The Ben Mulroney Show - You know you're on the wrong side of history when Hamas thanks you

Episode Date: May 20, 2025

Guests and Topics: -Drunk Driver kills three children -You know you're on the wrong side of history when Hamas thanks you If you enjoyed the podcast, tell a friend! For more of the Ben Mulroney Show, subscribe to the podcast! https://globalnews.ca/national/program/the-ben-mulroney-show Follow Ben on Twitter/X at https://x.com/BenMulroney Enjoy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to the Ben Mulroney show and it's time now to talk to you, our listeners at 416-870-6400 or 1-888-225-TALK. This is not a story that any of us want to talk about, but it's sadly almost like clockwork. Anytime there is a long weekend or a reason for people to quote unquote celebrate, they, there's always somebody who doesn't get the memo and drives drunk. And look, he drives drunk, kills somebody, right? And we've seen it before. We see it far too often. But the level of tragedy of this story is has reached international proportions.

There's a 19 year old man who is charged with impaired driving in connection with the death of three young children aged between 15 and six, as well as the injury of the other three people in the car. He was driving drunk and hit this car that was stopped at a light. And two of them died on the scene. One of them died a little bit later.

And I wanna hear from you at 416-870-6400 or 1-888-225-TALK. What do we have to do to make it? So look, there's a lot of reasons why people drive drunk. None of them good. And there are certain things that we can do as a society to mitigate and stop and limit the reasons people drive drunks.

We're not going to be able to stop every one of them, but I keep going back in my head to the Marco Musso story, where I think he got 10 years for killing God knows how many people. He was out in three and a half. And I mean, does deterrence matter? Does the threat or the fear of spending your life in jail, your life in prison,

versus knowing that you could be out in three and a half, would that stop somebody? I don't know that it stops somebody who's a problem drinker. I don't know if that's the case. There are some people who suggest, oh, we're making it too easy for people to buy alcohol. I don't know that that argument holds water either.

So I don't know what the answer is, which is why I really do appreciate these conversations with you or listeners, because you inform what I think about issues like this. But I just feel that there is, I cannot believe that we're doing everything right to stop people from driving drunk. I can't believe it. I believe that there is a best practice out there that we have not adopted.

There is a solution to at least one part of the problem that we haven't thought of. And so let's put our heads together and see what we can come up with. George, welcome to the show. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning, Ben, how are you?

I'm well, thank Ben. How are you? I'm well, thank you. How are you today? Oh, I just, uh, you know, I, uh, I was really good yesterday till I heard the story. I actually talked with Kevin Frankish about it in the morning and, uh, I got to be pretty upset to talk to Kevin Frankish. Anyway, little jobs are anyway, um, yeah, no, I, when I hear stuff like this, I picture my own family, of course, and I'm sure you do too with your young boys and what would you

want to see happen to somebody who did this to your family I know what I would want I wouldn't want to see I wouldn't want them to see the light of day for at least 20 years 25 years the same with somebody getting caught with the impairment level maybe not at the point eight but when you get double you know what, let's take away your license for 10 years. Yeah. Let's take away your, let's take away your ability to earn a living. Let's take away your freedom because you know, like, well, George, let me, let me jump in and let me hear what you have to say, but George, what, like this, the, the person who, uh, allegedly, um, But George, like this, the person who allegedly committed this atrocious act is 19 years old.

And I can already see it. I can already see the headlines or the news coming out that he's expressing remorse and that it's in the best interest of society that he be rehabilitated as quickly as possible and reintegrated into society so that we don't lose him to the system. Right? I can already see that narrative bubbling up.

That it's going to happen, 100%. I don't know this person. I don't know what demons he's dealing with. I don't know what happened that night. But I do know that somebody within the system is going to say, we have to make sure he's institutionalized for as little time as possible because he deserves a chance at a productive life.

Yeah, you know what my dad would say in that situation? He would say that, yeah, poor guy, poor guy, you think that sucks, wait till you see the next 10 years how that's gonna suck for you. Yeah, you know, you made a decision and you knew that decision was wrong. And it's, it's, you know, Kevin, actually the reason I called him was because Kevin said,

you know, he said a good person making a bad decision. And I called him on that. I said, bull crap because he's not a good person. Well, you know, I don't think, and I, hey, George, thank you for saying that. I don't think you get to say he's a good person. We don't know anything about him. What we do know is he allegedly killed three people. That's what we do know. And so you don't, to suggest,

to start socializing the idea that he's just a good person who did a bad thing, wrong. You don't know that. Those are facts, not an evidence. All right, let's welcome Aaron to the show. Aaron, thanks so much for calling in. How are you? I'm well, thank you.

Good. Good. So I honestly think that we should take the model that they have over in Germany and reduce the drinking age to 16. And then increase the driving age to 18. So that way the novelty wears off because this guy was only 19 years old, right? Yeah, yeah. It would, you know, increase the like, get rid of the novelty of the old one I'm drinking a party before you even learn to get behind it. Yeah, that's a listen, I would love to see the data behind something like that.

I'd love to know. I mean, I do know that, you know, there's something about, you know, we covet that which we do not have, right? There's, and in the United States, bins drinking is higher than in other places. And a lot of people believe that it's that case because you're not supposed to legally drink until you're 21.

And so people view it as taboo. And it's something that they should be, they should be trying when they try it, they're going to try it. They're going to turn it up to 11. So I do get that. Again, this Germany model, possibly that might be a good idea to start socializing

the idea of kids being able to drink a little bit earlier. But I guarantee you, if when I say that, there are gonna be people calling in saying, oh, absolutely not, we should be raising it, we should be making it harder to get. I don't know what the answer is, I really don't. So let's keep this conversation going with Dan. Dan, welcome to the show.

Good morning. No, I don't think there can be any more deterrence. We keep increasing or making the penalties harsher and harsher to the point where it's just gonna infringe our personal freedoms. Are we making it harder? Are we making it harder? Did Marco Mozzo? Of course, every time there's a death, they're mad, mad shows up and wants some new bill passed and legislated. Oh, no, no, no, no. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Yeah. Hold on. Let's, Dan, let's clear something up. We're talking about two different things. There's one thing about Let's, Dan, let's clear something up. We're talking about two different things.

There's one thing about lowering the alcohol blood rate into what constitutes drunk driving. Like, that's one thing. I'm talking about the punishment for drunk driving. If you look at the statistics, I'm pretty positive that the terms isn't gonna work. And at some point, alcoholics are alcoholics. And the majority of

the people, if there's accidents, are going to be people over 18. And if it is for young, what I would say is it's just like smoking, more education. And if anything, incentive, like why not pay, subsidize young people to have Ubers, for example, like pay for it or something like that. And eventually I'll tell you, it's just going to be like everything. There's no solution until it shows up. And it's going to be technology. It will be cars. Now they're almost at the point where they could drive themselves or they'll have sensors and then it's just going to be that simple in five years. We'll have the solution. It's going to be a technological solution. Well, listen, I think that's optimistic, but I do appreciate you bringing that to the conversation. We got time for one more before the break. Wesley, welcome to the show.

Hey, how you doing? Good, thanks. I'd just like to say that I don't think the human race actually has the capability of making decisions when it comes to drinking and driving. I think this should kind of lie on the manufacturers of car companies, maybe, you know, putting blow boxes in every single vehicle and not being able to start them without it. Uh, I, I, listen, I, I get that that's, that's a, that could be a solution. I could, I could, I could see that that would drive up the cost of every vehicle. And frankly, um, I think that's, that's trying to solve, you know, a, a problem that should be solved with a scalpel with a bazooka. Like, uh, not everybody drives drunk. Most people don't. And I don't know why.

Anyway, look, it's a solution. I appreciate it. I thank everybody. Welcome back to the Ben Mulroney Show. Thank you so much for spending a little bit of your Tuesday with us. It's a short week, so let's enjoy it together. You'll remember, I think it was last week when there were a series of scrums from the new cabinet of this old liberal party. And some of the stuff that they said was they're hot takes, hot take upon hot take upon hot take. And one of the most hot, the hottest of hot takes was from the new foreign minister, Anita Anand. I think a lot of us were hoping that there would be a respite from the storm since Melanie Jolie

was given her walking papers from that file. No, she doubled down. She stood just outside the cabinet meeting and referred to Palestine, which is not a legal entity. And again, ascribed responsibility for what's going on in Gaza to Israel, which flew in the face of what the prime minister had said, saying that there was no peace

until Hamas put down their arms and returned all the hostages. And so a lot of us thought, okay, there's gonna be a reset. Someone's gonna, there's gonna be a talking to, to this foreign minister from the government, from the prime minister to say, hey, get with the program. Well, we now know what the program is because Canada, the United States and France

have issued a forceful condemnation of Israel and other actions in Gaza and the West Bank threatening in a joint statement to take concrete actions, including sanctions, if Israel does not stop the expansion of its military operations. And this led to what? This led to Hamas putting out a press release thanking Canada.

You'll remember this is not the first time Hamas, a terrorist organization made up of bloodthirsty rapists, is thanking Canada. You'll remember this is not the first time Hamas, a terrorist organization made up of bloodthirsty rapists, is thanking Canada. And this is not a good look. For me, you know where I stand on Israel. You know that I believe that for there to be any peace, it starts with Hamas laying down their arms and returning all the hostages alive and or dead.

That's it. That's the first step. Everything else until that happens, everything else is on the table. That's my perspective. But this is where we're at. And so, meet the new boss, same as the old boss. The fact that the old prime minister got thanked by Hamas

and now this new government is being thanked by Hamas. This is what they said. I wanna hear from you 416-870-6400 or one 888-225-talk. We were promised, hey, this is a different government because Mark Carney even said different government because I'm the boss. Different government because I'm the boss.

Okay. What'd they say? The Islamic resistance movement, Hamas, welcomes the joint statement issued by the leaders of the United Kingdom, France, and Canada, which expressed a principled rejection of the blockade and starvation policy of the fascist occupation government

against our people in the Gaza Strip, as well as the Zionist plans aimed at genocide and forced displacement. The Canadian government is thanked for that. Hamas considers this stance an important step in the right direction towards restoring the principles of international law. Hamas talking about international law. Hamas, the people who killed 1200 innocents and took 250 people hostage, raping and murdering and burning and killing along the way. They're the ones

talking about international law. They're the ones thanking the Canadian government for its principled stance. This doesn't sit right with me. By the way, me saying this in no way says I'm supporting every Aspect of how this war has been prosecuted. This is not me saying I stand with the Netanyahu government this is me saying I stand with the country of Israel and it's right to to to prosecute this war and they've been very clear since the beginning return our hostages and we can talk and That has not happened. So that's where I stand. And I'd love to hear about you, Robert, welcome to show.

I don't expect much out of France because they're wishy washy when it comes to the Middle East. Anyways, they've caused most of the problems over there over the last 150 years. But England and Canada backing Hamas, that's criminal. I mean, I'm sorry. I, how can you back terrorists? How can you go against what is right? They're doing their fighting for it. But they're talking out of both sides of their mouth. I mean, they wanna have it both ways, right?

They're talking about the ills of the Netanyahu government. But it's not a chicken or egg situation, Robert. It's this started because of Hamas, this can end because of Hamas. Start there and the Israelis will follow suit, but you cannot limit their ability to to prosecute the war when they haven't gotten the one thing they've said they needed since the beginning, the return of the hostages. I agree and you know what the other thing is Hamas hides among women and children. What kind of

fighters are they? Well there are people who are calling for the restoration of the principles of international law. This is comedy. It would be comedy if it wasn't so tragic. Robert, thank you for the call. Who do we have next? Frank, welcome to the Ben Mulroney Show. Good morning, Ben. It seems to me that it's quite clear right now that in terms of foreign policy initiatives and agendas, that the new Mark Carney government is taking the same position as Trudeau did. Remember when they issued that arrest warrant, the criminal court? Oh yeah, well they didn't issue it. They said if Netanyahu were to step in Canada, he would be arrested because Canada stands

with international law. That was the nonsense position of the previous government. It is too. I think for our allies with the United States, they still are our ally when it comes to security protection around our borders. Trump is aligned with Netanyahu. So I think that's going to create a bigger, put a bigger wrench in the relationship with Carney that unfolds with Trump.

So you know, Trump is like, you know, you've got my friends, you're my friend, but if you're going against my colleagues politically around the world, then I got a beast to pick with you. So I think Carney is going to have some fun down the road when it comes to this initiative that they're taking. Yeah, yeah. Hey, thank you for the call. And look, like there are ways they could have, these three countries, they know how to write.

They have people who know how to write. They could have written a communique that criticized aspects of how Israel is prosecuting this war without placing the blame and burden on Israel, without using that language, by prioritizing the return of the hostages before the criticism of Israel. Because again, it's not a chicken and egg situation.

It started one way and it could end that way. And all of that is rest in the hands and responsibility of Hamas. This is not a both side situation. You start with Hamas doing what they're supposed to do, what they need to do, and peace will be more likely to follow. And so to suggest that it's backwards is is asinine. Eugene, welcome to the show. Hi, Ben. But you know what? I just think that the killing of women and children is brutal. I mean, you had what 1200, maybe 1300 people that died in the initial attack by Hamas. What are they up to now about 35,000 that have died?

So there is a big, big difference, a big discrepancy. You have to, I agree, and I support Israel, but you have to condemn these actions. They're horrible. Well, I mean, everyone condemns the death of innocents. It's a heck of a lot harder to determine who's innocent and not when Hamas uses its own people as human shields and hides in hospitals and schools and daycare centers. It's I don't know what to tell you. I'm not going to give them a pass because they choose to ignore the rules of warfare.

Like I'm not doing it, that's on you. You wanna hide amongst your people, then more people are going to die. I'm not gonna tell Israel, you can't go get the bad guy because the bad guy refuses to play by the rules and chooses to hide amongst children. Then guess what? Your children are going to die. I don't want that to happen. But clearly Hamas intends for it to happen. Like these are conversations we've been having for months. And the fact that we still are and they're falling on deaf ears

leads me to have to ask the question, why? Why are people in Canada and the West refusing to acknowledge something that weren't to happen elsewhere? If Mexican cartels were hiding amongst school children after having gone across the border in Texas and killed 1200 people and taken 250 people hostage, we would not be telling the Americans that they couldn't go and destroy those cartels with impunity.

In fact, we would be celebrating it, whether or not they were hiding amongst the civilian population or not. This is a very specific criticism of the only Jewish state in the world. That's the only way I see it. Eugene, thank you so much for your call. Look, I don't know what else to say.

We gotta call it what it is. This is a unfair criticism of the state of Israel. I do not like that it's gone on as long as it has, but it would have ended a lot sooner if Hamas returned the damn hostages. Welcome back to the Ben Mulroney Show, and this is another story that we've done before. We've done before. I had to rub my face in my eyes because I'm so sick and tired of stuff like this. This is, this is Toronto, the pathetic. This is Toronto, the pathetic, the fact that someone gets injured. And in this case it was a child and they needed, they were in an ambulance going South on young street and needed to get to

hospital row, right? Where, where the all the biggest, best hospitals are. That kid needed a medical attention and they couldn't get through the intersection. Why take a guess? You know what it is. Protesters, yet again took over that intersection and what they, how, what have the cops been doing? Jack, Jack, that's what they've been doing. And so then what happened? What happened? This, uh, ambulance had to pull a U-turn first. I had to talk to the cops. So there's nothing we can do. Pull a U-turn and they had to find another way. There now the cops are saying, Oh, it wasn't an emergency. Uh,

if I were a parent, I wouldn't give a flying flip, uh, that my kid's life wasn't in danger. my kid was in pain, my kid passed out. I have a right as a taxpayer paying for all this stuff, the cops, the ambulances, the infrastructure, the roads, all that comes from my taxes. I'm also paying for the protesters to take over that intersection to the tune of $20 million last year

out of the police budget. Where are my rights in this moment? Where are the parents rights? If I were that parent, I would be talking to a lawyer right now and I would be looking to sue the pants off the city and the police because something's got to give here. And I want to hear from you at 416-870-6400-1888-225ALK. We are prioritizing the rights of protesters to protest 19 months in a row about a grievance from half a world away over the health and safety of a child from this city who need to avail themselves

of first responders for their health. That's what has happened to this city. If you can't see that we as a community are swirling the drain, I can't help you. I can't help you. We've allowed this to go on for nine, somebody's gonna die, you realize. Somebody will die waiting in an attempt to try to get to the hospital. It's only a matter of time.

It's only a matter of time before somebody's in an ambulance and they die on the way to the hospital because something has prevented them from getting there. Something that was in the purview of the police to move out of the way. It's going to happen. Someone will die. And then that's when we're gonna hear,

oh gosh, what a tragedy. No, no, no, it'll most probably be viewed as actionable. Tom, welcome to the show. Hi, Ben. Thanks for taking my call. I couldn't agree more with you. I think what you brought up was a very good point that the general population probably

doesn't know how to pursue. Taking legal actions, the only way you're going to make an impact with our current mayor. Personally, our current mayor and premier have exacerbated this problem. I believe everyone has rights. I mean everyone. Including that boy and his parents

driving through there. Yeah, so It's a matter of how do you move forward? I think you brought it up saying, you know, I would sue the pants off and I would Yeah, that's the action I would take is the only meaningful action you could take it's the only thing they understand It's the only thing they understand right because they don't understand they don't understand people like us talking like this they don't understand in like us talking like this. They don't understand in interviews. They find ways to speak around the truth and say, oh, well, you know, take them to court and see what happens. I think it's done a number of times because you're dealing with a person's child here. And this is not like I'm going for a bicycle ride,

or I'm going rollerblading, or I'm going for a brisk walk. This is a medical emergency. And that's what really peeves me off. It really pisses me off. I got, I got two kids of my own. I would lose it and I would sue the police department. And you know what? I'll go right after the mayor cause she's exacerbated this. She has the nothing has said nothing. She's a sorry excuse for a leader of the biggest city in Canada. I'm sorry. Well, and that's why, yeah, honestly, I would like, I would like some sort of legal challenge to happen, if only to get these people who are our leaders to go in court and put their hand on a Bible and tell us the truth. Why aren't you acting on this? What did you know and when did you know it? What's your policy?

What have your meetings been like on these issues? Show us the documentation. Let's get some sort of discovery where we get to see the minutes of the meetings where they've discussed these things and why they will not shut them down. Why they will not put them to an end after 19 months of paralyzing this city

to the tune of 20 million dollars coming out of yours and my pockets. And let's not forget the added cost, the soft cost of people just not being able to enjoy those areas of town. How much business has been lost at that key intersection of Yonge and Bloor? Are you going to go down there and shop when you see flags and people protesting? Absolutely not. How many businesses are suffering because of that? So like I want to know what they know and when they knew it. Hey, thank you for the call.

And let's say hi to Wes. Wes, welcome to the Ben Mulroney Show. Hi. I would just I agree 100 percent with everything that you said. But I would also if I was that parent, I would find a lawyer to find out who the organizers are and take legal action against them to find out if they had a license from the city to demonstrate and just keep filing it on. Of course they don't have a license. Of course they don't. They descend, they take over and the and the and the city lets it happen.

I told the story last week of walking in the St. Patrick's day parade and saying, how cool is this that I get to walk down a blower and then take a ride on Yonge street. It's like, how lucky am I? And why was I lucky? Because the St. Patrick's day parade people paid for a permit. And then just a week later that intersection was taken over by protesters. Did they have a print? Of course they don't have a permit. I don't need anyone to tell me that. And they for a permit. And then just a week later, that intersection was taken over by protesters. Did they have a print? Of course, they don't have a permit. I don't need anyone to tell me that. And they have no permit. And so of course, of course, if they got a permit, that'd be one thing they do not have a permit. And unless listen, if they do, let me know.

10 bucks says they don't. Hey, David, welcome to the show. Hi, how you doing? I'm well, thank you. You start off, you did say one thing, and I kind of agree with you, but I take it a step further. You said that we're bound down to these groups of protesters, but the real truth is that there's one group of protesters that consistently get away with it all the time. They can stay out there.

They'll have prayer in the middle of the street. They have their protests been going on for over a year and a half or long it's been, but for whatever reason, there's one religious religious group or this one religious group of people seem to always get a pass, be treated with kid gloves, and it gets to the point where like in Britain there's a double standard. It's very very clear. And they're trying to pass laws that we're not allowed to even question it. If I question it, that's a hate crime. I could go to jail. Listen, listen, David, David,

there are places for people to protest. You want to protest? Oh, definitely. Go down to City Hall. You want to protest in front of City Hall every single day? There's a square there to do it. I have no problem with the concept of protest, but the idea of constantly taking over.

That's right, and you or I wouldn't be allowed to do that. You or I, there's a whole bunch of groups that wouldn't be able to do that. Imagine if a pro-life group decided every single day that they want to protest what they felt was a, I don't know, a candidate's position on abortion. Let's see how long pro-lifers were allowed to take over Young and Bloor. Rick put you in there for a reason, Speed. Mom, just say it! Get back here! This is for your own good! Rick and Morty, new season, Sundays on Adult Swim. Stream on StackTV. Get your mouth rounded.