The Ben Mulroney Show - The key moments from the Throne Speech and what it all means

Episode Date: May 28, 2025

Guests and Topics: -Surprises from the throne Speech with Guest: Paul Wells, Canadian journalist and pundit If you enjoyed the podcast, tell a friend! For more of the Ben Mulroney Show, subscribe to the podcast! https://globalnews.ca/national/program/the-ben-mulroney-show Follow Ben on Twitter/X at https://x.com/BenMulroney Enjoy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Ben Mulroney Show marches on and I thank you for joining us on our journey. I would be lying if I said that I paid attention to every single throne speech that has ever crossed my path and I've ever been alive for that would be a lie. So I, when I looked at the one from yesterday, I kind of look at it in a bubble sort of in a vacuum devoid of historical context, but somebody who can bring a lot of that context to the conversation to talk about, you know, how,

what yesterday meant compared to perhaps throne speeches of the past is our next guest, please welcome to the show, Paul Wells, a journalist pundit and overall great guy. Paul, thank you so much for joining us today. Hi, Ben. Thanks for having me. So I really wanted to talk to you because in your sub stack that you wrote on this, you said about a couple of paragraphs in you said, I saw two surprises big enough to make me write today. So tell me about the surprises that made you want to write about the throne speech.

So yeah, I mean, I was running errands yesterday, just about everybody who could get into the Senate to see the king was there. And I was taking my car and to get the winner tires taken off. And I was going to let I was going to leave it to the pack. And, and but then he said two things. One was Canada needs to build a coalition of like minded countries that Canada will lead. And that's the first I've heard any kind of language like that. And he said, what he's talking about will be demonstrated at the G seven. Well, there's a million associations of like minded countries in the world is G seven

G 20 NATO. Yeah, no, the Commonwealth. He's a Pacific, etc. Yeah. And so if that means something, it means something new. And I can't for the life of me figure out how he's going to do it. And I think you pointed out, I think you pointed out, Paul, like, you don't, you don't say things just to say them in the throne speech. If it's in there, it's because it matters. Yeah, this was an unusually short throne speech, which to me

is a good thing. Yeah. But that means that every word should count. And I, if he doesn't mean anything by that, then it shouldn't have been in the speech. Yeah. Yeah. And that's a good point. I mean, what, what, what new organizations do we need to build and lead that we're not already part of? I mean, have you racked your brain? Have you given it some thought like any, any theories as to what they might've been talking about? I got nothing. It's he's dropping very strong hints. In an interview with the CBC yesterday, he made it clear that he plans to join a European

procurement consortium. Yeah. But that's not Canada building or leading anything. No, you know, it's probably a good idea. Yeah, this isn't bad. Yeah, I said as much just a little while ago on the show that to me, I mean, I take him at his word when he says it's 75 cents of every procurement dollar that we have is goes to the United States, doesn't hurt to diversify and and find other people to take our money that we can take their their military equipment from.

I think that's a fine idea. But that you're right. That's not building a new coalition, nor is it leading it. Yeah, exactly. So that I mean, so at the end of the day, I'm just left with a question mark and something I plan to keep my eye on. Yeah. Yeah. And so what was the second thing that popped up? The other thing is that he wants to make Canada a global head, a global hub of science and innovation. And I'm one of the very few journalists in the country who keeps an eye on Canada's position as a science and innovation leader. and it really isn't one.

It's further from being one that it was fifteen years ago. And he has said nothing about science and innovation apart from a again a vague plan to adopt AI within government. He said nothing about science and innovation until yesterday. And so I'm really curious what he plans to do to make that sentence more than a happy wish. Yeah, and you drilled down into that, Sir, offering some pretty important data to support your contention that, you know, we're actually drifting farther away from the pack,

let alone being in a position to lead it. And this is to me, you know, one of the sad things about Canadian politics is our Canadian politicians and specifically our leaders, it just so happens that it's been the Liberal Party for so long. But they very much like to make bold pronouncements about leading being the first doing something innovative, being bold, and then stopping short or coming up with a half measure or a watered down version that doesn't really get us anywhere except, you know, just create some more bureaucracy,

spends money and then doesn't get us anywhere close to the stated goal. Well, this is it. And to the extent that Mark Carney has impressed Canadians, and I mean, I've seen polling since the election, it's just that people are pretty interested in what he's doing. And by and large, fairly impressed. It's because he seems like a departure from that too long tradition of empty puffer. Yeah, you know? Yeah. And

so I, as I said at the end of my piece yesterday, I think this was just words, but I'd be delighted to be wrong. Yeah. Now, now, generally speaking, if we take a step back and look at the throne speech, what did you think of the day yesterday? Well, you know what, I went, there was a reception afterwards for whoever wanted to show up at a watering hole near parliament. And the mood was just fantastic.

And I ran into a fair number of conservatives who were fine with today, you know, good to see the king, good to see that he was willing to act in his capacity as King of Canada. And it was very hard to find anything in the throne speech that just sounded nutty on the face of it. Well, they also mean a lot of the conservatives sort of half half jokingly suggested that their priorities

were laid out in that throne speech. Yeah. I mean, it's kind of like John Shirey won the conservative leadership in 22. Yeah. And then won the federal election, you know, there's very little in that speech that John Shirey would have a problem with. Yeah. And to be a little bit less sort of cranky and cynical about it, honestly, it does the heart good to see, uh, Justin Trudeau, Margaret Trudeau, and Stephen Harper sharing a laugh and trading notes, uh, at a big event, you know, that's the sort of, uh, we all are all actually of good heart and in this together that we haven't seen much of in Canada in the last little while. Well, yeah, you know what?

Let's expand the conversation a little bit then, Paul, because we heard last week from the caucus meeting that Pierre Poliev wants to present as a quote government in waiting. And I wonder whether you think that that indicates that there might be a tonal shift in the party when he ultimately assumes a seat in the House of Commons, going from the zingers and the, you know,

the attempts to go viral that served him very well, by the way, but do you think that there might be an attempt by the conservatives in this new parliament to present as, you know, more adult than we might've seen in the past. I think you picked up on the on the three words that I will mention, which is government and waiting. Yeah, I think here probably have went and the conservatives went very far and had an impressive result. But if they lost, it's because too many Canadians didn't believe that he could be the government. And so he, a little too late, is going to move to address that. And he's going to have a real challenge because he does have to

be the opposition. He does have to be not only critical, but often angry at what the government does while also conveying the message that he's ready to take the job on when the opportunity arises. It's doing two jobs is always harder than one. So you just said you said a little too late. Are you are you of the mind that that his time as leader is is is over like he's passed his expiration date? Or you or you just mean too late for the last election?

Or it's too late for the last election for sure. And I'm not sure that his leadership is safe. This business of having to go out and get it running the by election is horribly embarrassing for him. And he seems to be going about it in as dignified a way as possible. But that's going to in as dignified a way as possible. But that's going to leave open questions about whether he should stay on as leader. Even though frankly, you know, it turns out that nobody in the caucus is asking those questions in public.

I'll believe he's safe, you know, maybe at the end of the year if he's still got the gig. Paul, in about 30 seconds, just one last question. What'd you make of Justin's shoes? I thought Justin's shoes were fine. He's not the prime minister. You're three hours in a room and you're trapped. You might as well be comfortable. There's a long list of things I would criticize the former prime minister for. His choice of footwear is not one of them. Fair enough, Paul. Hey, thank you very much. I know how busy you are. Really appreciate getting your take on yesterday for the listeners of the show. Really appreciate you, man.

Thanks for having me on, Ben. Welcome to the Ben Mulroney Show on this Wednesday, May 28th. Thank you so much for taking time out of your day and joining us here on the show. We can't do the show without you. If it's just me screaming into a microphone, I don't know that anyone pays me for that. I don't think that's a job. So thank you very much for giving me somebody to talk to. I really appreciate it. Mark Carney is definitely going to be experiencing a trial by fire with as a new prime minister, new to politics in the role that he's in. He's got a lot of international travel coming up and all of it warranted by the way. This is not a criticism,

as was a criticism of perhaps the previous government where cortege's of hundreds of people would jump on planes to go to any international conference they could find. He's got to go to the NATO conference and summit. And then he's going to be actually back here in Canada to host the G7 summit from June 15th to the 17th in Kananaskis, Alberta. And that was Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United

States. Well, this year there may be another guest in attendance because there are people saying close to the situation, sources are claiming that an invitation has been sent out by Mark Carney to the president of Mexico to attend as a guest of the summit. And this could have real and interesting implications for our relationship with Donald Trump, because by having the third member of NAFTA present at the summit, there could be side conversations with Donald Trump.

Donald Trump gets along very well with President Scheinbaum very well. And so perhaps by having her there, that gives us as a nation represented by our prime minister a better chance at, I don't know, finding a path forward on tariffs, on trade, on reinventing NAFTA, I guess the Kuzma or whatever you want to call it, that is up for renegotiation. Mark Carney has said that he wants to get that done sooner rather than later. It does not behoove anybody to kick the ball down the down the field any longer than we can if

it needs to be renegotiated at some point might as well renegotiate it now. And maybe having her there on home turf could be an advantage. So I think it's a fine move. I like it very much. You know, we used to have, they used to have the G8, right? When they'd invite Russia

and that didn't really get us anything. So let's bring Mexico in. Let's bring Mexico in and see if we can have a side conversation with Donald Trump about how we can get to a yes on on on renegotiating NAFTA to everyone's satisfaction and getting to a place where whatever tariffs we have imposed on us are minimal. Like that's I think what we all want. And if that can happen, or at least those conversations can begin at Canon Ascas, then that'll be a win for everybody. That is my hope.

Now, Donald Trump, you'll remember was, uh, I believes that the world is a better place and a safer place because he is president. And in his first term, you could very well make that argument, right? You could absolutely say that there were no, no foreign wars or being fought by any, in any meaningful way compared to what proceeded him and what came after. But he said, you know, and when I get into power,

I'm going to fix all the problems that happen on Joe Biden's watch, including I'm going to solve, I'm going to solve the problem in the Middle East as it relates to Hamas and Israel. And I'm going to get that Ukrainian war to end right quick. No one's going to mess with me on my watch. And that is not happening. That is not happening. Donald Trump is sort of flabbergasted that even though he's president, Vladimir Putin is still prosecuting a very bloody war just over the weekend launching the bloodiest drone and missile attack of the war with just under 400 missiles and or drones sending explosives into Ukraine

and killing at least a dozen people. And when you're, when you have a particular worldview and the world pushes back and challenges it, you know, you got some explaining to do, not necessarily to people like me, but to yourself. Here's what Donald Trump had to say about Vladimir Putin. What Vladimir Putin doesn't realize is that if it weren't for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia. And I mean, in all caps, really bad. He's playing with fire. I don't know what Vladimir Putin sees when he reads that.

I know it's intended as a threat, as a warning, as a caution, but I don't think Vladimir Putin sees the world the way the West does. And I don't think Vladimir Putin sees the world the way the West does. And I don't think Vladimir Putin sees his role in the world as we do. So I don't know that this lands on him. I really don't. And so this is a problem that was supposed to go away under Donald Trump. And it's going to be incumbent on him to figure out a way to get it done. But Vladimir Putin doesn't play well with others.

So we'll have to see how that goes for Donald Trump and his ultimately his legacy. You'll remember last week in the Oval Office, the South African president was brought in for, I guess he came in for a state visit and Donald Trump challenged him on the treatment of white farmers in that in that country. There are stories of dozens of white farmers being killed. And some people are thrown around the word genocide, which I wouldn't I don't believe it's a genocide, but that doesn't make it any less of a problem. I don't think somebody has to be called a genocide for it to be of national and international importance. You know, when people are being killed because of who they are, that's a problem.

And when you have political leaders sort of calling for that murder, that's a problem too. The president poo-pooed it. He said, it's not a problem. I'll explain it to the president. But here he is, President Ramaphosa of South Africa, trying to explain why the chance of kill the boar, which are the whites, and kill the farmer

are not incitements to do just that. When it comes to the issues of arresting anyone to do just that. own laws that has its own processes and we take into account what the Constitutional Court also decided when it said that you know that slogan kill the bull, kill the farmer is a liberation chant and slogan and it's not meant to be a message that elicits or calls upon anyone to go and be killed. And that is what our court decided. This is one of those examples of don't talk to me like I'm an idiot. You would have to be an idiot to accept that logic. People are chanting kill the farmer and farmers are being killed.

Sorry, Mr. President. That's what's happening. You've got people chanting kill farmers and farmers are being killed. You can call it a liberation chant all you want. It's an incitement to violence. It's a, it's, it's, it's a permission slip to conduct violence against people of a certain racial group. The fact that you're a sovereign nation, the fact that your courts said so doesn't matter. These people who are citizens of your country are being persecuted and killed. And you are normalizing a chant calling for them to be killed. That's a abject failure of leadership. It is beneath the office that was once held by a great man in Nelson Mandela.

And it will be a shame and a stain on your nation for years to come. And until you acknowledge it, it will be your shame to carry, sir. Doge in the United States is, what's that? Yeah. Oh, I want to get, I want to get something very quickly here. This is Ron DeSantis talking about how Doge has not lived up to what it was supposed to

do. I, it's a little frustrating. You know, Elon Musk, uh, went into this Doge effort. Uh, he was getting lampooned. I mean like they're firebombing his Tesla dealership, media smearing him relentlessly, his businesses suffered, all this stuff because he basically said, look, we can't keep doing this and we need to moderate and reduce the amount of money that the federal government is spending and yet we have a Republican Congress and to this day we're in the

end of May past Memorial Day and not one cent in Doge cuts have been implemented by the Congress Allies are lining up possibly against Donald Trump The best high-concept sci-fi rig of a roll in the universe is back The best high-concept sci-fi rig of her all in the universe is back. What the hell? Oh, sh**. How long was I out? Close airlock seven! Rick! Seth, please let me out.

Rick put you in there for a reason, speed. Mom, just... Get back here! This is for your own good! Rick and Morty. New season, Sundays on Adult Swim. Stream on StackTV. Get your mouth rounded.