Shaun Newman Podcast - #447 - Heather Prosak

Episode Date: June 12, 2023

She has been in the media industry for 20 years, has worked across the country as a morning radio personality and program director/brand leader. To see what was happening in Ottawa for herself, Heather showed up at the Convoy and released a video about her personal experience, which went viral. She later would lose her job because of the video. Let me know what you think Text me 587-217-8500 Substack:https://open.substack.com/pub/shaunnewmanpodcast

This is Nicole Murphy. This is Rachel Emanuel. Hi, this is John Cohen. Hey, everyone. This is Glenn Jung from Bright Light News. This is Drew Weatherhead. This is Terracount. This is Ed Dowd, and you're listening to the Sean Newman podcast.

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For the past 80 years, they've been an industry leader in bulk fuels, lubricants, methanol, and chemicals delivering to your farm commercial or oil field locations. For more information, visit them in Hancock. Petroleum.ca. She's been in the media industry for 20 plus years. She's worked across the country as a morning radio personality and a program director, brand leader. She lost her job after filming and live streaming part of the Ottawa Freedom Convoy.

I'm talking about Heather Prozac. So buckle up. Here we go. Hi, it's Heather Prozac and this is the Sean Newman podcast. Well, welcome to the Sean Newman podcast. Today I'm joined by Heather Prozac. So first off, ma'am, thanks for hopping on. ma'am you know you're at an age when people call you ma'am I think it's a sign of respect you know

like women women get they think it means like you're an old lady and old ladies are like old ladies are like I'm not a ma'am I'm like what is a ma'am then old ladies say I'm not a ma'am so if I'm saying this no no no what I'm saying is you think eventually you graduate to ma'am right where you're going to be 60 or 70 and you're like oh he called me ma'am nobody says that and yet I'm like well it's it's a sign of respect That's at least where I think. Okay, I'll take it as that. I always correct people and go, I'm good with Ms.

So, how are you? I'm good. How can you tell folks that she was a radio personality, eh? Just tops her radio and I love it. And you're going to have to excuse me because I always do. I always, it's just like as soon as the mic's in front of me, I want to begin and turn the tables. It's just natural for me.

You got to, you know, for the audience, I want to get into, you know, Heather and everything and make sure people know exactly who they're listening to. But do you get in front of the mic much anymore? I do. Are you? I am. I do shows across Canada still.

Do you really? I do from home. Yeah, I navigated a situation like, you know, you never know, especially in media, how long those contracts are going to work. But I do. Far cry from my 3.30 a.m. wake-ups where I used to do morning radio for 20 years. So it's a very different studio for me. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay.

Well, I want to hear all about it. Okay. I'm going to jump into the end, folks. I want to start at the beginning. Heather, you know, there's going to be people that are like, oh, yeah. Remember all these different things, but I'm going to warn you. I know very little. And your video that went viral was in Sean's, I live under a rock moment for about a month

and a half where he stopped podcasting and didn't pay attention to the world. Really? I don't know nothing about you other than our interactions from now, you know, what has it been now? Like eight months, maybe less, maybe a little bit more? Have you seen the video or you didn't see the video? No, I haven't even seen the video. Oh, perfect.

It's like a great interview. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm going to ask a ton of like, because I get the general gist. I know a ton of people who went there and did similar things. You just don't have your pedigree, I would say. So anyways, that's me jibber jabber in here. Tell us about Heather.

Well, let's see. I was 20 years in media, and I did mainly radio. Had an opportunity to go to TV. Really loved radio because of the ad-living. TV's just so, it's so specific. to time, whereas TV or radio allows you to just kind of embellish a little bit, have some fun and do whatever, and you can create. So I've been in radio for 20 years across

the prairies, did a stop in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta was my recent one. But I also learned early on that there's a lot of, you can get fired very quickly in media. It's the entertainment business. So what I ended up doing as well was learning the tricks of the trade, so to speak. I wanted to get as much knowledge as I could. And I, in turn, began programming, we call it in radio, which is quite interesting to use the word, that's exactly the word it's called. So I became a program director. And that means you're the leadership part of the radio station from the eyes, the ears, and when it wins and when it fails, it is on you first. So I did that for 10 years, as well as being on the air. And it's not the easiest job to do because you go into

talent mode on the air. And you also have to come off the mode and go into business mode where you go and deal and meet with clients and come up with concepts. So that's a little bit about me. I always wanted to live in Alberta close to the mountains. That was always a dream of mine. So I had that opportunity in about 2017 and made my way here. And from there, like, I'm, I'm kind of expediting a little bit because it's like you jump in wherever you want. Well, if there's one thing you're going to learn about me is I don't like expediting anything, right? This is a podcast. I want to hear how you get to, you know, the pivotal moment because what I'm hearing is,

is, you know, you worked your bag off to get to where you were at essentially your dream job. And maybe you had higher expectations or higher like goals of just Calgary. But Calgary, you just said it. I want to live in Alberta close to the mountains. Well, I mean, Calgary's it, right? I mean, sure, there's a couple more. But in the radio industry, Calgary's pretty much, I would say, the crown jewel of Alberta. Some Eminton folks will argue that.

But at the end of the day, Edmonton, I'm sorry, I really love Calgary. Listen, I'm an Emmington Oilers fan, but you look at the two cities and you go, I can understand why Calgary's more of a poll than Eminton. That's just me being honest. So to me, I hear this story and I'm like, and then the faithful days come and you're like,

okay, why give it all up? Well, and I should say, like, I always wanted to live my life. For me, it was not about status in my, which is odd, because most people want to go to Toronto, I learned early on I was in Regina, Saskatchewan actually when I decided, no, I don't want to make my way to Toronto. I want quality of life, so I have a great life.

And so for me, Alberta was a really great goal for me. I didn't want Vancouver. I didn't want Toronto. So it was like, it was really easy to focus in on that. But then something happened called the pandemic. And I found myself questioning a lot of things. How hard was it? I've talked to Kidd Carson about this.

How hard was it being on air and being like, well, we can't tell. talk about that. We can kind of joke about that, but we really can't talk about this. And like, you know, like when you talk about self-censoring, radio on those days would have been, well, bingo, here it is, right? Because you're living it. It wasn't hard. I would always go on the air. What you're seeing right now is who I am. The only side that I'm missing is like the goofier side where I would talk about some of the things that I was involved in or things just always happen to me. And I always look at life as a Saturday night live skit. So somehow things happen to me and I can share it.

When the pandemic hit, what became apparent was I couldn't be as forthcoming. But it wasn't because there were some big mass email that was sent down. It was because people were uncomfortable with the truth. And by the truth, it was me questioning things. Why can't we question it? Why are we just on one narrative? Like, what is that? So the one thing that I was during my part in Calgary during that time,

On my show, we never talked about numbers, you know, the numbers that were always daily. Yes. We didn't. Here's one thing I noticed. And I always try to take a rational approach to everything. And I remember being on the air one day, and we talked about this whole, the two years. I don't know like saying the word anymore because it's ridiculous. And someone said, I'm going to come and blow your station up if you keep talking about this.

That was regular occurrence. people didn't want to hear it anymore. They were calling it out. And when you're in media, you don't listen to one or two voices, but you start to look at trends. And that's what makes you make changes, true to most things. So whenever we would talk about it, I would notice the text interaction would change because we were highly interactive on the air.

So normally we would listen to that and say, let's stay away from it. We're done. but this was different for some reason we kept not we people kept pushing it through then it started making its way into social media updates now i went silent so where my story picks up is i think i'm the only person in canada like this i'm concerned i don't understand what's happening and i'm leading a station and i'm feeling like the shell of a person because i'm questioning things but i'm not allowed to question them. And I'm like, but that's what makes me so good at what I do.

So now you're having this out of body experience as someone who's leading the station and you're on the air. So you're seeing all the perspectives and you're like, this doesn't make sense. So here I am walking around, trying to figure out like how do you do things. Everything shut down. So in media, you usually do events and you bring people together. And now we're like, you guys all stay home. In fact, I end up going home, which was great fun at the first month.

But after that, I'm like, okay, this is, this is bogus. I'm over it. So then all of a sudden, things started to change. And it was now end of 2021. And I'm thinking, I thought this thing was going to be done in six months, Sean. Like I was like there. I was like, oh, this is a virus. Like what?

Next thing I know, out of the blue, these trucks come through. I didn't know about them before. Did you? So my, I talked to Chris Barber, like probably, probably like six days before they left. And somebody's like, you've got to interview somebody about this trucker convoy. I'm like, well, sure. So I interviewed him about it. And the claim to fame that me and Chris always joke about is that got me removed completely off YouTube.

This interview I did with a trucker named Chris Barber on the side of the highway, he was in the States, and he's just sitting there so nonchalantly in his truck just talking about the same. saying, yeah, we're just going to go pro-tete. You know, they just need to end. I'm vaccinated. And, you know, I'm just like, I'm tired of it. All my friends. And I'm like, oh, okay.

And I remember one of the things that, well, what are you going to do with all the money? Because I was really skeptical of it, the entire idea. And he's like, oh, any extra money we make, we're going to give back to veterans. I'm like, oh, I'm okay. I kind of like this. Wow. And so then I got asked to go and I said no. And then I got asked again to go.

And I said, no. And then I saw them leave Lloyd. And I'm like, oh, man, I should probably be going on this. Like, you just feel it, right? And so I was, I was like, I don't know, I wouldn't, once again, Sean is early but late to the party. Like, he's watching it going, nah, this ain't going to work. And then, well, then we caught up to him in Ontario.

So yes, I heard about it, but not much before you. And were you thinking it wasn't a big deal? Is that kind of the idea? Yeah, I was like, what are a group of truckers going to do? Even though my father is a trucker. And he said, if you ever want to shut down a country, specifically Canada, piss off the truckers, right? He called it before this ever became a thing.

He'd driven long haul across Canada for a part of his life. So he knew exactly what to do. And I, you know, it's like, why don't we listen to the older generation when they're just like, you want to stop something? This is the way you do it. And it's like, yeah, sure, we're going to try this, though, first. So, no, I didn't, I wasn't, I was skeptical of the entire idea. I was skeptical of whether it could work. I was skeptical of where the money was going.

I was skeptical. Sure. But that's smart. You should be skeptical of everything. In fact, I was skeptical. There's a thing. You can't question sometimes, you know, your heart. Sometimes your heart just can actually overtake everything

and not in a bad way where you know deep down, it's so true and it's so real. And so for me, I'm on the air. I don't remember. So when did you find out about it? When they rolled in Calgary. Like when they rolled into Calgary, You're like, did you see this thing last night where all these truckers are?

I am just, I don't know if my parents said, Heather, you've got to see something that's coming because my parents were watching much more closely. I'm trying to navigate this media world going like, how is this working this way, right? So my brain is in a very different place, although I deal in authenticity and being honest and truthful about where I'm at and what's going on on the air. So all of a sudden these trucks, it must have been a Sunday because I was off the air anyway. I almost went to the to the Calgary location in the southeast. I had all of my live equipment and I was going to do an interview with them for the station because I thought this was so interesting. And they didn't get into later and I had a morning show to do so I couldn't do it. I kind of laugh now thinking, imagine I have I had like, whoa.

So you actually like were ready to go and then they showed up late and you decided, ah, screw it. I just can't make it. No, I didn't have any connections. All I saw was some woman and some guy in a truck, and they seemed really nice. But I just knew this Tamara and this Chris. I'm like, I don't really understand like when they're coming here. It's a little bit all over the place. So I'm looking and I really wrestled with it.

And it's like, I think it was like 9 o'clock at night. And I'm like, they're not getting in for a bit. I don't know what's going on. So I just went to sleep going, geez, that would have been really good, I think, for the station. It would have been. Did you think when you woke up in the morning and like started seeing some of the live streams coming out of about it like oh crap I really missed an opportunity there where you're worried about it yeah I sure did I actually went to bed feeling that way I'm like I feel like I should

probably stay up all night and just go there I'm like but that's silly that like if you have ever done a morning show before there it's just takes so much out of you you have to be on and so I wake up the next morning and what time is this uh 3 30 a.m 3 30 and they're in they somehow got in the middle of the night and so now I'm going into the videos and going, whoa. But then I see how big this is because I didn't recognize how big it was until it got to the southeast and I knew which area that was in. So I deal in rational. Okay, that is who I am as a person to a fault. So I went, okay, so this thing is I'm seeing them come up with a narrative now. I didn't call it that, but I'm like, why are they calling it something that that's not the name

of it? That's bizarre. And they're putting quotations in the media about what the freedom convoy is. And so I'm seeing something that doesn't make sense because all the information is there from the name of it to the people involved. So I get on the air and I question like, do I say anything? It's just funny to me because it's like, now, in fairness, I'd had the same moment like maybe not quite a year prior, but it was August 2021. do I actually talk about what is going on in the world? Right? Thank you. So you start with the stupid question, right?

Because there's no stupid questions, but in your head you're like, do I talk about this? And then the rational part of you goes, well, number one, it's going to be blocking traffic. Number two, there are hundreds of families out with signs in the middle of the night early in the morning, saying hello to the truckers. Number three, when people are getting to work and they see this massive amount of trucks with people with signs, they might want to know what's going on, even if it means they want to drive around it. So I actually went into it that way because I felt like I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't do it. I was very centered in my approach because that I could see that that was important.

And I just said there's traffic jam. It's called Freedom Convoy 2020. I hashtag it because it's important for people to see it. And then I put it up. And then from there, emails started rolling in. And the problem was that because I did it with such authenticity, which how do you get mad at someone or do anything to someone who's just sharing that there is a massive traffic stoppage in that area of the city?

Yes, I called it the correct name, but that's what in media we're supposed to do. So this is where I knew deep down something was really wrong. and I was trying to figure out what is happening here. So I put it up a couple of times. I talked about it in all of my newscasts. It was the very first story, and I wish I had kept those. All I did was just talk about how you're going to see some traffic being blocked. They're calling themselves the Freedom Convoy.

We don't really know much more than that, but you're going to see a lot of families outside of this area at a truck stop. And, yeah, from there an email went out from corporate, it. And they said we would encourage you to be careful for your brands and be careful how you post about this. And I'm like, well, they're not talking directly to me. So I feel okay with this. It's rational. It's so, it's so fascinating for me to hear like different perspectives from inside media on when it's coming through and how we, you know, like they try, you know, like at one point they were trying to say, oh, this was a big well-planned-out thing, and it's like, no, it wasn't.

I mean, don't get me wrong. Don't mean wrong. Like the idea maybe was planned out, but what happened was so not planned out by anyone. Nobody could ever, even in their wildest dreams, imagined the response it would have got. Right. So, and that's why it hit people in the heart so strongly. So they left. I felt like I had missed an opportunity because part of me I was really curious.

But also, I couldn't figure out why I was so emotional about this. I didn't understand. And I think it was because I was recognizing I wasn't alone in what I was thinking. And I didn't know that. Because my friendship circle just disappeared. Not because we got into a fight, not because they didn't like me, because that's what happened during this time. Everybody just became introverted. So by Manitoba.

And if I might add in, Heather, because I had a very similar experience. is the other thing is there was a time there where if you talked, oh, like, just talking like, this seems really odd. Oh, don't take me into these things. Yeah, that's true. And so I started to like, it's funny to say out loud because I obviously had a podcast and I was talking to people the entire time and doctors and lawyers and professors and everything.

So on here I was fine. But you went out into like your immediate life. And I held my tongue an awful lot up until the convoy. because I think when you talk about it hit you in the, you know, like you just knew emotionally that's, man, I'm missing. Like, as soon as you felt that, I mean, you didn't have to. Yeah, well, it makes my hair stand up all over again. And you didn't have to go to Ottawa for that. People were emotional across Canada, heck, across the planet when they saw what Canada was doing, right?

And they were like the phone line. I always talk about the phone line is, and I just beeped again, it's open to the audience to like text. and give me their thoughts on episodes and whatever. And like back then, it was like hovering the table, you know, every time, because I was literally interviewing like people who were just somewhere a part of the convoy. You know, at that point I couldn't get a hold of Chris even if I wanted to. And they were talking about just all these droves of people coming out and fireworks going off. And like kids and you're like, what is happening?

What is happening? Why is nobody talking about it? So I got on the call with a couple of colleagues of mine across the country. and in many different organizations in media. And I asked them that question before I left to Ottawa. Because I was seeing, you know, for me it was that buildup as it was going east, seeing the families on the side of the road and the hundreds of them gathered. And then hearing the small groups of people are traveling together and da-to-da.

And I'm like, what is happening? Why are there? Because it was so stupid. It was stupid. because you can see it wasn't small, yet it's being told to you that way, and it's stupid. So I called up a few people, and I just said, you know, hey, these are good friends of mine for years. I'm like, what are you, what's happening? Why are you speaking about this this way?

And it was met with anger. Your question was met with anger? Yeah, anger and defensiveness. And I said, I just don't get it. Like, did you look at any of the live streams? I can lead you to one specifically. I was talking about the Chris and the Tamara one. Yeah.

And no, no. And that was concerning because I, here's my brain trying to catch up to what's happening. I'm just like, but that doesn't make sense because you should want to know what this is. So by the time they hit Winnipeg and it was that big, because Manitoba was the turning point. And Manitoba was actually now when I started seeing and hearing emails come in from across the country in, in, And I know it's in all companies. Something happened in Manitoba that shifted it into high gear. Maybe it was just how close it was to Ontario.

And that's when they started going, okay, you know, guys, we're going to be careful on how we talk about this, da-da-da-da-da. And there are many different places or different ways that these emails were taken. It depended on who was sending the email. But you could see now there was concern. It still didn't make sense why they weren't covering what it was, just from an external perspective. Like, this is bigger than we thought.

It's gathering speed. We don't really understand it. You know, even that. So I'm feeling like I missed a really big opportunity. I'm feeling a little like I've got a hole in my chest. It just felt dark. And I remember getting off the air one morning. And I was really following media.

I was really following all the lives. And all of a sudden clearst day, I got a, why don't you go to Ottawa? like you don't have kids you don't have a husband get going and I'm like because Sean guess what I had two weeks off that I planned months and months before that coincided with that time so at that point I'm like this doesn't make any sense why I wouldn't although I'm not going into it rationally because we've now said I'm a rational person and so I start doing a bit of digging just to make sure that right because the media is saying something and the media is powerful. The microphones are powerful things. So I call up the place that I was staying, the hotel that was a block away from the main convoy area, that went outside of parliament.

And I call and ask the woman behind the desk, you know, I'm hearing that they're canceling rooms, even though they're booked and I'm hearing that it's dangerous and I'm coming by myself. Do you think that I should come? Because I knew it was okay, but I didn't. didn't know if something was shifting there. And she's like, oh, honey, I'm 55 years old. I've been doing hospitality in Ottawa for most of my career. This is the happiest protest I have ever seen. It's also the biggest. You're fine. That was someone that was working in the hotel, behind the desk. Immediately, that's all I needed to know. I got going, I landed. I landed.

and started driving into the downtown core and like immediately you just feel how i'm like i don't know what's going on like this feeling just i don't know what this is i am still coming into this going i want to see all the things that people say are here the bad things i want to see it and then and then i can honestly look at this objectively so i get out of my hotel i start walking towards the stage area at the convoy and two black women are on stage talking about freedom and losing their job nursing and they're in tears and they were incredible the reason I say the color is because of what they said was going on at the convoy like I would never say the color of a human being because it doesn't matter to me but in this case it was important for me objectively

to look at this and go so okay I'm like that's interesting and then I walked down the street And I saw it every child matters hockey tournament going on where everyone can sign a little mini Stanley Cup. I'm like, well, that's interesting. And it was a donation drive. Immediately, that's within five minutes of me being there. So now I'm going, why is it being covered differently if I was able to show up and I'm not an investigative reporter?

I am inquisitive. But I figured all this out within five minutes. So now I'm mad. Like I'm really, I am annoyed that this entire thing is not even being captured properly. I understand there are things that probably went on that are not okay. But on the other side, there is a bigger thing happening. That thing is me watching thousands of family members over the five days in Ottawa coming in downtown to meet the truckers, to take pictures, to give them food, to give them posters. None of that was captured.

So I was actually on FaceTime the whole five days that I was there. I was FaceTiming anyone that I could get a hold of that was in my industry to share with them what was happening. And it's funny that now they won't even, they don't bring it up. It's like it never happened. That's, I don't know, that's a hard thing to wrap your head around, isn't it? Like, I mean, your story up to that point, I mean, is like, yeah, I remember, I remember a guy came. and spoke at a church here in Lloyd who had come from Ottawa and he said the first first two days it was there he was a pastor of a church and he said yeah I was

fearful for my family and like I just I can't go down there but he had this kind of like maybe we should go just investigate a little bit so he said he he's walking in and he's he's just been listening to CBC right so he's expecting you know to get like anyway so he's kind of like he's like kind of walking and all of a sudden he's like what is this he starts high-fiving people. Within a block, he's like, oh my God. And he runs back and got his family, had to convince his family and get in the vehicle, you just got to come see this. And so many stories go like that. And then you come back to when I was sitting in Ottawa, and this is

this is why it's cool to hear your perspective, because I remember looking out the window and seeing what I was seeing, and then looking back to the CBC panel debating it. And what they were saying, I'm like, this is, I can't, like, I can never unsee what I'm seeing right now. This is, Your brain, you, I felt like I was in the Matrix. Yes. I was so, actually, probably one of the things that unnerved me the most was the media, how the media portrayed it to what you was seeing. I was like, what else are they lying to me about?

Like, media, and I'm like, and how much danger am I sitting in being here, knowing that they're trying to, like, as this massive protest is happening, and you have all provinces there. I joked about it with so many Quebecers there, right? Because I wouldn't say, I wouldn't say, ah, from Alberta. Alberta, great to have you out. And meanwhile, hugging with Quebecers who were supposed to hate and everything else. And you're like, this is, I don't know, like, we'll go to hating each other after this, right?

And they're like, oh, yeah, for sure, right? But anyways, it actually broke my brain for a bit because I literally couldn't, how do you put those pieces back together? That's such like a big, I don't know, big lie. It's just like, oh, it's like, what? what we're doing here don't get me wrong there's things where I have my bias and I say and and you know sure but I try to explain that all the time and when you hear two people talk there's going to be things taken out of context or maybe they don't know all the events that led to certain things but when it comes to Ottawa one thing that I think we both can agree

can really agree on and the audience already knows is like the fact that they won't even the fact that like right in the middle of Ottawa I saw a camera crew was the first one I'd ever seen there I was like oh crap oh wow I'm gonna go, you know, see what they're doing. And they had no, no visible, like, you know, if it was CTV or whoever, it doesn't matter. They stripped that off. And they were filming away from the protest.

And then they had security guards and wouldn't let me get close. I was like, oh, I was just wondering what you guys are doing. Oh, we're just filming. Like, okay, well, that's, that's kind of strange, right? Like, the protest is right behind you and you're filming, you know, anyways. And we saw more and more videos like that come out. So, you know, for me, not being in the industry, I was like, what is going on?

For you being in the industry, I'm sure that was a really tough pill. Yeah, that's putting it lightly. I didn't, the problem I had was that it didn't make sense. So even though you're watching it from, you know, an outside media person, you are processing it the same way that I am. The only problem I'm faced with is why. because I know that, you know, some people want to make it out to be that there's some big, bad meeting that happens. And there's an email that comes from the prime minister.

And that's how it works in media. But that's not. And that's the truth. But like any entertainment industry, it always leans to one side. It will always. So in my perspective, when I asked, people, genuinely why they were doing it and covering it that way. It was a bias. Part of it had to do with how they were attacked by people that were frustrated. But the frustration is now mounting on both

sides, right, from people that were supporting the convoy or at least interested in knowing more of the truth of the convoy. And then the media side I found was starting to get heightened. So you were getting things like, well, people are really rude online. And people were really disgusting to me in an email. And I was hearing a lot more of that. And the people that are in front of the cameras and behind the microphones are human beings. And a lot of times they may not make a lot of money. So they're trying to do their job as well and navigate the system.

Now, I'm not giving them. I am not saying ease up on them. but I am saying I think it was a recipe of disaster when you have multiple emails coming in and people are angry at said media person and they're getting emails that make them uncomfortable because they're like maybe swearing at them or using, you know, not being polished maybe in their emails. I don't know if that would have changed the approach. I'd like to think it would. But I always try to look at both sides and go, okay, could we learn from something when we're dealing with when we're dealing with each other? and I've said this a couple of times that, you know, when you want to, I think number one in media to remember, you should challenge the media, you should challenge situations that you hear on the air and see on the air. But don't sound off and don't use it as a venting post for you.

Use it to exercise your voice and use reason in your approach and then also email the correct people. So explain why you have a problem with what was said or what you heard. back it up with why and say I look forward to hearing back from you because guess what you will get a response more times than not and if you don't then you take it up the ranks again I do think that you know I always love being challenged in media and I would get emails like why did you say this

that people disagreed with me all the time I always responded to them I'm not saying that everyone will but during the convoy the one thing that was apparent with anyone that I asked and I didn't get to ask everybody behind the microphone right but the one I did ask, said, well, I got a lot of nasty emails. And so immediately I knew it was personal. Immediately I knew emotions now we're flying on that side as well. And we're all just human beings. Doesn't make it right or wrong. But that's, I think, truly what was going on. And now you

have your biases. Then you bring in your political biases and those are absolutely there. And were one of the reasons why I was not able to question what I did at the very beginning in 2020, right? I worked with some people that were just hook, line, and sinker. You don't question. When I said to someone, you know, how are you looking at what the doctors are saying, but then you see other doctors saying things and they have just as much credibility, how do you reason that? And I remember this response. You know, Heather, some doctors and nurses are A plus plus students. And some are B. And that is all that person needed to get through what they were getting through. So all that to be said, I think it was just a whole recipe of disaster of heightened.

Everything was heightened, especially after being alone over those two years and the fear mongering that went on. And now you've got this group of people that are together. And let's be honest, Sean, truckers should be respected. They're like, it's like farming. Farmers should be respected. Without them, we have no food. but for some reason there are industries that do not there are people that do not it's such a funny thing to just have to say out loud you know it's like honestly um

you know you talk about uh you know it being personal and some different things like that and then you know certainly does that play a part certainly but you think of like um big tech and the uh manipulation that that went i remember when i had peter mcculler on the first time and I had them on consecutive I had them on once and then I had them on I think about five or six episodes later and by the time I had them on the second time what filled up my timeline of people posting and you know and I was and I was digging into it and I was actually talking to Peter about it was they they had sued them they had defamed them and said all these things about

them blah blah and so what people saw if they were like oh this doctor sounds interesting if they googled them or Wikipedia them because I'm a Wikipedia person as well what they They see, they saw all these things. And then I get texts, you know, Sean, he's being sued. And I'd have to explain to all these people, you know. And so, you know, part of it is that how people treat one another. Part of it is, you know, with the Freedom Convoy, if you shared the wrong live stream and the language that was used maybe or something would turn some people off.

And certainly there's some ways that if you didn't dig, because some of this, you would have to dig. You have to dig and dig and dig. And certainly now, I think now, you know, I was on Layton Cray's podcast a few weeks ago. And we got talking, like I see, I'm like, today it's easier than ever to like just go to like how many different podcasts and shows in Canada are doing really, really, really, really good work and talking to really interesting people that are like really shining a light on different things. And that allows you to like dig in the right spot, I would say because I mean like look what the government's doing with all these bills trying to you know pretty much outlaw the internet and you know and we're going along

right with it because that sounds like it's going to be great but back in those days if you had anyone on the amount of scrutiny that went into it and was helped by big tech and I mean geez look at the Twitter files it talks all about it right is they were suppressed from everything so you really had to dig and you really had to you know Dr. Francis Christian called it in Russia, communist Russia. They had the seismic dad. This is me's dad. And that was the underground press.

Anyways, once you got into that, you got things fed to all the time. You're like, oh, you should interview this person, or you should listen to this interview, or you should watch this. And that's how I found out more and more information. But you didn't have access to that. Or you thought, oh, that's down with all the weirdos. And you didn't look. At one point, it was extremely tough to find anything.

It's true. And it's funny you're mentioning that underground kind of media. That's his me's dad. That sounds good. I like it. Good job. I like it. That's kind of what was happening, you know, in general sense of what was going on in 2022, right? Because the next thing is that you would start, you met people, but also people that were thinking similarly to you would send you something, be like, you should see this. and then you're able to look at it. I don't know where we go wrong that when we say critical thinker or I'm researching that it's such a bad thing.

I don't know. I don't know why looking like I always, I keep my foot in regular media still because I think it's really important to look at something with perspective on both sides. Really, it's one of, it's one of the things I value the most about what I can do. because as much as I have my belief systems, I have to look at why are these people thinking differently about the same thing I'm looking at? The convoy I couldn't understand unless you were fearful of it

because someone got to you first about it being dangerous. That was the only thing I could take away from it. And then, of course, you had the narrative that just kept going and going. And then there was that other part that I wanted to share with you about media is that, you know, media is really small. Like, it's getting,

people think it's this massive platform because it is a massive platform. But within the businesses, you don't have a lot of people working there anymore. So they don't have a lot of resources anymore. Therefore, they depend on each other and that is what is happening. And that is as simple as it is. They'll see a story there. They'll grab it because it is someone that they know is credible to them. And so I think there was a part of that that was a big problem as well.

Well, you know, I'm watching time. I want to know the end of, you know, not the end of the story, because I actually wanted to ask you about Canadians for Truth. I want to make sure that we at least ask, you know, talk a couple minutes about Sarah Palin coming to Calgary. But before we get there, you got to walk us through the live stream coming back to Calgary and the events that unfold that has you no longer working, you know, the morning radio show. Yeah, so I ended up, I was going home and I finally decided I was staying really quiet. I was wearing all black.

My black toque was on. You know, I was making sure these live streamers were not going to get me. I'm like, this is crazy. They're everywhere. I didn't think about this part. But then what happened, Sean, was after five days of being there and meeting people and seeing the truth of what was actually happening. seeing at the end of the day groups of 10 individuals

grabbing the garbage on all of the streets and picking them up and putting them into those big bins watching that as a like that it was a logistics thing. They had done that's not an accident. They did that on purpose. Every night we're cleaning this up to cleanups because there's all these families coming down

the next day. So once you start seeing stuff like that, I had a decision to make because I could go back. and nobody would have known. I took all of these videos and I didn't know what I was going to do with. The next thing I know as I see these videos

of mine, I'm like, well, what are you going to do with this? So I decided it's time to go live. And the reason I went live was because if I went back to Calgary, I was actually shown how bad I would feel by going home and just pretending like nothing happened

because I wouldn't be able to talk about it on the air. And the feeling was really dark because it felt like I would have been lying. So after I had that feeling and I recognized what I was going to feel like, I'm like, oh no, that would be terrible. And you can't get that time back. And I thought, well, wait,

if my job usually is to share my experience, And I'm not coming from a perspective of politics, and I'm not coming from a perspective of down with this or stop doing this. And I'm not going to encourage people to come. Why wouldn't I share my experience, Sean? You're trying to rationalize it out. But to me, it seems like, yeah, it makes sense to me. Yeah, yeah, there's the political stuff. Yeah, there's like, you know, all the other stuff.

But in my head, I'm like, no, this makes sense. Yeah, let's do it. And I'm thinking, I'm going to explain it to, like, your time. My experience and in my experience in the industry, I have what you would call a squeaky, clean record. I am the polished. I love, I love creating, but I also am very embedded in the corporate world. So for me, I'm like, well, this is going to be easy to rationalize. Maybe I get a slap on the wrist, but they know my heart.

Like, they know who I am. So I do the video. although I didn't expect it to take off the way it did. Like, I just thought I'd do a lie for the people on my page. But it just felt like the right thing to do. Like, I've never done something so right. And if you watch the video, the video is just about what I saw. And that's it.

It really, Sean, if I can explain to you how simple it is, it's just what it is. Here's what I see. And here I'll show you what I see if I can cut down the video. the common denominator of why I did it and what it was about. And it was maybe 10 minutes long. I wake up the next morning. And it's gone everywhere. It's been dubbed in Dutch in Spanish. It's on the Daily Hive now. Daily Hive has taken it. I'm some, yeah, so it's everywhere. You know, at that point, I was asked to take it down by my corporate team. And we had a meeting on Monday when I was coming back. So I asked them if, you know, I'm just going to leave it up and let's talk Monday about it because I wanted to get to a place of communication to understand why.

And then my career is about making something out of air. So if I'm okay getting hate mail, if I go on the air with this and I'm okay getting threats. And I signed something, I thought, like sign something, I would even sign something that that would be the only time I talked about it. well it's just but the conversation never got there and that's usually what happens i don't know if you've noticed that the conversations are yeah the conversations just don't allow for communication and that's the downfall of what's going on now and so they asked me to take the video down i said no the reason i said no was because i know that the damage had already been done I knew that they had aligned with a certain part

and I hoped that they were going to go through my Instagram account because, man, like you try to get things to go viral in media. This is the example. And a lot of them were from Alberta. That was the funniest thing. I'm like, guys. I said it right in the middle of convoy. I'm like, you want to save media.

Come capture this. Like, just come out to the road and film the entire. just live stream on CBC for 24 straight hours or whatever it is of the convoy going and seeing what we're seeing. And I'm like, you will bring back faith in media immediately. Instead, they didn't. And now we're seeing that nobody turns into any of it. Like any of it. It's all going down. I think fast, but, you know, it feels slow. But, I mean, nobody's tuning into any of it. Nobody gives a crap anymore. Nobody thinks they can trust any of it. Because, honestly, they didn't cover any of it. They just, they added some of the, well, yeah there are a bunch of this and that and it's like yeah okay nobody nobody believes you anymore even if you get loud watching it though i do think so i know we want to believe they aren't i think people are questioning it more uh but there's we Heather we on the mashup we and now

I'm going to butcher this just a smidge and I should pull back up the article we did they did the statistics of the what's the main hours for for television whether they call those primetime hours right and it was just over or or just under 4% of the population or like viewership was watching the CBC. That means like 95 plus percent aren't watching the CBC. That is huge. That is like right there.

It's like, it's just like nobody's watching. Nobody cares. And are people still tuning in to local news and stuff like that? Yeah, absolutely. But the truth of the matter is on the grand scheme of things, people are falling off of it fast. Well, and I do think that there's gonna come a time

because the one thing that's happening is podcasting is bigger and better than ever. The amount of data that you can get from podcasting for advertising is huge. And that's something that, you know, in media they're going to have to figure out because it's almost archaic when you don't start bringing in the podcasting element. The amount of talent, the amount of talent that has vacated, well, I mean, just yourself. I look at Kid Carson when I talk to him, right? and then it just goes on and on and on and on the level of talent you can find on this side of things now is honestly insane like i mean it's super cool Tucker just had his first uh release on twitter and i was

like this is freaking cool i was never a fox guy yes um you know like to each their own but i enjoyed Tucker's like little thing and the fact is strictly on twitter right now i'm like oh that's interesting right it is watching and you're like i'm watching that right you know like Elon Musk is interviewing Robert F. Kennedy Jr. And he's running for, you know, and it's like, this is cool. And they have, like, this side of things is found a way to make such a boring thing super cool right now. And I'm excited to see where that goes.

And honestly, for mainstream, it's like, just let's bring all the talent over. Let's take what we're doing here and create something brand new out of it. Because the way they got it going over there isn't working anymore in my. Well, I think it's happening. ready. Like I have a friend that I used to do morning radio with and Brandon and he was laid off and he started his own, his own show on Twitch. So he does a radio show, a radio show on Twitch he's taken it. And it's fantastic and it's taking off. And what's happening is, you know, the internet is allowing for different opportunities. But Bill C-11, I know people are really worried about it. I think we're years away from that, like actually taking place. Because really they don't actually have the rules and regulations formed. So who knows what will happen in a year from now? It's a slow process. And I think we're going to be okay.

I think, you know, the level of creativity that's online, I think we're going to be okay because a lot of people are focusing in on that one. And everything is slow when it comes to trying to figure out exactly what that Bill C-11 will be. And then you have, once they create what they think are the rules to Bill C-11, you are going to have pushback because there will be a lot of stuff that people don't agree with. At least that's my perspective. That's what I think's going to happen. Well, that's a positive outlook. I like it. Let's talk Canadian. You know, we've got about 10 minutes left. So let's talk Canadians for Truth. You got Sarah Palin coming to Calgary.

You've been on the team now for how many months? I got in late last year. They needed someone to help them kind of create this media, digital media idea. And I met Theo. I met Jamie and they have such great hearts. Joseph is the founder and to know his story. If you don't know it, Manana Nacca is incredible. And I could go on and on about his story, but okay, we'll keep it to this. We do a lot, we do monthly events. We have many different controversial people on and it's just in line with, you know, Sean, what you and I talked about how they're not controversial unless they're controversial to certain people. And so it's kind of a fascinating, a fascinating thing to do because normally I would program to general masses as in what is the one thing that everybody can

somewhat agree upon and then you win. But in this case, we get to hear stories from people that either their story has been butchered by the media or by another perspective. And they get to tell their story. So Sarah Palin is going to be really cool, mainly because I remember, and maybe you do too, when we were a little younger, she would have been the joke of all Saturday Night Live skits. She's been She was a running character on SNL

They literally attacked her the entire way That's what I remember So when you first announced her I'm like Really that's interesting I'm like I'm gonna have to go back now And really do some digging because I'm like You just didn't pick that name out of a hat Right? Like it's

Anyway So think about it this way So after what we've been through And what we've seen And what we just talked about with the convoy And you take Sarah Palin And what she's been through And people have judgment

towards her. Imagine what her perspective is going to be. It would be fascinating is what it'll be. Yeah, I think so too. And, you know, she'll talk about energy and, of course, because that's something that she focuses in on. And she's just a fun woman. So the idea behind it is, you know, bridging the gap, the United States and Canada. And we are Canadians for truth. That's who we are. We are Canadians. But it doesn't mean that we have to just have Canadians on because it's interesting hearing perspectives and then seeing, do they align? Do they not? What are some of the things that they're looking towards Canada about?

And Sarah does, you know, Sarah is going to be talking about the convoy when she first saw it, too. So it's going to give a really interesting perspective. And it's just a show. It's just a fun, get to know the, you know, Jamie Theo and then, of course, Sarah, from a perspective that aren't sound bites. Because that's all we got of Sarah Palin was sound bites, if you think about it. Well, the thing I was just saying, this to a guy literally before I got on here with you. He was asking, you know, who I was,

because I'm trying to, you know, get all these different people on. And I'm like, well, you know, honestly now I kind of look at the paper. I see who they're slandering and I reach out to who they're slandering. That's great. I'm like, I just kind of want to know their story, you know, like what they're going. Like, who are they actually? And let's, let's hear it out. Because at this point, I don't know if, it's not that I don't trust anything anymore. It's just that there's always more to the story. And so when you talk Sarah Palin, you're like, Ah, she's probably going to surprise me because what I remember is definitely not the Sarah Palin of who's going to be sitting in front of us, I'm quite sure. I want to throw it out to the listeners right now.

I'm going to be in Calgary. I assume there's still tickets available, Heather, on Sunday night on June 18th. June 18th, it is Father's Day, so I just want to make sure you know that. But maybe Dad wants to come, surprise him. The easiest thing to do is go to our website, CanadiensforTruth.ca, underwerectruth. the events page. But the show is at Grey Eagle. So whichever way you get there to buy your tickets, you can go

through Great Eagle's site and buy them. It's an evening with Sarah Palin and it is going to be really interesting. I just, I can feel it. I think what's going to happen is we're going to see, she's going to talk about like a Saturday night live skit and then she's going to talk about her real story of

what actually happened with that. Or the people that were attacking her, just what was going on in her life. It is going to be compelling. Yeah, it's the power of the media, isn't, isn't it? And I want to throw it out to all that, you know, if you're thinking about it, shoot me a text because I'm going to be there, and I'd love to meet up with some of the folks tuning in.

I'm going to be in Calgary. It sounds like I'm going to be doing a, I'm up to three interviews now while I'm there. So, you know, I'm just going to keep tacking them on, you know. And, you know, it's going to be a fun weekend. And, yeah, looking forward to it. Now, before we let you go, we always do the crude master final question, which is this. If you're going to stand behind a cause,

then stand behind it absolutely. What's one thing Heather stands behind? Freedom of speech. That's it. That's it? Freedom of speech. It's like we need, we need to be okay

with listening to someone else's perspective and not get angry, even though internally we may be because we disagree. We need to be okay being in a room with people that we disagree with and be okay

that someone may say something that hurts our feelings. Like this is getting out of hand. So freedom of speech, I know it sounds simple, but it is something now for me that is so important. Yeah, I would agree.

And one of the things I like about what Canadians for Truth is doing is by not sticking to what is pleasurable to the masses and going into some more difficult, maybe surprising conversations is that it's going to, to hopefully get people talking. And that's what we need.

We just need people to start talking to one another and start exploring different ideas because that's what I think you're trying to do. You know, you're trying to open up some dialogue and some different conversations. Either way. And let's be honest,

Theo and Jamie, they are incredible individuals of what they've done in their careers. And, you know, they will not agree with me on everything and I don't agree with them on everything, but this is the whole point of it. I got to get Theo back on here.

so we are doing you know like it's been a while uh certainly you know theo it's funny theo uh theo led me he had this call the last conversation i want to say and i could be wrong because he's been on several times now you know and uh but one of the conversations he was talking about human trafficking child trafficking and i was like i basically was like there's no way and then of course that led me to paul brant and having him on the show because he's not my city but uh and then i just like lost Heather folks. So here's what we're going to do as we close out today's show. Oh, and she's back in. Sorry. The love of internet. Sorry. It's all good. Anyways, there's the new, what is it, have you seen Jim, Jim, what is it, Sound of Freedom, Sound of Freedom? Do you know what I'm

talking about? No, I don't. This guy would be unreal to get on the podcast or to have it a live show. What is it? Sound of Freedom. what is it about what's going on here tell me everything let me just as you're looking I just wanted to say yeah I Jim Cavizal oh oh oh he's got a new movie coming out and here I'll read off and it's July 4th when it

when it releases and I just don't know if it's going to be in Canada I keep seeing and I'm like oh this is going to be anyways it's the incredible true story of a former government agent turned vigilante who embarks on a dangerous mission to rescue hundreds of children from sex traffickers. And I literally just saw an interview of them, Heather, talking about, oh my God, I'm going to forget the word now. Adrenachrome.

Adrenachrome? Adrenachrome. And I was like, never did I ever think that word would be said by somebody that I respect open on an interview where he's talking to like 4,500 people at a live audience? The guy's like, can we talk about that word? because like anyways it's on Twitter I was just like this is this is wild this is like this I need to go see this movie

and he's like no absolutely and he like goes into it and he's like crying he's like what's happening these children is just absolutely awful and anyways I hope that movie gets released in Canada because I need to see it and I mean it's the name of it one more time Sound of Freedom

and it gets released July 4th and I would I'm sure people know exactly what the heck I'm talking about but if you haven't seen the preview for that go look up Sound of Freedom and see that. And Mel Gibson, the story today was that he's supposed to be doing a four-part docu-series on child trafficking as well, I believe. Which if you... But child trafficking is a, you know, even before I got into where I'm at now,

Paul Brandt and his manager came in to talk about sex trafficking. And did you know that here in Calgary during the stampede, it is one of the worst times for trafficking? and you have to be diligent. Yeah. And while, what was it said? It was 800, the thing I read today said, 800,000 kids in the US are abducted

and put it in the child trafficking per year and 50,000 Canadians is what it said. Now, argue with me on the numbers all you want, but that's what I'd read today. Anyways, it makes my skin absolutely crawl, but at the same time as me and Paul said, or maybe me and Paul talked about, is if you don't talk about the tough stuff,

then it's allowed to happen and carries on and on and on. Right. So, anyways. Well, I appreciate you for having me on. Yeah, the easiest thing to do for those Sarah Palin tickets on June 18th is definitely to either call great. I'll put it in the show notes. I'll put it in the show notes.

And so they can click on it, but I mean it listeners, if you're going to go, shoot me a text because I'm going to be in Calgary anyways, doing some interviews, harassing. Heather and the team over at Canadians for Truth and would love to bump into some people if they're going to be hanging out around Calgary and all that good stuff. But yes, thanks. Thanks for Truth online. Make sure to do it. Thanks for hopping on, Heather and sharing your story with us. Yeah, thanks for having me. Okay, folks, now I'm going to hop off with Heather.

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All right, folks, I do mean it. If you are heading to Canadians for Truth, Sarah Palin, June 18th on the Sunday, there are tickets available. If you're going to go shoot me a note. Honestly, I'm going to be at the show anyway, so it would be great to bump into some people and say hello and all that good stuff.

So we'll catch up to you on the next one. Until then.