The Ben Mulroney Show - The serious and the fun stories of the day -- mining vs Duck Lake

Episode Date: October 30, 2025

GUEST:   CEO Trent Mell   - Electra Battery Materials Corporation GUEST: Theo Yameogo -  EY organization's Metals & Mining practice across the Americas If you enjoyed the podcast, tell a friend! For more of the Ben Mulroney Show, subscribe to the podcast! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://link.chtbl.com/bms⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Also, on youtube -- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@BenMulroneyShow⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Ben on Twitter/X at https://x.com/BenMulroney Insta: ⁠⁠⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠⁠⁠ Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠⁠⁠ TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠⁠⁠ Enjoy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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That's annoying. What? You're a muffler. You don't hear it? Oh, I don't even notice it. I usually drown it out with the radio. How's this? Oh, yeah.

Way better. Save on insurance by switching to Bel Air Direct and use the money to fix your car. Bel Air Direct, Insurance, Simplified. apply this is the Ben Mulroney show it's uh it's uh it's the 30th of October we are basking in the glory of a wonderful and decisive win by our Toronto Blue Jays I say R I'm referring to the entire nation it is Canada's team there is pride from coast to coast to coast on this team that everybody wrote off, including yours truly at the beginning of this year.

A lot of people didn't think that we had a winning season, let alone being on the cusp of winning the world's series in our future. There is nothing to not be excited about with this team. They love each other. They have each other's backs. They believe they can win every single game. And the fact that they went into Chavez Ravine and took two of three and the two that they took, boy, did they take them in an incredibly dramatic fashion. The one they lost,

you could argue that not only were the baseball gods, but perhaps the umpires were against them. And this was a team that was a 500 team on the road this year, winning two of three in a time where they absolutely needed to win at least two. Congratulations to them. So they're coming home. And it is theirs to lose at this point with two more to go. They could win in six. They could win seven, knock on wood. I think the baseball gods are really smiling on baseball fans north of the border. This team has given us so much to enjoy at a time where there's not a lot to enjoy. However, in the news, yes, today has been a day of disappointing and frustrating news,

but not this next story, not this next story at all. We talk in Ontario a lot about the Ring of Fire. And the ring of fire is this deposit of critical minerals that are just sitting there waiting to be unlocked to the tune of, if you believe the Ontario government, 70,000 jobs are just waiting to be built around the mining, the responsible, environmentally responsible mining of that area could open up billions of dollars in economic development and tens of thousands of jobs. Our next guest is the tip of that sword. CEO Trent Mel of Electra Battery Materials Corporation. Welcome, Trent. Thank you so much for joining us on the Ben Mulroney Show. Thanks for having me.

I feel like the Blue Jays may be a more interesting conversation today. But yeah, happy to be here talking with this. Listen, the Jays make us feel good, but stories like yours are going to markedly benefit the Ontarians and indeed Canadians and the Canadian economy. So let's back this story as well. So talk to me about your company. and talk to me about this refinery that you're building.

Thank you. Yeah, look, Electra Battery Materials is a first mover in North America, not just in Ontario. And so Canada, look, we're known as a mining nation. We also make a lot of things, including cars. But somewhere in the middle, we call it the middle or the processing stages, when you start looking at where the world is going with batteries, we need to make our mine material into something different. Instead of metal, we need a chemical form.

And we just don't do that, right? So Canada's on both sides of that. China's in the middle. And so what we are doing, starting with cobalt, is we are taking mine material, and we're making it into what we call a cobalt sulfate, and that's the direct input into the batteries that power BVs and our phones and drones and everything else.

And so for years, you know, people would use the example of lumber. You know, we are a nation rich with lumber, and we produce so much of it. But what ends up happening is we'll take the trees and turn it into lumber, ship it to the states. They turn it into a chair or a table, ship it back here and we buy that chair or the table. And there's this frustration, why don't we, why don't we just do more of that at home?

And when you realize that 90% of the world's cobalt sulfate is refined in China, it means everything's got to go through them. That's the access point. That's the choke point, depending on your perspective. And for you to build out this refinery takes a little bit of that choke point away and brings a little bit of that building here. If 90% of it is refined in China and you're about to build a, competitor to that that that that industry in china how much of that of that 90% is going to

come to your mine uh your refinery i'm sorry yeah when we when we start producing we'll be about six percent of the world market but but significantly will be 100 percent of the north american market and your point ben you know in university we we talked about canada 150 years ago we don't want to be here as it wouldn't drawers of water yeah and and and yet here we are right here we are, we are, America is, it's rare earth, it's cobalt, it's lithium. And so this is the first brick in the road. Yeah, we are pioneering, you know, belatedly. I wish we, you know, I was hoping to be in production two years ago. Yeah. We're breaking down barriers. Look, the beauty is now with the support of the Ontario government, the Canadian government, and the U.S. Department of Defense. And the market

filed into this story, and we're finally back on track where I need to be. And about a year's worth of construction and this plant will be up and running. So, listen, we're going to talk about all those things in a second. But I remember during the election campaign, Doug Fords was asking, whoever won the election, he needed a road built from where we all live to the ring of fire. And Pierre Pollyev said, that'll be one of the first things I do. I'll build you that road. And so when you say you're pioneers, I have to assume that you really are pioneers building out in a wilderness. Like that area has not yet been developed into what it could be and what we need it to be. So what are you hearing from all the other parts and

and departments and levels of government that you need as stakeholders to help build out the ring of fire so that ultimately when you guys are at full capacity, life's going to be easier for you five, 10 years from now at that refinery than it is today, I have to assume. Yeah, it should. I mean, I'm a huge proponent of the ring of fire. I think it's the next suburbary, right? It's a generational opportunity to create jobs for 100 years or more. Big, big opportunity.

And the metals that they plan to mine could and should find their way to our door. right where so we're into miscoming shores we're blessed with a great wonderful community of about 12-13,000 so we've got a local workforce but look our feed is going to come day one we're basically displacing feed today that's mined in the Congo that's shipped to China so we're at we're at template of what you see in mainland China and our minerals are coming from their same supply chain in in the DRC we don't need it to be that way we can build the mines here ring of fire is a big one and mine the cobalt here that's the next leg of growth we're taking care of the messy middle the processing side. Ring of fire. Big, big, big fan. There's a lot of issues there. We got to get

her done. What role is the U.S. Department of War playing in your development? You know what? I hate to say it. They were first movers. It was they that came to our door. They knocked on our door as we started building post-COVID and we faced all the pains of supply chain shortages, inflationary pressures, and the rest of it. We paused our project because things were going off the rails for anybody trying to build in that environment. They knocked on our door and they said, we think you should apply for Defense Production Act Title III funding. I didn't know what that was. Yeah.

So what does that mean, though, in terms of when you ultimately have a product to go to market, how much of it are you obligated to, I don't know, share with them, sell to them, and do they get first crack? If they were first movers, do they have first right of refusal for your product? You know, interestingly, no. They just need to know that it's there if they ever need it. But when they went to war with Korea, the Korean War, the war machine wasn't ready. And that's where DOD had this pact with Canada that will fund into your country and you help us out when we got immobilized.

And that's kind of where we are. They gave us 20 million U.S. It's a grant with no strings attached. That's interesting. If America ever goes to war and they knock on the door, the Canadian government, Canadian government could call up electric and say, look, we need you to send some cobalt down to DOD. Well, what's your assessment? You know, Donald Trump sometimes speaks.

and when he says things, he doesn't necessarily mean what he says or sometimes he doesn't know what he's saying. But when he said months and months and months ago, Canada has nothing that we need. Everything that they produce, we make here. What do you, as you're building this a refinery out, what were you thinking when you heard those words?

Were you chuckling to yourself saying, just wait, because one day you're probably going to need us? Yeah, in fact, I will say the narrative with Elektra and U.S. ages, we engage with DOE and state. I spend a fair bit of time in Washington. So, you know, it's America first, but multilateralism is alive and well when it comes to critical minerals, right?

They did a deal last week, I think it was with Australia. But the biggest, most important critical minerals partner, America can have, and I think will have, is going to be Canada. I think it'll be a part of the big trade pact. They'll be at a lot of ways. And yeah, yeah, it goes up and down. And I keep my head down from all the, all the durations, the political side, because that's not my lane.

No. But when it happens, when we hit a trade deal, critical minerals in front and center and Electra as a first mover. We're a small company, but we figure prominently in a lot of these conversations across the border. Trent Mel, CEO of Electra Battery Materials Corporation, it's a good news story coming out of corporate Canada, coming out of the mining industry in Canada, stuff we don't often have. Very glad to be able to share that with the listeners of the Ben Mulroney show. Trent, thank you, sir, so much. I know you got a big road ahead of you. We wish you the very best. Thank you, Ben, and go Jay's. Go Jays. Up next. Let's dive deeper into this story. Will the feds

get on board to push more projects like this through. Welcome back to the Ben Mulroney Show and thank you for joining us on radio, on streaming apps, as a podcast, on social media, and on YouTube. Feel free to, if you're not following us yet on Instagram at Ben Mulroney Show is the address, please follow us there. share our content, and I would say the same about our channel on YouTube. Ben Mulroney's show has been there for a while. Lots of great content up there.

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And anyway, I want to talk now. about Doug Ford's historic deal to fast-track the ring of fire and what that means for Electra. We just talked about the to the CEO of Electra, the cobalt refinery, a refinery company that could see 6% of the global cobalt refinery business coming through Ontario.

I think it's a very, very big deal. And so to discuss this, we're talking with Theo Yamiyogo. He's an EY partner. Ernst & Young Organization on Metal and Mining Practices Across America. Theo, thank you for joining us. A pleasure. Thanks for inviting me. So, yeah, so this is a historic first and hopefully is the beginning of more investment

into the responsible development and development of the ring of fire. I don't think anybody wants us to go in there and just strip mine the whole thing. I think we want to make sure that it is done as responsibly in the most Canadian way possible. How do you see this? this announcement?

Well, first of all, you know, it's great to see that finally as a country we understand more of the value of the minerals we have in the ground and the metals we can produce to actually support economic growth in the world. I think that's super critical. The second one is maybe most people don't realize it, but Canada is actually known globally as the most responsible country when it comes to mining and processing minerals and metals. So we never really underestimate the value of interacting with, you know, like communities, whether they're aboriginal communities or they just, you know, cities.

And we also never, you know, underinvest in protecting the environment and protecting the floor and the fauna. So it's good, I mean, Ring of Fire has been in a talks for a while, so it's good to see that we're making headway. Is there something, you would know more than I, because the story, the knock on Canada, is that when it comes to opening mines, specifically mines, the hoops that you have to jump through means that it's over a decade to get a mine from conception to opening. But I have to assume a refinery is different than that. Why we're seeing a refinery open before any of the mines up in the ring of fire? Not really. I would say that when we talk about supply chain of metals and minerals, a lot of people, especially in Canada, focus too much on the mining side.

But we can mine a lot of minerals and metals. We're really well-in-doubt country for that. And there's still things we haven't even been looking for. right but processing and refinery is actually what is keeping us hostage from other countries right and we need to get that going because if we started we can even process other people's concentrate and we can get good at it and we can then become the producers of the high value part of right so the high value is when you get the when you get to the final product the high value is not really when you manage. Right. Well, I mentioned this with the CEO of Electra just a few minutes

ago where one of the knocks on Canada is we have the lumber, which we then, the trees that we turn into lumber that we ship to the United States and then they turn it into a chair or they turn it into a table and then we buy the chair or the table. And this is the high-tech version of that, I assume. Yeah, I would say that in the evolution of civilization in general, you know, over, you know, thousands or years, this is a typical stage to be in, you know, there's a time where you think that producing the raw material is good enough, and there's times where you realize that, you know,

you're losing a lot of, you're leaving a lot of money on the table. And by the time you get to that stage in your civilization, you actually get to have the right technology and capabilities to start doing more of it yourself. So it's an evolution, and it's great to see that it's coming at a time where we've been disrespected by some of our historic-aconic partners. So it's good that we actually wake up

and start thinking about getting it to the end results. Theo, there's another company, Frontier Lithium. They had a big announcement about fast-tracking their project. Tell us about that project and what it means. Well, I think what is it, important to know is, you know, in the list of curricul minerals, especially for Canada, lithium is front-right and center, right? Because lithium is super important in building batteries, not just for EVs, but also for batteries that you set up in your house so that you can offset

your dependence to the grade and the peak of the grid. So anything about lithium is great for Canada if we can get to the final results and like as in final product so to see companies at frontier lithium progressing is really really great in terms of our future what is important to it is that we need an ecosystem to support it because lithium prices swim a lot we've seen some bankruptcies in Quebec over the last 10 years so we need to make sure we're protecting those projects by making sure that a dip in the lithium prices, which can be done by, you know, other countries in the world that have controlled the lithium market, that a deep in those prices do not kill projects in Canada.

And does that, does that require more like bolder, braver investors in this country? Yes, and it also requires not just the investors, but also the government. We, when we, when we open up the ring of fire, or we reopen Plano in Quebec, or we come out of the project for the Arctic, it has to be a true nation building civilizational approach, right? Because we need everybody helping everybody to make it stay afloat. Otherwise, if we leave the market dictating it, we lose as a country. So what happens when I hear from the CEO of Electron, he says, one of the first movers in their project was the U.S. government by way of their Department of Defense, what do you hear? Do you hear that's a good thing, or do you signal that's a problem that the Canadian government needs to respond to? I think it's complex when you think about the dichotomy between the market and also the nation building. slash us as a country.

It's important for trend and his team, trend meld, the CEO of the Chinese team, to make sure there's a market for their product that they can sustain being their own public company and have their own investors. And it's not the only investment we've seen from the U.S. government or from the U.S. agencies. There's a lot of them on Canadian soil.

I think it's good for those companies is to get something tangible that they can start with. But to echo what all, you know, key people have been saying in Canada, it's much more important once you get that first dip to actually diversify your market so that we don't get hostage again. So this is... It's not a bad thing. It's not a bad thing.

So what we're suggesting today, it's great to be celebrating this announcement by the CEO of Electra. But this is the beginning of a long road. And if we don't keep our eyes on the prize, then today, we could squander this opportunity, is what you're saying. Absolutely. Absolutely. I'm really happy for Electra. You know, this has been a courageous project for the last probably seven and eight years. And it's good to see that they're progressing and it's, but it's also an opportunity for them to diversify the base.

And this is a company that if you look at things that they've done, It's really embedded in the Canadian culture of protecting the environment, working with First Nation, and the key pieces that make us different. Yes, so best practice, it can be modeled by other companies that are looking to extract from the Ring of Fire. Theo Yamiyogo, thank you very much, and we really appreciate your insights. on Paramount Plus. It's the epic return of Mayor of Kingstown. Warden? You know who I am. Starring Academy Award nominee Jeremy Renner.

I swear in these walls. Emmy Award winner Edie Falco. You're an ex-con who ran this place for years. And now, now you can't do that. And Bafto Award winner Lenny James. You're about to have a plague of outsiders descend on your town. Let me tell you this. It's got to be consequences.

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by asking Alexa to play the podcast Crime Beat. Welcome back to the Ben Mulroney Show. And yes, we have had some pretty heavy, heady stories. Some of them really frustratingly negative. A lot of headwinds facing construction in this country and mining in this country and trying to get a job at the CBC in this country. And so we decided that we wanted to talk about a story from the center of the country where, faced with some of these headwinds, the mayor is thinking outside the box. We take you to Duck Lake, Saskatchew, a town of about 580 people.

And let's go straight to the global news report on the opportunity that the mayor sees. The marketing opportunity for this, for somebody to actually get in on this one, they could just ride on our coattails. And you never know, we really might get something out of this that would actually keep the residents happy

and do something fantastic for our community at the same time. Now, what is this opportunity that the mayor is talking about? Naming rights for the city, the town. 580 people, Duck Lake Saskatchewan. They're selling the naming rights for a minimum bid of $10 million to fund crucial infrastructure upgrades like new water and sewer lines. I think the thing, no, I think the key word there is they're trying.

Trying to. Because you can set a price for anything. Yeah, that's true. You know? Mayor Jason Anderson, who you just heard, says the buyer would gain permanent naming rights with the new name appearing on Maps, GPS, weather reports, a move aimed at attracting corporate interests due to the town's high traffic location on Highway 11. Again, high traffic is all relative.

Oh, listen, we'll get to it a second. But the town council, right, because it's not just him. He's a consensus builder. Town council narrowly approved the idea three to two. Now, I find, so there's five people on the council. If it had been four or one, that's still kind of narrow. I don't think there's any vote that isn't narrow on the council of five people. And in case you are wanting to bid, you know, where is Duck Lake?

It's just north of Saskatoon. Yeah, okay. And Saskatoon is north of everything. And in the middle of everything as well. So here's the thing, though. The town council, as I said, approve the idea three to two. But they didn't consult residents first. And so it's got mixed reactions.

Let's listen to some of the Duck Lake residence reaction to this potential renaming of the city. Nobody in this town wants it. I don't know where he come up with these crazy ideas. But this is our town and it's going to stay that way. and actually he should just leave quit no i don't like it i hope they don't change it it's always been duck lake and hopefully it stays like that i don't approve just for the money you want to change the name but it's not up to him it's the people that's been living here for years doritos presents duck lake i mean i think that's where what we're

going for and listen i i'm not i'm not making light of these people's feelings. This is their home. This is what matters to them. But when the guy says, nobody likes this, well, there's three people on town council that do. That's just point of order, sir. Look, the bids close March 31st of next year. So they got time to, you know, get people interested? Well, yes, as the bidders come in from Google and meta to present the city with their ideas. Well, hey, it is north enough. Remember we were talking to Danielle Smith about

putting in those massive plants that because it's colder up there, they don't have to... Yeah, you're talking about the AI... Yeah, the hubs. Yeah, whatever it calls it. The storage farms. Yeah. My brain, I wasn't thinking about that.

Yeah, I wasn't either. Okay, well, thank you for that. You made them both look stupid. I don't need much to do that. Okay, so bids close March 31st. Then there's going to be a public meeting in April where residents while have the final say. And Aaron Anderson insists,

any buyer must align with the town's historic and cultural values. And Duck Lake is believed to have gotten its name from what the First Nations people call the small body of water there. And it's C-Siep Secajagan, referring to the multitude of migrating ducks in the spring and fall. I mean, if Duck Hunt, if that Nintendo game, Duck Hunt were still around. Oh, Nintendo.

It could be, imagine they changed it to Nintendo's Duck Lake. Or if, if, I don't know. You keep Duck Lake in there. Listen, how about if a company like Rockstar video games, right, the Rockstar media? Yeah. And they got billions, billions. If they went up there, mapped the town, and then created a video game that took place in Duck Lake.

Grand Theft Duck Lake. No, but like a brand new game. Maybe it's about zombies or maybe who knows what it's about. It's about a haunting at Duck Lake, the haunting of Duck Lake. With Grand Theft. Forget, get, forget, forget, We're not talking about Grand Theft. But if you were a video game creator and you went up there and you created a perfect 3D replica in the computer game of Duck Lake.

And part of the game was navigating the city. And then it could be Rockstar presents Duck Lake. And the game could be the haunting of Duck Lake. Or Duck Lake, the Duck's Revenge. See, I'm trying to give productive ideas. These are, this is a great game. Top five seller. The ducks get their revenge.

The duckening. Oh, the ducking. Duck Lake 2, the duckening. I think there's a possibility there where if a video game company really thought long and hard, they could set a game there and then that would be part of the naming rights and that would be a way to keep everybody happy. Because Duck Lake would be in the name of the game. How 2025 would that be for a video game company to buy the naming rights to a small town? in the middle of Saskatchewan.

Right, but what if that were like ground zero for whatever this game was about? A haunting, a virus, something, right? Anyway, in 2010, the city of Winnipeg announced a program to sell naming rights for a whole bunch of municipal assets. Including parking meters. No evidence that the city was successful.

And a lot of people in this city in Toronto were livid at how irresponsible city council was as we're facing budget shortfall after budget shortfall and they want to rename Young Dundas Square. They could have sold the name. They could have sold it to Duck Lake. They could have sold it to anyone. And instead, they gave us a performative name

that does nothing to help anybody except we spent money on coming up with new signs. It was very, very frustrating. Well, how much has MLSC made on selling the naming rights to their arena downtown? Yeah. It was ACC for the long time for Air Canada and now it's Scotia Bank. Right.

But here's where I think Duck Lake is going to come up, come into some trouble. The names are only as important as the location is. The reason that people, no one cares about, no one cares about a football stadium in Regina, except for the fact that that's where the CFL plays. And that's why the naming rights are important. and the more attention you have, the more eyeballs you have, the more traffic you have, the more relevant it is. And I don't see Duck Lake because it's on Highway 11 attracting $10 million in perpetuity.

Unless, as I said, you make it really creative. I go back to my video game idea because the whole point of it would be, the story would be that it is in the middle of nowhere. And could you imagine what that would do for tourism? If all of a sudden a video game company decided Duck Lake was where they want, their next video game to take place. Well, if you give it a good name, think about, you know, the town of Dildo,

which Jimmy Kimmel made famous. See, now you're just, now you're just taking it. No, but that's a real thing. No, no, they have, I mean, they have merchandise and stuff. They sell stuff. Yeah, of course they do. But everyone knew about Dildo before. I didn't need Jimmy Kimmel.

Yeah, but he put it on a broader scale. Dildo Manitore. Everyone knew about Dildo, Newfoundland, and Flynn, Mantob. We all knew about these places. Moose Jaws. A great name. Great place.

Yeah, White Horse. Great names. duck lake I'm telling you the more I say it the more I think it's a great idea they should be reaching out to the biggest video game companies

in the world and saying come visit us and see if you could set a first person mystery game here like the last of us right

make it a destination yes that's what I'm saying this is not a dumb idea that I'm having let's say sorry it's a dumb idea based on

it's a smart idea based on what I think is a kind of a silly premise. So I'm doing the best with what I'm being given here. But tell me you don't enjoy the fact that the mayor is like, oh, this is the greatest thing ever. And then the people are like, oh, he's got to go away. Yeah, but fundamentally as well, he's thinking outside the box. They're running on, people are, I don't have as much money.

I'm sure the tax base isn't what it used to be. They don't have the disposable income. They've got to do something to keep city services going. So he's doing what he asks to do. He's coming up with crazy ideas. maybe the idea that they land on will be, I don't know, a compromise between his idea and the idea to do nothing. Anyway.

Nobody in this town wants it. I feel his pain when he says it. I really, really do. That's why I'm just trying to come up with a solution where rich people with lots of money give Duck Lake a ton of money just to remain Duck Lake. That's what I'm trying to do here. All right. Up next, what Ohio is doing to prevent it to prevent its people from marrying robots.

You're listening to the Ben Mulroney Show. Blue Jays, Toronto Blue Jays, the Blue Jays, the Blue Jays, Toronto, Blue Jays. Welcome back to the Ben Mulroney Show. Welcome. You know what to start? There was a movie that was shot in Toronto years ago. It was called The Ladies Man. Yes, yes, yes. And it was shot actually in the Masonic Temple, back where I used to work.

I was based on a character from S&L. And it was the Laideth Man. Welcome to The Laideth Man. And he got a radio show. I can't believe I'd never go. Welcome to La Laideth Man. I can tell by my half-drug bottle of Kuvalier that it at the end of the night. And that song put me into the aura

and the ethos of the late of the man. That is not an AI song. That is not generated by AI, although you would be forgiven if you just assumed it was. Hey, chat, GPT, write me a song about the Blue Jays in the vein of black exploitation in 1970s films. And that's what you would get.

No, no, no. That is the original Blue Jays anthem. Not okay Blue Jays. That was written by Michael Lococo, who was a dentist. Can you play a little bit more of it? Maybe he's a background. He also played a synthesizer.

Well, he had made some on the tune. So this was from, as Michael Lococo remembers it. At the same time, disco was the in-thing, the Bejys. Saturday Night Fever. This was the era. So he wrote it as a disco number. Matter of fact, I anticipated a symbolizing baseball where the birds were chirping.

It would be three chirps for three strikes, four chirps for four balls, and nine chirps for nine. I love that syncopated rhythm. Yeah, I think he overthought it, but... I love it. Listen to that, huh? You know what it reminds me of? It reminds me of this song.

Yeah. Underwoman, there you go. Yeah. Same era. Oh, yeah. But, I mean, the BGs were huge back then. I mean, disco was it. Yeah, I'm a big disco fan.

I love disco. Yeah, I love disco. Hey, if you're looking for tickets for the Jay's games, if you look at Seat Geek for Game 6, we did find one ticket for under 2K, standing room only in general admission. Standing room only, $2,000 to stand and watch the game from the outfield. Hey, you know what?

I would have said before this World Series that there's no value in attending that game when you could watch it for free at home. However, the things that fans in the audience, and the stands have witnessed and been part of, there really is value in it. And if you are somebody who has $2,000 burning a hole in your pocket, you should definitely look into going to the game

because who knows, who knows what is going to happen tonight? Could it be an 18-inning marathon? I'd be willing to bet that those tickets are already sold. And as you said, 2000, probably the price went up to three. Yeah. So Ohio is a special place. and apparently unless you tell people

that they can't do something you have to assume they're going to do it and then when you find out they've done it then you have to write a law prohibiting it and you say to yourself what we didn't think we didn't think we had to tell anybody

that they couldn't do this thing but now that we realize they're going to do it now we have to make a law against it Ohio lawmakers have introduced a bill to ensure they got to make sure that people don't do this

artificial intelligence systems cannot be considered legal persons, meaning they cannot marry own property or make legal or medical decisions on behalf of humans. Apparently, some people in Ohio are flirting with the idea of flirting with machines and marrying those machines. The bill aims to close legal loopholes and hold humans in companies accountable

for harm caused by AI. And a representative said the bill, said it's about preventing courts from granted, AI human-like rights or responsibilities. I think it's more than that. I think it's making sure that people don't marry their AI. It's insane that you have to legislate against something like that. But I saw a video the other day of some guy who had his, I don't know, his AI fake wife.

Oh, yeah, yeah, exactly. No, but that actually wasn't even, there was Suzanne Summers' widow. You keep going back to this one. Yeah, who actually, I made it. He made it. He didn't just make an AI of Susan, Suzanne Somer so he could talk to her. He made an AI with a robot body. And why?

I mean, I can speculate why. I'm not going to, but I could. Before we go to this rap thing, I want to share why the apocalypse is upon us with people of a certain generation. So there is a woman who had a remote job and she took great issue with being asked to turn on her camera. Let's listen.

Yeah, I'm not going to be. turning on my camera today? Yeah, I'm going to need you to turn on your camera because it is required for all of our meetings. I'm not comfortable turning on the camera for today's call, and actually in our onboarding meeting that we had, you said that it's not necessary to turn on the camera. That can be true, because we can't proceed with any meetings without you're turning your camera on. I actually have a transcript from that call, and it says, like, for a fact, that we don't have to turn on the camera. I could forward the transcript over to HR if needed.

You know, we don't need to hear any more of this terrible employee's perspective because here's what you need to know if you are listening to this on the radio or there's no video associated with it. This woman recorded herself refusing to

turn on the camera. She has video of herself not turning on her camera. You see where we're going here? This woman has a side hustle as an influencer, uses the video to make money on that, but for the job that she actually has, that's where she took issue. And she decided, I'm going to pick a fight with my employer. I'm going to record it. I'm going to put it out there. And this makes sense to

me in my worldview and my role in that world. She was fired, by the way. She was fired. I'm sure she made this part of the video. I can't believe I was fired. Oh, my God. I I'm shaking right now. I'm shaking. I'm in my car. I'm shaking right now. No, wait a second. I'm triggered. I'm triggered. I'm so triggered. I'm triggered. I'm triggered by stupidity. I really am. But this is, honestly, this is social Darwinism at its best. This is a woman telegraphing to her employer. I do not belong in your company. Whatever your corporate culture is, I'm spitting in its face. I want nothing to do with building anything with you. I am a sticky wicket that needs to be oil.

and then they, at the first available opportunity, they said this doesn't work and you're gone. I wanted to talk about that, Ben, because our show starts at 9 a.m. Eastern, but I was thinking, you know, that's a little too early for me. So I'm going to actually start showing up at 10.30. I'm going to start showing up later. Oh, remember that woman who took issue because she had time blindness.

She struggled with time blindness. and it was really unfair that she lost her job because as somebody who struggled with time blindness, surely accommodations could be made. Time blindness is a nonsense way of saying that you're always late. You don't struggle with time blindness. You do not prioritize other people's time more than you prioritize yours. That's all it is. Apparently it's a real phenomenon. No, it's not a real.

No, it's not. But that's what they, that's what the people who. put it online. It's not. You're somebody who can't be anywhere on time. There used to be a name for someone like that. They called you irresponsible, selfish. And now you've turned it into an illness and you've made yourself a victim of this illness. And again, you can tell people you struggle with timeblindness. What you're really telling people is, don't ever hire me. You're actually doing people a service by by doing that. So I thank you for doing their job. I mean,

if someone hires you and you say you struggle with time blindness, that's on them. It can't help them. Can't fix stupid. You can't help people who won't help themselves. This fall on Flavor Network. I'm actually on Top Chef Canada. It's super surreal. being here. The search for Canada's

Top Chef starts now. Let's go! Ten chefs are on a culinary quest. It tastes like fear, anxiety, all at the same time, but delicious. Only one will be crowned. It's tough. One of the hardest things I've ever done.

Two minutes! Top Chef Canada, all new Tuesdays. On Flavor Network, stream on Stack TV.