The Ben Mulroney Show - When a union picket line uses intimidation is that crossing a line?

Episode Date: May 28, 2026

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This podcast is brought to you by the National Payroll Institute, the leader for the payroll profession in Canada, setting the standard of professional excellence, delivering critical expertise, and providing resources that over 45,000 payroll professionals rely on. There is a universal truth that at some point everyone is going to be in, have a moment where they have to rush to the hospital. And they have to get there because someone they know, someone they love, maybe take. their final breaths. And I went through it with my dad. And I was so glad, so glad to be there. And when I say every second that I was there mattered. It's because we didn't know whether he had one second left or 10 days or what.

But I thank my lucky stars that I was able to hold his hand. I was able to speak to him. He made me laugh. He made me laugh. The last thing he said to me. He made me laugh. And had I missed any of that, I would have been, I would have felt lesser. And had anybody deprived me of being able to be there, I would have spent my life making

them regret that. That's how important it is for people to be by the bedside of the people they love. And so with that as a background, I want to invite intrepid into this conversation because something happened to his extended family. It's very similar to that, where they were trying to get from a hotel to a hospital. And what was between them was a picket line. You want to tell this story? Yeah.

So this happened earlier this week. Well, what I'll say is my mother-in-law has been in hospital for a couple of months now. And she's been in ICU for two weeks. and in London, so it's not really close for everyone. And her sister, as long as well as her daughter and one of the cousins, they were all, they were just, they were there in London on Tuesday, and they were staying at the Ramada Inn, down near the highway, and they were going to go to the hospital for,

not to give too many details for privacy reasons, but for one of these very difficult conversations. Yeah. And you can imagine at that state, what the conversations are, and that's what was happening. So these were emotional times. It's been unbelievably tense and unbelievably emotional. I mean, you and I've been speaking about this last couple of weeks.

So they were going, and they were driving out, and there just happens to be an Opsu, which is the Ontario Public Service Employees Union. There was a picket. There was roughly 400 of them out in front of this Ramada Inn because they were picketing for some very real reasons for chronic underfunding and low wages, stuff that they were complaining about.

And, you know, the family decided to, they went up and they drove up and they said, please let us through. And they were blocked. You're not allowed to, by the way, but they were blocked. The car was not able to get through the sea of people. And they were told, no,

you need to respect our lines and respect what we're here for. And they said, we're actually just, we're going to the hospital. And anyway, so this is the clip from my wife's cousin, his guy named Serge. And this is how he described what happened after he first started speaking with these protesters or these picketers. Yeah, we were leaving the, as we were trying to exit the parking lot at the Ramada, and there were these protesters there blocking the exit. And I explained to them that, you know, we needed to get through urgently to get to the ICU,

to visit my aunt, who was in critical condition there. And so, you know, we were immediately met by accusations that we were lying and, oh, I'm sure you're mocking us. I'm sure everyone needs to get to the hospital. And, you know, we were just flabbergast, just completely. in shock that we couldn't get through. And there was like zero empathy to us even needing to get to the hospital.

And it just, there was no give. There was no letting up. I said, look, we need to get through. I made it very clear that, you know, there was no mistake and that I wasn't acting or, you know, it was urgent. And nothing, no empathy. just mocking and, you know, call an ambulance then and this kind of nonsense.

And I, you know, as I saw a little bit of a opportunity to inch forward. And I started inching forward. And instead of, you know, further clearing the way, they all jumped in front and slamming their hands on the hood with the signs in front of the wind stills screaming at me as if I was trying to run them over. which is total nonsense, you know,

and they see I'm trying to leave and... Jesus. That's, uh... Yeah. So, and so then the Ramada in, the people there, they called the police, the police came over and calmed people down and allowed them to get through,

but there's that moment of terror. They're, you heard them, what are you saying? They're pounding on the hood. Yeah, once they have, yeah. You called him a liar. A liar. Why would you lie about that?

So, so, I mean, look, Like I said, I know what it feels like to be in that car on your way to do something you don't want to do. You don't want to be in that position, but you have to. And then, and I was lucky that I had that time with my dad. And so all I can think about is if they, if I had been deprived from, like I said, even five seconds with him by a group like that, I don't care what your grievances are with the government. You have made an enemy of me. Like for life.

you have placed your, what you want, above basic human decency. And then, and with all... And let's be honest. The reason we're talking about this is because I feel the same way. Yeah. Because this, I came away from this enraged. Yeah. And you want, you as a union are going to eventually want my understanding as to why you're doing what you're doing.

But you don't have the basic human decency to let me out and allow me to go see my dying family member so that I can grieve and mourn and possibly make a really difficult decision that no one should have to make. If you don't have humanity in you, that I will not see you as a human being. That's terrible. It's terrible. So, of course, we reached out to the union. You spoke about this earlier.

And we called up the union. And full disclosure again, you know, I told them who I was. Yeah. I told them that I was recording the conversation. And then I told them that I was related to the people. who were involved in this. Yeah. And this was the initial reaction.

Honestly, I can't imagine that that would happen because we have staff and picket a captain stationed at both locations where we were picketing. I can't say it's 100% impossible. But like I said, the police were there, the OPP were there. There was security there. I was there. Lisa was there. I did not observe any incident of this sort, not at all.

That's a hot take. I can't imagine. This could have died on the vine or certainly not been what I think this is going to become, which is to say, look, they should have said, you know what, if that happened, that's terrible. That's terrible. That happened. And because you brought it up with us, we're going to do some digging. I can't, I really, it seems beyond the pale that that happened, but it could have.

And so we're going to look into it, we're going to get back to you. But just so you know, Mike droly. of the Ben Mulroney show. We have standards and practices and rules and regulations that govern our behavior on the picket line. And if you'll indulge me for one minute, I'm going to read them out to you, right? Because what would have happened there?

The journalist in you would have put that in this story. And that's what we would be talking about. And all I... And we would have said, bad apple. But all I can think is, well, I find it quite curious that the people on the picket line called these people liars. And now you're essentially saying the same thing.

So I'm seeing consistency here. Like it didn't have to be this way. Again, had you demonstrated a little bit of human compassion to what we're, instead you called them liars and you're hoping it's going to go away. Now, she did it more politely than what your wife's cousin was suggesting. But this is, this is not a good look. And we're going to talk about that. We're going to talk about that in the next segment because this is not right.

This is not right. And I think it speaks to a fundamental flaw that we have. And again, let me apologize. I'm so sorry this happened to your family. But if we can make this about the union for just a moment, I think this speaks to a fundamental misunderstanding that a lot of unions have about who's actually in charge in this country. It ain't you.

It ain't the government. It's the people. And if you don't get our buy-in, you don't get anything. We'll talk about that next on the Ben Mulroney show. Amazing Days is on now with your local, METRO. Save big on amazing items. Like pints of fresh blueberries for only 299 each. Only till June 3rd. Shop in store or online at metro.ca. Wows of deals at food basics are bubbling over. Get a six pack of 710 milliliter Pepsi or Pepsi Zero for just $3.98 each. Shop in store and online until June 3rd. Food

basics, always more for less. We are continuing our coverage of a story no one else is going to talk about because this is a story that happens specifically to Mike Droula's extended family. Intrepid's family was in a car in London, Ontario, leaving a Ramada Inn trying to go to a hospital to go visit a family member who is in a state that is going to force this family to make some choices. And it's an emotional time. I can speak from experience. It is tough on a family. But Opsu, which is the union, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, has had a problem and they were picketing and they were preventing this car full of family members from leaving to get to the hospital.

They were called liars. They were talked down to. They were intimidated. They were prevented from moving their car. They were, the members of the union were slamming. their fists on the hood of the car. They were putting their placards in front of their faces so they couldn't see and eventually got out.

But time was a wasting. And when you have somebody at the end of their life, you don't know how much time is left. And so when Mike reached out to Opsu, they were told, he was told, didn't happen. Didn't happen. And for the record, doing our due diligence was why I love having a reformed journalist working with me as my producer. Reform. I like that. And that's good.

He's, uh, he, he has reached out to obsu leadership. He reached out, uh, to, the Ramada Inn. And he reached out to the police. Uh, absolute, obsolete, absolute leadership is looking into this. Yeah, they are looking, but, but we have an official statement from them already. Like the what they told us is I'm taking it as an official statement. Yeah. And we also, I mean, we heard the clip of them.

Yeah. We're going to go to that in a second. But the London police said that obviously they can't confirm this specific incident. Uh, they said you have to file a police report. However, they are aware of some protesters holding vehicles up for approximately five minutes in length at times. But remember, they said that didn't happen. Yeah, they said that didn't happen. At all.

And you followed up, by the way, with that representative of opposite. Let's listen to the second question you asked. If you'd seen protesters blocking the road with cars going in and out and being aggressive with people, would you have stopped it right away? I don't know what I would have done in a situation that didn't occur. So I'm not going to answer that question. I mean, do you hear that? Devoid of any empathy, any empathy.

Doubling down on this is a lie, it didn't happen. But not only that, like showing, I don't know what I would have done. Really? Because I know what I would have done. I know, sure as I'm sitting here, sure is Shinnola, I would have told those people, get the hell out of the way. They've got a dying family member to get to. Are you heartless?

That's what I would have done. But thing is, remember, what a London police said. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. We are aware of protesters holding up vehicles for five minutes and length of time. Yes. And that, if this goes to a place where this goes to court or something like that, that's illegal. Canadian labor laws protect peaceful picketing.

But courts have repeatedly ruled that picketers cannot obstruct block or detain people or vehicles. The Supreme Court has said picketing is allowed only so long as it does not. interfere with the public's lawful use of property and once a picket line stops a car from moving, it becomes illegal obstruction, not protected labor activity. And yet they were still able to do this for obviously a number of different people. You cannot surround a vehicle that's unlawful. You cannot prevent it from leaving. Unlawful.

You cannot rock it back and forth. And you cannot frighten occupants. All of that stuff happen. All of that stuff happens. can constitute intimidation, mischief, assault, forcible confinement. And here's another one. If the occupants say they're trying to reach a hospital or a dying family member, the picketers are now impeding access to emergency or time-saving care,

which the courts take extremely seriously. Now, here's where... The thing is, this is never going to get to a court? No, it doesn't matter. No, but we're naming and shaming today. That's the best we can do. It's the court of public opinion. And why actually, it's quite germane, right?

Because the court of public opinion seems to be what the... unions have forgotten about. It matters. When a union rep goes on to a radio show, they don't do it because they give a crap what the radio host thinks. They do it because they know that's a pipeline to the people. They are pleading their case to the people. They are saying, hey, this strike, it's going to cause some trouble for you, but we want

you to understand why we're doing it because we need you to support us. And there are two other examples in recent history that show me that a lot of these unions have forgotten that part. Two Christmases ago, when the union representing post office workers told their workers, you know what, we're going to go on strike at Christmas. I begged on this radio show begged them not to do that. I said, all the problems that you are facing will still exist in January. But right now in the fourth quarter, this is the best. This is the time of year where a lot of businesses, they rely on the Christmas and the holiday season to be in the black.

They could be in the red all year long, but they make all their money now. And you are going to deprive them of being able to ship to their clients and their customers. So you're looking for job security on the backs of people who have none, small and medium sized businesses. I said, if you do this, you will lose me. I absolutely want to hear you out in good faith. I will have no time for you because you will have prioritized yourself over them. And they did that

and that was it. You lost me. And then here in the province of Ontario, the union representing workers of the LCBO, the alcohol stores said they were going to, they were going to strike and they were going to prevent businesses from being able

to obtain their liquor. Restaurants, bars, they make their money off of selling liquor. And yet again, what are they looking for, job security? What are they going to get off the backs of entrepreneurs who bet on themselves who do not have a backup plan, who do not have job security. And in both cases, they didn't read the room.

And this is a third example of not reading the room. You have lost me, Opsu. I don't even care anymore. This story isn't about you anymore. It's about this family that was terrorized. What would have happened, Opsu, if they had gotten to the airport, they had gotten to the hospital, and they had said, I'm sorry. but your family member took her last breath just 60 seconds ago.

What would have happened then? Like what would this family? Forget the opsu people. They've demonstrated they're heartless. They've demonstrated that they don't see in other people anything but they're transactional. They're transactional. They want you when they need you. And right now you're an impediment to them.

But what would have in that family? If I had been in a traffic jam, let's take the union, if I'd been in a traffic jam and I had missed my dad's last breath, it would have been a burden that I would have carried for the rest of my life. Why didn't I leave sooner? What could I have done differently to get here? Why did I go down that route? Why didn't I use ways? Why did I think I'd get there on my own? The guilt that I would have carried forever would have been insurmountable, insurmountable.

Unfortunately, none of that happened here. Yeah. But the fact remains is that you've got a car full of people who are very emotional because of the things that are going on around them. And they don't need that. They don't need to have somebody else's issues thrust upon them. It's not their job. They have nothing to do with anything.

But they do have a hand. They do have a hand in how this is going to go for you moving forward. because at some point Opsu is going to start a public charm offensive. And they're going to try to get in the press and they're going to explain why the big bad government is being bad to them. And we're doing this for you because we are the people who keep this province moving.

And so we need your support. Well, I'm telling you, you don't have my support. You do not have my support. You had members who behaved boorishly, inhumanely, terribly to people who needed kindness in that moment. And you denied that it happened. And then when you were charged. challenged on it to seek just some sort of redress.

Just somebody saying, you know what? I hear you. That's terrible. I'm sorry that this happened to you. We have no word of it. We're going to look into it. But rest assured, we're going to get back to you. And this is not who we are.

There's not how we behave. And if we can identify who did this, we will get an apology to you because you deserve that. But you didn't do that. You called them liars. So there's a whole bunch of people listening to this show right now who are like me. They've tuned out. They don't care what your grievances anymore.

If you don't see humanity on the other side of that picket line, I don't care what your problems are. Go sell sorry somewhere else. We're all stocked up here. No time for you. Hey, y'all. It's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair. Ever order furniture online and wonder what if?

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