very rich they they they I mean the the the these are rich negotiations or rich demands including every one of them every person there wants 800 square feet of their own place to live and they want options they want the city to take them on tours and give them options of three different places and

they can pick the one they want. And to me, I mean, it reminds me of the show Househunters. It's the Toronto version of Househunters where you get to see three places and then you pick the one you want and then you move into that one. But this is where we are as a city. When you emboldened people and you empower people who are not entitled to this sort of thing, you create a block of people who do not deserve to be talked to as stakeholders. because that's that's exactly they are squatters we've got oh well okay i'm going to get off of this

high horse we're going to get right back on we're going to get into the details of it right yes coming up the demands from the dufferin grove tent people is something you need to hear to believe this is the ben mulrooney show welcome back to the ben malruni show a an issue that is not specific to the city of Toronto that a great many cities across North America and indeed the Western world have been dealing with for a long time now, but specifically got worse during the pandemic, was homeless encampments in public spaces. And we've had a number of them in this city. The most famous today is the encampment at Dufferin Grove Park. There is a small group

of homeless residents refusing to leave despite the city posting eviction notices until the city provides them with permanent housing. The city action is as follows. The issue to trespass notice demanding residents leave by tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. And that triggered supporters to show up and block eviction notices or efforts rather. The city's stance is this. Outreach staff and partners offered shelter beds, indoor spaces and supports. Some residents accepted, however, seven have remained.

So the city has services for homeless people. and those who are unhoused, and they include, like we said, shelter beds, indoor spaces. That's what we as a city have as support. Not good enough for seven of the people who are sticking around that park. So on one side, you've got the supporters. And there's this gentleman by the name of Michael DeForge, who said the city's escalating eviction with police,

and the only shelter options, the only shelter options that were offered are not permanent solutions. True. I'm sure shelters are are supposed to be temporary, but that's what we've got. And these residents, and I'm using that in air quotes, are refusing to reenter the shelter system, calling it dehumanizing. I challenge the use of the word dehumanizing. That is, I mean, I think that's a false use of language. I don't think that's what the word means. And until we can actually agree on definitions, that's a sticking point for me. Doesn't this really just lead to the question of what's the responsibility of government, municipal, provincial federal for its citizens? Are we responsible for everyone to be

able to live a certain lifestyle? Well, yeah, I mean, you'll remember, depending on how far left somebody is, they believe that it is a basic human right to permanent shelter, right? We've heard it before. They want that entrenched in law. And while that is a laudable goal, I don't know that that is the responsibility of the state to make sure that every single person, look, I'd love to live in a world where every single person has a roof over their head. Is it the responsibility of government to provide that? I don't know. I don't think so. But again, willing to have that conversation. But I'm not willing to have it with somebody who is, who digs in their heels and says anything short of you giving me my own home is you depriving me of my human rights. Like,

that's not a starting position I'm willing to entertain. Well, this is definitely. definitely a new chapter because 15, say, 20 years ago, the idea and the thing that people had a problem with, especially in Toronto, was when they were building these temporary shelter, sorry, low-income housing units within other neighborhoods. And people would say, well, I just spent half million dollars in this house, and now you're putting a low-income place like basically two doors down. You're handing it to somebody else, but you're not handing anything to me. There was that difficulty. And that's, that argument seems to have gone away. Well, meanwhile, you've got the city's position. And Eric Holmes is a spokesperson who's talking

on this subject. He said the city's approach is, quote, human focused. Again, gobbledygook doesn't mean anything. That's, that sounds like progressive word smithing that doesn't, it doesn't offer clarity. It doesn't offer a policy direction. It doesn't offer any sense to taxpayers as to what that means. Apparently there have been efforts ongoing since the winter and he claims that there were 56 encampments in February and now there are fewer than 15. I don't know what that definition is because by a different standard, Daniel Tate from Integrity T.O is going to be in later. I think Integrity T.O.'s number is still in the hundreds. So I don't know how the city says they're 15 and Integrity T.O. says there's over 100 encampments in the city. We're going to get some clarity on that.

And he said the goal remains moving people into safe indoor spaces. Well, of course, that is. But isn't that the sticking point? Because a shelter is a safe indoor space. And these seven sticks in the mud are saying, no, no, unless it's permanent, we don't want it. So that then brings us to what this list of demands is of the Dufferin Grove, air quote, residents. What are they? Each resident wants a one-bedroom apartment of at least 800 square feet.

That is for each person. And if you don't believe that, we have the audio of them talking about. Go for it. It's trauma, okay? Straight up, it's trauma. We are demanding a two-week timeline to fill these demands. Or by October 1st, we expect these demands to be met. So one-bedroom units, 800 square feet of livable space.

That seems pretty reasonable to me. Does that not seem reasonable to people? Why should anyone live in a shoe box? Like, I don't want to send anyone to a shoe box. Option to view multiple units and decide between units offered without being cleared. Okay. So, yeah. So also, let's not forget, this is somebody who's asking for something reasonable.

We don't know. We can't see their face. We don't know who they are. But sure, this is a good faith negotiation. Sure. Okay. No problem. I'm going to take you seriously.

You want the taxpayers to give you an 800 square foot condo. But you don't just want any condo. You want to choose between. You want options. You want a real estate agent. to take you on tours until you find the one that is your forever home. Okay. They also said, well, they will consider co-op housing, Toronto community housing, or rent geared

to income units. And like I said, they want the ability to view multiple units. Those demands are in writing. And some of the extras that were said in other videos are interesting. They are asking for within these 800 square foot units. They want bidet. They want a bidet. they want ice cube makers

but not just any ice cube maker they want ice cube makers with crushed ice not the round ice those round ones are really cool like my house my fridge makes the semi like the crescent moons

oh that's neat you know they want that's the only one the only one I have I don't have a crushed ice option well you know I mean look if I got myself a tent and moved into Dufferin Grove

maybe I could get that they want balconies because of course you need to appreciate the view in your forever apartment we've got a few others that came this morning from the Dufferin Grove residents now these are not directed at the government

these are what they're hoping their supporters are going to send them and we learned earlier today that they're asking for five dildos yeah I think I can say that that's what they're asking for it's news they're asking for five dildos so if people can bring those for them that's not the top not per person I don't think

no I don't think it's per person I think it's five overall but it's also below you know But they are asking for firewood and socks. Yeah, firewood, because open fires in a park, that's what we're, that's what we're all about. They're asking for socks, but given the dildos, I'm suspect that these are single-use socks. That's. Yeah. Is that the image?

Is that the image you want? I'm not the one, I'm not the genesis of this conversation. I'm following the bouncing ball here, man. This is our city. Our city is going to be engaged. Our city government is going to, I hope, figure out, are you dealing with a good faith group of Torontoians or are you dealing with people who are asking for stuff that is unreasonable? And while we're at it, let's just have

a broader conversation for a minute here on the notion of privilege, okay? It is a word that has populated the vernacular for years. And for years, it has been placed on people like myself, people like my producer, people like my board operator, people I work with every day that we rely on our privilege to get through the day. Here's a hot take for you. I go to work every single day. I don't think I'm paid market value, to be honest. I'm paid what this place can afford.

I work my ass off. I've got three or four jobs. Actually, more than that. I pay taxes that I think are too high, and I don't think I get too much in return. That's my privilege. Now, flip it on somebody who is living in a park, a public park that my taxes pay for,

that your taxes pay for, that has been breaking municipal bylaws and laws writ large for for a very long time. And now, when they are forced with an eviction with a consequence of their action, they feel entitled to ask for all of this. Who has the privilege here? I ask you, who has the privilege? Because I'm done living in a world where people like, people who are hard workers, who take care of their families, who take care of their communities, who pay their taxes, who go to work, who play by the rules, are somehow shamed with this amorphous notion of privilege. And then there are people who, for whatever reasons,

some of them are genuinely in need of social services and of a social safety net. And others are not feel that they have the right to make demands like this on our city government and on our tax dollars. I think the word privilege is being misused. All right. On that note, we're going to take a quick break.

Guess how much it costs taxpayers? We're not saying the city. We are saying taxpayers to allow Dufferin Grove to exist. That's next. This show is sponsored by Better Help. Let's be honest. We've all shared our problems in some pretty funny places, the group chat, your barber, maybe even a stranger on a plane, and hey, sometimes that helps. But when it comes to stuff

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and hear exclusive interviews with the killer's family. Listen to the full season of Crime Beat early and ad-free on Amazon music by asking Alexa to play the podcast Crime Beat. Welcome back to the Ben Mulroney show. All right, we're talking encampments. We're talking how much it costs. We're talking what do the people in these encampments want if we're ever to get them out of these public spaces.

And before the break, we're talking about Dufferin Grove and some of the demands that were being made. And look, before we continue with our next guest, let's point out, in good faith, as we continue this conversation, I want to make sure it's as respectful and productive as possible. I don't want to just be shouting and screaming and being upset. But from their own lips, here is what the Dufferin Grove, quote unquote, residents want.

We are not going to play those games. Like, if it's not working, I want to see my other two options, and then I'll decide based on the three of them. Like, no one should be forced to have standardized rules and standardized supportive services. So they want options, okay? And let's just, let's just leave it there for now. but what would this end up costing the taxpayer? And let's be very clear here. People always say, oh, it's going to cost the city X.

No, no, no, no. It's going to cost you and it's going to cost me. And that cost will be facilitated by the city. But that's where it comes from. The city is not paying for it. We are paying for it. So let's welcome to the conversation. Somebody knows a heck of a lot more about this than I because he pays attention to it.

I don't think he sleeps. Daniel Tate from Integrity, Tio. Welcome, my friend. Hi, Ben. Okay, so talk to me about what Torontoians need to know about how much this has. cost and how much it could potentially cost us down the road. Yeah, Torontoians need to know that these quote unquote residents, I call them trespassers of Dufferin Grove Park, have been there now for 85 weeks and counting. The city of Toronto, i.e. you and me and every other taxpayer,

has funded all these various services for the upkeep of this encampment, including security patrols to the tune of $1.4 million. What's going on? Okay. So a lot of people are thinking, because they haven't seen Dufferin Grove and they will not see Dufferin Grove but they're imagining somebody just sleeping in a tent but it's much more than that it's a far more sophisticated

sort of ecosystem of services it's an ecosystem of services that are catering to also an ecosystem of activists this isn't sort of your traditional homeless person who maybe fell down fell on bad luck

they need a leg up they're not hooked on drugs these are activists bottom line They all wear masks. Yeah. They have demands, as we saw in the video. And the city is pandering to them.

And they've been pandering to them for many, many, many months now on our dime. Why? Like, these are the questions that Torontoians need to be asking. How much has this been costing? What's the total thus far? And break it down for our listeners, our viewers, how much it's costing, say, month by month? Yeah. So I looked at the breakdown.

So there's a document that's been circulating with various different neighborhood groups. in the Dufferin Grove Park area. Counselor Bravo, who's the local counselor, has been distributing this document as well. And it's basically $33,000 a month all the way back since February, so several months now. And this is broken down with various third-party operators,

streets to homes, security companies like Community One, Garda World, other for-profit companies who are providing these various services. They could be security services. Why are we providing security services? Like, just explain that one to it. Yeah, that's a great question because it's illegal.

They're in violation of several city statutes and bylaws. Yeah. Why was this encampment allowed to proliferate and stick around for 85 weeks and dig in? And now they're so emboldened and so, yeah, they're so emboldened that they're making demands of this city. And the city's actually talking to them as if they're going to appease them. People are like, what is going on here? So to me it's about standing. When I look at somebody in an encampment, they may have all sorts of reasons as to why they ended up in the park, right?

But they do not have standing to be treated as if they have a right to be in the park. Like those are two different things. I get why somebody could end up on the street and the reasons are myriad and I think I'm an empathetic person and I can understand the idea of somebody. God, their life just did not go the way they deserve for it to go. and they ended up in a place that they did not want to be. That still doesn't change the fact that you do not have standing to talk to anybody in the city as if you have the right to be there. Yeah, absolutely.

It's the old refrain, beggars can't be choosers. Well, not in Toronto. But in the current city of Toronto environment, where we coddle, quote unquote, professional victims and activists and people who are, who just moan and complain about everything, that's what's happening. So we've kind of created this environment where people can feel emboldened and literally hijack a public park and make neighboring residents feel unsafe. I get messages all the time. People like, we live in Duffering Grove. We haven't taken our kids to the playground in six months because

it's not safe. These people are belligerent. These people are doing illicit activities. And what's the city doing? Just twiddling their thumbs and spending more of our money to support these. people. Daniel, what do you say to those, to those residents, those residents who say they're not going to leave it because they don't want to go back into the shelter system because in their words, the shelter system is, quote, dehumanizing. Um, well, maybe number one, get a job. Um, start earning your bread. You want, they think in this sort of like new socialist Toronto that we can just hand out free apartments like candy because, you know, it's monopoly money. The taxes you pay and I pay is just free money, free distribution to all. No, it doesn't,

work that way. In fact, there's a lot of people who play by the rules, and they're in the waiting line to get social housing or get into shelters. And so it's not fair to those people to just think that you can sort of, in a militant way, hijack a park to get ahead of the line and then demand a free house. And by the way, an 800 square foot free house with air conditioning and a smart kitchen and God knows what else. And they're not going to take the one that's offered. Like, if we ever went down the road into Crazy Town and they were offered 800 square feet, they don't want the first one that they're given. They want options. Yeah, they want a window shop for free apartments. These people are out to lunch. Now, one of the things that I want to point out

that, you know, you were talking about the cost that we've incurred as taxpayers. But one thing that I just don't know that you could ever truly gauge is how much time has been spent by city staff and members of staff across the city on these issues because for every minute they're spending on providing safety and resources to the people in these encampments, that's a minute they're not spending on issues

that are directly related to what's important to taxpayers. Yeah, I fully agree. There's a huge opportunity cost, both with time and with money. $1.4 million to maintain and upkeep of this encampment. Well, how many rehab beds could have been procured for $1.4 million.

How many fixes to our subway system? We have a massive repair backlog in the TTC. The opportunity costs with the money is huge. And then with the time, yeah, for sure. It's like hundreds of man hours, if not more, have been dedicated to this encampment at the cost to others who are probably more vulnerable in our city who could use that help.

And look, to me, it's very simple. You do not negotiate with somebody from a position like this because the precedent you would be setting would be disastrous. If you are rewarding somebody who takes over a public space and then they get to rework language so that they are victimized by this situation and you reward them with 800 square feet, they want a lease forever, seven to ten, they want no security cameras in the halls.

And they want four plots of land. And they want four plots. If you do that for them, I guarantee you there is going to be a whole group of other people trying the exact same thing tomorrow. They'll be a taxpayer revolt. if they do that. Now, here's the question. Maybe let's spend the last couple of minutes on this.

Do you really think there would be? Because one of the things that I bemoan in this city is those of us who quietly go to work and pay our taxes, we don't go to City Hall. We don't petition. Like, you do. And I salute you for it. But we don't have people in this city who ever get so angry that they stop what they're doing. They rally a group of people together and they protest at City Hall. We're too busy trying to live our lives and trying to full-fell.

fill whatever responsibilities we have. You're right, but I do think the winds are shifting. I think after the last record-breaking property tax increase and us literally just walking around in the city and seeing how things have continued to deteriorate, we can't, we're trying to reconcile what's going on. We're paying more. We're getting less. And people are waking up to that. People, this is a great example because we're like, where's the money going? It's going to things like this. It's going to things like this. And God knows how many other issues and pet projects. that are flying under the radar that we don't have time to uncover. And this is one example of why Integrity TO is calling for an audit of the shelter division.

Okay, well, on that note, you're going to stick around for just a little bit after this. Maybe we'll take some calls together as well. Okay, don't go anywhere. We've got Daniel tape from Integrity TO. We're talking about where your dollars are going and why the system may be getting worse. This is the Ben Mulroney show. Welcome to the Ben Mulroney show. Thank you so much for joining us.

We're in conversation with Daniel Tate from Integrity, T.O. He's been watching the watchers and paying attention to the dollars and cents that this city is spending on all sorts of things. We're wondering, why are we paying more in taxes and getting less back? Well, one of the examples is what's going on in the encampments across this city. A lot of the quote-unquote residents who have taken up shop and taken up residence in our public parks are now demanding housing and their own apartments and their own condos. and they want to be able to shop around and get something for free. I don't know how else to say it, man. Like, I'm not some right-wing reactionary,

but they want something they haven't paid for, and someone's going to have to pay for it, and that person is you. And so rather than just him and I go back and forth, I want to hear from you at 4168-60400 or 1-3-2-2-2-2 talk. We got somebody in our studio who knows a thing or two about a thing or two. So, you know, if you got questions for Daniel,

let's light them up, and let's start with Mike. Mike, welcome to the show. Good morning, guys. How's it going? Great, thanks. So I'm a constituent in DaVort. I've owned my house since 2009. I pay about $3,600 a month in property taxes, and my house is $720 square feet.

So I'm wondering if I can get an added bonus to this deal now. I want more for my money now. So, you know, I'm getting $720 square feet, $3,600 a month. I got to pay to park my car on my street. I got to pay to park my car in my driveway, and I have 720 square feet. So I want to square feet now What's the city going to do for me here? Yeah, I mean, before I get up on here,

I want to know who's running against Bravo. What are we doing here? Like, who's running? Like, we've got to start lining up our candidates here. Well, so that was something. Thank you so much for ending on that point. And we'll just give us a call. The phone lines are open.

And before we take another call, one of the things that Daniel and I were talking about before we went to air is I think it's incumbent upon, I think it would be productive for groups like integrity, T.O. to really sit down and think long and hard about questions that taxpayers and voters should put forth before anybody running for public office in the next election. And honestly, I say that in good faith because the answers should

inform how people vote, wherever they vote. But how can we arm people? What are some of the questions you would want taxpayers? And when somebody knocks on the door, when Chris Moyce goes to somebody's door and says, I want your vote in the upcoming municipal election, what are one, two, three questions that you think would best inform that person as to whether or not they should vote for him? Well, there's several issues in the city that I think are creating a lot of disorder in our streets, and I think a lot of that is due to the fact

that there are certain counselors who are advocates of defunding of the police. Those same counselors are also pro-harm reduction, which is handing out drug paraphernalia and even supply in some cases. I would ask them where they stand on those two topics, at least, because that will basically open the door to where they probably stand on a whole host of other issues.

So if you're a quote-unquote progressive and you think we should be handing out needles and meth pipes and meth and we should take away funding from the police, that right there gives you a huge clue on where this particular counselor would stand on the other issues. And also I like that, you know, you guys are pushing for a massive audit of the expenses at City Hall. I'd love to know as a city councilor,

would you vote in favor of said audit, an independent third-party audit of everything that's coming. coming in to the city hall and everything that's going out. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. All right. Oh, you know what? We can't say no to Kevin.

Welcome to the show, Kevin Vong. Hey, Ben. Hey. So during my 20s, I'm 36 now, for about 10 years of my 20s, prime partying time, I didn't go out. I didn't go out because I need to save to be able to pay off my 560 square foot shoebox in the sky. But I worked hard to be a. able to have a place to call home.

Yeah. And these illegal squatters think that they can just demand 800 square feet just because. Yeah. Well, because they've got trauma. The woman, the masked woman, listing the demands, claimed that just threw it out there. I've got trauma. That's why I am what I am. And you know what?

So to a lot of people. And a lot of people don't take this, this path in life. Kevin, what do you think the city should do? like what honestly like they've got the they've got resources they've got the police we've got we've got social workers

what do you think should happen to these 70 legal squatters in Dufferin Grove they should be removed so they don't have to go into a shelter they've been offered

and given the choice to but the city should not enable illegality they should not enable rule and lawbreakers because what they're doing is they're normalizing it so yeah

Yeah, if they think it's dehumanizing, then go elsewhere. But they have no right to continue to illegally occupy a city that all of us pay for. And especially the residents, these poor parents, I'm a parent now, who can't take their kids to the park. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, Kevin, thank you very much, my friend. And look, we saw, yeah, I'll take that in just a second. We'll take number three in just a sec.

But, you know, a couple of weeks ago, I was gobsmacked when I saw a TED talk by Osma Malik's chief of staff, where she said, we're the people who let cities break. You know, why paper over a problem? Why get rid of these people and get rid of this encampment, for example, if we can highlight the structural inequities behind them. And to me, that is not doing your job. That is advocacy work. And if you want to be an advocate, get out of government.

That was a shocking video. Oh, sorry, but it explains a heck of a lot. We are the ones who let cities break. We are watching the city break in real time. So part of me thinks there are politicians who want this sort of thing to happen. They are gleeful to see things like this. There's a lot by design that we don't realize, but it's actually intentional. Jake, welcome to the Ben Mulroney show.

Hey, how are you? Well, thanks. Yeah, I mean, I'm a very conservative voter, but, you know, I do think we'd have come up with a plan that government has to come up with a plan to help these people. You know, you walk in downtown Toronto, and it's just, it's out of control. And we have to come up with a real solution that we're actually going to be providing help for these people to help them get lives back on track. I was just, I'm all unfortunate to go to the hospital, and I was in the back of an ambulance for about 20 minutes, and I was talking to the paramedics, and, you know, one of the paramedics even had a knife in his boots. And I said, why do you have a knife in your boot?

And he said, he's had knives pulled on him three times in the last week on calls where they're basically dealing with drug addicts. People are just getting high, and you could sense the extreme frustration from them because these guys, unlike the fired up in the other way, They kind of put a firefighter show up. They're like, you know, the heroes. The cops show up and they, you know, they've got things they can do. Paramedics, they're still talking about whether they can put people in restraints. Well, yeah. And he said, you're talking about guys who are high as a kite.

Yeah. Violent like anything. And the paramedic, he said, if I wait for the cops, it'll be an hour for them to show up. Jake, thank you very much for the call. And look, for far too long, I think one side of the political spectrum has been allowed to determine and define the rules of engagement. And if you derogate from their worldview, they are able to, to ascribe motivation to you, and it's never good motivation. So if you don't ascribe to their

view on how we deal with homelessness or how we deal with drug addiction, then you are against solving the problem, right? It's their solution or no solution. And I reject that wholeheartedly. We are witnessing the downfall of the city in real time. And rather than have a productive conversation, if you don't subscribe to giving needles to everybody, then you are pro-homelessness. You are pro-drug addiction, and I reject that wholeheartedly. Let's take Nathan's call. Nathan, thanks so much for calling the Ben Mulroney show. Hey, Ben, yeah, no problem.

Appreciate you having such a great show. Thank you. Amazing what I'm driving, listening. So I sit there and I'm thinking, I'm listening to this, and I'm like, I think this is just my take. I think that this is the loony left, the super far left wing. I don't know who their bank rolled by, but I could take some guesses. It seems like this is crazy.

It's insane what they're asking, right? But there's a reason why they're asking for it. And I think they're seeing how far they can push the needle and how far what the reaction will be by the public. And I think this is all very purposeful. There is method to their madness in asking these and pulling these press conferences with somebody who's masked up with such absolutely assonine requests. Like 800 square foot condos for free. You get them. They're pushing the envelope.

Nathan, thank you very much. We only have a few seconds left. Carlos, I wish I could get to you, but I want to thank you for patiently waiting. Unfortunately, we can't get to you now because I want to give Daniel the last 30 seconds of this segment. Yeah, I just want to say, I think we're at a turning point right now. I think all eyes are on the city, and if the city wants to save face with whatever face they have left, they know what they need to do. They need to call in the police.

They need to handle business and not pander or appease to these people who have hijacked a lovely park in a lovely neighborhood. We're all eyes around the city of Toronto right now. All right, Daniel, thank you so much for joining us. Keep up the good fight. We appreciate it. We're renovating a hotel, expanding our resort, and breathing some life back into the lake house. All while raising a family.

It's messy. real and it's all us exciting i can't tell if that's your exciting face this isn't just construction this is our life who needs sleep building bombler all new sundays on home network stream on stack tv i do