The Ben Mulroney Show - Toronto mega-tower issues and 6-plex furor

Episode Date: June 26, 2025

Guests and Topics: -Author John Carpay 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 Enjoy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to the Ben Mulrooney show. It is Thursday, June 26th. Thank you so much for listening on the Chorus Radio Network. You may be picking us up as a podcast or on a streaming platform, wherever you find us. Oh, we're also on YouTube. I keep forgetting that. I hope you enjoy this face because it's going to be there all the time. All right. And when I drive into work every morning, I drive down Mount Pleasant, which becomes Jarvis and there is a speed camera just above where the Branksom Hall school is for girls.

And I've been dinged by it twice, I'll be honest, when they first put it in, because I didn't see it, and I don't think there was a lot of notes. But first what they did is they lowered the speed limit on Mount Pleasant from 50 to 40. And let's not forget, Mount Pleasant is, it's like a mini highway. If you've ever driven on it,

once you get past Jarvis going north or coming south, there aren't a whole lot of crosswalks. From the time I get onto Mount Pleasant, to the time I hit Jarvis, there are two crosswalks. Right? So it's almost like a mini highway. I'm not suggesting people speed and go 7080 90 kilometers an hour. But it's not like a regular road. It's just not. And, and I appreciate having a reason to slow down during school days and school

Hours and the whenever school is in session for fear that a kid might just dart across the the area the the road but It's not like other it's not like other streets and yet we've got this speedcam there that's on 24-7 I've been dinged twice God knows how many times other people have been dinged. It does it does calm the traffic It's not like other streets. And yet we've got this speed cam there that's on 24 seven. I've been dinged twice. God knows how many times other people have been dinged. It does. It does calm the traffic. I get that. I absolutely get that. But. There are more and more voices lending themselves to the argument

that this is this is a tax. This is a tax. It's not doing anything but taking money out of your pocket, my pocket and and God knows what rat hole it's going down at City Hall. These are becoming speed traps. There are there are city councilors now calling for a pause on the use of automated cameras. So Anthony Peruzza has a motion that's going to ask the city to stop using the cameras until it can prove it's giving enough warning because that's going to ask us to stop using the cameras until it can prove it's giving enough warning because that's the thing. I didn't know they were putting it in. I really didn't. And the and the warnings as you get close to it are subtle at best, subtle at best.

Again, I'm not trying to speed, especially I'm coming in the morning where there's not a lot of traffic. I'm not I take my time. I give myself plenty of time. I like to get here at the office for seven. That's when I want to be here. And you can ask Mike, my producer, most days, all things being equal, I get here around 6.45. So I give myself plenty of time. And by and large, it's a fairly enjoyable ride down.

The faster I get here, the less I have to listen to Greg Brady, right? Like the quicker I am out of the car, but I don't speed to avoid listening to his voice. I just, I enjoy it. I try not to speed, but there's no, because there's no human element here, you can't explain yourself to a police officer. And cause that's not what they're looking for. They're looking for your money. And so there are more and more of these voices lending themselves to this debate.

For context, in 2024, Toronto's Automated Speed Enforcement Program generated $40 million in fines. And there's one camera in particular, Parkside Drive camera, generated $3.6 million over 17 months. That's 17% of the revenue from one camera. This is, I don't know, there's something about it that doesn't feel right.

It makes me slow down, so I appreciate the value in having something to get people me slow down. So I appreciate the value in having something to get people to slow down, but it's coming at a significant cost. And by the way, if I lived in Parkside, maybe I would have gotten dinged five, six, seven times. I don't know what the circumstances are around that. I also firmly believe from my own personal experience,

my own lived experience to use the parlance of our times, and it's my truth, you can't take it away from me, is that the driving experience in this city has become so frustrating on so many levels at so many intersections that when you finally get to a place where you can, I don't know, kind of catch up to where you think you should be on the road with so many choke points because of bike lanes and people trying to take a left and pedestrians not yielding and cyclists not yielding and everyone's stuck where they should be moving forward. At some point when you finally see a little bit of open road, I understand the instinct to open her up. And if the city is then putting speed cameras in those places,

it feels to me very deceptive. And it feels very cynical. And it feels like I'm being toyed with. And I don't like it. I don't like it. And so I'm very much looking forward to following this story as it shepherds its way through city council and we will see what happens.

So tomorrow and the 11 o'clock hour of the show, we're going to be joined by Paul Kalandra, the Ontario Education Minister. He's got an announcement to make. We will be the first people to talk to him after that announcement. And signs are pointing to the Ontario Ministry of Education taking over a number of school boards in this province.

I'll focus on the one that affects me directly, the Toronto District School Board, because it feels like there's mounting evidence that A, they're having a tough time figuring out how to spend money responsibly with an over $50 million shortfall this year. And their answer to that was, oh, we'll close the schools, we'll close the pools, and we'll close art programs that we're responsible for.

Not good enough. Look inward before you look at my kids. Your job is to take care of my kids. And instead of looking at, okay, can we do have redundancies? Do we have red tape? Do we have processes that are costing too much money? Your first instinct is to cut school programs. Therein lies the rub.

That is the mindset that I believe the education minister, if in fact that's the path he's going down, is looking to break. And so later on in this show, we're gonna take your calls on that. If in fact, the province of Ontario takes over the TDSB, what do you as the parent of a student within the TDSB want to see change?

I know what I'd like to see change because I'm gonna tell you the story later of my daughter's graduation yesterday from her primary school. And I was so moved by the affection and the care and the passion that I saw demonstrated in the words of the teachers who were saying goodbye to this class that they had known for so long.

And there's a disconnect between those teachers who deserve more support and they deserve more funding. And if that funding is getting lost, I'll use the expression again, down a rat hole inside the TDSB, well then that is something that requires drastic surgery. And if it means an overhaul of the TDSB by way of a takeover by the Ontario government,

then I think we need that medicine. But it doesn't mean that the TDSP isn't at least trying to change its ways, at least in one part. One of the issues that people like myself had with the TDSP was this ideologically driven desire to a desire to show how enlightened and progressive they are by going on a mission to rename certain schools. They were gonna rename a school named after Dundas and after Sir John A. I think there's another one after Edgerton Ryerson, I'm not sure, but there were at least three of them.

And they were doing all of this with our money to the tune of over 60 grand so far spent. None of it apparently spent on historians that they've consulted with. Instead, they're consulting with their feelings. And as an organization devoted to the furtherance of education, it is absurd, it is nonsensical,

and it is insulting to the taxpayer that you wouldn't default to educated people to determine whether that is a good move. Ask a couple of historians about Edgerton Ryerson. I know TMU decided to go down that path. There is mounting and ample evidence to suggest that that was a decision driven by emotion and not education because, well actually we're not going to have that conversation

today, but the fact is they're now trying to reverse that and say, oh, we're putting pause on, step and pause on that. I personally think it's probably too little too late, but it does, I think, demonstrate an acknowledgement by the TDSB that there are certain forces at play there that should have been tamped down on a long time ago. And instead they've been given so much leash that money has been wasted, reputations have been tarnished,

and kids have not been properly educated. Lots to get to in the show. When we come back, six plexes in your neighborhood. Where do you stand on that? We'll discuss that next on the Ben Mulroney Show. Here's a not so hot take. Toronto has a housing crisis. Toronto has a density issue. There are plenty of places in this city where we could add a ton of capacity for housing. And one of the solutions that is being brought to bear on this crisis is the addition of six plexes.

That's what they're calling them. You know, one building that has the capacity for six units in it, in neighborhoods across the city. That was the initial plan. And it got water neighborhoods across the city. That was the initial plan. And it got watered down at city council to keep it in, to insist that these be allowed to be built in what is considered old Toronto,

as well as I believe one ward in Scarborough. And there are city councilors that are lining up on either side of this. Here's what Gord Perks, Councillor Gord Perks said about the watered down version of the Sixplex project. This is the way you build a city that everybody lives in. And I'm sad to hear that there's been sort of a moral panic, if you will, that in some parts of the city we might, oh my God, have tenants living in them. Shock. Everywhere else in the world, communities have a mix of owned homes, socially owned homes, and apartment buildings. Well, I'm sure generally speaking, he's right. But you can't make, that's wrong.

I mean, it is wrong. There are neighborhoods that are listed as historically relevant where you do not have that. And everywhere in the world. And there are places where you can't build something that even looks different from anything in the neighborhood for visual consistency sake. Now, I know, how do I say this?

Nimbism, not in my backyard, ism, is a thing. And there are some people for whom their neighborhood is their fortress and they will not let anything in that they cannot get behind. I'm not one of those people. I live in an area called Moore Park, which is Toronto's first planned neighborhood. And it's beautiful and I love it and the neighbors are great

and my kids feel safe there. I am not against the idea of a sixplex in principle. The idea of having, you know, so long as it's visually appealing and it works with the neighborhood, I'm not against it in principle. But if you're moving into my neighborhood that I've invested in, along with my neighbors, we have invested in it, it is our neighborhood,

then we deserve to have a say. Now, if you're saying you must have one in there, okay, now let's sit down at the table and let's hammer out what that means. And it could mean something different in every neighborhood. As a matter of fact, it should mean something different in every neighborhood, because every neighborhood is different.

They date back to different times. They were built for different reasons, under different circumstances, by different people. They target different communities. Of course, every neighborhood should have different rules around sixplexes. My humble opinion and just one man's opinion, I don't want whoever builds a sixplex

to be able to rent it out to whomever they want. I just don't like the idea of having 21-year-old college students whose parents are paying their tab, partying all night long. I don't want that. And frankly, as somebody who has invested, frankly, a lot of money in my neighborhood, I believe that I, along with my neighbors, have every right to veto that decision. Now,

if you want to build sixplexes and rent out to long-term renters who are families who want to get a foothold and get a feel for a neighborhood. I'm down with having that conversation, but under no circumstances do I think that you at city council, because you got a few thousand votes, have the right to come and muck up the investment that I've made in my neighborhood. Again, all of this is being said by somebody who is open to having a sixplex in his neighborhood.

So I am not somebody, I am a natural ally to you, Gord Perks, but if you are going to treat me like somebody as an obstacle to get your sixplex built, well, you're gonna turn me into an opponent and I can mobilize and I can work against you. And you don't want that because you have a natural ally here. There are places where these absolutely,

I mean, frankly, if you drive down Young Street, there are so many split levels and two level buildings. Every one of those 30 years from now is going to be a 10 story building. Every one of them. You're on a subway line. There should be apartment buildings lining Young Street. I don't understand why that's not. And it's happening.

It's definitely happening. I think it should be happening at a far greater clip than it is. But I want to hear from you at 416-870-6400 or 1-888-225-TALK. Are you worried about density issues in your neighborhood? Like, NIMBYism is a thing, but it's not always because somebody is selfish.

They are thinking about things that you, perhaps, Gord Perks and people like yourself, aren't thinking about. And you need to consider their side of the equation, how they're saying it. They're the ones who are going to be impacted by it. And let's not forget, they're the ones who bought into that neighborhood, sometimes decades ago. They believed in that neighborhood decades ago. They're the ones who've been paying the property tax there for decades. If you're not going to show them respect, if you're simply going to say, well, this is how things are because this is how things are everywhere in the world, which is not true, you are going to turn them into mobilized advocates for their position. And I don't think

you want that. I think you want to try to keep as many people engaged in the conversation as possible. So give us a call. 416-870-6400. Also, I would need to know what this sixplex is going to look like. Because if you're building four stories up and the houses in my neighborhood are two sometimes, at most, three stories, well, then we got a problem. Because I don't want somebody looking down into my pool

or looking down to my backyard or peering into my living space. That's why I can't build to four stories. I don't know why somebody who gets a permit to build a sixplex would be able to do that. Hey, Andy, welcome to the Ben Mulroney show. Thanks so much for being our first caller. Hi, Ben. How are you? Well, what do you think? Sixplex is yay or nay? Depends on the neighborhood. Like if it's a neighborhood, a lot of like houses, no,

because of invasion of privacy. And an example I was giving your producer is when I was growing up in Montreal, we had a pool in our backyard, right? Until they put up a condo next to us. And you have no privacy because people in the balcony used to come and look at us. Yeah. Even my sisters stopped going in because of that. Well, yeah. And look, I don't know what those people in the balcony used to look, come and look, look at us. Yeah. Even my sisters stopped going in because of that. Well, yeah. And look, and another, I look, I don't know what those people in the condos are looking at. They could be looking at a million things, but if I, if I'm sitting in my backyard barbecue and I look up and I see 30 different couples on their, on their patios, I'm wondering,

am I what they're looking at? And I don't know after investing, you know, the sometimes hundreds of thousands and not millions of dollars on a house. I think I kind of deserve better. Andy. Another example is we all had another condo too and people used to look into my parents bedroom. Yeah, no, exactly. It can be creepy, but I appreciate it. Let's, who do we have next?

Do we have, oh, we got Richard. Richard, welcome to the show. Hey. Hey, how are you, sir? Good, how are you? I'm good. So what do you think? I'm not against the idea of these, but I think that if you're gonna impact

somebody's neighborhood, they deserve to be respected and heard. I'm a developer, actually. Oh, okay, so tell me. Yeah, I've been involved in a lot of high-rise construction in Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, and now sort of pivoted to doing some of these multiplexes. Actually, I have four involved in a lot of high-rise construction in Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver. And now sort of pivoted to doing some of these multiplexes. Actually, I have four of them under construction.

Firstly, to be able to be viable, you have to pick low-cost land. So it's generally not an expensive area. I don't know where you... You were talking about you personally. I don't know the value of your own house, but I have a feeling that your street will not be impacted by this. Yeah, but like I said, if it was, so long as it was a collaborative effort

where everyone could be heard and we could come to a solution that everybody agreed to or most people agreed to, I'd be down with that. Yeah, yeah. Anyway, go on, Richard, I wanna hear. Go on, tell me a bit more about your projects. Okay, so I have 40 years of experience in the business and construction. So generally, it's going to be higher rent because it's new construction, and it generally

won't appeal to the party kind of kids. It's generally geared to families in neighborhoods. Now it doesn't mean it can't happen and you're making some good points about maybe having some regulation. I'm always wary of regulation but your point is is well taken. It's gonna be a high rent product because it's new construction and it's gonna fill in... look we need to create housing in this city. Absolutely. Richard? Yeah. Absolutely. Richard? Yeah.

Welcome back to the Ben Mulrooney show and thank you so much for joining us. It seems like almost every day on this show we have, we talk about a story or something is happening in our courts or a group that is opposing proposed legislation and the idea of challenging it or taking the fight to somebody over a charter challenge, over a reason it violates the Canadian Charter of Rights is, finds its way into the story. The charter is ubiquitous, it's everywhere. And my feeling, my personal feeling on this

is that we've gotten to a place in society where it's been weaponized and it has been not co-opted, but there is a certain type of person with a certain type of agenda that is able to maneuver it and take advantage of it to their benefit more often than others. And so I'm joined now by John Carpe. He's the president founder of the Justice Center for Constitutional Freedoms. And he's written a book called Corrupted by Fear, How the Charter was Betrayed and What Canadians Can Do About It. And I just have a feeling he's

going to be able to fill in the blanks for me and tell me if my feelings translate actually into fact. John, welcome to the show. Thanks for being here. Good morning, glad to be with you. So my greatest problem with the charter is this belief that most people have that it's the basis for how we treat each other

as if prior to the charter, Canada was some lawless hellscape, more akin to Thunderdome than a rules-based democracy. And it's a fallacy. The charter, for all of its benefits, didn't usher in some new era of enlightened interactions that we have with each other. It's just a new thing.

It's a repackaging of what we had before. Well, absolutely. We had rights and freedoms in 1982 before the charter was added to the constitution. I think we had a lot more freedom of speech in 1982 than what we do right now, even though we have this charter that supposedly guarantees a freedom of expression

and all these other rights and freedoms. And part of the charter is section one, which authorizes judges to rubber stamp whatever violations the government wants, the judge can say, well, yeah, that does violate freedom of speech, but that's okay. So there's a process there that was not really followed during the years of lockdowns where the governments were not held to a high standard of having to really prove, uh, demonstrate, uh, justified demonstrably that, uh, that, that these measures were a justified violation of our charter freedoms. Yeah.

So, so in your book, you explain that there are harsh measures that turn the world upside down because of COVID and they weren't subject to the proper scrutiny. Give me some examples of that. We have a judge in Saskatchewan ordered a 12 year old girl to get injected with the COVID vaccine, contrary to the wishes of the girl, contrary to the wishes of the mother. But the worst part of it was the reasoning. The judge declared without having listened to experts before the court talked about the vaccine and, you know, to what extent is it effective or not? Is it dangerous? Is it safe?

Without evidence on the vaccine, he simply declared that the vaccine is safe and effective for adults and children because Health Canada and the Saskatchewan Health Authority have said so. And that was his ruling. Yeah. So he there wasn't even any he didn't even come up with any evidence to support that. He just declared because the government said the vaccine is safe and effective. I'm ordering this girl to get injected because we all know he took judicial

notice of what he calls the fact that this is safe and effective without evidence. Yeah. And look, my experience with the vaccines was I'm glad I got them. I wanted my kids to get them. And I believe everyone is entitled to hold their own opinions. And it's all, I have to admit, like in the moment, I was one of the people who was banging the drum and saying, get vaccinated so we can move on with our lives. With the benefit of hindsight and with the temperature turned down, you know, I do think that we were living in a time

where feelings trumped facts, and people in positions of authority were able to say things that if they said them with enough conviction, and if they said them with enough hyperbole, they turned into something more than just words said by that person. They were given weight that the facts didn't necessarily justify. When we saw this in court rulings where judges made assertions for which there's just no evidence put before the judge to support it. We had a case in Manitoba.

We challenged the lockdown there. And the judge wrote in his ruling that COVID is unprecedented and it's the worst global pandemic in over a century and in fact COVID was not unprecedented we had the Spanish flu of 1918 and COVID was less deadly than the Asian flu of 1957 and the Hong Kong flu of 1968 and so but without any evidence, he just writes the media narrative into his court ruling and ignored completely comprehensive reports from Manitoba's former chief medical officer, which eviscerated the government's case for lockdown. But John, what was wrong with that report, but he just ignored it entirely.

But John, it doesn't is isn't there isn't that something that could be subject to review from a higher court? Couldn't that be appealed at a higher level? It was appealed and we lost on appeal as well. Based on what what was what was the ruling? Well, a number of grounds were raised and the lawyers handling it didn't put massive emphasis on the trial judge having ignored that expert report from a former chief medical officer.

Okay. But the trend was there in the courts to, it sought over and over again that there's kind of a media narrative written into court rulings, which pre 2020, that would have been unthinkable, right? Judges would have been very, so I can't write anything in my judgment unless it's actually supported by evidence. Well, so, so that's in the last little while that we have, I want to get, I want to take all of this back to the charter. So what role does the charter in your estimation play

in these examples of, I don't know if you wanna call them judicial overreach or examples of judges mistaking their feelings for facts? I think the key point about the charter is that, I agree with you, our rights and freedoms don't flow from this piece of paper. They exist in our culture because they're cherished in our hearts, they're understood by our minds. And so our rights and freedoms in Canada are strong only to the extent that Canadians themselves

actually understand and appreciate the free society. Whether or not we have a charter is very much a secondary point. Yeah. All right. Well, John Carpe, thank you so much for being here. The book is called Corrupted by Fear, How the Charter was Betrayed and What Canadians Can Do About It. Very much appreciate your time today, sir. Thanks for having me on your show. Welcome back to the Ben Mulroney Show. And if you are a parent with a child in the public school system anywhere in Ontario, then you are going to want to tune in tomorrow to The Ben

Mulroney Show at 1130. That is when we will be speaking with Ontario Education Minister Paul Calandra. He is making a massive announcement and And we suspect it might have something to do with school boards across this province and a belief that those that have stepped out of line in terms of what their mission is and how they're spending money are going to get slapped back in line by possibly being taken over by the Ontario government. So that is a conversation with Paul Kalandra tomorrow at 1130

right here on the Ben Mulroney show. But now I wanna hear from you, the parents of kids in the school system at 416-870-6400 or 1-888-225-TALK. If in fact that happens, if that comes to pass, what changes do you want to see? Because the stories that we have been reporting on right here on the Ben Mulroney Show,

for as long as I've been on radio, are disappointing, frustrating, and angering. I'd like to start this by reminding you that there are incredible teachers in the TDSB, incredible support staff, people who dedicate their lives and love what they do. Yesterday at my daughter's primary school graduation, where she has been since kindergarten, the love and the affection

and how much these kids meant to the teachers and to the staff and to the principal. They have a principal who's been there for one year and we got choked up by the connection that she's made with these kids that she's not gonna see anymore. And the guy who'd been there for the six years prior, the principal who retired last year, he showed up to the graduation. That's how much he loved these kids. He wanted to see them in their final year. And H, I said, I, I,

I remember thinking that to myself, knowing that we have this conversation with Paul Kalandra tomorrow. And I thought, the students deserve better. But by gosh, these teachers deserve better. When you hear about how much money goes into the TDSP, for example, and they still have a $50 million shortfall, and their answer to that was, well, let's close the schools and close art programs. How about you look at how you're running your offices? How about you look at your staff? How about you look at your staff?

How about you look at your processes and your workflows and see how much redundancy there is, how much waste there is? When you hear about a $145,000 art trip by the Catholic School Board trustees, a $40,000 retreat at Rogers Center by the Thames Valley District School Board. When you hear about the Lolita Line bus driver,

when you hear about the students that were taken on a controversial field trip to a politically charged protest that dehumanized Jewish students, when you hear about the adoption of the anti-Palestinian racism definition that is hyper-political and did not happen with what I think is the

appropriate amount of consultation with parents. This is this is the stuff that angers parents. This is the stuff that frustrates parents. This is the stuff that I believe is angering the education ministry. And I want to hear from you because what I want to see is this stuff gone. I want all of this gone and I want people in place that recognize that they've got two jobs, support the teachers, support the students. That's what I want.

I don't want any of this nonsense. And so, you know, this, I wanna hear from you, 416-870-6400 or 1-888-225. Talk, I'm not looking for you all to agree with me. If you disagree, tell me and let's have that conversation. Hey, Dave, welcome to the Ben Mulrooney Show. 1-800-828-825-8400 or 1-888-225-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825- because of that went to the state, because there was such a culture of fear within the TDSB. So you're saying that people who work- From the teachers all the way up to the- Dave, Dave, hold on.

Dave, hold on. I just want to catch up to you. So you're saying that there are people who work in the TDSB who are good, honest brokers, who have a fear of reprisals. Can you give me an example of what you mean? Well, at every level, the teachers, the principals are afraid of the teachers because of the unions. The teachers are afraid of this. The principals are afraid of the superintendents. They don't want

to go on a limb anyway, make any decision, you know, walking on age shells. And then the superintendents are fearful of the directors above them, the associate directors. I mean, John Malloy did a great job. But Colleen and Clayton, these two last directors, I mean, you hear nothing from them. When's the last time they came on their show? Well, look, Dave, thank you very much for pointing that out. And as Dave was talking, it reminded me of a story

that we've been covering here on the show of the principal, Principal Sketchley, at the Rosedale Heights School for the Arts. He created that, he manifested that. He took a traditional school and turned it into a school for the arts within the TDSB. He's been the principal there for 30 years. And he spoke out against their change in admission policy

where there was a sort of, not an audition process, but a demonstration of passion and desire to be in an artistic community setting and turn it into a straight up lottery, where all of a sudden you got people who go there, who don't want to be part of an arts community. And he spoke out against that. And rather than allow him to finish up his career where he's been for 30 years next year,

they want to turf him and send him somewhere else. And a lot of parents and students believe it's because he spoke out against that lottery. So fear of reprisals. Hey, let's go to Gordon. Gordon, thank you so much for calling in. Morning, Ben. You brought up the three-day office trip to the Blue Jays game

from the Thames Valley District School Board. And when, when the heat started coming in over that, it was carried in the local paper here and two senior administrators making a couple of hundred grand a year were able to take a full year's leave of absence. Yeah, that's... To pay. That means that's insane. It's disgusting. So you've been found to have broken whatever rules, regulations, laws, I don't know what

they are, and your punishment is you get to get paid and you don't have to work. Of course, as soon as one once year of absence ran out, he resigned, I think. Oh, of course. Once he got it once he got his $200,000. Of course he did that that 200,000 I don't know how much that mean that that money could absolutely gone towards frontline teachers and and support staff. You know, and, and, or just throw it into the pot of the, you know, billions of dollars in deficits that these boards are running.

Hey, thank you for the call. And let's welcome Frank into the conversation. Frank, what would you like to see from a school board run by the province? Listen, you guys have been talking about, not just you, but your different hosts have been talking about this forever. It's the same old, same old. It's the same issues.

It's the same callers. It's the same everything. One of the big problems for me, and it's across the board with all these government agencies, is they've got to spend their budget, right? That's why you see these weird spending things. They spend 100 grand or whatever it is on a piece of art because there's nowhere else to spend it. And if they don't spend it, then they don't get it.

Then they get it. Then they get their budget cut the next year. That's one of the major, they should have to post a budget, realistic budget every year based on their specific needs and so on and so forth. Whether that's up or down, if they need more money, they get it. Less money, they don't get it. That's one of the biggest problems. Then you get into all these scandals about, oh, we've fluted it. You got to drain the swamp. It's quite obvious. Start completely over. There's gonna be some good casualties,

but you were aware of this stuff all this time and you didn't speak up, so you're gone too. You know what, drain the swamp, start over, re-budget everything, and actually let's see if we actually need School Board in its current format. Like, what's the fear? Like, why aren't we doing? Why don't we do it? Yeah, no.

Listen, could this spark a reevaluation of the entire structure that exists between where the money comes from and where the money actually ends up? It's a very good point. And Frank, I thank you for bringing that up. And I think we're going to share what you said with Minister Paul Kalandra tomorrow, because I think it's a very good point to highlight with him.

And not for nothing, let me link this to a story that we had yesterday about Mark Carney, our new prime minister, and how the story, I believe, in the Globe and Mail was that he is throwing down the gauntlet for federal bureaucrats who have been there for so long that they have this institutional muscle memory of just doing things the way they do

because that's the way they've been done. And he said that those days are over. We're not concerning ourselves with process anymore. We're focused on results. And if you can't get with that new plan, you're going to be turfed. And so maybe that's what Paul Kalandra is going to be inspired by.

Again, tomorrow on the Ben Mulroney Show at 11.30 for an announcement by a minister. The announcement is coming and then he's joining us to talk about it. So really, thank you very much. Parents care about this and I'm glad that we gave them a voice on the show. We'll be right back. Mindsides? Brutal! Just a roller coaster of backstabbing and craziness. New house guests, new twists, same epic drama. Bro, I'm gunning for you. You're my number one target. Who can you trust when everyone's watching? Game on, baby. Big Brother, new season Thursday, July 10th on Global.

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