The Ben Mulroney Show - The Toronto cast – A major organized crime bust and death threats to the Mayor of Brampton

Episode Date: July 16, 2025

- Phil Gurski, CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting, former CSIS Sr. Strategic Analyst on Terrorism - Karlene Nation/Downtown Concerned Citizens Organization If you enjoyed the podcast, tel...l 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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Starting point is 00:00:00 Ready to flip your idea of shawarma? Introducing the walking shawarma, the viral new creation from Osmos and Doritos that's changing the game. We're talking finely carved, juicy chicken shawarma loaded with your favorite toppings, gooey mozzarella cheese, and drizzled with Osmos signature sauces all served straight inside a bag of sweet chili
Starting point is 00:00:21 heat Doritos. It's crunchy, it's saucy, it's straight up fire, and you can customize it your way. No forks, no plates, no rules, just bold handheld flavor that walks with you. Perfect for summer hangs, beach days, movie nights, or those late night cravings that hit different. But heads up, this bold mashup is only around
Starting point is 00:00:43 for a limited time, so don't miss your chance to taste what everyone's talking about get to your nearest Osmos and try the walking shawarma today Bull meat shawarma your taste buds will thank you trust the walking shawarma only available at Osmos for a limited time Welcome to the Ben Mulroney Show. Thank you so much for joining us on this Hump Day edition of the show. It is Wednesday, July 16th. And if you know anything about me, you know that once I start talking about food, there's very little that will get me to stop. And but we have to start the show talking about food because a few weeks ago, we had a member of the BN Colin family here on the show, we had a Robert Biancolin. Their family has owned the Carousel Bakery at the St. Lawrence Market for nearly 50 years. And over the course of that, the time owning that bakery, they invented a little sandwich known as the Peameal Bacon Sandwich. And look, you may, you may love it, you may never have had one. I did not think I would like it. It turns out I loved it. But you may be indifferent about it,
Starting point is 00:02:09 but it absolutely is one of the defining aspects of this city and has been since its inception. And for that reason, for having invented something seminal, timeless, that will endure long after we're all gone. Mayor Olivia Chow awarded the key to the city to Robert and his brother Morris, the owners of the bakery. And I would like to give another tip of the hat
Starting point is 00:02:37 to that family for what they've done for having shepherded the bakery in this city, in the historic St. Lawrence Market for so many years. And whatever they're gonna do next, I wish them the very best. And whoever takes over the Carousel Bakery, I wish them the best. All right, I told you that normally,
Starting point is 00:03:02 if I start talking about food, I normally don't stop. I would have gone from that sandwich to another sandwich, which I really want to tell you about, but I'm not gonna do that because the news of yesterday is something that has to be discussed today on the Ben Mulroney show. And the news is of Project Ghost. Project Ghost was a massive police sting operation
Starting point is 00:03:25 Project Ghost was a massive police sting operation in Peel region where they ended up charging 13 people with 197 offenses, 23 offenses related to organized crime and five youth related to community safety and wellbeing resources. So of these 13, five of them are under the age of 17. I think the eldest is 24. And this is a sign of things to come. This is where we're headed in this country,
Starting point is 00:03:49 where younger and younger people are being brought into the life of crime. One of the reasons is you can replace them easily. And the youngest ones, the assumption is they are gonna get a pass, or they are gonna get a wrap on the knuckles because they are going to get a pass or they are going to get a wrap on the knuckles because they are so young, they don't know what they're doing. But this is a huge, a huge blow to organized crime in that region, in that area.
Starting point is 00:04:19 And let's listen to the Deputy Chief of Police, Nick Milinovich, talking about Project Ghost, but focusing on the victims. Imagine being asleep at your home at three o'clock in the morning with your family, your kids, when the door explodes open and masked armed criminals break into your home and immediately begin to rob you and assault you. That was the experience for one of the families here. In fact, he and his wife were both stabbed during that incident and he represents the experience that many other families and communities had during the criminal activities that were conducted by this group. Yeah, that's by the way, that's Milnovich. I do apologize to the deputy chief.
Starting point is 00:05:14 But you'll remember two days ago on this show, we had a guest on to talk about his harrowing account of being part of a family living in a house that was home invaded twice in a couple of months. And so if you can imagine this group of young people was terrorizing entire neighborhoods. People didn't know if they want to sleep at night, would they have, would they be sleeping in safety? And they were, they were going from one place to another, stealing watches, stealing cars with impunity. So the fact that they were all rounded up is a huge victory for, I gotta say for,
Starting point is 00:05:57 like the fabric, the social cohesion of that city and of those communities. Because look, if I lived, I get these flyers from the security company that we use for our alarm. And they let us know about crime in the neighborhood. And during COVID, the crime was migrating to different places.
Starting point is 00:06:20 And they said, look, we're noticing that there is a movement of crime closer and closer to where you guys live. And it was a little concerning. We never had to deal with anything, but I definitely felt like, oh my goodness, maybe I should build a moat, get a drawbridge, keep everybody out. So that was on the fear that something could happen.
Starting point is 00:06:43 People in this community have been living with the fear that it is happening and it's happening to their neighbors and to their friends and to their coworkers and they could be next. So I can't overstate how big of a deal this is. And those people who are anxious and have been worried and have been nervous and have been fearful in their homes where you should never be fearful. That is the one place where you should
Starting point is 00:07:09 feel safe. They are demanding accountability. I've had the opportunity to review witness or victim impact statements and some of the details and our teams had conversations. One of them shared that this experience was a violation of their life, their peace and their freedom. These crimes terrorize our community and they cannot be accepted. Our community wants people responsible for them held accountable and really because of the work of this team and the people standing behind me we are able to say to our community, not only have we arrested them, charged them, but we have started the process of holding the people that terrorize
Starting point is 00:07:50 our communities responsible and accountable. Good for them. Well done. Well done. And one of the people who has been standing up to this rising crime in his community is the mayor of Brampton, Patrick Brown. And so yesterday, it was a little bit surprising, but if you think about it, maybe not so surprising, that he and the police made an announcement that he was under police protection. So that's not the protocol, typically, for municipal leaders.
Starting point is 00:08:26 In Toronto, Mayor Tory had a plainclothes cop, Olivia Chow has the same thing, but by and large, these municipal leaders are just there in the community. And so he was very vague about why he had, he said there was a threat upon his family and that was not going over well with the family. And so out of an abundance of caution,
Starting point is 00:08:53 they were putting him under 24 hour security, following him wherever he goes. And they were also investigating. And so we were gonna do this whole thing today, but we had all these audio clips that we were gonna play for you. We had to throw them out because while we were going to do this whole thing today, but we had all these audio clips that we were going to play for you. We had to throw them out because while we were prepping the show, the police busted another criminal. And this time, I have to assume one of the people involved with threatening the mayor of Brampton, his name is I can't pronounce his name.
Starting point is 00:09:21 I can't pronounce his name. He's 29 year old. Well, his last name is Singh Minoria. And he was arrested and charged with the following offense. Uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm. Mr. Minoria was held in custody pending a bail hearing at the Ontario Court of Justice in Brampton. At this time, investigators believe the individual acted alone and is no longer an active threat to the mayor his family or the community well I guess that settles it
Starting point is 00:09:48 then that settles I mean he had to the threat the threat has been neutralized but but I got like I'll be honest like who knows he okay we didn't know who it was we didn't know what the threat was before and we were wondering could it could have something to do with the tow truck wars? Oh, yeah, that's right. Yeah, we don't know if this guy is one of the like, maybe he's the mastermind of this project ghost group, or maybe he's somewhat someone else. Oh, yeah, that's right. But we don't have time to get to that, my friend. We don't
Starting point is 00:10:20 I talk too much. That's the problem. I tell you that. But what we'll listen, what we'll follow through on this, on this story a little bit later. But in the meantime, don't I talk too much. That's the problem. I But what listen what we'll follow through on this on this story a little bit later But in the meantime don't go anywhere when we come back We're talking with Phil Gursky the CEO of borealis a threat and risk consulting to ask why would The mayor of Brampton even announced that he had a police protection that's coming up next right here on the Ben Mulrooney Show. This is the Ben Mulrooney Show and thank you so much for spending a little bit of your Wednesday with us. We'll file this story under all's well that ends well. Just yesterday, the mayor of Brampton announced that he and his family were under police protection due to an
Starting point is 00:11:11 undisclosed threat. Well, the threat apparently was neutralized today with the arrest of one person. And I won't try to say his name, but for uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm. And he's held in custody pending a bail hearing at the Ontario Court of Justice. At this time, investigators believe the individual acted alone and is no longer an active threat to the mayor, his family, or the community. So to talk about this, what feels like a very unique situation, we're joined now by Phil Gursky. I'm sorry, Phil Gursky, the CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting. He's also a former CESIS Senior Strategic Analyst on terrorism. Phil, welcome to the show.
Starting point is 00:11:50 Thanks so much for being here. Hey Ben, how are you? I'm good, I'm good. So I think a lot of us, when we heard this story, it was one of those things that like, I can't remember the last time I heard of a mayor getting police protection. I'm sure it happens, but this,
Starting point is 00:12:08 it just struck me as fairly unique. Yeah, so first and foremost Ben, let's congratulate the police for making an arrest. There was some, the investigation went well. They've got the guys, as you said in your introduction, they think the threats been neutralized, he acted alone, so kudos to, whether it was PO regional, I'm not sure what police force was involved,
Starting point is 00:12:26 but job well done boys, and thank you for your service to our community. We're in an era, Ben, where there's a lot of people who think it's okay to say nasty things about people, including politicians. You would know that being the son of Brian Mulroney, he has a look better than most people. And most of the time it's just some wanker who says something online or whatever, and they're much better than most people. And most of the time it's just, it's some wanker who said something online or whatever, and they're not serious. But in this case, obviously it was serious. And I'm a little worried that people think
Starting point is 00:12:52 that it's okay to make physical threats against politicians, and that's a consequence. And you've probably seen this in your area. I've seen it out here in Eastern Ontario. People are saying, I don't think I wanna run for office anymore. If people are gonna threaten me and and my family and that affects our democracy and people's ability to take positions of public responsibility.
Starting point is 00:13:12 Yeah. We don't know what threats this guy was uttering. We don't know if it was in response to anything that the mayor was working on. We know that he has a tough on crime position, but there are lots of, there are lots of fronts in the war on crime, right? So we don't know if in fact it is one of the, if it is accessory to crime, we don't know what crime it's accessory to. And it could have nothing to do with that either.
Starting point is 00:13:38 So it's just, but why would he make the announcement that he has police protection? Like I said, I have, I can assume that over the course of, for any number of reasons, a threat could be identified for a city councilor, or a mayor, or a high-level functionary, and they will be assigned protection. But it's never spoken of.
Starting point is 00:14:04 Yeah, this is an odd one. I would say we're probably not a great move unless it was some kind of strategy on the part of the police to try to get someone to come out from under behind the tree kind of thing to kind of scare them. But I want you, I don't think that this type of thing needs to be made in the public domain.
Starting point is 00:14:23 Sure, get your name out there. And you know, as well as I do, Ben, the politicians love nothing more than, get your name out there and you know as well as I do, Ben, the politicians love nothing more than to get their name out there, but this is an issue where I would think that the police advice would be keep it on the QT, you don't want to scare people, you don't want to draw more attention to yourself.
Starting point is 00:14:37 So it seems odd to me that he would have taken that. But again, as you said, all as well that ends well, they seem to have gotten the person. It seems the threat was serious as opposed to all those other idiots who just say things that and get away scott free. The other thing I'll say very briefly, Ben, is that, you know, it's tough from a police perspective, because a lot of this stuff is done anonymously. And in this case, they obviously were to figure out who was behind this. And now he's been he's been in custody, which is great.
Starting point is 00:15:00 Like I was thinking about it all morning as to why they would have made the announcement. And part of me thinks it's to let that guy know if he's making a certain type of threat, say, listen, if you come anywhere near me, there's a cop that's gonna catch you. And just to avoid putting the mayor in a game of chicken with his own life. Right, well, and I'll go back to my days at CSIS, Ben, when we were doing counterterrorism investigations, one of the best strategies is that when you
Starting point is 00:15:29 found out early enough about somebody who was saying something online or saying something to a human source, the best approach was to go and talk to them. And that puts the fear of God into them. Hey, we know who you are. We know where you live. We know what you've been putting online. You might want to stop doing this because if you keep doing it, it's not going to end badly for you. So that could have been one of the strategies that as well as to why the public announcement was made. Well, let's spend a minute now talking. You said you worked on terrorism. It does feel to a certain extent. I know it doesn't fit the legal definition of terrorism, but you know, these people who are running around Peel region,
Starting point is 00:16:02 breaking into people's homes and yeah, people who are running around Peel region, breaking into people's homes. And yeah, there's an element of terrorizing the people of Brampton or the people of appeal rather. And so to me, when I hear that this many people have been scooped up and taken off, off the streets, I'm viewing it as a good day. No, absolutely. I'm, I'm a little bit more judicious when it comes to applying the T word because I think in a lot of cases it's been oversubscribed. So you know, the Trump administration here in Canada, we put drug cartels as terrorist organizations. They're not terrorist organizations, Ben. They're organized crime. And that's a very different thing. It puts a lot of pressure
Starting point is 00:16:39 on your law enforcement, security, and intelligence if you call them terrorists, because they have to double resources to it. But there's no question that people it but there's no the point that I was making is that they were they were terrorizing yeah and there's no question that's the case and I'm sure that you know law enforcement aware of this but it's so these groups that are doing this like the home invasions you refer to and threatening people now that arrests have been made maybe they'll start thinking twice before they do these silly ass things and stop threatening people so again great work by work by Peel Regional, I'm assuming is the police force of jurisdiction here, did their job well and a threat was neutralized.
Starting point is 00:17:11 And maybe it does send a message that we're not going to put up with this stuff anymore and politicians should be allowed to do it. Municipal officials do their job. You can be critical of them, which is fine, but you can start threatening people. Yeah, but you kind of can, Phil, and that's the problem. You can do it, you can do that. And especially if we take note of who was arrested in this project, Ghost, five of them are children
Starting point is 00:17:37 and therefore not subject to the full impact of our laws, not that they are as impactful as most of us want them to be. But it feels that children involved in crime is no longer the exception to the rule. It is now its own thing. And it feels to me like there are organized crime elements out there that are driving a Mack truck
Starting point is 00:18:01 through a legal loophole. Yes, you're absolutely right, Ben. And I go back to my work on the Toronto 18 back in early 2000s, five of the 18 were young offenders and four of them were basically let go because they were young offenders. Only one was tried as an adult. Look, it doesn't take a rocket scientist,
Starting point is 00:18:16 if you're in a gang, to realize that if you use people under the age of 18, the law treats them differently. And you're absolutely right. This is a strategy that they're employing because they know they can get away with it. And so what message do we send saying, no, this is not acceptable. And then the other hand, depending on how involved the young offenders were, do we treat them as adults, depending on how I guess how close they were to the age of 18? That's a whole other issue for our legal system to decide just because you're 17 and a half doesn't mean you can't do some nasty things to people.
Starting point is 00:18:45 Maybe you have to be treated as an adult in those cases. No, absolutely. Look, I'm now at the point, Phil, where I've been forced out of my very comfortable position where I could see everybody's side and I wanted everybody to be respected. When we were living in the land of plenty, when there was plenty of room in the jails
Starting point is 00:19:03 and plenty of room in our prisons, and you could get a speedy trial and if you did something really bad you would then spend time in jail until it was time for you to go to your trial. None of that is happening anymore. So I have been moved from my very comfortable perch seeing everybody's side and now all I do is look at the victims. Those are the only people I care about. I do not care about the criminal anymore, because it feels to me like the government is focusing enough on them. Well, I think most Canadians would agree with you, Ben, because they're being treated in a way where it's basically catching a release and police forces have been telling us this now for decades. They're doing their investigations with very carefully. They're gathering the evidence to lay charges, they're making the arrest and laying those charges,
Starting point is 00:19:47 and then basically courts say, okay, well, yeah, I'll stamp your hand and come back in six months kind of thing. And I don't have to tell you, Ben, how many cases of people who were out on bail or having committed terrible crimes go on to commit other terrible crimes. So the system is definitely in need of a huge overhaul,
Starting point is 00:20:02 but this notion that just because you're a young kid doesn't mean you're not dangerous, I think we have to divest of ourselves about it immediately. Well, it looks like it's causing more harm than good now. Like, I don't know how many kids run afoul of the law for because they were dumb kids doing something dumb kids do. I don't know how many there are who do that, but it does seem like more and more it is kids who have been maybe through no fault of their own,
Starting point is 00:20:28 maybe through fault of their own, I don't know, but they are doing real crimes that are causing real damage. In some cases, people are losing their lives and they are certainly, in the case of this project Ghost, they are causing a corrosive effect on people's safety and their feeling of safety in their own homes, which is, I really can't abide that. Well, and I think as Canadians,
Starting point is 00:20:50 we have to ask all the questions, what does young offender mean anymore? You're absolutely right. When I was a kid, a young offender was a guy that just did stupid things and no one got hurt really. But in the case where these young offenders are committing crimes that are violent in nature, and as you said, terrorizing communities,
Starting point is 00:21:03 maybe we have to change the approach with which we look at these cases and we treat them. And that's a discussion that Canadians have to have the old default position, all your kid, you'll get over it. Maybe that's it. That's that's yesterday's idea that we have to divest ourselves up and start looking at everything differently. Phil Gursky, want to thank you for joining us today. Really appreciate it. I hope you have a great end to your week. Yeah, thanks, man. You too. Take care. All right. Don't go anywhere. When we come back, we're gonna be talking about the downtown
Starting point is 00:21:29 concerned citizens organization that a big rally yesterday. What was it about? And why were they shouted down by counter protesters? That's coming up next. Stop. Do you know how fast you were going? I'm gonna have to It won't take long to tell you Neutrol's ingredients? Vodka, soda, natural flavours. So, what should we talk about? No sugar added? Neutrol. Refreshingly simple. Welcome back to the Ben Mulrooney show. Yesterday at Nathan Phillips Square, the Downtown Concerned Citizens
Starting point is 00:22:37 Alliance had an event. And at this event, they were trying to lay out issues that they see in terms of the development and the decisions that City Hall has made, and they're impacting the people who live downtown negatively, specifically putting safe injection sites where they don't belong, deciding that willy-nilly it seems about where they're going to put a shelter and so many more things. But it quickly devolved into a shouting match as the Downtown Concerned Citizens Alliance was trying to make their point. They were shouted down by counter protesters. Let's listen to Roman Baber.
Starting point is 00:23:20 He's a conservative member of parliament who was speaking and you'll hear that it's hard to hear. I'm here for one reason only. It's to talk about the propriety of the Downsville homeless shelter proposed to be situated a hundred meters away from the Pierre Laplace public school. Shelters keep us safe! Shelters keep us safe! And a hundred meters. You know the parties are being killed right away. Shelters keep us safe. Showers keep us safe. In a hundred years. The parties are being too right away. Showers keep us safe.
Starting point is 00:23:49 There's no way some people value. The. Even though. And you go, that's I get it. I don't like saying the left does this and the right does that. But that is a
Starting point is 00:24:03 unique aspect of the political left and not just does that, but that is a unique aspect of the political left and not just in Canada, but in a lot of places, they do not like people telling them they have a difference of opinion. It's just I've never, I don't know, I don't know how else to say it. It is the exclusive domain of the left. Well one other person was there, well a lot of people were there, but there is another person who was there at this event. And as it turns out, this guest that I now have on the show, she was one of my very first interviews ever as a broadcaster. Like we're talking 25 years ago, back when we both worked at the same company, neither of us are there anymore. Please welcome the show Carly Nationleen Nation, media specialist, broadcast journalist, and a member of the Downtown Concerned Citizens Organization. Welcome. Thank you so much, Ben. So happy to be here. Happy to be in the same space with you after so many years. So Carleen, now that there are no protesters in here. No. So what was
Starting point is 00:25:00 the point that was trying to be put forth yesterday. The downtown concern citizens organization, which teamed up, they teamed up with about eight other residents groups, not just downtowners, but from across the city that had a variety of issues of concern that they wanted to speak on and push back on. Policies relating to bike lanes being dropped in their communities without proper consultations, drug injection sites being dropped all over the place, homeless shelters being rammed
Starting point is 00:25:36 into communities without proper consultations, and on and on. And then there are other issues like vending machines now being set up all over the place where you can pull out your drug paraphernalia. Yes, indeed. We have the organizations there have questions about what the city is doing and of course we've been hit with more, with two tax increases, money that's being used for in a variety of ways
Starting point is 00:26:04 that residents are concerning so It's not going to core services. Absolutely not. Because we saw last year we didn't know how to deal with the rain. Absolutely not. Then we learned we don't know how to deal with the snow. Snow. And this year we learned we don't know how to deal with the heat.
Starting point is 00:26:18 And we're constantly getting hit with tax increases. So these residents groups organized this press conference to speak out and to call on the mayor and city councilors across the city to say, Hey, we demand consultations before you drop a massive homeless shelter in our community without giving us an opportunity to speak on it. But what happened? We had a group that was lined up behind, uh, and then, uh, uh, one or two people with bull horns, uh, shouting down the speakers, uh, shouting at them in a very aggressive and threatening way. And it was so, uh, disrespectful.
Starting point is 00:27:04 way and it was so disrespectful. So it was just shocking to me that this is what you do. No, you do not have the right residents, do not have the right to speak up and to criticize it's not as simple as having a difference of opinion. It's a difference in worldview. Yeah. Right? And if on the left, especially on a certain part of the left, everything is about class warfare. And so for a concerned citizen to come out and say, hey, my kids could be at risk, my parents could be at risk, my parents could be at risk, my business could be at risk. What they hear is you are going to, you want to trample on the rights of a poor, disenfranchised Torontonian and we are the ones with the bigger heart here
Starting point is 00:27:56 and we cannot abide by that and therefore we are going to shout you down. Oh absolutely and that's exactly where this whole, this whole, I would call it an attack on our right to freedom of speech, shutting down the speakers, or attempting to shut down the speakers from voicing concerns to our city officials. But it didn't work. The downtown concern citizens organization got its genesis from the 2020 2021 when they dropped a massive homeless shelter at the Nova tell they set that up as as a homeless shelter. There were fires, there were violence, stabbings, people getting killed, raped, assaults, fire trucks there all the time, ambulances there at the time. And it was in the middle of a neighborhood with a lot of seniors and a quiet neighborhood. All of a sudden it turned
Starting point is 00:29:00 into a war zone. So that's how the DCCO got its genesis. But essentially right now, it's speaking up for groups and giving groups an opportunity to speak about things that they're concerned about. And I believe these are paid protesters. That's my humble opinion. In the middle of a day, a work day, they found themselves with a lot of time. They weren't there on a lunch break. Of course, of course. No, they were organized, they were mobilized. And look, my dad used to say that back in the 80s,
Starting point is 00:29:35 the NDP would pay protesters to follow him around. Absolutely. So this is the stock and trade of a certain type of person and has been for a very long time. But look, I'll go back to what I said before. When I when I come out and I say, Look, your your your bike lane on Bloor is causing congestion and people can't get home and people has mental health is being affected and the the lifeblood of the community is being affected. They say you hate cyclists. Oh, absolutely. No, I want there to be 10 times as many bike lanes
Starting point is 00:30:06 in this city as there are. I just don't want them on streets that people depend on and go to and fro. And killing businesses as well. When you look at Yonge Street, that is a complete and utter disaster with the bike lanes on Yonge Street. They also believe that they can say things like, bike lanes don't cause congestion.
Starting point is 00:30:26 If they say it loud enough, it's gonna be true. Absolutely. Or they say harm reduction. Yeah, harm reduction. Harm reduction. I mean- I'm glad you brought that up. Dropping drug injection sites all over our city
Starting point is 00:30:39 and pumping people up with drugs, letting them out on the streets, they're catatonic all over the place and a lot of young people. and pumping people up with drugs, letting them out on the streets, they're catatonic all over the place, and a lot of young people. It's a problem. Carlene Nation, it's been so long since I've seen you. It's so great to see and I hope you do come back soon.
Starting point is 00:30:55 I don't want to wait another 20 years to see you again. No, call on me anytime, Ben. Thank you so much. And thank you for sharing that important news with us. When we come back, we're taking your calls on this. Have we lost our collective minds as a city? Me thinks yes. Welcome back to the Ben Mulrooney show.
Starting point is 00:31:14 In our previous segment, we were talking about an event at Nathan Phillips Square yesterday by the Concerned Citizens Downtown Citizens Alliance and how counter protesters showed up concerned citizens, downtown concerned citizens alliance and how counter protesters showed up who think that every single safe injection site is a good idea and they think every bike lane is a good idea and they think that every shelter
Starting point is 00:31:36 is a good idea. And so they shouted them down. And so we're gonna take your calls in just a minute. But before we do, I wanna give you a glimpse into what I think could be Toronto's future. And that's all the way on the West Coast in Nanaimo, British Columbia. So City Hall, right next to City Hall,
Starting point is 00:31:57 they decided the best thing to do is put in a safe injection site, right next to City Hall. And what has happened because of that is the people working at City Hall. And what has happened because of that is the people working at City Hall are feeling unsafe. They are walking through garbage. They are they don't know if anyone's around the corner. People are afraid to go to work. They're afraid to leave work. And so they have decided that the solution isn't to close the shelter or the safe injection site or move it. It's to erect a almost two meter fence,
Starting point is 00:32:29 wrought iron fence all around city hall to protect the people there. That's what they're doing. So, so they're treating the symptoms, not the disease. And it just seems like that's what we do here as well. Let's take your calls and we'll start with Cody. Welcome to the show. Hey, Ben, how are you? I'm good. So so you were one of the speakers yesterday. Yeah, I am the founder of balance on board. We're a community led organization advocating for common sense and a data driven approach to
Starting point is 00:32:57 our city's transportation future, because it's lacking. And so when you got there yesterday, at Nathan Phillips Square, I'm sure you just you expected it to be like any event you've ever been to you get up speak, I get your points across, make sure the press gets them do some interviews go home. It precisely Yeah, that's exactly what we thought. And then when we were there, I was a little bit late getting there because I was riding on the disaster TTC. But when when I
Starting point is 00:33:24 got there a little bit later, there's a few Toronto police officers that let us know that there's a few protesters with some bullhorns around the corner and to expect them to show up. And I really didn't expect them to be, you know, as unhinged as they were. Yeah, well, like I said, I had a realization in the middle of my conversation with Carlin Nation, which is that this is not a difference of opinion. This is a difference in worldview. And for sure, and the left is in a constant state of class warfare, they're fighting against the rich, they're fighting against the haves, they're fighting on behalf of the
Starting point is 00:33:54 disenfranchised. And anytime somebody who they view is one of the haves has an issue that is coming at the expense of the disenfranchised. Yeah, precisely. And even as you mentioned, you know, like, you know, like even our group, we're not anti cyclists, you know, the majority of our board members are actually daily riders who clock over 2000 years a year, we support bike lanes when they're implemented properly, just not when they're dropped into neighborhoods where they do for harm thing.
Starting point is 00:34:19 But it's also it's also gonna be frustrating for you when you hear nonsense and absolute fictions when the cycling lobbyists say bike lanes don't cause congestion. For sure. I mean, I feel like I've taken crazy pills when I hear something like that. You've taken away an entire lane of traffic. And so people can't take a left, they can't take a right.
Starting point is 00:34:37 And I mean, it's basic spatial reasoning. If I have a couch and I can fit two people on the couch and then I get rid of the couch and I get a chair, I can only fit one person on the chair. Yeah, exactly. You know, and even something I mentioned yesterday, you know, they try to label us as anti-environment and that's, you know, we're not.
Starting point is 00:34:55 We're against policy that pretends to be green. Well, it does. It creates more gridlock. There's more idling vehicles. Oh yeah, yeah. So bad, like our local, you know, I ride the TTC. I cycle, I drive, I take all modes of transportation. And my local TTC bus driver here is starting to
Starting point is 00:35:11 smell gas seems for the first time in 30 years in this room in his cabin. You know, so he's gonna sit there and try to tell me that all these idling vehicles is better for the environment. What? Hey, Cody, thank you so much for everything that you do. And I wish you the very best. Yeah, thanks, Ben. Have a good day. All right. Let's welcome Dean to the Ben Mulroney show. Dean, thanks so much for calling in. Hey, how are you? I'm good. I'm good. So, so you hear you hear us lay the table set the table with all these points of information. And what do you think? I think it comes basically it comes down to management you know you've got a mayor and
Starting point is 00:35:46 all the management teams that create the problems yeah you know I mean like they're not doesn't matter they don't listen to nobody you know I mean like bike lanes or traffic issues and and stuff like that tron all new boat these problems years and years ago domain yeah i'm an outsider i travel to trot all the time it's like passing through uh... the center of the universe
Starting point is 00:36:18 everything revolves around tron all uh... you know i mean and it's like we can do this but they're not like get rid of I'm sorry get rid of the streetcars take one-way streets in Toronto. Dean when I first moved to Toronto that I had a bee in my bonnet a bee in my bonnet to get rid of the streetcars it made no sense to me whatsoever and I believe I was actually it's interesting that you bring that up. Because I host a guest hosted a radio show. And I had I had my they said, Who do you want as a guest? And I
Starting point is 00:36:52 said, Adam G. and Brony, the head of the TTC. And, and he, he, he destroyed me in that debate. So unfortunately, I think they're here to stay. But I do appreciate the call. Thank you very much. And we're going to take out we're gonna take Frank now, Frank, thanks so much for calling in. No problem. Good morning. Good morning. You know, just just based on what I heard from Carly Nation, these community groups is concerned neighbor neighborly community group didn't have the right to be fully and fairly heard before the city imposed this decision
Starting point is 00:37:25 you know the city being a government agency is required to comply with the debate with the canadian charter that also means or includes the rules of natural justice procedural fairness that includes the right to be fully and fairly heard yeah i'm wondering whether in fact the uh... this group can pursue it it and try to get a resolution, maybe get the decision declared annuity or void because the neighbourhood groups' concerns
Starting point is 00:37:52 were not fully and fairly heard before the decision was imposed. Yeah, something tells me though that even if they were to be able to thread that needle, those counter protesters that we saw, they would figure out a way. Like for example I'll tell you this so Toronto Public Health no longer runs its own supervised consumption services after closing its 200
Starting point is 00:38:12 277 Victoria Street site on April 1st However, so even though they are no longer empowered to do that They continue to distribute safer use supplies and offer needle exchanges through community outreach, mobile vans and partnership with agencies. So they no longer have the power to do that and they are still doing it with our tax dollars, by the way. That's really disturbing, Ben.
Starting point is 00:38:36 But what I'm thinking is, is if this issue is pushed, that the city didn't comply with the community's charter rights in the process, people should be still complaining. Even if they don't pursue it legally, maybe this is what is needed. Yeah. If the words are that loud that we have a change of mayorship in the next election. And that's why we should already be paying attention to the battle lines being drawn in the municipal election. And I'm going to be beating this drum until October of next year, reminding people that they need to go out and vote. Because I don't know what sort of mandate
Starting point is 00:39:09 a mayor has when they get elected with when only 20% of the people show up to vote. But anyway, thank you so much for the call. And we've got to who do we have now we got less less you're closing it out for us. Hi, Ben. Good morning. First of all, I want to tell you I was a huge fan of your dad. I love them. I love the way he interacted with Reagan and all that. But anyway, the reason why I called you is I just came back from New York and I'm embarrassed to say that I'm a Torontonian. You know, all you hear the mayor and the general manager and all of these these bubble heads in the city, city hall keeps saying, oh Toronto is a world-class city and we're there and so on and so forth. I went to New York, you know, people talk about, people say
Starting point is 00:39:58 that New York is crime-infested and so on and so forth. I was downtown Manhattan, you know, around Madison Square Garden. I traveled on the train from Newark to Manhattan. Everything is clean, everything is functioning. There's police everywhere. You don't see any crime. You don't see people sleeping on the street and so on and so forth. And you wanna get anywhere anywhere their system works. And I am just blown away how stupid city management is and have been for
Starting point is 00:40:33 decades where they can't fix simple things. Less, I got to leave it there. Thank you so much. I think he's has some rose colored glasses, I think a little bit in terms of his interpretation of how things are going in New York. But anyway, I still appreciate it. Thank you all for calling in.. 36 months. Hurry into your local dealer today. SCVT for $256 monthly with $2,895 down at 3.49%. Includes.5% loyalty reduction for qualifying Nissan owners. Conditions apply. See Nissan.ca for details.

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