Shaun Newman Podcast - #1107 - Karla Treadway

Episode Date: August 10, 2026

Karla Treadway is a marketing strategist, brand coach, entrepreneur, and host of The Sovereign Sphere podcast. A former yoga and fitness studio owner whose business was lost during the 2021 lockdowns, she rebuilt through online entrepreneurship and now helps freedom-minded coaches, creators, and service providers scale authentic personal brands and digital businesses without burnout. Based on a remote island on Lake of the Woods in Northern Ontario, where she and her family live a self-reliant lifestyle, Karla speaks and creates content on business strategy, personal branding, Canadian politics, culture, and sovereign living. Cornerstone Forum 26’https://shaunnewmanpodcast.substack.com/Silver Gold Bull Links:Website: https://silvergoldbull.ca/Email: [e-mail] Grahame: [phone]Bow Valley Credit UnionBitcoin: www.bowvalleycu.com/en/personal/investing-wealth/bitcoin-gatewayEmail: [e-mail] Get your voice heard: Text Shaun 587-217-8500

This is Brett Weinstein. This is Tom Lomago. This is Bruce Party. This is Alex Krenner. Hey, this is Brad Wall. This is Dr. Pierre Corey. Hi, this is Frank Paredi. This is Daniel Smith.

This is James Lindsay. This is Vance Crow and you're listening to the Sean Newman podcast. Welcome to the podcast, folks. Happy Monday. How's everybody doing today? Well, as sitting and recording this, just before we get on the road, to head towards our next stop, which is going to be north of Toronto for the next week. So that's where we're sitting.

We're leaving basically Sue St. Marie, and we are heading for a bit of a drive. And so I'm looking forward to being on the open road once again. On the road again, yes. We've been singing that song an awful lot. Or at least I have. Everybody humors me. Regardless, that's where we're going to be at.

This coming week, all week we're going to be just north of Toronto. So that should be interesting to say the least, or hopefully interesting to say the least. If you're in the area, make sure to drop me a line. Earl, I'm thinking of you if you're anywhere in the vicinity, but others as well. Now, when it comes to the old silver wagon, I haven't checked in on the old price in a while, I thought what the heck, might as well pull it up this morning. It is at $88.78 Canadian, all right? So the old silver wagon, just hanging out in the 80s by the looks of it.

And if you haven't jumped on the old silver wagon, just something to throw out there. What do we got coming up? Probably birthdays. You know, you could get ahead on stocking stuffers. I can't even, no, why did I do that? I'm not going to talk about Christmas. Although stocking stuff or silver, just saying,

I was doing it for the kids there. And I don't know if they humored me. Once again, they humored me. But I'm like, someday they're going to be like, oh, dad was really smart. Or at least I hope that's what they say. Who knows? When it comes to silver, gold,

buying, selling, storing precious metals, Yeah, we turn to Silver Gold Bowl. They're one of the title sponsors of the Cornerstone Forum, along with Bow Valley Credit Union, coming back in May 2027. But when it comes to precious metals, they can answer all your questions. If you're on Apple or Spotify, listen to the podcast, watching the podcast, for that matter, on Spotify.

Down on the show notes, you can text your email Graham for details with any questions you got around investing in precious metals and, you know, just on how to get set up and all the simple things. Okay, if you got larger questions that, he's happy to help you there as well. Silvergoldbull.ca. You go right on the website, get a membership. A membership.

Get a, man, literally get an account. I don't know what's going on with me this morning. Happy Monday, everybody. And regardless, get an account, buy what you want to get. Chips right to your doorstep, super, super easy and handy. That's silvergold bowl, silvergold bull. Silvergold bull.com. Go Valley Credit Union.

Well, they're all about lending, deposits, and real financial advice. You can open accounts, talk through lending options, and get help with banking all in a space design for conversations, not transactions. If you want smarter banking with gold, silver, bitcoin, sound money, personal freedom. Think BVCU for all your banking needs in Alberta. Head to bow valley, CU.com. I'm waiting, Brett, if he's listening, for when Bow Valley is going to cross the border into probably Saskatchewan. Maybe they've got plans for different places. But, you know, I know there's a lot of people waiting for the BVCU to move outside the Alberta border.

We'll wait. We'll keep you updated, folks. In the meantime, in Alberta, when it's sound money, personal freedom, Bow Valley Credit Union, be at Bow ValleyCU.com. When you're thinking firearms anywhere in Canada, okay? You know, silver gold bull across Canada. Ball Valley Credit Union, Alberta, guns, Profit River. And they're based out of my hometown of Lloyd Minster, but they ship everywhere in Canada when it comes to firearms, optics, accessories.

It doesn't matter if you're in none of it, if you're in P-E-I, B-C, they can take care of you. And if you go on their website, Profitriver.com, it's all there. Brand new firearms, lightly used firearms, they got to, they got to, whole inventory that's pretty cool to go through and their staff are excellent and they can get you exactly what you need. That's profitriver.com. When it comes to wood in Lloyd Minster, I trust Carly Collison and Windsor Plywood and it seems like a bunch of people across Canada trust Windsor plywood. Not only in Lloyd but around different communities, in Lloyd though, they are the builders of the podcast studio table. They did have all the wood in the new studio. And that's

what we look for. Character wood. I want good quality. I assume that's what you want to. Whether we're talking mantles, decks, windows, doors, sheds. In Lloydminster, stop in at 3605-51st Ave and say hi to Carly Clause and his team over Windsor Plywood. Okay? We, we got a couple things going on on Substack. So if you've been paying attention, if you haven't been paying attention, on substack, the masterclass, 10-100 days masterclass is still going on. So you can get that if you're a paid subscriber and after today's episode with carly carly carla i got carly clauson man my monday ad rate i am in the two lease folks uh after today's episode of carla there's uh bonus questions for paid subscribers on substack as well so if you want a little more carla you can head over to substack and uh hear a couple of

uh quick hitters if you would and that is on substack as well if you're listening or watching on spotify apple youtube rumble x facebook Substack. Make sure to subscribe. Make sure to leave a review. Make sure to share with a friend if you're enjoying the show, folks. All right? That's what I got for you today. I hope everybody is well and we hope to see you on the open road. Now, let's get on to that tale of the tape. Today's guest is the host of the sovereign CEO.

I'm talking about Carla Treadway. So buckle up. Here we go. Welcome to the Sean Newman podcast. Today I'm joined by Carla Treadway. Carla, thanks for, I don't know, not only letting us in your house, but I don't know how to explain this place to people. So I guess I'll just start by saying, hey, how's it going? I was going to say, thanks for having me. But I'm like, oh, wait, this is my house. Yeah. And it's one of the things about the road trip that's been, I don't know, like, I'm sure you've been on lots of road trips, but doing the podcast and then as we go through the road trip,

trip and then of course like meeting the people along the way in their space you get to come to places and bring the kids to places that i had an idea what this place is like from some of your content but it doesn't live up to actually being here right like i was telling you before we started you know and melanized travels we've been to lots of cool places and this isn't to diminish any of those places because lots of them super cool and just almost surreal but this place is i don't at all, right? Like, even from the first night you came and grabbed us and then the night ride back for the kids and Mel, I mean, it's just been, you live in a little waces in Canada, right? Like, there's lots of cool places in Canada. Lots of people love the mountains. Lots of people love

the prairies. But this spot on Lake of the Woods is, I don't even know how to describe it to people. It's like the ocean. Not many people know about it. I was telling your wife, Mel, that, you know, we'll travel to different places in the world and every now and then we'll run into someone that has like a Lake of the Woods t-shirt and we'll go tell them like this is this is where we live too and they're like other than like my home country that's the best place in the world and you would never it's hard to find like we've invited friends over from other places in Canada and they fly into Winnipeg and they think ooh we made a terrible mistake not not try to shame Winnipeg but then And then you leave Winnipeg and you start driving and it's just flat and it's just a straight line.

And you think, oh, no, really, like, is this how we're going to spend our vacation? And then just all of a sudden starts getting a little rockier, a little rolier. And two and a half hours later, you're basically on an ocean in the middle of central Canada. It's wild. And it's got 14,582 islands, more shoreline than any other lake in North America, goes all the way into the states. and everything is on an island. So you go visit friends who have an island. You go to the grocery store by boat.

Everything is by boat or by ice road. It's pretty unique and a great place to live in 2026, as opposed to being in a city surrounded by all the craziness. Well, I know when we go to like Minnesota, they have tons of lakes down there, right? And where Mel's parents cabin is, you can, like there's certain spots that have water access so you can go eat at a restaurant and stuff like that like that's right on the waterfront but you're a joke around yeah we can you know literally go get groceries on a boat and melina are like yeah yeah okay yeah sure like in our brain you you you go to a harbor and then you were walking to

safeway yeah and so last night we went for a walk to safeway and there's like i'm gonna call it a canal that's probably not the right term yeah and there's literally like a harbor or at least a hookup for boats with a ramp right up to Safeway. I'm like, oh no, she was like literal. You can literally boat to the grocery store and grab your groceries and then boat right back to your cabin or in this case your house right here. It's just, it's unique.

And I mean, there's parts of different places we've been that have like little parts of this. But I mean, until you've actually been out here and experienced it, I was telling you, like grew up or played my hockey like an hour away from here. and yet, you know, came through this town lots, but never came on the water, specifically in the middle of summer.

And I'm like, I don't know. Then the plane ride was, you know, how many people have a little, you know, two-seater plane and can give you a bird's-eye view of it as well. Like, that was, that was, you guys have been very hospitable to the nth degree. And, I mean, it's been super cool to come visit you. And, I mean, I probably should be saying that about every guest,

and I hope I do. It's just this one has been on steroids. I'm like, I wonder who's going to top this. Somebody always finds a way to top it because this road trip has been nothing short of people allowing you into their world. And people have like really cool lives. They have like really cool things they're doing whether to live on the water or not. And it's been a, I don't know, I assume you have lots of people come here though. Like to visit us?

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Summer, summer's so busy. Winter is beautiful in its own way, but it's like kind of quiet, kind of isolating. And summer, it's just go time. There are people from all over the world here that are visiting Lake of the Woods. And it's interesting how they even find it. You know, there's a cool family we met recently that was from New Zealand. And they have a place here. I'm like, how did you even find this place? This is wild. And it was like their great grandma at one point had come to Lake of the Woods and family loved it so much. They set up shop and every year they come all the way from New Zealand to get here. Well, and you guys are telling us yesterday a story of a P-O-W camp on Lake of the Woods. Yeah.

Like you can probably retell the story because it'll be better than me trying to rehash it. But even that speaks to how nice the place is. Yep. Yeah, World War II? Yes, World War II. So there's a P-O-W camp on an island out here. and prisoners of war just had to log and just do various projects. And at one point a prisoner got injured,

and the guard had to bring them all the way to town to go get medical care. Brought him to the hospital was going to take a little bit, so the guard marched down to town to the local pub, and he just started drinking while the guy was in the hospital. Well, he drank a little too much and basically passed out at the pub. Meanwhile, the prisoner gets out of the hospital, realizes that his guard's not there. And instead of running away, like you would think that you would.

Well, that's where I thought the story was going to go. Like, he ran away and built a house on the lake or something, you know? He went to go find the guard, found him in the pub, dragged him into the boat, and drove them back to the POW camp because he really wasn't complaining about working and living there at all. He said, this place is actually pretty good. Yeah, that's wild. Now, you've been on the podcast lots. So, you know, normally with some new guests, we get in the...

a life story and everything. And I feel like if you go back in some episodes, folks, you can find Carlisle on there and you can hear a lot about your backstory. I'm just going to hop right to some of the more pressing issues maybe in Canada. I mean, the one that I've been, you know, one of the final questions I've been asking everybody about has been Alberta independence and whether or not people care out here, you know, like you're in the realm of talking to not only Albertans but other Canadians.

what is your thoughts on what's happening out in Alberta? I don't blame Alberta if I was Albertan. I'd probably be pushing for it for sure. On one hand, I want you to get it because I think it's at least leverage against this horrific federal government and I know a lot of people are feeling like they're backed up against a wall. obviously other provinces and other people aren't going to be passionate about Alberta separation. They have no reason to support it, to want it.

If it did happen, they would only suffer for it. They see the consequences because it's going to cut off the money supply to the rest of Canada, right? It's going to hurt. Practically, I don't think you're going to hit the numbers. And even if you did hit the numbers, I think Alan Carney is going to let you. he even said in an interview that 51% wasn't enough. Like I can see that guy doing some horrendous stuff, pulling the emergencies act, like acts of war, whatever it takes.

I'm honestly like just neutral on it. Like I get it. I'm cheering for you guys. If you get it, congratulations. I don't know if the numbers are going to be there. Just knowing so many, like you guys are at war basically with urban centers. in Alberta. So it's a lot of the rural people that are maybe more blue collar and yes, this makes sense. And the cities are just progressive and no, we don't want this. And my concern

for people in Alberta is that the NDP will get in. And nobody wants that. I don't want that for you. So I don't know. We'll see. I've been surprised before in the past. So something could happen and all of a sudden it gained steam but we'll have to see you know this is um you know like the the Alberta independence thing is is interesting because I you know you come across Canada and you you wonder what you know like I go back to when I was a kid with Quebec and I don't know how much I really thought about I don't know how much I was a young kid I didn't understand it I only would have been nine at the time and I don't know nine year old is really embracing politics and even under understanding. I'm sure there's some families who disagree where they talk about politics all the time,

but not in the Newman household. And I'm sitting here and I'm chuckling because you can't see it. So I'm watching. Nobody can see this. But as we're doing this, I see Dan taking Mila on the kneeboard and Casey playing on the dock and Shay jumping off the boat house. And, you know, it's a strange, I don't know how much to let people into my world. And then I get a text and this is the, I'm like, do I bring this up or don't I bring it up? But it's, It's on the day we're recording. And Mel's like, you know, maybe you just don't need to do a podcast today. My mom's, they just sent a video of my mom and the ambulance going off to hospital. She's had a heart attack.

And that's a strange thing. Everybody's going to eventually have to go through. And I'm like, you know, life's short. And I don't mean to take the conversation away from Alberta independence. But I was saying, you know, before we left, people were saying, I was abandoning Alberta to come, you know, east and do things. And I was like, oh, I'm going to take the conversation with. And I just don't think Sean Newman is Alberta.

I think that's a, to put our identity into something. So I go, if it doesn't work, are you going to fall apart and fall off the deep end? Or are you going to, you know, like if you get it and then it doesn't go the way you want, are you going to fall off the deep end? I'm worried for those people. I see it in the comment section when I've talked about this topic. Like, the comment section is just like people angry. with me for this like a pen.

And I'm just looking at the numbers. That's the only thing I'm looking at. Or just Alberta independence, Alberta independence. And that's all that they're saying. And I'm like, okay, but what if it doesn't work? Are you guys moving? Like what what's, I just think we should have a plan B. And that's where my mind is with all of this stuff.

And I think it's a good strategy because it helps me not get blackpilled from being in the political media space. I don't look at anything with the crystal ball. I don't have a crystal ball. Could it happen? Maybe. Maybe not. Then what? Maybe the worst thing in the world is about to happen in Canada. Maybe everything turns out totally fine. I like living without pretending that I have a crystal ball. That means I also have to be prepared for a variety of situations. We're just going to have to see what materializes. The only thing actually that makes me personally think this is possible is Martin Armstrong. He basically said it's inevitable. and other places are going to separate too. He's the only person that can probably actually sway my opinion. Well, but the thing that Martin Armstrong isn't set in is that it'll happen this year.

No. He says his thing is by 2032, right? And whether it's Alberta that goes first, Quebec, I don't know, I'm just going to pick some other countries. Ireland, you know, like in Spain they had, is it Caledonia? I'm pronouncing that wrong, right? Like he always just reminds me, you think it's in Alberta. It's everywhere. And one of the things that I think traveling across and talking to different Canadians, you know, is I think all the Canadians are frustrated.

And some of them might think or have different opinions on Carney. And certainly he's a change from Trudeau. But when I sit and, you know, you bring up some of the big stuff, you know, cost of living, which everyone is impacted by. some of the stuff to do with kids and all the sexuality being put in there. I can't find one parent that is just an everyday person, even if they voted liberal. I don't hear them going, oh, yeah, that's a great idea. They go, and then crime, drugs, maid, those things.

And even if they know a little bit about what's happening in BC with the land rights, all those things, they're like, you know, those are the major, we need to be talking about. about those so I don't find that Canadians you know a lot of them conservatives have put their hope that Pierre will get elected and I go so what happens if he doesn't get elected lots of them said to me well I don't know how long I can stay in the country and I chuckle I say well careful because you'll get to where Albertans are because Albertans that's like for a lot of them they're like like we have to this has to work and I never want to be in a position of this has to work because that's a like

that's where I come to. If it doesn't work, then what? Then what are you going to do? Yeah. And when I bring it full circle to Martin, Martin's like, I don't know, does it happen in Alberta? You know, I pushed him on like, well, what's the event that's going to push it on? He's like, how the heck would I know what the vent's going to push it over? Just that populations around the world are frustrated with their governments.

That's a nice broad way of saying the moron rest that comes, eventually things are going to happen. Well, we saw in Ireland with the guy's head being chopped off or, you know, almost being chopped off. and then the protests that happened there. And you think it's just Ireland, but it's elsewhere. There's tons of different things. You had citizen vigilante come out. I assume you watched that.

No, it's on my list. I got to get that. You haven't watched it yet? No, it has to happen. Okay, there's no perfect place. There's no perfect place. And that's a false belief that people are holding. You live in a pretty perfect place.

Well, people ask me, why don't I move to Alberta? If I lived in a city, I would in a heartbeat, but I can't replicate, like, No, you can't duplicate this. Well, I think you've pointed out well that you can't duplicate it anywhere in the world. Nope. But there is no perfect government. There is no perfect place.

You know, a lot of people are fleeing to the states. And I really understand, like, especially, like, for people's paychecks. But U.S. is probably going to have a civil war here at some point. It's really bubbling up. Like, that's not a perfect place. You know, Mikel Thorup talks about, like, Panama and South America. But it's what's the most important thing for you.

I think what's important is, you know, safety and community and money, but there's a lot of different factors. And it's very unique to the individual. You know, you could sell everything you own and go move to Mexico. Well, what happened like this winter? We had like the cartel blowing up everything in Porta Vierda. Like stuff happens everywhere. There is no perfect safe place. even here where we live, where we hunt and fish and we have gardens and airplanes and like,

we have a compound. What if a wildfire rip through here could all be gone tomorrow? So it's just a false belief that there's some safe, perfect place. I've been talking to my husband a lot about divorce lately, not because we want to get divorced, but we're just at the age where a lot of people we know are getting divorced. And eight times out of 10, I'm like, I know I'm not in that marriage, I feel like they could have figured it out. I feel like there are legitimate reasons to get divorce. But I think a lot of people find out after they've gone through that process where they're like, oh, it's just someone else's shit.

I got remarried and there were problems there too. Not in every case. But I think it's the same with like this political game. People are looking for this utopia. I'm like, it doesn't exist. Well, I was saying to Jasmine Lane, I think on the interview, forgive me folks. I can't remember if we talked about it. after or during. I actually really agree with that, right? And so you go, okay, so how do you

keep Albertans from wanting to go? Well, I'm like, well, let's start for Pierre would be go and talk to them. See why for the media, go talk to them, see why they're frustrated. It's just frustration. And they have some very valid reasons. And some of that is valid reasons for all Canadians. It isn't just Albertans. There's some things the province wants different. Sure. there's lots of just simple things that most Canadians would probably agree upon and you know you go back to the trucker convoy what did what did everybody want they wanted the government just to sit down with a few of them and hear what their frustrations were did they do that no and do i expect pierre to go sit with a bunch of a you know Alberta independence crew no i don't expect that but they should because you're going to get labeled by media anyways but it'd be nice to go hear what the problems are and be like you know what if you elect me we'll try and solve those but then albertans i can hear him already gone if he tries to solve some of our problems he won't get elected the east won't want what we want and we're two different places entirely i don't know about that i know the values that a lot of canadians that i run into feel very similar a lot of the

things are concerned about are very similar to what's happening in alberta or elsewhere i don't think people understand the relentless effort it takes to change something and i i have a marketing company I've helped many people build businesses and so few actually want to do what it takes. And they're not willing to do what it takes, the obsessive amount of work for years without getting anything back in order to make this thing come to life. I had a really great conversation with Eva. You know, a lot of people are like, oh, our democracy doesn't work. She's like, really?

Why? Because you voted and it didn't fix? She's like, are you on your city count? Are you writing to your MPs? Are you starting a petition? And she said something really profound. She's like, if you can't get 10 people in your own local circle to sign a petition, then what are you even doing pointing fingers at a politician for not doing the work? Why can't you go and do that work? And she's right. And, you know, there's definitely people in the space that are doing those things as well. But the vast majority of people are sharing things on social media and they're voting, which is

important, but there's so many more things you could be doing, which is not to shame anyone. This is good news. No, it's great news. I mean, there's a ton of stuff that we can do. Like, I am going to run for city councilor. Are you? Mm-hmm. I don't want to.

It's going to be a lot of work. I don't have time for it. But I'm like, I've been one of those people, you know? If I'm going to rant about these things on my podcast, I guess I better do something locally. why am I focused on the federal government, which I can really do nothing about, when I can influence this. So, yeah, I think that's cool news. Yeah, when I've had my discussions with Daniel Smith, whether it was on-air or off-air, you know, like, it comes back to like three levels of government. There's a federal. And for a family man such as myself, I've done a lot of, like back when the

Maverick party was forming, I met with leadership. because, you know, like there was part of me that wanted to run in that. And then I looked into what an MP from my area, how much time they're away from home. And they're like, oh, no worries, you can just move your family to Ottawa. And I'm like, I don't want to do that. And then you start looking at the travel and how much you got to be gone. Okay, okay. So then I brought it down to an MLA, right?

Because lots of people have asked, are you going to run, be, you know, an MLA? You should. Everybody knows who you are and you got great thoughts and whatever, whatever else they think. And so then you look into being an MLA and sure it's closer, but like the time commitment is is massive. And anybody in that realm who has their head on their shoulders looks at me with kids and they go, your kids are too young, don't do it. Fair enough.

Take that advice to the bank. And then you go down one more step to the municipal. And whether that's in a town or a city or it's in our area, an RM or a county. School board. School board. And so I went with the baseball board in our community. I got involved on the baseball board because I'm like, oh, I got a sports background. It sounded like they were struggling.

I went to their AGM. It was a tire fire. And I'm not going to sit here and act like I did a ton of the work. I was maybe just a calm voice on the board. But there's other people in there who did wonderful things. And we took it from being, you know, roughly broke to having excess of money. And I don't mean access. Like they can go build a stadium, but put it in the positive.

and started to impact, you know, three or 400 kids' lives in a very, albeit, removed way, because you're just on the board. You're not actually interacting with all these kids, but start to put in some things that I thought would be beneficial. And it opened my eyes to, okay, well, maybe you could do something like you're talking about, counselor, you know, or when the RM comes up or whatever it is. That's something that's, like, tangible. You're in your community.

You could have a voice there. Go door knocking for the conservative party. Or go door knocking, which would be interesting as well. I did that last fall. How would that go? It was good. It was mellow. I didn't know what that experience was going to be like.

And people were just friendly, normal. I was like, I was scared to do it. I was scared, but it was totally fine, normal. Well, I think we get scared about anything like that, the unknown. I'm like, whoa. And even on the road trip, right, coming to Manitoba, I've been shocked by how friendly Manitoba is. I know it's the moniker friendly Manitoba.

Yeah. But like they were wonderful people. They were so nice. Well, you know, we've all just gotten really comfortable. You know, like if I'm talking about like running for counsel or starting a podcast or doing any of these things, people will be like, I'm really happy for you. Like, because you could do that because that's, that's easy for you. I'm like, I don't want to have to do any of this. I'm actually super shy.

the podcast, making content, the door knocking. I don't want to be a city counselor. I don't want to do any of that. I run into that say they're super shy and yet get in front of a camera. Or in your case, you know, hey Dan, the old, all of your videos that are just hilarious, that almost surprises me. I don't know why it does, but. I just understand why it's important. And I think we, and that was like really Eva's point.

Like, why are we pointing fingers at what other people need to do when there's a bunch of stuff that we could be doing? And you don't have to be a politician, right? There's, there's so many things that we could be doing. Well, all parts of our communities are hurting in different ways. And they all just need good people to become involved. And being on a sports team, like helping kids. That's huge. You know, a lot of people are feeling really burnt out from politics right now.

It doesn't matter. Two wings of the same bird. I'm like, really, you know every single politician. Every single politician, you know their intentions. you know their policies, you know the results of all the policies, they're all exactly the same. I'm like, well, that's nonsense. And obviously, this whole thing is really frustrating and very ineffective. But look at Argentina and look at El Salvador. That was one person. One person came in with a blowtorch. Canadians need to be braver. I would love for us to have that person with a blow torch.

Don't you think we're creating that person? I think they're going to show up. Hopefully it's a good person. Hopefully it's not like a Hitler type figure. Yeah, I just feel like growing up, you're always, you know, one of the things I love about origin stories is you're, you get to see where a person's come out of and why they're doing what they're doing, what's motivating them. And I think in today's political climate in Canada, I'm like, oh man, there's going to be some superstar that comes up and you're going to be like,

who is this person? You're going to hear their story of how they couldn't buy a house or it was, you know, they could buy a house, but it was going to cost $800,000 or whatever it is, right? And they went a different way and found a way to do it cheaper, but they watched their friends and family, and none of them can get ahead and isn't Canada's the place. And I'm like, I can almost write the script of how it's going to come.

It just takes time. And building anything, as we both know, it takes time. You know, like I used to want to flip a light switch and just everything change, whether it was the podcast, whether it was Canada. And you're like, uh, it takes time. keep coming back to, I think the change that Canada needs is generational. It's almost going to be the next generation. We're helping push Canadians to think about bigger things, but we have to like, some of the advice is so simple. It's like, Jordan Peterson, clean your room. Start there. Yeah.

Then talk to your neighbors. Work on your marriage. Get the things that really matter in order. so when the government comes in, which they constantly do, you can just say no. Not just you, but your family can say no. Your community can say no. And out of that will come better things because now you have to talk to one another and now you have to debate things

and you have to find ways to respect one another. And you're like, yeah, but I want to fix it. It's like, yeah, but in order to fix it, you have to become something of a force that takes time to build. And this is why we need to be involved in politics because people don't understand how long it takes to actually,

shift things. You asked me what outsiders think of Alberta separation. We don't really think much of it at all. But as an outsider, this always makes people mad. I don't think Alberta understands. I don't think most of Alberta, I don't think they understand how good you have it with Daniel Smith. I see, and it's just the nature of the right to hold people to account. What I see so many, particularly freedom people, rip Daniel Smith apart because they have a list of 10 things. And if all 10 don't get done and they don't get done today, we're going to oust you. And I, like, I get that she's not doing everything that you want. I'm frustrated to watch this, like, the situation with, like, the pipeline.

Like, I see how she's capitulating to Carney. But I think she understands the game. And unfortunately, it is a game that you need to play. We have Doug Ford. I would kill to have Daniel Smith. I see her doing her best to be for everyone in Alberta. I really think she's an amazing. amazing woman. Is she perfect? Of course not. I think she's an amazing woman. And I'm super jealous

as someone in Ontario. Yeah, I love Albertans. Because we're Daniel Smith said it at an AGM, the year she got 91.5% approval, I think it was. Mm-hmm. Where she said something along the lines of where conservatives are a raucous group, right? Like it's not all conservatives that hate her, but there are parts. And part of it is, is, because she said things and then she's changed her trade of thought. But I will point out to those same conservatives when she was at the APP debate talking about the trans issue, she thought it would be age appropriate

to introduce that conversation roughly in high school. And most conservatives nodded their head. Now, did all of you? Certainly not. And I was sitting there and I was thinking about that and I'm like, that's really interesting. I'm watching the crowd. I'm going to introduce it in high school this is a batch of crazy idea

I don't think it should be anywhere in high schools but once again I'm not the one up on stage talking about it and that's how she positioned it and everybody was like this is great we're going to have somebody come in who's got level head and you know you fast forward everybody points about the MOU

and what she's capitulated but I mean this fall in schools there'll be no pride flags there'll be no none of that anywhere they've removed books in libraries they're making it you have to be of an age to even access those books and one of the things i wish conservatives did better was cheering on when they get it right when when they move to a place where you're like that is absolutely right i i wanted to make sure right before we left i got to interview her and i just you know as much as i was going to talk to her

about Alberta independence and different questions around that that people were frustrated with I wanted to make sure that I applauded her for not calling us traitors or not calling her a group of people who support her traders because in a time of COVID I think if Kenny would have just stood up there or Mo or Ford or any of them and just said listen we're not going to demonize 30% of the population or at one point in Alberta is probably closer to 50% of the population of just making a different choice than everyone else it could have been very different instead it became you know it's us versus them and her putting stops to things like calling a group of people traitors, we need to applaud her a lot for that

because she's one of the very few politicians in all of Canada that will do it and then get harassed by media. And she, she's a great orator. She has points and finds ways. And I, I completely understand why any other province wishes they had Danielle Smith. But Albertans want more. And I can't blame them for that either. It's good to have high standards. But I just did a video on this the other day. People are unwilling to let themselves see any wins now. They be like their hearts have become so hardened after the last six years. People are stuck in doom and gloom and stuck in complaint. That's different. That's a that's a much different headspace than we're going to build a better reality. That's you're just stuck in doom and gloom and complaint. Like this Fauci thing is an example.

like this is great news that he's being grilled on the stand regardless of what happens people are like ah well nothing's going to happen is even going to get arrested no it doesn't matter too little too late i'm like okay so you're not going to let yourself celebrate any wins ever it's the same with like the alison inquiry i think it's amazing what sean and teresa are doing and dean alison for being the guy and dean alison yeah so we have a formal inquiry finally And the goal isn't even necessarily justice and punishing people. It's getting thousands of Canadians that are injured the medical care and attention that they need. And there's so many people that are bitter about it.

They're sending like Sean's team, like not the nicest messages. Like they're angry. Those people should not be in my audience. Like I understand people are frustrated, but you will not create the new world from that headspace. you are going to implode if you're only focused on what's wrong, if you are resentful, and if you can't allow yourself to see anything good, what a miserable place to live from. I can't do it. Kind of, you know, in a small example, or maybe a large example, I don't know, is The Odyssey.

The new movie by Christopher Nolan, right? Everybody came out about Ellen Page or Elliott Page and then Black. Helen, right? Those were the two that I saw over and over again. And twos have been trying to bring up lots of different things? And I'm like, twos, like, have you seen it yet? No. It's like a 10-minute segment in a three-hour movie. I'm like, well, I, and we can get into the, the nitty-gritty of some of the things are sliding in in Hollywood. But it's funny, I know a ton of people now that have gone and watched it. I haven't, you know, sorry, folks, I'm not dragging three kids to a three-hour epic that probably has got more blood and gore than they ever need to see. But it's,

At some point, Christopher Nolan's been my favorite director for, I don't know, man. It's been a long time back since he did the Dark Night and the Batman trilogy and probably a little before then. And like, if anyone's going to figure it out, it's probably this guy. And then I'm like, but I can't really say it. And I argue with twos about it all the time. Like, how can we talk about something neither one of us has seen? It doesn't make any sense.

Like, it doesn't make any sense to comment on it. We're not even, I haven't even watched it. I've watched a movie trailer. And then a bunch of other people comment on the movie trailer. Like, who knows what the heck is in there? And then I keep getting the message from different people. This is the greatest Christopher Nolan film he's ever done. Some people would be better off if they were never red-pilled in the first place.

There are people that took the blue pill who are totally asleep at the wheel. I call them Kardashians. You know, they watch reality TV. They have no idea what's going on. You know what? They're happy. They're going to work and making money and traveling and having. fun. I like those people totally unaware of what's going on but happy and living their lives are

in a way better place than people who are awake but miserable and blackpilled. And it's hard to be red-pilled and be happy. It's a challenge. You have to do like a lot of inner work and put your attention on other things and go touch grass and get off the internet. Like it's work. But it's the only way to live. There's no point in even being alive. if you're miserable. Sorry. I had a, once again, I got to look this guy's name back up again because I'm spacing on it.

But I interviewed a guy, about a month and a half before we left on the trip. And he brought up content diet. I never heard that position that way. And he's like, you got to be careful what you let in to your brain essentially, right? What you're watching on Instagram or what you're... Is this a Christian guy?

Yes, he is. I listened to that. That was good. Well, the content diet portion of it, I was just like, that's a really interesting thought. You know, we focus so much on where our, in my world, where meat's coming from, or, you know, if you're getting vegetables from a supermarket versus the organic farmer down the road or, you know, and looking at different things, ingredients, how they,

X, Y, Z, everything. And yet, you know, like, social media, like, lots of times I get video sent to me and I'm like, oh, that's not even real. I'm like, if they can't make the words line up with the person, I have no time. for it because I'm like, chances are they dubbed it or changed it or that, you know, I've been sent lots of things by George Orwell and it takes a two second deep dive and you realize it's not George Orwell and I'm like, these things, I don't know why we get so fixated on. Some of them speak real to the heart of the matter. But when you're thinking about content diet and how people

are tired out from all the political chatter, I know from my audience through the text and phone calls, they're like, oh, just be nice if you'd go talk to a hockey player. And I chuckled because I'm like, well, I'm about to set off on a year-long journey where we're going to talk to people in their homes. And it's going to be all in person. And the body language is a huge thing, actually sitting across from somebody and, you know, catching social cues and different things like that. It's like just so much better than a screen. And I'm like, yeah, it seems like I was ready for it. Right at the same time, my audience was ready for it.

Because I don't know how many texts I get. They're going, I can't figure out what's different about the podcast. And then it'll dawn on them. I don't know if it's by the fifth app. So they're like, it's because you're in person. That's what's changed. Is you're in person, you're in their space instead of through a screen. It's just noticeably different.

And to me, the content diet, that makes sense, right? Because I'm not even on X or all these different platforms that much. You know, at times I almost forget that Carney's at the helm, and that probably sounds terrible, you know? That's why the mashup is so important to me because then we get to actually dissect some of the headlines going on. Oh, the craziness is still going on. I can see it. Fair enough. You can't fill up on it all the time.

I start every single day with, I read the Bible first. I write to get all the junk out of my head. And this is new. I just started walking the dogs and either quiet or I'm reading, listening to, the king is coming right now, which is a Christian book before I dive into my political diet. And I'm a completely different person when I do that than if I start my day off with social media or moose on the loose i love moose on the loose that's a great podcast but it's like it's it's pretty negative if moose on the loose is listening to this it sounds like i need to have you on

at some point just throwing that out into the universe carry on he's he is an amazing researcher um he's like he any new station would be lucky to have this man um but i'm a different person if i start the day off that way in the in the bible what are you reading uh you know like i start my days with Proverbs. I just like it. That's my favorite. Yeah. That's my favorite. Everything in Proverbs, I'm like, oh my goodness, this is where that guy wrote his book off of these three lines. Now that's become a best-selling book. You know, like there's just so much wisdom in Proverbs. Like it's, um. Yeah, what am I in right now? Ezekiel. Some, some books are, are painful. And I'm just kind of going through it like chapter by chapter slowly. Proverbs is my favorite.

It's funny. There's like this recurring theme in the Bible. This is like my first time reading it as much as I have been. But there's this recurring theme of God saves people, produces a bunch of miracles, the people forget. They start worshipping idols. God's like, oh, I might as well just wipe them all out. It's like there they go again. And it's like this cycle keeps repeating, keeps saving them doing miraculous things. Everyone's like, oh, we love God. And then they forget and go back to like just living into generosity, worshiping idols. just like again and again. And I'm like, oh, okay, I get it. This is, we're stupid. And he loves us anyways. And we're going to just keep making stupid mistakes again and again and again. And like, that's, that's grace. That is my really terrible summary of what the Bible is.

No, I think it's a beautiful summary because I'm like, you know, I keep, you know, when I first started into politics, I remember running into Christians specifically. I would say, oh, it's simple. We just need to repent. And I'd be like, I don't get it. And now here in 2026, I'm like, I get what you're saying. Like, we're so... The political stuff in the Bible, too.

Like, in Jesus' time, like, all the politicians and the Pharisees and even the church leaders, they were all corrupt. And I remember reading those chapters and thinking, oh, there's... Why am I struggling? Like, I can change politics. like I can not change but like or influence but I can fix this. I'm like there's nothing new under the sun. This is this has been since the dawn of time. It doesn't it doesn't mean that like you should give up.

But I think where we suffer is in thinking we can fix it. We can get our 10 out of 10 list and we can get this all done tomorrow. I'm like, oh no. This is an ongoing forever struggle. You know, in my world, my best days, my more peaceful days, have been when I just like God lead and just try and follow where he's directing

and some days I fail at it miserably but when I just go you know you're in control where am I going today and follow that this is what happens actually sitting here is what happens because like everything in my logical brain

you can imagine you create content all the time your province is having an independence referendum in what, like three months? Where should a guy be running around Alberta talking Albertans? Because it is one of the biggest news stories of our, well, since COVID, I would say, in the place I live. It's the conversation of topic, trying to figure out what people think about it is just engaging.

And yet, we've been planning this trip for two years. And I'm like, well, I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to pray on it because there's no point in. and not print that's what i do all right god wants to stop it he'll stop it he's stopped things before and yet here we are and i feel a level of peace and i've always felt a level of peace since i'd let him lead just yep i'm gonna get out of the way and just try and focus on what you want me to do and we'll see where that goes and the conversations have been phenomenal but the family life outside of that you've got to witness the newman tornado and everything it has to offer it's just been a ton of fun right

Like, you know, being around the kids and Mel every day has been wonderful. Yeah. It is a balance, right? Like, it took a while in like my journey to even get to the point where God had control over my life, my work, my success, my mental health space, my physical health. That was, that was quite a jump to get there. But I'm much happier now because of that. But I realized the one thing that I wasn't doing was realizing that he was in control of

all things, which means politics, which means. which means who's in charge of Canada, which means geopolitics, which means the weather. I was taking too much responsibility for those things. And it's a balance because, yeah, again, when we're trying to exert control over all of these things that we obviously don't have any control over, we're just going to suffer. But at the same time, there are a lot of Christians at my church who tell me in secret, like they're listening to my podcast and they like it, but they can never have those conversations. There are some Christians that it's totally hands off the wheel,

so they choose not to participate at all, maybe only focusing on the afterlife. And that's not right either because we are meant to, we're still in this world. We're still meant to participate in this world. We don't want to be of the world. The world's not the most important thing. God is the most important thing.

But some Christians check out completely. Did you ever think we'd be having this, chat? Never, never. Me going to church, Bible study, any of the stuff, never in a million years. Yeah. Do you remember how, like, my first email to you? Yeah. So people don't know this, but when I was coming back from Ottawa, Carla, I didn't know who Carla was at the time, but you sent me, you know, I should have pulled it up and re-read it again. But, yeah, I remember your first email. You sent me an email, a lot of people sent me emails at that point in time. my inbox blew up, but yours stands out with about two others where I'm like, what is going on? I had never met you. I was not even a Christian at that point, just kind of maybe starting to.

I do not send emails to strangers ever. This is not something I had ever done, but I was listening to your show during COVID the entire time. And then all of a sudden you kind of went dark. And then there was just like no episode for a while. 53 days. And I don't know why I just felt this, you need to send this man, this message. And I sent you a message basically explaining what you were going through and encouraging you to keep going. And I think I recommended a Christian book. It was, even I knew that it was crazy.

And you wrote me back right away. And you're like, that was a really weird message you just sent me. And I was like, thanks for responding right away. I guess do you not get a lot of emails? And you're like, I get a lot of emails. And I don't remember when it was the first time. that we met, but like, that was one of the things that really blew up my Christian journey. And the reason that most people don't develop a relationship with God, which this is what I've

learned, is you have to obey him. And most, I don't like that word. Most people don't like that word. But that was an instance where I heard a message and I obeyed. And there's been many instances since where I've heard that voice. And it's always something that I don't want to do. This is how I know it's God's voice. I never want to do it. The next thing was, you need to start going back to church. And I was like, nope, that is not for me.

And eventually I... You know when you sent me that book, that comment? February 9th, 2022. Yeah. And every time, I'm sure you find this, every time you listen to the voice and you're like, no, Lord, I don't want to do that. And then you listen to the voice,

it ends up being something good for you. And each time I do that, it unlocks like a new level where I can hear that voice deeper. And it's happened like probably 15 times. No, Lord, I'm hearing it right now. I'm hearing it right now and I don't want to do it. So I know it's like the voice. It's something to do with getting involved in the local community, which is why I'm actually running for counselor. And I don't know if that's specifically what he wants.

He might just want me to help out with the church or with the poor. but I really became a recluse during COVID. I was just attacked left and right, lost the studio. People treated me horribly. I lost friends. So I really just started becoming way more introverted and like working online and doing the show. All stuff that I've loved.

I've had like huge opportunity from it. And then the Lord's been like, no, you have to like go back into community now. And like you have to work in community. And I've been like, no. I don't want to do that. Things are pretty cushy right now, but I can tell it's like it's another one of those things. I love when you say no.

It's like, no, I don't want to do that. Oh, we fight. There's like some banter. I, uh, it's just, I read the Bible and I, you know, you got in chunks, you have the living God sitting right there. Mm. And then it's like, I don't know, how many years later and it's, they've gone into just all out hedonism, worshipping idols, everything.

And you're like, how is it possible that you could, you know, or the disciples? They literally walked with Jesus. And then their, you know, disbelief or unbelief of different times. You know, how is that possible? They can't stay on the path. And then it's funny what you just said, because it's like, we think there's so much different than us that, you know, like you see a miracle?

And you're like, wow. And then how many days or weeks or months later? and you're like, did that actually happen? And your mind starts playing tricks on? No, that must just be a story. They get knocked off the path. Yeah. I have a present for you.

This is the perfect time. A very nice older pastor gave this to me when I was baptized. And I'm going to give it to you guys on the road on your mega journey here. This is a compass to help keep you on the path. And on the back, it says, I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you from Psalm 32, verse 8. Wow. That's for the RV.

That is awfully kind. That is one of the hardest things for me to understand is people's kindness. What a weird thing to say. Like, I think I said this in a podcast along the trip. It's been hard for, it's hard to accept people's kindness. Like, does that sound stupid? I don't know if it sounds stupid or not. It's just, I sometimes wonder why people care so much.

And yet, like, God's like, Jesus is like, you know, treat others how you want to be treated. It's like, well, yeah, but then you see it play out. And I've been seeing it on this road trip over and over and over again. It is just, it's just weird. It's just weird in the best possible sense, but society they tell us isn't like this. Or, you know, they try and paint a picture on social media. and then what you find is that, you know, like gifts like this or people, you know, people taking you into their homes or inviting your family in and being kind of your children,

right? Like your husband's really cool to watch, you know. One of the things, you know, from your content that you don't really get a glimpse into is Dan, right? Every once in a while you do the odd video where your family's kind of in there but kind of not. Watching your... The kids are horrified, by the way. they're like never put us in your content so i try well in fairness mel's the same way mel doesn't want

to she's just like you you do your world and and all you know and all you can tell me all about it fair enough but watching you know like it's become this long line of men now in roughly a month that have interacted with my kids and i'm like they're just so patient it's like super cool to watch and whether it's the kindness or the patience those two in particular always stand out to me and I don't know where to put them. It's really nice having little kids around. Yeah, we're having a blast with yours. They're so excited.

Dad, let's go on the plane and then tubing and then kneeboarding and then back to tubing and then just so many things here. This morning when we were coming here, Mel had to, they're all upset because Mel was trying to settle them down. Okay, you can't just ask for everything. They have lives too. We just got to go and swim. Swim.

I don't want to swim. I want to go on the plane again. We're like, well, you know, it costs money to take the plane out. and Dan's a busy guy and maybe he just doesn't want to take 17 plane rides. No, Dan is like them. I got out of bed at nine. I never sleep in that late. But by nine,

he had already like given like the neighbor's kid a plane ride and was like already out in the boat and fishing. Like he's like your kids. Which is cool. It's just cool to see it interact. Now if I stick to go back to kindness. Yeah. Are people, do you witness that where people are like very thoughtful in your,

with what you do, or am I just an anomaly in what I'm talking about? I think in the real world, when you're meeting people face to face, most people are pretty good and pretty kind, even if you disagree with them politically. And a lot of people are trapped in these fake online worlds. And it's challenging because there is an abundance of real bad news. And there are bad people as well. And this is where like we need to be really careful. in this realm to check out of that world also and go touch grass and go interview people in real life

and go hang out with our friends because yeah it's the way that media is designed. It's the way that social media is designed and it's hard because we're looking at the problems because we want to fix them and we're looking at the bad guys because we want to know who the bad guys are so we can get the good guys and like all that's real. It's not it's not fake. That is real stuff that we're trying to deal with. But, you know, we were at a friend's house the other day and my friend was making jokes about liberals. My one friend is like, I'm a liberal. And he goes, no, you're not. She's like, no, I am. And we kind of like moved on from politics. But like, what are you going to do? Not like your friend. You've known for 20 years. Of course not. Like, but the internet is making us

hate each other and think that everybody is is bad. As far as my show, I definitely get a lot of heat from people in the community. And it's probably because they've only watched a social media clip. They've never actually listened to a show. It's like how people have strong opinions about Joe Rogan or want to hate Joe Rogan. And I think, have you ever listened? Have you ever listened? I know they're three hours, but. Yeah, yeah, but if you went and listened to a week of his episodes, you get a real feel for who Joe is. He's a good guy, a really good guy, a really thoughtful middle of the road guy, not some hardcore trumper, not at all. Since you started the podcast, because I think of myself when I started the podcast,

definitely wasn't Christian, definitely wasn't even Alberta first. That's through conversations where I started to understand, oh, you know, like I was telling you with alcohol, if it wasn't for the podcast, I would have never gotten to a point where in 2025 I just stopped drinking. I was just like, I'm going to be done with this for a bit. I'm sure there's other things that have dawned on me. Talking to so many people that are grandparents that talk about the age my kids are right now and not to wish them away, even the bad days.

Like embrace that and breathe it in because you'll blink and they'll be, in your case, teenagers where, you know, I just watch your kids and, you know, they're independent. They want to go do things. And, you know, you think in another few years, they'll be off working their jobs, living their life. And I don't know, in your world with your podcast, have you had any, like, stark realizations like that? All the time. Like, just as far as, like, the family, I'm such an ambitious person. Like, I relentlessly pursue what I want.

But I think my passion for my family is equally as high. and I have a hard time just kind of shaming myself at all times. Like are you not spending enough time with them? Are you not spending enough time on your work? It is always, it is a battle. But if those two sides of myself are battling, the family does always win. Like ideally, I'm pushing out a show Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 9 a.m. But like this Monday, I'm going to be spending time with them.

and Monday's probably not going to get dropped. And they're just going to win. And I'm going to be okay with that sacrifice. Like I'm being as consistent as I possibly can in like pursuing this dream, but they're going to win every time. And that's a way better thing to focus on. The other thing is do I really, do I really want to focus on politics all the time?

I knew right out of the gate. I didn't want to be the news, just like yourself. I'm like, I don't want to be the news. I thought at one point I wanted to be the news. point I wanted to do like a daily show like Jasmine or like moose on the loose and and right away. I'm like there is way too much. I don't want to be this filter of like in and out and it's it's amazing what they have built. It's just not for me. I can't just be pumping out the news and I want to talk about things that are longer lasting, something that somebody can watch a year from now,

five years from now and it's just as cool and relevant like philosophy or history. or like the bigger picture things. And I don't want to be intentionally polarizing. What we do is polarizing to some people. But I'm never intentionally polarizing. I want to have more positive conversations like we're having today, you know, talking about God, putting that kind of stuff out there too.

Because, yeah, the world's problems are real and big, and we should talk about them, but we don't always need to talk about them. Yeah. if Sean from 2019 when I started the podcast, listened to me today, like, what the heck happening you,

man? What are you doing? Yeah. Oh, for sure. For sure. I just, I think I'm becoming,

I'm, it's weird to say, but I think I'm just starting to know who I am, or be okay with who I am, and what I believe in, and it's okay. Not everybody's going to agree with me. That's fine.

I mean, it's okay. It's okay that you're upset that I say things that could get maybe some people in flame, but I'm like, I don't know, what do I say anymore, folks? It gets people in flame. My audience, I'm like, we have, there's lots of things that people don't like that I bring on, and there's lots of people things, you know, it's easy with the text line. I can tell when I've hit one that people really like, or they're just uncomfortable with. But there's been so many

conversations. I don't know how many conversations. I've been uncomfortable sitting at them. Like, oh my goodness, how did I walk myself into this? And yet, there's things to be learned in the uncomfortable nature of what we do. And in a conversation, there's lots of uncomfortable points. It's fun to talk to people who have different thoughts than you. It's what's helped change my mind on a lot of things. Would you interview Kanye? Sure. Yeah. Would I interview, you know, take your historical figure. Would I have interviewed them all, probably? You know, like, why not what's it what's going to harm like are we so terrified that somebody with bad ideas is also i'm going to say them and i'm going to be like attracted to them i don't think so i mean of all

the conversations i've had which now you'll be 1100 and change holy moly i look at it and i go i'm attracted like it's funny i'm attracted to people who have fiscal responsibility so they they They can have nice things, but nice things aren't what define them. They have their family in order, and that doesn't mean they can't be divorced and everything else. It just means by and large they have their family life in order. They're married. They're happily married.

They're comfortable with who they are. Politically, they all roughly say the same thing. I might vote conservative, but there's lots of things that the conservatives say I just disagree with. And, you know, lots of them are doing things they enjoy. they found a place in life where you know like i think a zane southgate showed with zane you watch him run around a vehicle and i'm like that isn't me i couldn't do that yet he really enjoys it he speaks in a different language when he's talking to me that i'm like some car guy would get

or you know tim bartell the bee farmer he's sitting there and i'm like this is really strange like you're talking about bees in a way that i'm like i don't know if i could ever get there to me they're an insect they're a cool insect I just don't think of them as a farm. I think of them as a, I don't know, a hobby maybe. Or Mike Fast, who is the missionary pastor. I listen to his story. I'm like, it's so cool to see people light up

when they talk about something that motivates them, you know? You're a lady that is fascinating in her own right, because I'm like, you live in probably the coolest spot we've been to in Canada. I think that's, and we've been to a lot of cool spots now. and when you talk about the back work of how things go and what you can do to be successful, I'm like, I see why Carla's highly sought after to do things.

It makes complete sense to me. And I'm curious, I guess, what is success for Carla? Like, is there a, you know, you talk about a dream. Is there a thing that you're like chasing? Hmm. Lately I've been praying a lot right before bed. And it's just gratitude. And I think, again, it's just balancing, balancing this job where we're like problems, problems, problems.

I, and maybe this is why I'm not doing a daily show. I feel just really, really lucky. I have an amazing husband. I have kids. I'm a little roof over our heads. Food. Can afford food in Canada right now. Have work that I love.

I'm healthy. there's no serious problems right now. Like those are the important things. Like, yes, we have money and yes, I have a really cool job, but those things are not as important as health, family, God. If you take those things away, then nothing else matters. Yeah, I wonder how today's Sean or Carla would have dealt with COVID right at the start. Because I was in the Mennonite community and lost.

of them life never changed now i'm sure it changed somewhat but you know like hearing that you're like really hmm i was scared back then well i was isolated yeah i didn't understand confusion you didn't have god to lean on and i certainly had a healthy family dynamic it was you know but it had it COVID attacked everything and it's like it's very evident when i'm sitting here with you and your family. They're like, this is cool what you guys have, you know, like it was why I was excited, I guess, to introduce Mel Dia, you know, like Mel gets a very, I don't know, I sometimes wonder what she thinks.

People want me to bring her on the podcast. I'll say this over and over again. Good luck. But like I sometimes, it would be fun to crawl in her head just for a day to see what she thinks of like all the people we run into, all the people I'm talking about. talking to all the different places we're going where Sean knows some random person and we're going to go spend some time and introduce our kids and our kids are full of energy. They do not stop until they self-destruct and then when they get through the self-destruction, they fire

right back up again and they go as hard as they did at the start of the day. They're curious. They're all the things. But like, it's cool to be in a spot where it just feels comfortable and like you and dad have a really cool family. And they're just, like, I don't know, very peaceful. Is that, I think that's, you probably say a whole bunch of other compliments. It's just like really cool. Not to mention like what you've built here is unbelievable.

Well, thanks. I mean, yeah, success, happiness, your family, the simple things. I've been sharing that I've been reading Lauren Southern's book and there was a sentence in it that I read 10 times. And I'm not going to get it quoted in this moment perfectly, but she said that she had built her entire self- worth around a world that wasn't even real, aka like the digital space.

The digital space, yeah. And, um, well, can you imagine how exhausting? Sorry, I'm going to, I'm going to let you finish your, your sentence. The tent, you've read it over and over again. Well, maybe that's why I, I don't push, like, it takes a lot to create content. And maybe that's why I don't push it any further. I'm trying to spend as much time in the real world as humanly possible. So I don't get.

jaded or resentful or I lose what's actually really, really important. Like you got to put up those boundaries for this artificial world and spend just as much time in the real world as possible. Yeah, when you talk about Lower Southern in particular, right? Like I would, I guess to the audience, just think of the places you know her from. it is always heated and like kind of the worst humanity has to offer right like it's like always conflict isn't it isn't that where i remember her from i think polarizing for polarizing that that's the word i'm looking for maybe not conflict but polarizing yep polarizing right leaning content um

she's a really cool documentary and really brave really funny lady but it's uh it was a challenging world that she was in, like really inflammatory. And I've, I've definitely made inflammatory content. Those satire reels that I've made were hilarious. Jesus is like, I don't know about that. But I'm like, but it's funny.

Just a couple more. Did you ever think you get to run into Tucker Carlson? No, never. So I got a DM one day on Instagram. Hey, this is Tucker Carlson's team. I was like, yeah, right. I almost like deleted it. And then I was like,

well, let's actually go see who this person is. And I'm like, oh, no, there's a picture with her and Tucker and like all these celebrities. Maybe this is real. And we hopped on the phone and they said, yeah, Tucker wants to make some content with you. And I thought, oh, cool. I thought he meant like a remixed reel where like you do a segment and they do it, but like you never actually meet. And I was like, amazing. That would be really cool.

And they're like, no, we want to, he wants to fly. you to his event and then you're going to make content in person. I was like, what? And talk about, like, you know, people have strong opinions about Tucker. But at that point, the last person who he interviewed before we made that content was Putin. And I thought, oh, I'm going to get it for this. So they're going to make that parallel for sure. But it was really, really cool meeting him. He's a really super nice guy like just a nice human being his team was amazing and um yeah we just made like a brief piece of content i got to go VIP to his event got to meet a lot of really cool people and that was because of the show that was because of content that was because of one of those satire reels um so i mean

that's that's really fun that it's possible um that those kind of opportunities are possible just from content and definitely why i keep doing what i do know what, come to think of it, I backed off of content after that moment for a little bit. I don't know why exactly. I think I just was thinking, I saw the potential and I actually took a step back just to make sure, I think I was asking myself, make sure you really want this. I didn't even know about Lauren Southern at the time, but I think something in me was like, be careful. Like there is huge potential here. Just go about it intentionally. Like if anything,

I should have doubled down and pushed a lot of things. I did the opposite. I pulled back and started making, I think something in me was just like, just go slow, be careful. Don't chase attention for the sake of attention, I think is what my gut was kind of telling me. But really cool experience. Yeah, that shows a bit of your character right there Because a lot of people would have tripled down on that I mean, it's Tucker Carlson And love or hate the guy all you want You're talking about in the conservative side of the United States

The most recognizable figure Minus Donald Trump Right? I think you'd put Donald Trump as probably number one Yeah once again love or hate them and number two would be Tucker Carlson would it not yeah so to have a moment of like just be careful mm-hmm that's an interesting I didn't know that because I would you know in my brain when I saw it I'm like this is so cool I can't believe I know this person

and they're doing this right like oh yeah that's super cool I didn't realize you had that thought Yep, I pulled back big time. You know, then it's funny because of all of our conversations here that people haven't been able to hear. It's been really cool to hang out once again. I keep saying this with you and your husband and your family. But it kind of goes back to what we're talking about with like, you know, do you want, you know, like I think we wrap in this world success up with fame, you know, like hundreds of thousands of followers or whatever on social. media and 10 million downloads or whatever the number is, then you can take your pick on it. But that right there tells me, Carly, you're after something different.

I don't want to be famous. And this is like we always have to check in with any kind of work. Like, what's our why? It can't just be money. It, like, it's fun for me. I love the show. It's fun for me. But even still, that's not really strong enough.

Like, and I don't always have a clear answer on that. Like, definitely it's, it's fun for me and I love the work. Like, that is a strong driver, but that's not enough to keep you going when things get really, really hard. I don't want to just be famous because there's a lot of things you can do to get attention. That, how do you get attention? You're polarizing. You're mean. You're inflammatory.

You're really funny. All those things will get you lots of attention. But I want, like, I want more than that. Like the best thing to ever happen to me with the show is when I platform someone that's like doing really good work that really deserves the spotlight like Aaron Murphy that I told you about in El Salvador who's helped hundreds of people who are some of the poorest people in the world. Like that that is what gets to me. Or when or when someone sends me a DM and it's like I sent my podcast to my mom. and now she's going to vote different in the next election. I'm like, amazing.

Like, when I see stuff like that happen, like that is way more important than getting attention. Like, we're doing something here. Yeah, it's meaningful. Yeah. Hmm. I think that's something for all of us to sit back and stew on if I'm, that's an interesting,

that just makes sense to all the conference. Once again, nobody can hear, you know, like, hang out with you picked us up two nights ago and then we came and hung out all day yesterday and and then this morning hanging out again you know it's um it makes it snaps in a lot of the conversations we've been having and to me that makes sense of where you're heading then because like for me the podcast i think slow and steady does win the race i and then you go and where are you racing to you know like i i think in like deep down you want i i i i don't you want i i

I want what, so Tucker Carlson and Sean Ryan had their podcast together like a week ago. Showed up to Nick for sending that to me because I wouldn't have stumbled on that. While I've been driving, I haven't been listening to a ton of. I've actually enjoyed the silence or the kids arguing or whatever it is. And he sent me that. And as a podcaster, the thing I want that Sean Ryan has is they talk about how he could pick up the phone and call anyone and they come on the podcast. I'm like, what a cool ability to have. Right? You want to talk to Pierre Poliov? You just pick up the phone. You want to talk to Daniel Smith? You pick up the phone. But you go in the sporting world, you know, who's the, you know, in Djokovic in the tennis world and seeing what he did and stood against. I'm like, man, that'd be a cool man in an interview. Because he's at the height of his tennis career, one of the best in the world. And he stood for what he believed in. You know, having that ability to have the pick up their phone, that is someday what I hope.

hope to strive towards, but not at the cost of losing everything else, right? So you go slow and steady. Slow and steady wins the race. You just keep marching the way you're going in the direction you're going. And I think lots of wonderful things can happen. And maybe it isn't that direction. Maybe it slowly shifts for all I know. And that's where you're heading, I think. Like there's pursuing meaning, obviously, which is like the most important thing. But a lot of younger, I see a lot of younger creators starting now and trying. And they ask me, like, how do I do it? And I always kind of have a cautionary tale. Like, you have, like, why are you doing this? And if you want to be in the political sphere in Canada in 2026, you got to be careful because

we got some stuff happening that might land you in prison or get you fined or sued. So there's a lot of people that are pretty flippant about the stuff that they're putting out there. I for sure have been flippant in some episodes as well. And I take it a lot more seriously now. I'm like, you, you got to have a big why, because there might be consequences with this job in the near future. Yeah, I agree. People have reached out as well on starting a podcast and what advice I give them and everything else. And it used to be, here's the, I used to give a list of like, here's some equipment. These are cheaper options, blah, blah, blah. Now, I think I've, I've boiled down my advice is have fun with it and when things go wrong and you screw up be easy on yourself and just

keep going because if you if you set out on your first podcast and you know like I mean I think I think of like uber famous people Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen had a podcast together and it didn't last and maybe it was never supposed to last maybe it was really I don't know about that yeah Spotify had it. And I remember thinking, who the heck would want to listen to that? That's what my brain went to. I'm like, I don't want to listen to that. And it lasted, you know, I can't remember how many episodes they did. And then, and then I don't think it's going anymore. And I go, so if you're, even if you're Uber famous, you can get into the podcasting realm and not realize how much work and effort it takes. And then, you know, so if you're, if you're starting out in any of this,

it's like, it's a lot of work. So much screen time. I will never show anybody my screen time. It's a lot. Yeah, well, that's been one of the things about being on this road trip that I didn't piece together until I was sitting with Carly Freezing. I'm like, oh, I haven't been on the screen at all. I bet you that's been like really good for my mental health. Oh, for sure. Like, because what do you do on the other side? When I'm sitting in the studio, I look at a computer.

You live on it. You live on it. Like, yeah. That is a cautionary tale of starting into podcasting. You got to stay on top of everything, too, so it's not only your own stuff. No, it's everything. Dan always makes fun of me. Like, oh, you're listening to a podcast.

You're listening to the news. I'm like, I have to know what's going on. Yeah. Meanwhile, Dan and my oldest right now are about getting ready to jump off the diving board. Dan barely knows how to use a computer. He doesn't understand this world. Okay. Final question for you.

they're having for those listening they're having a diving competition i'm quite certain of it again now your favorite road trip or well no favorite road trip camping trip as either a mother or back when you're a kid as a daughter you can go anywhere you one of the things that i i ran into on this trip is sometimes it's you know like i think a big mustache al folks where he's like i don't even get camping you know we live out in in off grade essentially and yet he still a moment of with his kids. And so whether it's when you're a kid or now as a mother, knowing you're in Dan's history or parts of it and how much you've traveled

in different places you've been, do you have one where you're like, yeah, this time and why? Not one. We've been so lucky to get to spend as much time with our children as possible. In the summer, camping trips, in the fall, hunting trips, some of like the bigger trips that we've done that we will never regret when they were little when Lily was in kindergarten and Hannah was three we pulled them out of kindergarten we pulled them out of school and we moved to Nicaragua for six months and we didn't work we just spent six months with them that's when Dan had retired from his skiing career and we were in like this in-between season and we just surfed every day played on the beach with them swam just tons of time together like you'll never be able you'll never regret that like screw school who cares i'm sorry i know mel's a teacher but like that's the best just spending time together and

two winters ago we did a month together in thailand now that they're like teenagers and they were such at such a good age for that like beach with your kids when they're little is really easy and fun but like europe or asia when it's like it's kind of crazy and there's tons of like traveling and like we were backpacking and on motorcycles with the kids. And we went all over Thailand, islands, motot trips, exploring waterfalls. We hiked into the jungle for three days and stayed with a tribe. Those were really, really awesome. You hiked and stayed with a tribe?

Mm-hmm. So we, like, hiked into the mountains with, there were maybe, there were only four other people with us. And the two guides, they didn't speak a lick of English. They were like reaching their hands into holes and pulling out tarantulas bigger than my hands, breaking off the poisonous fangs and then cooking them over a fire. So you've eaten tarantula? Yeah, it tastes like crab. It tastes like crab?

Crab. Which makes sense. It kind of looks like a crab. Okay. And where we stayed was like a cool little just like palapa with like a mosquito net. And we're like way up high in the jungle. And I was sleeping with Lily, who's 16 at the time. And we look up and in the corner are these two spiders bigger than my hands.

And Lily's like, I want to stay somewhere fancy. She's called 911. There's a really big spider. So whenever we've traveled, we like, we like to travel. Like it's not an all-inclusive, not like there's anything wrong with that. But like we stay in some weird places. We like to stay with local people. We visited our friend Dave Small, who's a missionary who helps get people out of Burma and into Thailand.

And they got to meet like a bunch of the Burmese guys that he had rescued. He's a missionary down there. Just like really cool, real life stuff. And if I asked them what their favorite part of Thailand was, that was interesting because we went to beautiful beaches and fun motorcycle trips. And we were on Kosamui for New Year's where there's like a big rave and a party. the thing that they liked the most was seeing Dave Small and the guys that he had rescued. And we sat and like that he lives off of like $300 a month. He has this teeny tiny little place.

And he had just guys sleeping on mattresses everywhere. This is where we were staying. And we would just listen to these guys sing songs about Jesus and tell us their stories. And that was like one of their favorite things about Thailand. And I think it was really, I don't know, as a Christian woman now, too, to hear, to give them that experience. I think for the first time they were like, oh, like, this is actually kind of cool. Like, we're hearing stories of war. And these are, like, really amazing people.

It's not just, like, the stuffy little white Christian Baptist church, giving them that perspective that, like, Christianity isn't church. It doesn't have to be. right? You're going to have such an awesome time. It's going to be so good. Well, I'm like, you know, one of the things I've learned from just the conversation so far is people when they talk about camping trips or family road trips, the word or the idea of core memories comes out of a lot of people. You're creating core memories for your kids. And, you know, so then I go back in my own time of camping with my parents and, you know, some of the things that we all talk about as, and I got four old.

their siblings and you'll get together and no doubt the same stories roughly come up over and over again and where are we what were you doing and Mel and I were telling you that we accidentally took the kids to a nude beach and I'm like as soon as it happened I'm like you know like what do we do and Mel's like well don't look at his penis up what we start there and I start laughing and then we're sitting on the beach and we put a time around like hey you got 10 minutes of swim and we're out of here and I looked at there and said well this one will be talked about in 20 years won't it. I'm like, this is not going to be forgotten anytime soon. You know, like you walk onto this. It was an adventure to get out to the beach and then there's nude people. You have to go

swimming. You have to go swimming. I mean, you can't just turn around and tuck tail. It's like, no, no, we're going swimming. I'm like, yeah, this is going to be one of those stories that they don't forget anytime soon. Did you drop your shorts first, though? No, that would have been great. That would have been great. It should have just dropped, well, went in Rome, kids. You probably made it awkward for everybody else. I was an awkward human being for a few, for a few minutes. Yeah, that is, that is, that is, that is the truth. Like, what's with this guy in his shorts? Oh, man. Thank you again for everything you've done for us here. I'm very appreciative. It's been, it's been really cool.

And, you know, invite not only my wife, but my kids in and, and I got to say it on the podcast. I said it in a substack post. Well before this airs, but I, you know, I just thank Dan as well because he's been wonderful to the kids and your entire family has. But it's been a really enjoyable experience coming through here. You know, I'd never been on Lake of the Woods and just open up your house and being, you know, around us and allowing us to experience some of what you guys get to experience on August long of all weekends, you know, like, I'm like, that was poor timing for us. I'm like, what a terrible time to enter into somebody's place. It's great timing. You know, July long and August long in Canada for those Americans or elsewhere are two of the busiest weekends of all the summer.

And the treadway has walked us and have been showing us a great time. So I can't say it enough. But it's really great to, you know, we've met many a time now. But to finally get to meet you on your home turf and meet Dan and your kids and everything else. Just appreciate you having us in. And then hop on the podcast too. Anytime. It's so good having you guys here.

We love your kids. Lots of fun. And Mel. Ha-ha-ha.