The Ben Mulroney Show - Trump midnight tweets cause chaos/Small Business Week focus on "Pier Five"

Episode Date: October 24, 2025

GUEST: Julian Golden and Jeff Lei, co-founders from Pier Five If you enjoyed the podcast, tell a friend! For more of the Ben Mulroney Show, subscribe to the podcast! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://link.chtbl.com/bms⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Also, on youtube -- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@BenMulroneyShow⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Ben on Twitter/X at https://x.com/BenMulroney Insta: ⁠⁠⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠⁠⁠ Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠⁠⁠ TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠⁠⁠ Enjoy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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During the Nissan All-In Clearout, get zero percent financing plus up to $500 bonus on some of our best-selling models. You have zero reasons to wait. Conditions apply. See your local Nissan dealer today. Welcome back to the Ben Mulringo. Welcome to the Ben Mulringo. Rooney Show on this Friday, October 24th. It's a very important day here in the city of Toronto and indeed across the country for baseball fans as the Blue Jays have made it to their first World Series in 32 years. Game 1 is at Rogers Center here in Toronto just after 8 p.m. against the Dodgers. So congratulations. But I turned off all notifications from Donald Trump on my social media years ago. because I would wake up at 2.30 in the morning,

3 o'clock in the morning to go do my other, that TV show I used to do. And I would wake up, while I was waking up, he was still awake, rage tweeting. And I would wake up and it would cause anxiety in me. But it was always like nonsense tweets about about perceived ills and enemies around every corner. And so there was no value in them.

And so I turned it off. But the rage tweeting has continued now on truth social. And unfortunately now, the rage tweeting, even though it's on truth social, has very significant impacts on Canada because we woke up to him announcing that all trade talks between Canada and the United States have stopped. And why have they stopped? Because he has taken great umbrage and great offense to an ad produced by the Ontario government using the words of one of the great presidents of the United States in history, Ronald Reagan, and his thoughts on tariffs and how they are a net negative, long-term net negative.

And it's a one-minute ad where you hear the reliable, confident voice of Ronald Reagan during a radio address in 1985, and it's overlaid on images of Ontario. and the United States and workers and factories and cars coming off the assembly line. And it's a way to remind Americans where one of their great leaders stood on this issue that is choking and killing jobs north of the border, one of America's great friends. And so all trade talks have been halted late last night. This is what he said. The Ronald Reagan Foundation has just announced that Canada has fraudulent.

use an advertisement, which is fake, featuring Ronald Reagan speaking negatively about tariffs. The ad was for $75 million. They only did this to interfere with the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court and other courts. Tariffs are very important to the national security and economy of the United States, based on their egregious behavior, all trade negotiations with Canada are hereby terminated. Thank you for your attention to this matter, President D.J.T. He followed up saying that we at 7.30 this morning that we cheated and got caught And not only did Ronald Reagan like tariffs, he loved tariffs for our country and its national security.

And he keeps going on fraud, fraud, fraud, fraud, Canada's a cheater, Canada's a this, Canada's of that. All we do is take, take, take, take. Let me tell you something. Just as an aside, as somebody who follows the Canadian government and the decisions they make and the organization, like the people running it, we don't always have the sharpest tools in the toolbox doing the work for us here. Like, we don't know how to run most things in this country as well as we could. So for us to be some criminal mastermind to be able to take advantage of the biggest economy in the world, well, what does that say about your leadership?

If that's in fact true, which it's not. Okay, so that's the lay of the land today. you're going to be talking about this at work today at dinner with your friends over drinks on your group chat so here are a few things that you need to know before you get into a conversation with your friends one about a week and a half ago I was at the event with Doug Ford where his government announced this ad showed it to a room of 1,300 people there were politicians in that room politicians of all parties there were journalists from every major outlet there, everyone saw the ad.

I don't remember reading anything in the follow-up from that of anybody sounding an alarm saying, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, you shouldn't do this, Mr. Prime Minister. I did hear people say, you shouldn't be spending $75 million to try to change someone's mind whose mind will not be changed. That was it. So just to say, if anybody today tells you that this was a dumb, founded move. This was a dumb, boneheaded move. Where were you 10 days ago when that could have mattered if, in fact, you accept that it shouldn't have happened? And this is the most important

part here. This is the most important thing that you need to be telling your friends. Donald Trump did not have a problem with this ad when he first saw it. This is what he said on October 21st, three days after the ad was released. And I even see foreign countries now that we are doing very well with taking ads. Don't go with tariffs. They're taking ads. I saw an ad last night from Canada. If I was Canada, I'd take that same ad also.

But they're actually on television taking ads. But I do believe that everybody's too smart for that. All right. So his criticism was, you can do the ad if you want. I would have done it if I was in your place, but it's not going to do anything. And no problem then. Then he claims that he's got, he's taking up essentially the common cause with the Reagan Foundation, who he says, they said, used the image fraudulently.

Here's why that argument does not hold water at all, at all. Anything that a president does or says as they are doing their duty as president, while they are president, is information in the public domain. This is according to U.S. copyright law. He works for the U.S. government, meaning works prepared by an officer or employee of the federal government as part of that person's official duties, and he was in his official duties with his weekly radio address, are not subject to copyright protection. What does that mean?

That means presidential speeches, press statements, proclamations are automatically in the public domain and anyone can quote, reproduce, record, broadcast, or adapt those words freely without needing permission or paying royalties. In other words, the Reagan Foundation doesn't have a legal leg to stand on. And I'm not saying this as a copyright lawyer. I'm just saying this as somebody who can read a fairly clear law on the books. This is from the U.S. copyright law. And that's the accusation that they took out.

key pieces of information that where Ronald Reagan, while addressing a tariff situation with semiconductors coming out of Japan that were unfairly impacting Americans, he said, we're doing this right now. I'm loathe to do it. They took that out. But we have to do it because we need to protect our interests and our jobs here. But in the long term, they go back to that, the tariffs hurt the American economy. nowhere in that does he give the indication that he loves tariffs nowhere in that he does say that

the that the president must have the power to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to do if he needs to and in that way he and Donald Trump are the same but here's here's the question we have to ask ourselves what happened what's the difference between Donald Trump on the 21st where he didn't have a problem and this morning when he does have a problem and here's what I think happen. I think his lawyers told him that the decision that is going to be before the Supreme Court of the United States on whether or not he has the power to lawfully tariff is, he's been told it's not going to go the way we think it is. Don't forget, there was a lower court that had a ruling that tariffs were unlawful. The U.S. government could be forced to refund billions of dollars

to companies that have been impacted by those tariffs, right? And so now it's going all the way to Supreme Court to see if, in fact, that lower court ruling stands. I think his team told him, yeah, we don't think it's going to go the way you think it's going to go. So what does he do? What does Donald Trump do every time he sees a loss coming? He chums the water. He tells you the game is rigged. He points his finger at a cheater.

someone who had their finger on the, on the scale, somebody who has messed up the outcome that is screwing with the Americans and the Canadians are the cheaters this time. Sometimes it's Hillary Clinton. Sometimes it's the FBI. Sometimes it's the DOJ. Sometimes it's MSNBC. Sometimes it's Google. Today it's Canada because he is preparing for a defeat at the Supreme Court of the United States.

And when he does lose, he gets to point at us and he can say, see, I told, I didn't lose. I was cheated, and so were you. Mark my words, that's what happened. Doug Ford did nothing wrong here. All right, don't go anywhere when we come back. It's Small Business Week here on the Ben Mulroney show. This podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. If you've been following the news, like really following it,

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Talk it out with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com slash Mulruni today to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp, help.com slash Mulruni. In the 70s, four young women were found dead. For nearly 50 years, their cases went cold. I'm Nancy Hicks, a senior crime reporter for global news. In the season finale of crime beat, I share how investigators uncovered shocking

evidence of a serial killer, and hear exclusive interviews with the killer's family. Listen to the full season of Crime Beat early and ad-free on Amazon music by asking Alexa to play the podcast Crime Beat. This is the Ben Mulroney Show, and we are wrapping up Small Business Week here on the show, as we have tried to celebrate and elevate small business owners and the entrepreneurial spirit that has been the engine of the Canadian economy. me for so many years. And how do we ensure that that continues?

Well, one of the things that's important to small businesses, and sometimes they're too busy to do it themselves, is networking. The network effect is tremendous. As a matter of fact, I spent a great deal of time with young Canadian scholars through a foundation I do some work with to teach them about how important it is to network. For some people, it comes very, very easily. They are natural networkers. They seek other people out and they leverage those relationships to everyone's benefit.

And for others, it is learned behavior. But for everyone and for every business, it is essential. And today we're speaking with the co-founders of a company called Peer 5. Their business is the business of other people's businesses. In other words, they create a network for small businesses. And we're joined now by Julian Golden and Jeff Lee, the co-founders of Peer 5. Welcome to the show. and happy Small Business Week.

Happy Small Business Week. Thanks for having us on. Hey Ben, great to chat. Happy Small Business Month. All right. So let's start with you, Julian. Talk to me about, you know, great businesses are born of the acknowledgement of a hole in the market or a problem that needs to be solved.

So talk to me about the genesis and the need for Pier 5. Yeah, absolutely. So, you know what? It's funny because when we started Pier 5 years ago, it wasn't actually initially to begin a business or to launch a business together. Jeff and I met through starting other businesses, but it was really just fostered by our curiosity of what is happening in the world with creatives and entrepreneurs and small business owners.

But as you said, over time, we really did discover this need in the small business community of that networking components and the community. aspect. And so it was a very organic thing, but, you know, Pure 5 was really created at the end of the day, where it is now is to create a space for small business owners and for entrepreneurs to connect and learn from one another and share resources and ultimately realize that you're not in this alone because being a small business owner and entrepreneur can be a very challenging space and sometimes isolating. But that was really kind of how it came together. And, you know, today it's all about creating the programming and the spaces for these folks to get together.

And, you know, the Canadian economy is so greatly built on small business owners and entrepreneurs. And, you know, our goal is really just to play a part in helping elevate that and have everyone grow together. So we're going to talk about what you don't know what you don't know. And if I have to assume that if you have a small business and you start investigating peer five, you're going to see, oh, there's a whole bunch of stuff I don't know. And there's a whole bunch of people I don't know. and so it's a great that that will be an eye-opening experience for them but before we get to that let's talk about the challenge of a small business owner because in a lot of cases somebody

is you know listen some small businesses want to become big businesses but others just want to stay a small business somebody wants to i don't know they want to cut hair or they want to do nails or or they they want to open a restaurant because there's nothing like it in their neighborhood but their goal is not to franchise it out or anything like that however once they start doing it, Jeff, then they realize that in order for them to do that thing that they love, they have to put in hours upon hours upon hours

of doing stuff they hate or they certainly didn't think they'd have to do. The bookkeeping and the dealing with the city and permits and you name it, there's going to be, for every minute that you spend on the thing you love, I guarantee you're spending two or three minutes on something you're really, not only do you not love, but it's not even in your wheelhouse.

For sure, and that's definitely a challenge a lot of small businesses kind of realize once they're in it. And a great way to combat that is really to find ways to meet people in the community that are also entrepreneurs and small business owners and to be able to share resources with each other. Like you mentioned the boring bookkeeping, maybe I have a bookkeeper that's really good that I can share with you and talk about how I've navigated those things. And other challenging pieces obviously is access to the funding and mentorship continues to be a big challenge. So a lot of small businesses have these incredible ideas,

but struggle to resources to scale and having that community to talk about these issues and problems, it just makes people feel like they're not alone in this journey and there are others that are in the same place. Yeah, and that's the key important thing, because some people say, listen, I'm too busy doing, you know, trying to keep my business afloat.

But part of keeping the business afloat is, like you said, talking with people who've been in those similar situations and learning from them and learning from their experiences, sometimes learning from their mistakes. So, Julian, if I'm a small business owner in the city of Toronto and I'm listening to this conversation that we're having right now, and I go to the website or I go to your social media,

what am I going to see there that's going to cause me to say, yeah, you know what, I got to get off my duff and I got to meet these people and I've got to come to this next, this next networking event. Yeah, that's a great question.

You know, what we try to do with our website and our social media channels is just showcase how inclusive of a space Pier 5 is for small business owners. So you'll see recap videos from the events that we've done, you'll see spotlights on other entrepreneurs and founders in different industries, but really what we try to showcase is how casual everything can be

as well. You know, being a business owner is, you know, a hard and difficult task at some points, but, you know, the purpose of it and why people step into being a business owner is to have fun with it as well. We want to showcase, you know, the fun nature of that. So we try to keep networking events out of board rooms and, you know, bring them into restaurants or studio spaces. We've launched an athletic club for founders, which is entirely free, you know, where business owners, like you mentioned, can get out of their offices or step away from the desk and just do something different at that work. But like I said, we really just try to showcase that peer five is a free way to connect with peers and like-minded business owners and have fun

and, you know, just remember why you started this in the first place and, you know, why you're really chasing to make your passions your career and your life. And just that we are, you know, supportive and behind you every step of the way. And so when did you start Pier 5? And I'll go to Jeff for this one. When did you start the company? Yeah, we started Pure 5 years ago. So, so as the reason I ask is I'd love to get a snapshot in your mind about the headwind

facing the small business community in a city like Toronto, for example, but this could happen across the country, five years ago versus today? Well, I think five years ago was a whole different world. It was right at the beginning of pandemic where everyone was locked up in their home. And I think back then, it was like if you had brick and mortar stores, like, how do I take my business online and how do I learn as quickly as possible to continue? can you, to be able to run my business at the, at the time. I think once things have opened back up and the economy has opened back up where you're

able to meet people face to face, you then think more about like challenges to scale, which is access to funding, but then also now that you learn so much about the digital space, there's another challenge of digital innovation and digital noise, figuring out how to stand out online without losing authenticity and doing so while while not burning out and also remembering your mental health. Well, I'm looking at your website. It's beautifully designed. And you're absolutely right.

What you described is exactly what you guys deliver here is, you know, mentorship and meetings in non-bordroom-like areas. And the diversity and the inclusion of this is represented here of the city of Toronto mental health movements, empowering women. year-end celebrations. I can't overstate how important it is for everybody to incorporate. Everybody who is looking to build and secure their future needs to do so with a community that believes in them.

And you build that community through networking. Networking is not a four-letter word. It is essential, not just to build business, but to build careers, to build success. And however you define that success, and I commend you guys at Pier 5 for helping small businesses do that. The website is Pier 5. that's where you can find these guys julian golden and jeff lee thank you very much yeah thank you so much for having us it was great to chat

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