The Ben Mulroney Show - The last minute attempt to get an injunction against the Al Quds march

Episode Date: March 13, 2026

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This podcast is brought to you by the National Payroll Institute, the leader for the payroll profession in Canada, setting the standard of professional excellence, delivering critical expertise, and providing resources that over 45,000 payroll professionals rely on. All right, here's what's up on the podcast. It's coming down to the wire. Will they or won't they? We're talking Al-Kud's Day. It's a celebration that came from the mind of the original Ayatollah in 1979 in Iran. It is a hate fest that has taken root in cities like Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. And certain politicians have decided that they are going to seek a court injunction to stop it.

Is it too little too late or is it better late than never? We will keep you posted. Let's get right into it. The Ben Mulroney Show podcast. It is the Ben Mulroney Show. And we are focused right now on Al-Quds Day. Al-Quds Day is only one thing. It didn't.

it wasn't created out of the ether. It was created in 1979 by Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini, the OG Khomeini, to express, well, this is what they say, to express solidarity with Palestinians and opposition to Israeli control of Jerusalem. Think about that for a second. Even if you want to focus on Israel and then explain why Iran has anything to do with it. explain why Iran has one for those out there complaining of the U.S. intervention in the Middle East, U.S. intervention, now do Iran meddling in a country that is not theirs. And then explain to me why Canada is celebrating anything that came from the mind of the Ayatollah Khomeini.

And since 1979, this has been a thing. It's marked in dozens of countries, including Canada, the U.S. and across the Middle East. And tomorrow in cities like Toronto and Montreal and Vancouver, it will be quote unquote celebrated. We asked the Palestinian youth movement, which is one of the groups involved, to comment. We got no response. We are open to hearing from them at any point in the show today.

But no response. And if you want to know what the goal of Al Quds is, we've got it for you. Now, keep in mind, this is from 2018, but the message hasn't changed. And the person you're going to hear from, Sheikh Shafik Huda, is the person speaking here in 2018. He was also a speaker, a well-respected, revered speaker at last year's Al-Quds Day. Let's take a listen. We pray to the Creator and to the Almighty, a day will come when we will see justice throughout the world, the eradication of the unjust powers, such as the American Empire, such as the Israelis,

and Zionists and said the same way that we saw the British Empire wither away. The sun never set on it. The sun sets on it. We will see a day coming, inshallah, God willing, in our lifetime, where this empire, the Zionist empire, the American empire, will be down in the dustbins of history, inshallah, God willing. Canada, that audio should bug you. It should bother you.

It should offend you. It should worry you. And if it doesn't, then you are part of the problem. You are part of the problem that is making this country weak and worse. And you may like that. You may like that Canada is divided. But then again, it reinforces the point. You are part of the problem.

This person, an invited guest on stage, was calling for the eradication of America, of Israel, and of the British Empire, which by extension is Canada. Appreciate that. This should bug the hell out of you. It should bother the hell out of you that our leaders, our leaders generally did nothing to stop this. Nothing to stop this. And today, Brad Bradford has asked, yesterday, he asked for an injunction.

A number of counselors have supported it. And now Doug Ford, the Premier of Ontario, said this afternoon in a video that he posted to social media, quote this afternoon, I've instructed my attorney general to pursue an injunction against the Al-Kud's Day demonstration plan for Toronto. Hate, violence, and intimidation have no place on the streets of Canada and our government will fight it however we can. We just played you audio that this is, in fact, a hate-filled demonstration. There are no two ways about it. This is not a day of solidarity with Palestine.

This is a day of hate. and that has no place in my Canada and if it has a place in your Canada, if you think it has a place here, I'm just going to say it, get the hell out. There are plenty of places in the world where stuff like this is acceptable.

Not here in Canada. Not here in Canada. You like this stuff? You want to stand for stuff like this? Get the hell out, man. Bye bye. Lisa Rate, who was, I believe, on with Greg Brady

on 640 Toronto this morning. had this to say. You know what? Cancel this March on the weekend. That's kind of my response to it. Announcements of money is one thing, but true action is the other. And just show them, show the communities that are involved that things are being done other than promising money that may get granted, that may go to people, that kind of thing in the future. Lisa Raid, obviously, was the former cabinet minister under the Stephen Harper government. And she is a, she's a sober mind. conservative-leading-leading Canadian. And I'm empathetic and cares about everyone. And when she speaks, I absolutely listen. Now, we can talk about this for a moment. It is a little bit

performative. There's an element of performance that our leaders have waited until right now. You could argue that. You could argue that. You could argue that, on the other hand, they were hoping that the city of Toronto might have done the right thing. And upon realizing the government was going to do nothing and Mayor Olivia Chow is pretty much in hiding right now, trying to avoid all questions as to how she's letting this go on in this time of heightened concern for the people, the Jewish people in this city, for our American friends. I mean, we've seen what happens. We've seen what happens. We saw that on the streets of Toronto, on the streets of Washington where two people were gunned down because, oh, we thought.

that they were Israeli agents or some nonsense. We saw what happened in Dearborn, Michigan yesterday, when a man ran his car into a synagogue, just feet away from where students, young kids might have been, and then got into a firefight with a security guard. This could happen here. So here is the superintendent of emergency management and public order. Talking about the difference between Toronto and London.

And keep in mind, London has canceled the parade, but not the actual demonstration. In other words, they'll let everybody get together in a square, I think, like, let's assume it's a square, but then they can't take, they can't go mobile, right? Once they get there, that's where it takes place, and then they can't march wherever they want. So he's explaining the difference between Toronto and London.

There are some important distinctions between here and London. First of all, London has not, the Metropolitan Police and London have not canceled the event. They've cancelled the march associated to the event out of fears of counter protest groups and the actual protest group itself becoming involved in violent exchanges on the parade route. So therefore the parade has been canceled or the march has been canceled, but the actual event has not been canceled. And to add, there is a different legislative framework in the United Kingdom versus here. However, rest assured that we do have lots of authorities that we can rely on should things get out of hand here, as well as lots of resources to deal with it.

All right, well, have things gotten out of hand in the past? There have been tense confrontations, heated exchanges, there have been isolated struggles between opposing groups, no major incidents of mass violence. However, yesterday is not today. And we've heard the mobilization of police that we are bringing to bear on what we think could be a flashpoint. Public order teams from TPS, Toronto Police Service, and other services.

ETF teams, traffic plans, the Toronto Police Service, public safety response team. And the question is, how much is it going to cost? It's hard to say. But the Toronto Police Association already knows that they are stretched thin. And they sent a letter to all members of city council, where they said that's why on February 25th, we partnered with other emergency services to send a letter

to Prime Minister Mark Carney and Premier Doug Ford requesting additional financial services and support to the city of Toronto. We've included the letter below. But our message was and remains very clear. of keeping the country's largest and most populous city safe cannot be the sole responsibility of the municipality and a coordinated funding model is essential to ensure the delivery of safe and effective services during these times. Yeah, listen, today isn't yesterday and we have been on a steady and slow march towards increased violence. We've watched it since the beginning.

And I know that I'm right on this because I've called it since the beginning. So people tried to get me canceled for calling it since the beginning. And here we are today. Do I hope to God that we have no violence tomorrow? Yes, I do. Is it reasonable to believe that there might be violence? Absolutely. And it is our shame that we allowed things to get this way.

All right, when we come back, we're speaking with a lawyer who's worked over the course of his career on several political law matters. We're going to ask about the possibility of getting an injunction against. the Al-Quds Day, and would it even matter if they got it? Don't go anywhere. This is the Ben Mulroney show. Not an astronaut. I don't need an astronaut. Audiences have spoken. Project Hail Mary is an awe-inspiring masterpiece.

So, I met an alien. If you've fallen out of love with going to the movies, this one will bring you back. Ryan Gosling, in the first must-see movie of 2026. Project Hail Mary, only Beaters. March 20th. Well, it is going to come down to the wire with Councillor Brad Bradford of Toronto, who incidentally, and I don't think that this is irrelevant, is running for mayor against Olivia Chow in the next municipal election set for October. And the Premier of Ontario are both after the same goal. They want this Al-Quds Day demonstration cancelled, and they're looking

to get an injunction at 3.15 p.m. on a Friday for an event that's happening on Saturday. To discuss this and as well as, you know, take a broader look at what's going on here. We're joined by Stephen Teal, partner at Gardner Roberts, who's been over the course of his career on several political law matters. Stephen, welcome to the show. Thanks for joining us. Thank you, Ben, for having me. So let's talk about what we just described there, sort of the deadline here. There's, there's a There's a time crunch here. How realistic is it that anything can be accomplished before end of business on Friday?

Probably not very realistic, Ben. It's theoretically possible. I've been involved in getting an emergency injunction over a holiday period and was able to do that. We found a judge. But you've got to put the material together. And I doubt that anybody has put anything together from the state of Toronto. legal departments. So it's unlikely. When you say put materials together, what would sort of a party that wants an injunction against a

group, and again, we'll have to talk about the groups involved, but against a demonstration like Al Qudsday, what would they have to put before a judge that would be compelling enough to get that emergency injunction? Sure. So you'd have to put a notice of motion together. That would get you your court file number, et cetera. And then you'd have an affidavit. that would be assembled and the information that you would want to include is how much is it going to cost the city of Toronto? Have there been past events like this that have created property damage? And you would create a record of all of the past events to make it compelling that indeed the city would suffer harm from this protest or rally, taking place tomorrow.

And that takes time. Yeah. Yeah. Does the injunction hold more weight if one of the parties seeking the injunction is the province of Ontario, the government of Ontario? I really don't think that the province of Ontario is the proper party, Ben. It would be the city of Toronto.

That's never going to happen. Stephen, that's never going to happen. Exactly. Which is... We haven't even heard from the mayor. No, no. She's in high... Peter.

I don't know where she is. I think she's getting her costume fitted for Carabana next year, but she's certainly not where she needs to be right now. There's been a lack of leadership, politically speaking, I think, on this file. It's been, you know, I've heard comments that, well, just sue the

people who organize the rally if there's damage. I don't even know if there's a legal entity involved. We've got you know, a youth or some youth group organizing this rally. They don't have the money. This is going to cost me. millions of dollars.

And that's the thing. I mean, there's a name, the Palestinian youth movement. I'm sure their name is found on the materials on the website. But that doesn't mean they are the only organizers or the only group involved. I mean, I've watched enough of the previous years, call them festivities, where all sorts of different organizations are brought together on this Al-Quds Day. And so, I mean, it's sort of like a hydra. You cut off one head and a whole bunch pop up in its place.

So even if you got an injunction, would you really be able to stop it, given the fact that we've seen so many demonstrations over the course of years have been allowed to proceed with no registration with the city, with no permitting? To me, it's almost like a fool's errand or worse, just strictly performative. Well, look, there's a couple of things there. There have been injunctions granted for other kinds of parties. You're going to love this one. St. Patrick's state events have been enjoined from like University of West Ontario, Wilfred Laurier University, etc. Wait, hold on. Hold on. I got to ask you.

There have been injunctions against St. Patrick's Day festivities on college campuses. Yes. And what did they show? What was in the petition that allowed them to get their injunctions? What were they trying to get stopped? So they were trying to stop these parties from taking place, the student parties at these campuses. And the city showed records of arrests, how much it cost.

For all these events, you know, you got 10,000 students showing up to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. and the court granted an injunction for that. So if I look at that letter that was sent by the Toronto Police Association that says that essentially they've called on the city, they've called to the on the prime minister and on the Premier of Ontario requesting additional financial support, would that, would that be evidence that this is going to be a financial burden on the city? Well, that would be part of the evidence,

but you'd really want the evidence coming directly from the city of Toronto as to how much it would cost and how much police costs have been incurred for past events. The city should have all those records, and that's the record that you would put before the court. How many arrests have been made at previous events or similar events? There have been all these kinds of protests all over the city. I broke through one last year, up in the bathroom. area, you know, these things have been going on for quite some time. Well, Stephen, let me ask a question because you said, you know, the proper organization

to bring this forward would be the city of Toronto. But the city of Toronto is a legal creation by the province. It only exists at the, at the behest of the province. I mean, there's no constitutional provision for the city of Toronto to even exist. So in that, in that case, couldn't the province say, yeah, this is just another thing we're taken away from them. We, you know, we want, yeah. Could you, could they not to that? Yeah, you have to understand that the power, though,

exists in the city of Toronto Act. So there's a specific section that allows it to enforce its bylaws. So my understanding from reading Brad Bradford's press release is that there is no permit for this protest for Saturday. No, there never is. And everyone will be masked. Everyone will be masked, probably, and no permit. Right. And so that's a breach of the city bylaw, presumably, right? You need a permit to hold this kind of event because what does the permit do? It shifts the costs onto the permit holder. Right.

Right for policing and everything else to keep control. You know, I've done events where, you know, you want to hold a barbecue in a park for thousands of people. You've got to pay for police costs. You've got to get the permit. Yeah. So the city of Toronto is empowered to do that. Could the province do it? theoretically or an individual could do it. They can enforce a bylaw, but you need an individual. I think the province really doesn't stand in the shoes there. They could, I suppose, take the power back at some point in time, but that's not going to happen.

So, Stephen, they couldn't come in there. Part of the argument couldn't be, we've watched it and we were hoping. hoping that the city of Toronto would act in the best interest of the city and the taxpayer and those communities who are already unfairly targeted by misinformation, disinformation, and anti-Semitism, and therefore it is incumbent upon the representatives of that city by way of Queens Park to do that for the city? Well, it's really incumbent on the city to do it. But in the absence of them acting responsibly, couldn't the province say,

look, if you're not going to act, we're going to take over. If you're going to insist on putting your heads in the sand when you know that this is happening, when you know that three synagogues were shot up, when you know that somebody had a firefight after crashing into a synagogue, just one one area, one state over from where we are in Michigan and Holy Blossom was vandalized.

Yeah, we're going to do this because you're refusing to see what is plain, as plain on the nose on our face. I think that's really a very theoretical argument. I think there'd be a lot of problems with the province doing that, Ben. It really is the responsibility of Mayor Chow and city council to be controlling the streets and the sidewalks and the area that are under its control to be showing the leadership.

Yeah, all right. And they haven't been doing that, obviously, because we're at 3.30 now. Almost. Exactly. Stephen, we're going to have to leave it there. But thank you so much to Stephen Teal, partner at Gardner Roberts. We appreciate you. Yesterday, the city councilor Brad Bradford of Toronto, who is running against the mayor,

Olivia Chow in the next election, sought an injunction against Al-Quds Day. And just a little while ago, the Premier of Ontario in a video that he posted to social media with a background of Canadian flags echoed that. that the Attorney General of the province of Ontario was directed to seek an injunction against this hate-filled rally. And we played some audio for you demonstrating that there is some terrible blood liables and anti-Semitism, an anti-Western sentiment that can only be viewed as destructive, toxic, and hateful. Can't look at it any other way. Anyone who says otherwise is either obtuse or a liar. and we've got about an hour and a half before the end of business today for them to get that that injunction to try to stop this demonstration.

Something tells me that even with a demonstration, that will not stop hate from spilling into our streets. But the question that we posed to you, and we want to hear from you here on the Ben Mulroney show, is, is it too little too late? Is it performance? what do you make of this last minute attempt to stop this demonstration? I tend to believe that perhaps we were hoping that the city would do the right thing. But not only are they not, they did they not do the right thing? Olivia Chow has gone to ground. And we've seen neither hair nor hide of the mayor on this matter.

So let's check in with you and see what you think. Phil, what do you think? performance or principled stand? Well, Ben, first of all, I want to say, you know, probably even on behalf of the Jewish community, we genuinely appreciate the even-handedness and the passion with which you have, you know, expressed your views in what has been turned out to be an otherwise highly anti-Semitic climate. Well, thank you very much. I try to be fair.

I try to give credit where credit to do yesterday when the global imam council jumped into the fray and stood in solidarity with the Jewish community of Toronto. I gave them the praise that I thought they deserved. I think it was something that we needed to hear. And so I'm not, I don't reflexively push back against people because of who they are or what they look like. But the content of their character, to use a phrase that we all know. Let's talk about whether it's performative or not. But some five days or a week or so ago, you know, we had a bunch of synagogues shot up.

here in Toronto. And then on Tuesday of this week, we had the U.S. consulate. Yeah. Today's Friday. Yeah. Why, you know, all this, this, you know, clap trap about, oh, we're so concerned and place has no, so hate has no place here. Of course it has a place. We're making a place for it. It's going to have a place on Saturday. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well, listen, I think we, to me that, and I say this with respect, I think we're conflating two things because the people who say hate has no place are the thoughts and prayers people who are useless on this file.

And they're the ones who claim that Al Quds is all about freedom of speech and freedom of expression. And those are the people like the mayor who are happy to wring her hands and say there's nothing I can do. This is just their charter rights. Those who have been pushing back, those who were pushing for bubble zones, those who are pushing for, those who are pushing for more arrests, those who are pushing to get people to take the masks off and to not block access to Mount Sinai Hospital. Those are the people trying to do this. Now, it may be too little too late, but the people who are pushing for this are not the same people who are saying the empty hollow things. Well, no, but not entirely true. We had the Premier say that there's

no place for this. This is not our city. We had the solicitor general say, this is not Toronto. why could we say all those things and then do nothing until today? Yeah, I listen, it's a very good question and a fair question. I had a lawyer on just a few minutes ago who said that the actual, the party who rightly should be bringing the injunction, the actual party that would be, that fits the mold is the city of Toronto. I understand, but what you do in those cases, you say, so listen, Mayor Chow, your deadline to you bring this is going to be.

a Monday end of day. And if it's not done by then, we will do this on your behalf, and you'll be shown up. Yeah. But what did they do? They set on their thumbs, waited until it's at the 11th hour, and then it's a kiss and a prayer. It's ridiculous. And all the rhetoric, well, imagine if I said this to you, Ben, we're going to have a KK rally and we're letting it happen, but believe me, we're going to be on the lookout for hate. Exactly. Hey, Phil, thank you very much. I appreciate it. He's right. Yeah, no, we're going to keep our eyes open. If we see anything hateful at that, at that clan rally, we'll let you know. And they, you know, not for nothing, but in both cases, they wear masks.

Janet, welcome to the show. Hi, am I on the air? Yes, you are. Okay, I've heard everything everyone said, and I agree. And I also want to thank you for speaking up and your whole station that speaks up. Well, thank you. Thank you. So I was telling the director of the program, in 1970, I was first-year student at McGill and Pierre Laporte incident. and we had the Army on campus, and they brought in the War Measures Act. Why? Because it was deemed unsafe for people, and they were looking for who was kidnapped and then murdered. And this is reminiscent to me, and we need the government to stand up for everybody else.

All the good people in Toronto that want to go about their business on the weekend. And this is not right. And, okay, so Ford said it today, but at least he said it, and I agree, where they're protecting us. Yeah. Janet, thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you for calling it. And Stan, welcome.

Hi, Ben. Thank you again. Another person thanking. Thank you. We'll keep thanking, no problem. So a couple of things. O'Kuds, the idea of it is to protest the fact that Israel exists by going after Jerusalem, which is what Al-Quds means.

That's the first thing. The second thing is I had an experience with Mayor Chow. I'm involved in the Jewish community, and I was at the Hanukkah Party at the city hall two years ago. She was there. She wasn't there at the last, at the one this year. But I'm standing with a friend of mine who was a Muslim and who's very much a supporter of Israel, as many Muslims are. And as we're staying there, the mayor comes over, she introduces herself and she says to us,

so isn't it early to have a Hanukkah party? And if you remember, Hanukkah and Christmas started the same day in that year. And I said, no. I said you wouldn't say that about a Christmas party, if it happened today because people have Christmas parties early. Sure, sure, absolutely. And she kind of shook her head. And then I said, and besides, we take every opportunity we can to celebrate our victory

over our oppressors. She turned and literally ran from us. And my, that's language that you'll hear a lot of at Al Kudze. I watched a lot of videos today, and there's a lot of that talk. But the thing is, mine's true. Yeah, I know. I know. I know. I thank you very much, Stan. And be well. I really appreciate you listening. We got time for one more. Bruce. Welcome.

Yeah, hi, Ben. Hi. By the way, big fan of your father voted for him. So I was a big fan of his and I never got the chance to vote for him though. Oh, that's too bad. But anyway, yeah, quickly, maybe too late for the injunction, but it's not too late to bring up the fire hoses. Look, you know, I have been saying since the beginning that at some of these rallies where we've seen some awful, vile, hateful behavior, I say back up the paddy wagon and arrest people en masse. I know that the cops are a little bit nervous since the G20 years ago. But you know what? Time to nut up and do this thing and let people know that they've crossed the line. And if you hear something like that shake that we played before who says,

You know, we're looking for the liquidation of the American Empire and the British Empire and this Israel's Zionist Empire. You go up on stage and you slap the cuffs on that guy and let everybody see it. And let the courts figure it out. Let these people hire lawyers, waste time and money defending themselves. And we'll see how many people show up next year. Well, that's why we're in this situation now is because we haven't done that in the past. Do that exactly. And by the way, I would say that about any rally that featured hateful behavior and hateful rhetoric.

It's not specific to Al-Qudson. It just happens to be tomorrow. If this were a rally from a different cultural community saying vile, terrible things about another, I'd say back up the paddy wagon, arrest them all, and let the chips fall where they may. Thank you very much for all the calls. I really appreciate it. My name is Mickey Fox. Friday, February 27th on Global.

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