The Ben Mulroney Show - The Toronto cast -- Is the air quality bad or is that the mayor's race heating up

Episode Date: July 15, 2025

- Councillor Brad Bradford on who can beat Mayor Olivia Chow 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

This podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. If you've been following the news, like really following it, you know how exhausting it can be. Politics, conflict, uncertainty, it's a lot to carry. And for many men, there's this expectation to stay calm, stay in control and not talk about how it's affecting you. But the truth is, you're allowed to feel overwhelmed.

You're allowed to say, I'm not okay right now. And trust me, I have been there. Whether it's the state of the world stress at home, or just feeling like you've got to have it all together and have all the answers, you don't have to hold it in. Better help is here to help with the world's largest network of licensed therapists. They've already supported over 5 million people, you can connect with a therapist online from wherever you are, no waitlist, no office visits. And if it's not the right fit you can switch anytime it's time to put your mental health on the agenda talk it out with better help visit better help comm slash Mulrooney today to get 10% off your first month that's better help HELP comm slash Mulrooney

stop you know how fast you were going I'm gonna have to write you a ticket to my new movie the naked gun Liam Nees. Buy your tickets now and get a free chili dog. Chili dog not included. The Naked Gun tickets on sale now August 1st. Welcome to the Ben Mulroney Show on this Tuesday. Thank you so much for spending a little bit of your day with us. Yesterday was one for the record books, probably the worst air that any of us have ever had the misfortune of breathing. Quality of air is still an issue. It is improving today. Yesterday we were under an air quality health advisory due to wildfire smoke drifting south from Northern Ontario,

Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Air quality index yesterday was 10 plus. It doesn't get any worse than 10 plus. Toronto had the second worst air quality in the world. You might ask yourself where did they have the worst? Baghdad. Yes, that's right, Baghdad. Baghdad and Toronto. Today we're sitting at a five. I have to assume it's twice as good, half as bad. I don't know. But the worst air quality, interestingly, you would think it would be downtown, it would be on Bay Street. No, it's at the beaches actually.

And that's according to IQ Air. My sense is maybe the smoke stays low, I don't know, by the water, I have no idea. But it is getting better and it should improve after the thunderstorms that we get on Thursday. But the smoke is affecting more than just your walk to work. It's affecting summer camps. A lot of summer camps are being forced

to do everything indoors. My daughter is at tennis camp this week, and she had a heck of a day yesterday on the courts. Like a heck of a day. She said she felt sick all day, hopefully today, a little bit better. But said she felt sick all day, hopefully today a little bit better. But of course, a little bit later today,

we're gonna have a conversation with a CEO of a company that I work with that does AI modeling predictive software for wildfires, given how many wildfires we have in North America. This is a frontier where AI can absolutely help. And we're going to talk about that while so many fires are burning out of control in Manitoba. And I'll say it again, I said it yesterday, my heart goes out to absolutely everyone in Manitoba and anybody who is in the path of a fire. So you might recall a double homicide took place

on August 23rd, 2024 in Etobicoke. Two women that were aged 82 and 60 were found dead inside a home. And within days, investigators issued an arrest warrant for a 33 year old named Joseph Ayala. By the way, the two women who were found dead, his mother and his grandmother. Well, there's an update to the case. Ayala has been arrested. Yes, they put out the issue, the issue, the arrest warrant last year and they arrested him. Now,

where has he been? Apparently he's been in Etobicoke. Like I can't confirm he's been in Etobicoke the entire time. But yeah, they finally found him. He's been arrested. And let's hope he does not get bail. But I suspect he will. Welcome back to the Ben Mulroney show. If the election for mayor were held today, Mayor Olivia Chow apparently would have a cakewalk, no problem, winning another term as our mayor. That is unless John Tory comes into the race. That is according to a poll by liaison strategies, asking Torontonians about the candidacy of each of these people. If the race were without John Tory, Chow's

next closest competitor would be our next guest. Brad Bradford joins us. Welcome to the show, sir. Great to be with you, Ben. All right, listen, I don't know how much value a poll like this has 16 months out of an election. So how do you see this? Well, I think that's right. Today it's a time when people are busy with summer holidays, we're coming out of a provincial election,

a federal election. They're not necessarily paying too much attention to the horse race at City Hall 13 or 14 months from now. But what it does signal to me is that people feel like the city is moving in the wrong direction. You see Olivia Chow's approval numbers continue to move towards the negative. She keeps dropping on that front.

And the time I spend in my ward and across the city, I am hearing the amplification of the frustration, whether it is about safety, uh, the fact that the city feels and is less safe, the traffic congestion, the cost of living, and the fact that city hall can't seem to get the basics right. So you see this in the numbers, you see that desire for change continues to go up, Olivia Chow's approval continues to go down. And in 13 to 14 months from now, Torontonians will have an opportunity to decide if they want something fresh and new,

or if they want more of the status quo. So I think the worst kept secret is about your candidacy to run for mayor. You did so in the last election, and I think you got your feet wet. You learned how it works, and now you have not officially announced. So we won't play the game, are you or are you not?

But when you see a poll between sort of the former mayor and the current mayor, I mean, is your thought that maybe what the city needs is fresh blood? I think a lot of people want that, and I certainly can understand the rationale. I mean, you look at the past 10 years of Toronto, there were some good things, there were some good times, but also a lot of the issues that we're dealing with today have only gotten

worse over the past decade. Whether that is the traffic issue and the congestion, whether that's a lack of reliability and safety on the TTC, whether that is the encampments and homelessness. I mean, that didn't just happen the day Olivia Chow got elected. I would suggest that the mayor, the current mayor is actively making those things worse. But we have gone through a city as a city over the past 10 years, some challenging times. And I think that a lot of folks are looking for local government that is going to focus on the issues with the type of attention and clarity that allows us to do a better job at delivering on the

basics. We have to fix the city. And so we can't try and be all things to all people as local government. Because when you are a mile wide, an inch deep, it means the services we're trying to deliver, we're doing it at a C minus or D plus level. deep, it means the services we're trying to deliver, we're doing it at a C minus or a D plus level. And I think that's what we're seeing. We have to have clarity of the role of the city and local government so that when it snows, we can actually clean up the snow.

And when it's hot out, we're not closing pools. And when you go to register your daughters for swimming lessons, they can actually get in and you're not kicked out of the queue. These are the things I hear about every day from people. They want us to fix the city and it's going to take a different type of leadership than we've seen before if we're going to get different results. Brad, the thing about Olivia Chow is she's going to have the entire left side of the political spectrum to herself. I don't see anyone coming, anyone meaningful coming to fight her for those votes,

which means there is going to be a battle on the center center right, probably a lot like we had in the last election. How do opponents of the mayor ensure that people can coalesce around one, possibly two candidates? Well, we're going through that process right now and sort of like in the US style of politics

where there is a primary process, people vying to be the different candidates, for the different sort of groups and philosophies and approach to government. I mean, you saw this in New York city a couple of weeks ago, the democratic nomination, you had a former governor who had all the name rec and the reputation, left office amid sexual scandal and resigned. When Cuomo started in that race, he was of course out in front and the polls reflected that because of the name rec. But by the time it finished,

they ended up selecting somebody different. All right, Brad, I've got you here. We're talking about the mayor's race. Uh, let's just live in a world hypothetically where you are running. Why are you the right guy to lead this city? I think it's time for a new chapter in Toronto. And if we want to see different types of results, we need to go with somebody new. We need to, we need to offer a different approach to local government. I'm raising lights.

What would that approach be? So that is strong, decisive leadership. Someone who's not afraid to make a decision, even if it's uncomfortable, even if it's not the most popular decision, it's the right types of decisions to move the city forward. Ben, I'm raising my two daughters here in Toronto, and it's difficult.

I see families leaving the city of Toronto, year after year because they can't afford to live here, because it's not safe, because they don't have access to opportunity. And I care deeply about Toronto as you do and many others. And if we're gonna get the city back on track, if we're gonna fix it, we can't try and be all things to all people.

What are the top two or three issues that you think need to be addressed, like the most vital issues that the mayor should be addressing today that aren't getting addressed or not addressed properly? Well, it's safety. It's crime and safety is number one. That is the job of local government. And, you know, whether it's the arson that's happening in Tobacco and the beaches, the

hateful protests that have taken over our street, the carjackings and the break and enters, we need to do a much better job on that front. And how would you be different today if you were the mayor today? Well, I think it's a question of priorities. And so there are different programs and different approaches that the mayor has brought in that are not core services to local government. You know, I would point to the breakfast program that we're spending $18 million a year and running a breakfast program in public schools that are the responsibility and jurisdiction of the province. It doesn't mean that it's not a good idea. It just means

that local government can't afford to put up its hand and hold the bag for other levels of government. So if you are the mayor of the city of Toronto, the largest in the country, use your bully pulpit to go and advocate, to go and fight to push the province for funding that program if that's what you want. But to put that on the back of the property tax base is irresponsible, especially when people are waiting on hold seven minutes to call 911 with somebody shot in the gut and bleeds out on the street. That's a lack of focus and a lack of prioritization that is frankly impacting the services that we're responsible for. So if you want to make the city safer, we need to make sure that we are investing

in special constables and transit police on the transit system. If we want to make traffic less bad, if we want to deal with congestion, we need to make transit a viable option. The reason people aren't taking transit right now is because the service is unreliable and because they don't feel safe. Brad, where, where are we getting it wrong as a city on home building? Oh my goodness. Well, right now mayor Chow has been trying to stand up more bureaucracy to build more housing. So she has been pushing for the past two years, the invention of this public builder. And when I look around Toronto, I don't feel like there's a shortage of developers

who know how to build things. I don't think local government ought to be the one that's putting on the green patch boots and a hard hat and trying to get a shovel in the ground. We need to create the conditions so that projects are financially viable so that we can help market builders deliver the supply that we need to improve affordability.

All right, Brad. Brad, we got we got to leave it there. We got to leave it there. But I thank you for coming on. I thank you for letting us know a little bit about what a Brad Bradford may mayorship would look like. We appreciate your time. All right, thanks, Ben. All right. Well, when we come back, we want to hear from you. We're going to take your calls. If the election were held today, who would you vote for? There are two very big names that are sort of omnipresent, but what about the other guys in the race?

Don't go anywhere. This is the Ben Mulroney Show. There's a new poll that says that Olivia Chow would comfortably secure a second term as Toronto's mayor if an election were held today. But she would face significant challenge from John Tory if he enters the race. That is a new poll commissioned by Liaison Strategies. It found that if the election were to be held today,

and by the way, it's not for over a year, Chow would have support of 41% of all voters. That would give her a sizable lead over her next closest competitor. However, in the event that John Tory were to jump into the race, Chow's support would drop to 34% and he would garner as of today, 31%.

That is a horse race by any stretch of the imagination. The next closest person in that race would be Brad Bradford, I believe at 19%. And then from there, I think you got Anna Bailao and Fury and the list goes on. But I want to hear from you at 416-870-6400 or 1-888-225-TALK. Who do you think is gonna win?

Who would you vote for if the election were today? Olivia Chow, John Tory, someone else, nobody. We'd love to hear from you. By the way, I really do hope that in this next election, we have a higher voter turnout in the election than we've ever had before. We have woefully low voter turnout in our municipal elections.

I think in the, it was essentially a by-election that elected Olivia Chow. It was, I think it was in the like 30% or something like that. It was ridiculously low. This is the most important election in terms of what affects you the most. Whoever you're gonna vote for, get out there and vote.

Get out there, convince your friends and family to vote. That's the most important thing. This is when this when this when we get have this next election, I think it will be exceptionally consequential. And I want to hear from you. Let's start with William. William, welcome to the show. How are you? Well, so who would you vote for if the election were today? John Tory, if you if you were yeah, yeah. And why? Because of his experience, his background, his maturity, his ability to work for all wards. He's just right across the city. And let's face it, he wasn't a bad Mary. Yeah, there was a lot of crap that happened while he

was there. But look what we're dealing with now, right? So you would you would not vote for Olivia Chow, who'd you vote for in the last election? dealing with now, right? So you would not vote for Olivia Chow. Who'd you vote for in the last election? But last election, I voted for Chloe, I think, was a Chloe, that gal that ran out in Scarborough,

because there was no one to vote for for me. Oh, Chloe Brown. Yeah, so there was really no one to vote for, right? Well, listen, I think the goal, I think, is whoever runs against Olivia Chow, you don't want to crowd that side of the political spectrum because otherwise they're just going to eat each other for lunch and she's going to have a straight path back to the mayor's office. Which is why if someone like Tory comes forward, you're going to get a lot of people that,

A, didn't know who to vote for or threw away their vote, will vote for Tory. And listen, listen, and I get it. 640 is team Bradford, 1010 is team Tory. Oh no, no, no. I'm a great friend and fan of John Tory. He's been a friend of mine for years. He's a friend of my family. I love the guy, but in this next election,

I don't know how it's gonna pan out. Well, you nailed it once. There were 102 people that ran in the last election. A dog ran for God's sake. Yeah, that's right. And you just had a guy on that got 1% of the vote. And you kind of, when I was saying this to the gentleman that answered the phone,

you kind of said, well, you know, I'm paraphrasing, that he cut his jib. No, he's an existing counselor. He has the name recognition. He got 1% of the fault. You kind of said, well, you know, you paraphrase him, but he cut his jib. No, he was he's an existing counselor. He has a name recognition. He got 1% of the vote. So why isn't isn't that isn't that then I wouldn't know the guy if I tripped over. But don't people like that just need to step aside? I think Anthony Fieri came in fourth or fifth. Yeah, the hell's Anthony Fieri? Guess what? He came in fourth. Yeah, yeah. Well, listen, I don't know anything about anything. But if Brad Bradford got 1% last time and he's pulling at 19 right now, that's a pretty sizable lead. But listen,

William, thank you very much for contributing to the conversation. All right. Let's welcome Nathan into this chat. Nathan, who would you vote for if the election were held today? Oh, Ben. Hi. I don't live in Toronto and I'm really happy about that. I think a lot of people are not, not to be the negative ninny, but who cares who wins? Like in reality, I'm sorry to say. Toronto, you voted for, you voted for chow. You get her. She's, she's brutal. She's terrible. Yeah. She hasn't done anything right. She doesn't, she doesn't say anything. She doesn't address any major issues. He had John Tory before that, who for all intents purposes also did

absolutely nothing. His claim to fame that he can hang his hat on is he agreed to spend $350 million to watch six soccer teams. The likelihood we've never heard of three of them, or you'd have to pull out an Atlas against Google today. Where's Azerbaijan or Myanmar or whatever? Hold on. Let me push back a little bit. I think it absolutely does matter who wins because it's the difference between somebody who thinks that the best way to build the city is to levy double digit tax increases on property across this city twice, or somebody else who doesn't think the taxation should be is the end all be all.

Well, I don't agree with the tax increase. But however, unfortunately, you're catching up with the rest of Ontario with your tax rates. So suck it up. Thank you. Yeah, seriously. I appreciate it. I don't think it's going to make a difference who wins. Oh, I think it's a big difference depending on Olivia Chow or anybody else on the right.

But hey, Nathan, thank you very much. I appreciate it. Let's say let's bring Mark into the conversation. Mark, how are you today? Hey, Ben, love listening to you. Love your perspectives, man. You're just you make me want to turn on the radio again. So thanks for doing what you do. Well, thank you. Well, my take, I was talking to producer on the radio again. So thanks for doing what you do. Well, thank you. Well, my take, I was talking to your producer, the 41% that would revote for her,

they need to get themselves checked out by some medical practitioner because it makes no sense to me as a Torontonian why you would want to revote someone that in the last two years, this guy that called before said her, John Tory's claim to fame was the World Cup. Well, what's Olivia Chow's raising property taxes almost 30% in two and a half years, or

renaming young Dundas Square that what 4% of Toronto or Torontonians agreed with that's leadership. I mean, that's an epic failure. Yeah, listen, I like her personally, I do not think she's the right mayor for this city, especially not today. But here, I'll tell you one thing, her superpower is this, she's the mayor, right? Anytime she speaks, the cameras are there.

So everybody knows who she is. So she has incumbency as a superpower and she can pull out the narrative. Hey, I didn't have a full term. You didn't get to, I was not able to have the runway to do what I needed to do to fix this city. That's that can be a pretty compelling argument, whether or not you agree with it or not. It's something she will be able to say.

In fairness, you know, I disagreed wholeheartedly when john tory stepped down, because I thought that was that was his private life. Yeah, he was running the city. And you, this is on the heels of Rob Ford and what he was going through and you couldn't get that guy to step down if Christ himself came down to tell him. And it's like, yeah, you're right. The cameras are on. She's the mayor. But what has she accomplished in two and a half years? Well, that's gonna be the duty of those who are running against her to set that narrative to see if they can they can take the narrative away from her. Mark,

thank you very much for your call. I appreciate it. Hey, we've got time for I think one last one. Let's welcome Donald welcome to the Ben Mulroney show Donald. How are you today? Well, the problem is our voting system because you have three great candidates on the ballot last time for mayor with the ex police chief, you had Annabelle, you had fury, you had Bradford even and they divide

the vote. Yeah, that's how she won. Oh, absolutely. The system has to be overhauled because or one of those people they all get together and say, look, I think you're the best chance. I'm going to step out and let you in because that's what we need for the city. Yeah, well, that's exactly what whoever joins that race. And by the time it gets to the point where we have to vote, there should not be six or seven people on the center center right if I don't know how many you can have and still be competitive with the one person on the left, but I don't think it's more than two to be honest. Back in 2010, I was in North Etobicoke and Susan Hall was

our counselor. She put all her money trying to advertise for herself on the back of jerseys of like the soccer, young soccer kids and hockey. And I told her it was wrong. And she didn't care because she knew she had a big vote. Hey, my name in to run as counselor. I saw Mr. Chris Santi was running I stepped down because I knew he had a better chance without any of my vote. I put my name in to run as councillor. I saw Mr. Crisanti was running. I stepped down because I knew he had a better chance without any of my votes and he won the election and got her out. Donald, thank you very much for your call. I appreciate it. And thank you to all of you for calling. Listen, the election is not for over a year so we'll pay attention to this as we go on. But yeah, I think the dynamic has to be set. You just a bold new vehicle on the road. It's Nissan's number one selling subcompact SUV.

With expressive style and advanced tech, Kicks is number one. Right now, lease the 2025 Kicks for the equivalent of $65 weekly for 48 months. Hurry into your local dealer today. S front wheel drive for 280 monthly with 3,495 down at 3.49%. Includes 0.5% loyalty reduction for qualifying Nissan owners. Conditions apply. See Nissan.ca for details.