Shaun Newman Podcast - #557 - Clay Smiley

Episode Date: December 28, 2023

Owner of Prophet River Firearms here in Lloydminster. We discuss his journey from the East Coast to the NorthWest Territories to ending up in Paradise Valley as a school teacher turned gun importer.  Let me know what you think. Text me 587-217-8500 Substack:https://open.substack.com/pub/shaunnewmanpodcastE-transfer here: [e-mail] Website: https://silvergoldbull.ca/Email: [e-mail] [phone] – general sales line, ask for Grahame and be sure to let us know you’re an SNP listener.

This is Tanner Nadee. I'm Trish Wood. This is Tammy Peterson. This is Curtis Stone. This is Quick Dick McDick. This is Carrie the Don, and you're listening to the Sean Newman podcast. Welcome to the podcast, folks. Happy Thursday.

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construction, construction, reclamation, and spills. Cactus Environmental is also a local supplier for EM surveys, electromagnetic, as well as phase one, twos, and threes. Give him a call, 306, 821, 74541, or Allen.cactus at sastel.net. And if you're looking to get involved, while Alan actually is hopping over to the Tuesday mashup, he's grabbed the first two episodes in January. So if you're looking to get involved in the Tuesday mashup

or if you're looking for advertising with the Sean Newman podcast here in 2024, reach out, phone number is at the bottom. I would love to hear from you. As for Alan, look forward to talking about him on the Tuesday mashup, and I'm happy he's come on with Cactus Environmental onto the Sean Newman podcast.

Finally, let's get on to that tale of the tape brought to you by Hancock patrolling for the past 80 years. They've been an industry leader in bulk fuels, lubricants, methanol and chemicals delivering to your farm commercial. Oil field locations, for more information, visit them at Hancock, Petroleum, and dat CA. He's the owner of Prophet River. He's also a husband, father, community pillar.

Yeah, I'm talking about Clay Smiley. So buckle up, here we go. Welcome to the Sean Newman podcast. Today I'm joined by Clay Smiley. So first off, Clay, thanks for hopping in. And thanks for having me on here, Sean. Well, it's, so most guests that walk in, And certainly I'm going to let you tell your story to the listener.

But most guests that walk in, I don't have that much of a background. And I don't know now, when was the first year we played ball hockey together? You know, I was, I feel like I was the young guy, folks, but maybe I wasn't that young at the time. You know, there was some younger, like Maz was playing with us and Lucas Bench. And those guys were younger than me by a stretch. But at the same time, I wasn't the old guy by any stretch. No, I had that one all wrapped up, I think. So, but I was trying to think of that the other day when you asked me to come in, and I'm thinking it must be 15 years since our first season of ball hockey.

Man, has it been that long? I'm afraid it might have been. Well, I was the young guy then. And so what I was going with is, like most guys that come in here, I actually don't have that much of a background. But it's funny. I was telling this story to Clay last week. Marty Britain, if you're listening, me and him had, we've had this family hockey draft now for, I don't know, it's got to be 20 years, and it's called the Dawn's Cup. And so we tried taking it commercially kind of thing. And so we ran some Don's Cups at the brewhouse here in town.

And one of the first guys I approached was Clay, because I thought it aligned, right, hockey and guns and, you know, it's hunters and whatever. And I thought, you know, and I had this memory of being at the clock tower in Lloyd Minster and being terrified. and I was going to ask for $50. That's what it was, folks, 50 bucks. And Clay was like, oh, yeah, here, just pull it out of his wallet. Don't even worry about it. And I was like, but the whole point in the story was, whether it's in sports, in business, in life, the power of belief in someone's idea is you don't realize how important that is.

And it keeps it moving. Now, the Don's Cup came and went, and the family draft is still there, but the commercial side of it, we, you know, along the road we realized, okay, this isn't going to work. But regardless, that memory still is like lodged in my brain of like, you know, you believed whatever, whether it was just of me or not, I have no idea. But to me it felt like that. And now since the podcast has been going, Profit River, I mean, has been right along for the ride almost since day one.

You know, I always say Crudemaster was day one, but there's a handful of companies that weren't far behind. Yeah, and how many years ago was Don's Cup now? Well, that's got to be at least, it's got to be close to 10. Yeah, I was thinking about the same thing. And now how many years for this? February, Mark, five years. Well, yeah, I think we've been along for most of it, so, and happy to be along.

Well, and today isn't a, well, happy to be along. I'm happy to have you here. For the listener, you know, tell us a little bit about Clay and, and, and, and, and, and, And maybe, you know, when I was talking to you and Ed, I was like, well, I want to, I want to talk about the story of Prophet River, but I mean, that is your story. So I don't know where you want to start. You can go for as long as you want, Clay, but certainly, well, pick away at it.

Well, for me personally, of course, I was actually born in Nova Scotia, raised there, and I moved out west, but for me, west was actually north. I left Nova Scotia at 25, and I ended up in the Northwest Territories. And it was my first teaching job. I was doing the math and the science up there, and I taught up there for four years. I had two brothers in Calgary, so I was kind of basing myself out of Alberta at the time. And then after four years in the north, I decided to apply for a job in Alberta. And I did, and I worked out in Paradise Valley.

And that's where I met, you mentioned Ed, who is the CEO of Prophet River. You went from the Northwest Territories to Paradise Valley. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, and Paradise Valley was just random. I just applied for a job. I was actually around Christmas time in 97.

And I just got out the paper and looked for people that were looking for math positions. And Paradise Valley called right away and I had the job within a few days, actually. So they must have really needed a math teacher in the middle of the year. I didn't realize, you know, like I knew certainly that you were from the East Coast, but I didn't realize that you're not a recent transplant, but, you know, Lloyd's this weird, this area is this like weird melting pot of people. They just seem to come in and stay. And for the people who are outside of it, they look at Lloyd and they go, you know, even my wife,

you know, coming from Minnesota, she's like, why do we live here? The wind never stops. It's so cold and on and on and on. And yet, it's hard, I have a hard time leaving this place. Really enjoy the people and everything else. But I had no idea that it was the late 90s when you first came. I guess I always assumed it was sooner than that. You know, the years really ticked by.

Yeah, it's, I've been here more than half my life now, I guess, if I do the math. So, and we're still here. So, and of course, I lived out actually in Paradise Valley for about 10 years. And then my wife and I, we moved into, into town here and, uh, both the same time we started Prophet River. Where boats were you in the Northwest Territories? I was in a little town called Fort McPherson, which is in the Beaufort Delta. The nearest larger town is Anuvik, so it's right on the Arctic Ocean, on the mainland,

but very, very close to the ocean. And how long did you live there? For four years. What did you think of living up north? I thought it was, you know, at that time of my life, it was a great decision, and I always wanted to see the north. And I love the outdoors, love the, you know, seen nature. And it was a great place for that.

The teaching experience definitely had, you know, ups and downs as far as issues with the, you know, some of the kids and stuff. But it was, uh, what issue, when you say issues, like, what do you mean? There was a lot of, um, social issues going on in the town with, uh, with kids, uh, parents that, uh, perhaps were doing a little too much drinking. and not looking after the kids. A lot of the kids were raised by grandparents. But there was a lot of really good kids there too. And by the time they got to me, I was teaching high school. So by the time they got to me, they were usually settled in and they wanted to be in school

and taking the courses I was offering. So it wasn't really too bad. But it was an eye opener. And of course, I was only 25 when I got there. And it wouldn't matter where you were, your first teaching position is going to be challenge, you know, regardless. And that one just required you to, you know, shape up pretty quick. And, uh, but I'm glad I did it. And, uh, we had a lot of fun up there. There was a lot of young RCMP officers and a lot of, uh, nursing staff and teachers and store managers and people

from the South. And, uh, we sure had a lot of fun together and, uh, played some sports and, uh, got to see nature. I suppose, you know, I, um, one of the guys I played hockey with in June. He went up there for the RCMP, but not Northwest Territories. I want to say none of it is where he ended up, I think. And I actually had, now that you're pointing it out, I actually really didn't give it much thought other than all the cops just go up there. But actually a ton of people go up there probably for shorter stints. You know, like four years is a pretty short stint.

I mean, for some of us, that's a long time. But in general scheme of things, that's pretty short stint. You just mentioned it. So school teachers, nurses, cops, I don't know, is there any other that I'm... Yeah, the store managers, a lot of them are from the South, sometimes accountants for the band money and dental, like dentists and dental therapists. And even some of the people working at the airports and stuff. There's little tiny airports at all these towns and they'd be from the South a lot of them. When you look back on that time, you know, young guy, 25, you know, you're dealing with part of the year where there's no son.

And then you're dealing with part of the year where it never goes down. When you look back at those years, like what did it besides being a young man and having to fend for himself, you went to one of the, you know, like, I have friends in the States that called this the edge of the world. And we look at that and I go, that's, that's darn close to the edge of the world. would it it like is there lessons you learn there or things you learned about yourself or just things you saw about our country because like i wonder how many people have actually been up to like that's one place Dustin and i bikeed canada um 2006 and the only places i have not been have been the territories right i haven't i haven't been up to yukon northway i mean how do you just on a pedal bike to get up there like i mean you're your double your trip you know absolutely it was um It was the right choice for me. It wouldn't be for everybody, but being somebody that really enjoys nature and seeing the outdoors, and it's one of the most beautiful places I've ever been in Earth.

And I highly recommend to anybody to go up there, even if it's just driving up to the Yukon. And we were actually on what they call a highway, but it was really a dirt road called the Dempster Highway. So we weren't quite as isolated in some ways as other towns, even towns further south of us but part of my motivation of course was financial you know pay off the student loans after six years of university and stuff but you know I coming from the East and growing up on a farm we'd never really been anywhere so for me that like you say the edge of the earth it basically was and you know you learn a lot about yourself you learn a lot about the country by traveling so far for you know coming from

the East you couldn't really be further away and still be in Canada and And yeah, you grow up and you get to see some, you know, at 25, I think, you know, that's a good time in your life to do that. And, you know, get the student loans packed away and get to see some things and do some good fishing and stuff. And it was, it was a good choice. What's good fishing out there? Yeah, they have some pretty, you know, you're fishing some lakes up there that probably haven't been touched, you know, for years. Like, think about that. Yeah.

You know, a fisher's dream. Oh, it was. And different species. Like coming from Alberta, it would be, you know, a lot of up there, a lot of its lake trout and pike, like northern pike and stuff. Well, coming from Nova Scotia, I was used to catching little what we call Brookstroke down there. And to go up there and all of a sudden there's a 20 pound plus pike on your line and you think you've hooked a sea monster. So, yeah, it was a quick learning experience. And, you know, you saw a lot of things in those four years that I never would have seen if I'd stayed in Nova

Scotia so you mentioned being on a highway but a dirt highway yeah uh and that you weren't as isolated as some communities but up there you be like i i guess i assume i understand coming from home on background and as a kid and you get snowed in and you know you just you deal with it and you help with the neighbors and neighbors come help out you like i mean certainly in today's age it's changed a lot but like when i was a kid there there was the isolation portion of it i i i guess i I can't understand, but I'm, I'm wondering, like, when you say isolation, is it similar to what I'm putting out there? Are you like, oh, no, there's, there's like lots of different things you're missing? Yeah, we, I mean, we were a long ways from anywhere physically.

I mean, I remember looking at the highway sign just outside town, and every place name on it was followed by a four-digit number. You know, it was, you know, white horse, you know, 1,300 and some odd kilometers and so on. But, you know, in some ways, as isolated we were, we did have the highway. And there's something about being in a small town like that and being in a similar situation as the nurses, the doctors, the dentists and all that, the Northern Store Manager, that we all very quickly banded together. You know, you quickly become, you know, an orphans club where you're a bunch of young people all experiencing the same thing.

Most of you fresh out of university. So in some ways, you know, they're a lot of. The isolation wasn't there because we, you know, we had a group of friends and we all supported each other. And we were all going through similar experiences and similar challenges. And, you know, sometimes I think that it's my opinion only that sometimes I think people in cities and stuff are more isolated than like we were up there. You know, our town was 800 and some people, of which 50 or 100 were from the south. And we certainly had friends in town too that were, you know, permanent residents that we played basketball with and hockey. stuff like that. So you very quickly made friends in your social group and I think sometimes the

people that are in the city and they have no access to really meet people are in some ways more isolated than we were. Yeah. Now there is the physical challenges if you know you got a flat tire and there wasn't a tire in town of getting a tire from a thousand kilometers plus away and waiting two days and and you know some of the challenges because of course food and everything else would be pretty pricey, especially when the highway was closed, which happened twice a year. We had to cross a river on each side of us. And in the winter time, it would be an ice road. And in the summertime, it was a ferry.

But in between, there would be a few weeks when it would be closed because the ferry couldn't run and the ice was breaking up or freezing up or whatever. Wasn't thick enough. Yeah. So there was extra challenges then. And you kind of felt more like a lot of the other communities that only had accessed by air and stuff. So, uh, but you know, like I said, I never really felt, you know, psychologically isolated in any way because you had such a strong peer group up there and

everybody was in the same age. We were all young, young mid 20s and we were all on these adventures and, and facing the same challenges in the, you know, our community far away that, that certainly had its challenges as well. And, uh, so it was good to, you know, get together and, uh, Have a couple, have a couple of beers and talk about it. And we had a lot of fun up there, you know. Do you ever go back? No, but I'd like to take my wife up someday. Yeah, I've never been back up since I left.

And, but I've always told my wife that we'll, we'll drive up. Did your wife, did your wife, were you with you? Were you with your wife at that time? Not at that time. No, we met afterwards. We had actually met in university, but we were married after. So she's never been up. I've taken her as far as Whitehorse, just this.

see the country, but that's still a long old haul up to where we were. Do I dare ask how you met your wife then? You say you in college or university, but then you go off to the Great White North, which is truly the great one for north folks. And you land in PV, how on earth do you meet your wife then? Well, my wife and I had always been in contact and she was actually originally married to my best friend from college. And unfortunately, Eventually, he had caught, he got cancer at a very young age and passed away in his mid-30s. And so several years later, we had always kept in contact and we ended up getting married and still together to this day. You got to tell me a little bit about that, that's, that feel, you know, like all I can think of is this is us.

And there's going to be a whole bunch of people that are like, what is that? Or they're going to be like, you're a dork. But Mel and I watched that show, I don't know, every year. And there's a couple of hard moments in that show. But the main theme is the dad passes away in a fire. And then the wife, years later, marries the best friend. And, you know, that's just an interesting, I guess I just don't hear that that often. Maybe I never ask.

I don't know. And I don't know how comfortable you are to talk about it, Clay. but I'm always curious on how couples come together and how they stay together and all these different things. I think it's really important for people to hear, including myself. You know, like marriage is not easy. And certainly life is going to throw a lot of challenges at you. And this one's, well, I don't know, I guess just unique.

I've never heard of it before. Other than popularized in Hollywood. Well, my wife, I'm sure, would think it's Hollywood-worthy, but yeah, we actually knew each other. We did our first degrees together at St. Mary's University in Halifax. And we didn't really know each other well, but we certainly knew each other well enough to, you know, say hi or whatever. Sure.

And she still remembers me walking to the rink with my hockey gear. And I certainly remembered her. And then we ended up at a Cady University for our education degrees together. and we recognized each other and said hi and you know and became pretty good friends over a couple years and uh i had met uh a good friend of my or who became a good friend of mine his name was john marmalock and we became hunting buddies and fishing buddies and everything else and uh and i kind of highly recommended that he should you know date monique and uh sure enough he did and uh they uh ended up up getting married a couple years later and then unfortunately just a little shy of their

10th anniversary he passed away due to cancer and and the story my wife likes to tell is that as he was heading into the operating room to have a brain tumor removed the first time as he actually told her that if anything were to happen to him that he should she should wait a little while and then she should date me. And so, Mnique loves to tell the story that I came recommended by him. And because we had remained good friends, you know, for his entire life. And, um, and,

uh, and, uh, Mnique didn't say anything, but, uh, and of course, then he did survive another year or so. And, uh, and then we started dating a couple years after that, I guess and, uh, married a few years after that. So I appreciate you share. I mean, I, you know, it's funny when you, when you get in the, the chair, I don't go, this is where we're going, you know, I'm kind of like all over the place, and you get talking and I'll send them like, oh, you know, that's, Clay, we got to, you know, because you think about it. How did we meet folks? Me and Clay met through ball hockey. And I remember thinking, he probably remember thinking, who's this young guy? And I remember thinking who's this old guy? Now that time you weren't that old and I wasn't that young, you know, but that's where you're at in your stage of life. And we've just, you know, Clay ended out up outlasting me in ball hockey. But it's funny, you never.

So many times you sit and you, you kind of talk about the, oh, how's the weather? How's this? But you never really ask. And I find in here, it's funny, my ears are just turned on or something, right? Because I sit across from people, they say something like, well, that's interesting, right? Like, that's, that's an interesting way to go about it. And to, well, there's, you know, I've had people on who've lost spouses due to specifically cancer. Cancer has been a bad one.

you know, that's, well, very prevalent, I guess, in our society. And it's been around now for a long time. And a lot of people have been, whether you're old or young, seem to come down with it, and it's been very fatal. Yeah, it seems to be at our age. It's either maybe a vehicle accident if you're unlucky and then cancer. And I was unfortunate, and I lost two of my best friends in my mid-30s, both to cancer, about a year apart.

So it was kind of an eye-opener. And the first time in your life, you kind of feel very mortal. You'll have to apologize me. I apologize to the listener and to Clay. He's like, what is Sean doing? I look up and I'm like, I was so excited this morning. I didn't close the door, so the doors open. I'm like, oh, man, just excited to get rolling this morning.

You said you lost, so you lost two friends? Two of my best university friends, both about a year apart in, you know, in my mid-30s in that, about that age. And, yeah, very, very sad and, you know, both happily married guys and kids. And like I say, you feel pretty bulletproof until you're, until something like that happens to you. And, yeah, sad times. I feel like I've been very, very, very, very, I don't know how many very very. that can toss on there. Very fortunate.

Best friend, his family has lost, you know, his older brother car accident, or a motor, a snowmobile accident. The younger one, bad accident paralyzed from the waist down, right? I'm talking about the man's. And, you know, and then I sit on the flip side of that. I got four older siblings all alive, all out of their health, parents still alive. and you just, you know, and then I hear stories like that, and I'm just like, what's the, not that there's a commonality by any stretch, but you wonder, it makes you wonder because you

think, even friends, like good friends, still all hopefully healthy and, and, you know, interact and everything else. We haven't been shocked in a long time by any of that. And at a young age, I'm, I'm sure the list. I'm going to get some texts about some different stories because obviously I'm maybe I'm the unique one. Yeah, it's, I guess it can happen in any time and I, and I think there's a lesson in there for us. Oh, I would think so. You know, it says something in the Bible, and I'll butcher this and I apologize, but it's like, don't worry about tomorrow. There's enough worries in today. And by all means,

folks clear me up on that one but I think it's really yeah like that's that's that's bang on you know like it doesn't get any smoother than that like that's you know living today like you know worry about 10 years from now when you know a car accident which happens you know one of the most dangerous things we do especially in this country on the roads we face the weather we face everything we face even the wildlife we face is driving these things and hurtling down the road And you just, you know, in a blink of an eye, it can all be gone. Absolutely. And you don't realize how much you think about that until you're, you know, married kids.

And, you know, you worry about yourself a little bit. But, man, it sure changes when you have. How many kids do you have? Four. So, Monique had three, fairly young when we got married. And then we've got one between it. We have one more now. So youngest is 16 and the oldest is 26.

And when you talk about worrying, you know, when I was in high school and probably making my mom's hair go gray from, you know, be home by midnight and then you're home at 2 in the morning. And back then no cell phone. So she can't, you know, you just knew you're going to get a full beat down. You know, you're going to walk in and catch some noise from mom who was always sleeping on the couch. She wouldn't go to bed until you'd come through the house, you know. as a parent further along than this guy, you know, with young kids, we got our own things. When you talk about, you don't realize how much you think about it until you have kids. I assume that's what you're talking about.

Yeah. Yeah, a lot of that and, you know, it puts everything in a different perspective as far as, you know, like I worry every time they, you know, and my kids all have their license now. So every time they leave the driveway, you're worried and a little bit, you know, life goes on. but, and I know my wife and I have talked and, you know, friends have talked to, and you sure hope your kids don't do some of the stupid stuff we did when we were young, too, you know, and. But they will.

Yeah, I don't, hopefully I don't find out about it. It's like, you have this stage in your life, Clay, where you're like, you're 10 feet tall, you're bulletproof and you're going to try everything. Now, you probably don't try everything, but you kind of catch my drift. Like, there's a lot of stupid things you do, especially men. But I shouldn't even throw that. I think women are just as bad, you know, you just, like you're exploring the world and exploring the world means you're going to do some

things that you know later on in life you know thank goodness I didn't keep on with that or or what have you yeah I remember coming home to from university when I was probably 18 19 20 and we stayed out a little late once and my mom said you know you've we were kind of worried about you you're out to a one or whatever and and I said yeah but you know when at university we stay out all the time and she says yeah I don't know about that though you know and it never made sense to me until you're a parent you know and then it sort of puts it all in perspective so well nothing good happens after midnight I even started to learn that in my young 20s I was like you know I started to put on like we did

the well we still do the dusty man memorial hockey tournament in alma and I remember it was like year three maybe year four I'm like the bar has to shut down at midnight and everyone's like why and I'm like because all we get is problems after that nobody's spending money anymore. Everybody's just looped and nothing good happens. And, you know, that was probably my first mature thought in a long time back then, you know, like I'm going to, I'm going to shut down the bar at midnight and people were, they weren't even upset because they were kind of like, oh, come on, but they couldn't even put two sentences together, you know? Well, I hope my kids listen to the podcast here because I'm sure they're tired of me saying that exact same thing.

and, you know, as they're heading off to university and whatnot, you know, just remember nothing good happens after midnight. So now they'll hear from somebody else. Yeah, well, they'll still put it to the test. You come to PV 1997. Yes, 97. I, the adventurer in my bones is like, first, so you're sitting in Northwest Territories. You're looking at a paper, is that correct? I took out a newspaper around Christmas time.

And there was a job posting for Paradise Valley. For Paradise Valley. Was it the name where you like Paradise Valley because it's got a cool name? No, I think it was because they were looking for a math science kind of person. Okay, math science. And then what you do? Pull out the map and go like where on earth is Paradise Valley? That is exactly what I did.

I took out a map and I didn't even, I had never even heard of Lloydminster at that time. So I took out the map and, oh, it's not really why I wanted to be. I was kind of thinking mountains, you know, foothills. And, you know, your typical Alberta, you know, you're, you know, the beautiful scenery and stuff. But they, they called immediately and arranged me to come up. So I came up in the middle of a snowstorm. You were here in the middle of the snowstorm? I was here and it wasn't very good weather coming up.

Yeah. So I remember being late for my job interview. And of course, like you say, in those days, no cell phones and stuff. So I'm thinking, oh, this isn't good. But they knew I was coming from six hours or away or whatever. And maybe they were desperate for a math teacher. I don't know. But I got there and did the interview.

And I wasn't that impressed with the area because, like I said, I had mountains in my head and foothills and beautiful, you know, whatever, rivers and lakes. And anyway, I did the end. interview and then they gave me a little tour of the school and um they actually offered me the job right there right there and um i get i took it guess guess thinking you know well that's only for a few months because it was only to finish the year so it was only a half a year basically and and thinking well you know because like you say the adventure in you well i was still in that that mode you know

and i wasn't really ready to you know settle down and make a career and But anyway, after the half year, it was going pretty well. I was playing hockey out there and met a lot of people and everybody was really good to me. And ended up staying another 10 years. So it was the people then. Yeah, absolutely. You know? And of course, as you get to know an area, you see the beauty in it too.

True. It just maybe wasn't what I had in my head as, you know, beautiful Alberta. But as it turns out, you know, there's a lot of things here and there's, but, but definitely the people, you know, and there's, you know, everybody was so good to me and took me in. Like I said, within two weeks of being there, I was on a hockey team, and, you know, that makes a big difference, you know, something to do, recreation, and you're meeting a bunch of people

and still hanging with those guys to this day, you know. And now I play hockey. I'm still playing hockey out there, and a lot of the people on my team are kids I used to teach. You know, it must be the, I think it's Uncle Bob, who says it's the romantic in a person, but the romantic in me goes, what a great story

that you're in Northwest Territories, you don't know where anything is, but it's a position. And then the position leads to lifelong friends. You know, if you look at the world that way on wherever you're going, man, you can have a lot of fun because, you know, like,

you know, you go live in the mountains, but there's nobody there or the people suck, you know, like... Absolutely. Where's the fun? To me, I don't know. I get the adventure, but where's the fun in that? You know, like eventually you need the social aspect.

And being, you know, when I, if I, if I, I don't know, read between the lines when you're up in Northwest Territories, you're pretty isolated. But you have community there. And when you come to PV, if you've ever been to PV, I'm not saying it's the most isolated place, but it's not, it's not Eminton or Calgary or New York City. So you're relatively isolated, but it's the community all over again. That's, that's, that's, honestly, on a larger sense, that's Lloyd's. Minster. That's what we are. They consider us isolated, although we've got tons of amenities now and whole, I mean, the population's giant, you know, it used to be, I remember as a kid waving at every vehicle, you know, and now certainly we don't do that anymore. But the people is, is what you search for,

good people. It's no different in business. You look for a good people because you spend so much time at work, you know, I don't need to tell you that. If you're surrounded by people you enjoy, all of a sudden going to work doesn't feel so bad. That's why I enjoy this chair. This chair is, you know, I get to have adventure every single day. And, you know, right now leading up to Christmas season, as I was telling you, it's twice a day. You know, as we record, and for the listener, we're recording a bunch so that through Christmas season we have stuff coming out. But the adventure, this is the coolest seat I ever sat at it because I get to have the adventure of going anywhere in the world from Lloyd Minster.

Yeah, absolutely. Like I say, it's all about the people. And I think it's also, I've been talking to my youngest quite a bit. She's in grade 11 now. And she's starting to think seriously, but where she's going to end up for university. And I've already got one, one, my oldest ended up in Vancouver for university. And he still works there and he works in the movie business. And my one daughter is in Queens University. So they didn't stay home. And I don't think my youngest will necessarily go to school really close. Like it won't bother her to go wherever in Canada that she decides. But I've often talked to her about, you know, it's, anywhere it can be good. It's what you make of it, you know, and what you do when you get there. I mean, any place can suck and any place can be great. It just, what you do when you get there and what you make of it, the friends you make, the activities you partake in and stuff.

And, you know, a lot of that will be, if you're, if you do, you know, if you do, you make it, be if you enjoy the campus you're on or the campus you didn't go to. You know, like it, I think their adventure is waiting for you no matter where you go, as long as you're willing to, you know, accept it and, and do your best. It's, it reminds, I had this story told about me what one time. I can't remember who sent this to me. I'm forgetting. I can't, I can't, I just can't remember right now.

But the story goes, a young guy comes. into, at the time they were using Lloyd Minster and meets an old guy and he says, oh, what's Lloyd like? What's the people like? And he goes, well, what are the people like where you came from? Ah, not very good. And he says a few other things. And he says, ah, you'll probably find more of the same here. And then the next day, another young guy comes and asks the same question, you know, what are the people like here from? And he says, oh, what are the people like from where you came? Oh, great people. I'm going to miss that community, really enjoyed it. And he goes, oh, you'll probably find more of the same. And what you're saying is about your children is the same thing.

You know, you go out, you're going to attract, you know, you're going to, you can make the best or worse of any situation. And every time I left home, Clay, no matter where I was, I always had, it seemed to me like one day a year, maybe it was two, maybe it was once every six months where I got like extremely homesick, like where I just wanted to be home. Didn't matter the age. When I was, when I was living in Finland, when I was all across the States, you know, in college, having the greatest time of my life and junior, I'd still have this one day where I had to call back home and like, I don't know. I don't know why that has to happen. But certainly you approach the world the right way. You can go and have fun and language even, you know, like Finland was a language

barrier. And yet I still had an absolute blast playing. I remember, you know, sitting there and playing poker with a group of Finnish guy. They could have been boozeling me. for all my money. Couldn't understand a word they were saying. But the game of cards is kind of a universal. And you understand this and that. You understand a big hand and everything else. And so 100% when you talk about, you know, wherever they go, that adventure and the story

of the old man, it's like you're going to find it. Anywhere you want to go, it doesn't matter if it's Lloyd Minster. We get told stories about how this place is. And yet I look at it and go, there's so many wonderful people here. It's just wonderful people everywhere you go. It's what keeps us out here. Oh, here, I would assume. Oh, absolutely.

100% agree. And I've got stories and, you know, of people that went off to a certain university and thought it was just terrible and dropped out at half, you know, midterm and stuff. And then other people that went or, you know, or some of the universities that I went to. And, you know, thought it was just the great, like you say, the greatest time of your life. You know, it's a high adventure and you're out of home for the first time and you're doing all kinds of fun stuff. and going to class and all that stuff. And I firmly believe that it's what you make of it, you know,

and there's good people everywhere, and you just got to find them and surround yourself with good friends and the right people and positive people. And after that, it's what you make of it. I agree. At what point do you get the idea for Prophet River? Well, I always kind of say that it's, I got into, business accidentally.

But I was thinking about that the last couple of days when I knew I was coming on here. And I think I've always had a bit of an entrepreneurial streak. Like I've always had that business side to me. And I have done a couple things before, Profit River, kind of leading up to it. But the real story is I love hunting, fishing myself, and I'm a shooter. and I kind of got into a taste for having some little higher-end firearms, something a little nicer, something that wasn't readily available. So actually, before Minique and I were married,

I had learned how to import from the United States. Got it. Got it. Yes. How to import. And, of course, the border creates issues exporting and importing into Canada, exporting from the U.S. and importing into Canada.

which is kind of two separate things because there's laws to follow on both sides. But it really wasn't that terribly difficult, and there was a couple of firearms that I wanted for myself. So I figured that out, kind of got lucky and talked to the right people at the right time and managed to get a couple. Well, after Manikin and I were married, I was still doing the odd one here and there. And I realized, you know, I had some time in the evenings and stuff, and I said to her, you know what,

why don't I bring in half a dozen? And I'll just put them on form boards. And in the evenings, I'll sell a couple. And if I sell one a week and we make a couple hundred bucks, you know, it's all bonus money. And Monique might regret it. But she was, yeah, why don't you? So I'm not sure how she'd feel about that now. Maybe she would regret what she said and maybe she'd be happy.

But I'll have to ask her. but it didn't last that way very long. It took off rather quickly, and very soon after I had to reduce my teaching time to half time. So you bring in, you said half dozen. So you brought in six guns? I forget the exact number, but it wasn't many. And then you put it on a board and they were all gone?

And they were all gone. So I just want to stick on this just for a second. This is what year? This would be, I think, spring and summer of 2007, I think. Yeah, 2000. No, we were married in seven. So 2008, I started, I probably talked to her about it early in the year in 2008. And of course, there was a lot to do before any firearms actually started coming in.

I had to, you know, I incorporated it and I, you know, got a business license from the chief firearms. officer and all those little things you need to do. So this wasn't, but before, it wasn't, so this is more of a, a leap than, then I first initially heard, I think, because it's not like, oh, you just bought six guns, he threw them out and, oh, and now I'm an arms dealer. It's like, well, in order to do this, I need to do these few things, which isn't that big of steps, but it is more serious than, then, then just, oh, I got the paperwork and then they come.

Yeah, it, I kind of, I'm not sure thinking back all those years, I guess my plan was that, you know, I would do this relatively long term, but maybe only sell 50. I think as a matter of fact, my first business license only allowed me to sell 50 a year. So you're thinking one a week. One a week. One a week, which would be, and these were, at the time, they were fairly high-end firearms, like maybe, maybe double. what your average, you know, one that you would buy at Canadian tire or, you know, at that time wholesale sports, you know, your Remington's and your savages and just your everyday run-of-the-mill stuff.

And these were, mostly there was a company called Cooper Firearms and nobody was bringing them into Canada. And I had a couple myself and I thought, well, you know, other people would probably like these two and they were, you know, at that time, relatively expensive. And so I thought, well, I might as well do it right and legal. And I probably didn't have to have a firearms business license at the time, but I did it anyway. So then the first week, you go on like a hunters board, I assume, and post, hey, I got, hey. Yeah, there's equipment.

They call it equipment exchanges, you know, places on the boards where people are discussing various topics, but there's also places to buy and sell. And if I remember correctly, the first handful, let's call it six, it might have been a couple more or a couple less, but I think I had them actually all sold before they were actually even in Canada. So it's like, wow, that was easy. So let's buy some more. And I think the first one actually got delivered to our customer probably in August of 2008.

And I'm trying to remember. I think I was still teaching full time for the school year of 0,8,09. So as it got busier and busier and is realizing that now, my evenings aren't free anymore. And then, so the next year I would have gone back, I went back half time. I only went back in the mornings. And that only lasted for half a term. And then I was full time, but just working out of the house. And then.

It's funny because you just, you know, you, you know, you, You took what you know and love, and you went, I think a few other people would do this. And then within like the first week, you're like, oh my goodness. Well, I guess I just buy a few more. And I assume you're like, well, buy a few more and see if they all sell. And eventually they're all selling so fast. You're going, holy crap, ah, this is way more work than I thought I was initially going to do. And so now I have to transition.

And so, you know, it doesn't feel like a year's long time, but I assume when you're teaching full-time and doing this now full-time, it becomes like, holy man, am I ever going to get a break? Because teaching is not an easy, you know, it's not like you just show up and throw the papers down either. No, I had a relatively easy teaching job, and some people might wonder why I would say that. But I was teaching high school calculus, physics,

math, and I know some people might be intimidated by those subjects, but I was teaching farm kids, you know, and the kids wanted to be in my classroom. Like if they were taking the courses I was teaching, essentially they wanted to be there, so I wasn't dealing with much else other than the subject matter. And after you've been through it a few times, you know, not to say it wasn't challenging, but I wasn't dealing with as much stuff as some of the teachers that would have, you know, elementary teachers, you know, dealing with behavior and everything else. So, so, you know.

Where, where, where did the name Prophet River come from? Well, it, it actually started, um, I had, I had the, I had started a company called Prophet River in the 90s, in the late 90s, when the internet was just coming on. And, um, my brother, my younger brother is, um, a computer guy, a tech guy. stuff and he had an idea that he was actually hosting websites back when you know it was actually money to be made hosting you know on servers people's websites before it became hugely commercialized and and they all very cheap to do now but um and uh we came up with the idea that I would look after trying to get hunting and fishing outfitters on the on the

internet and um so I wanted to name that it sounded, it could have just been a numbered company in reality, but I wanted a name that would sound like hunting and fishing. Well, the fact that it says rivers, kind of a fishing, and the actual town, if you can call it that of Prophet Rivers, where the world record sheep was shot, the world record stone sheep, considered one of the greatest trophies, I guess, of all time in North America, which is why our logo was actually a sheep now. And, um, uh, So anybody that, you know, was an avid hunter would kind of have heard of the Prophet River because it's a famous kind of like the Serengeti in Africa or, you know. And where's Prophet River?

Profit River is in northern B.C. on the Alaska Highway. Yeah, it's kind of, there's not much there. There is a reserve there. And basically it's a, if you've ever ever traveled the Alaska Highway, just watch for the sign at Prophet River. but it's basically a couple of rooms, a hotel, truck stop, greater station stuff. There's not much there on the highway, but there is a reserve there.

But it's not exactly a bustling town. And there is actually a river called Prophet River as well. And some of those drainage is where there's some really very good hunting for lots of different species. Well, it's funny. I'm not in that world. I think everybody can recognize that. So when you say all hunters and fishermen and the like would recognize

Prophet River, I had no idea of that. Yeah, I wouldn't say all hunters. But it's got some lore to it. Yeah, and the definitely hunters that maybe, you know, aren't just, you know, a two week a year deer hunter, but somebody that actually, you know, has read a lot of outdoor life magazines and, you know, maybe has dreamed either has gone or has dreamed of hunting, you know,

other than just in their local back 40 kind of thing, would have a pretty high probability of having heard of Prophet River. Like I say, it's like the, in North America, it's kind of like the Serengeti of Africa. It's, it's very well known for its, it's outdoor activities. It's hunting and fishing as well. So.

How long did you operate out of your garage? Two years. Two years of like your garage becoming your, I don't know, your office. Yeah. I have a home office. Luckily in the house we have that I can work out of. And we say working out of the garage, but it was more out of the basement just because for storage, for safe storage. because, you know, even in those days, by the end of it, I probably had 60 or 80 firearms there that were for the business about the time that we actually did move to a retail location.

So I know it was my wife that strongly suggested that perhaps we should. Perhaps. It was time, yeah. Well, and I was certainly in agreement with her. What I didn't like, people, we were starting to get better known, and a few people were starting to want to come to the house and to view the firearms and to purchase and stuff. And, you know, we get along great with our neighbors and stuff,

and we didn't want to have any strain that way. And we certainly, you know, we didn't need the house being used as a place of business in that sense. So was your first location Then the one on the north side of town Yes Yeah we've only had other than the house We've only had two locations

We had the downtown location for Was 11 years Was that was that a I don't know This is from a young businessman Asking someone who's further along And I just see those You know like

I look at the little tiny thing You're sitting in and I go I know it doesn't cost me a whole lot But I remember thinking Oh this is a big step Like, this is, okay, this is a big step. And then every little cost incurred, you know, everything's probably on scale. You know, if you're making little money, then, you know, getting the, I just think of putting

Sean Newman podcast on the window, right? What was that, folks? I don't know. Maybe a couple hundred bucks. I can't even remember now. But at the time I was like, you think about every expense? Everything. I still think about everything.

But, you know, certainly now I'm like, if I got to get a window for us, I'm like, let's get the window frosted. But you know, like the wall here, me and Harley did the entire thing ourselves, right? I'm like, I'm not hiring anyone. I don't have the money to hire. I'm going to go in and I'll put up a wall. And, you know what, the first studio was me and Ken Rutherford. It's like, okay, let's spend some weekends and let's get a wall built.

And you know, like I just, and on and on it goes. So I think, you know, well, I don't know. I want to hear from you. Taking the foray, you know, the big step from basement to, okay, we're going to be down. heard to be on the north downtown Lloydminster and now we're going to have a showroom and all the things that came with it you know where you're like oh no this wasn't a big deal or was that a big deal it was a big deal to move there um by that time we were so ready I think it was actually I wasn't very apprehensive because we actually it was hard to find real estate at that time that was 2011 and there wasn't much in town real estate commercial real estate was a hot commodity But getting back to what you were saying, you know, $200 to do the window and stuff, I think I think the hardest part for me when I was first starting out was one was

resigning as a teacher. So now you have no income. You know, you're if you, if you're going to make, you know, you've got bills to pay and miles to feed and, you know, you're on your own now. There's no, there's no paycheck coming in. And I think the second big step for me was when I hired my first employee, which was just a friend of mine, his eldest daughter, helped me in the summers. And, but I remember writing her first paycheck, which was only for, I don't know, a couple thousand, maybe 1500 bucks for whatever. But, you know, all of a sudden, that was the first time that if I bought a rifle for a thousand and sold it for a,

1100, I was no longer making a hundred bucks because now I had expenses, you know, that reoccurring expenses that I had to make, you know, I had to sell 15 just to pay her or whatever the numbers were. But, and I remember that being a really big deal that not only did I not have an income, I was actually paying somebody else. How many employees you got today? One of the girls counted the other day and I think full time that she said there was 28 there. So, and then there's a, there's a handful of others. Is that surreal? Yeah, sometimes I,

I try not to think about it, especially on paydays, but it's, uh, it, it is. And it, it's a huge expense. And sometimes you just shake your head and you wonder how are we actually selling enough to, to justify all these people, you know, you know, our monthly expense just for employees, you're into six figures now, right? So, It's, you don't want to think about it too much, but you just have faith that, you know, each employee is producing, you know, more than what they're costing you,

or at least as much and hopefully, hopefully more so that there's something left over. And it seems to be. But yeah, it's, you know, you think about the first step, you know, and for you, you said the first employee you ever had, that's a big, you know, a big I-O. opener and then what was the second I don't know if you gave me the second um yeah maybe I didn't give you a second oh the first was uh was not having an income oh right

steady income and the second one was that's right was paying an income and that is in yours and like I say the big thing about that one is it was easy when it was just me and if you buy for a thousand and sell for 11 you made a hundred bucks yeah well that's no longer the case once you're paying somebody else or as it is now, you know, several people. And like I say, you just got to have faith that each employee is, is, is, you have, when you started selling guns, right, bringing them in and putting them on the boards, were you having fun? Did you ever, has this ever been fun?

It's always been fun. I mean, it's something I love. Of course, there's always days, you know, and there's customers and there's employees and there's employees that haven't been fun to deal with, you know, over the 15 years or whatever, it's been 16 years, I guess, that we've been in business. But, you know, overall, it's, it's always been fun, you know, it's been, and, and I don't think it's ever been more fun than it is now. And a lot of that is because I don't do very much anymore, you know, We have such an amazing management team now that I have often said to Ed, who we've talked about,

who is the CEO now actually, I really don't have a job. So it's, I mean, I still feel like I have a job because I'm there every day and I'm keeping an eye on everything and helping where I can. And the one thing I do is I do a lot of the buying still, which I think is an important job. But yeah, it's everybody, there's hardly any day-to-day things that come up now that I don't have somebody that's already dealt with it. So it wasn't fun. The least fun part in my mind was maybe some of the middle years when we were five, six employees and there was a lot to do. And one mistake I did make, and it's very understandable was I was always too late in hiring the next employee. I always seemed like I was one or two staff short.

So, you know, you're expecting a lot of myself. I'm expecting a lot of the people that are there, and you're still getting behind. But, you know, when you're first starting out and you don't have piles of cash to, you know, and you've got to watch that, you know, every payday you're wondering how you're going to make payroll and or, you know, you're, you know,

you're hoping to make it and you always do. But, um, uh, we were definitely, we should have had more staff right from the time we had one or two employees through until we had 10 or 12 and now

we have the right people in place so do you think that's because like we was it was it the thought that we can't afford it was it the thought that there's enough of us here we just have to work a little harder and we'll get taken care of everything

what was the thought of you know when you look back on it because like certainly right now is a one man well I shouldn't say that I have Jack and St. Louis who's doing a bunch of the editing now I didn't realize how much time I spent like editing on top of editing on top

of editing on top of edit like and how much time that's freed up and so when you when you were where you were sitting when you look back on it you know was it the I don't know if we can forward it or was it no no we got enough we just we just need to you know kind of

what's the word I'm looking for here become more efficient at what we're doing. Yeah, I think, um, I think it's a combination. I think some of it definitely was man, last thing I need is to come up with another paycheck, you know, and, and some of it was, especially in those years when oil was really good and, um, it was hard to hire. You know, it was one thing just to hire anybody, but to hire the right person.

And, uh, you know, and a lot of it was, I really didn't know what I was doing. You know, like, I was a teacher. I wasn't a business guy and you know you're just kind of flying by the city of your pants it seems half the time, you know? And it's like I laughed because I'm like yeah, I share that thought and actually know a bunch of business guys who share that thought, right? Because they come from, you know, come from the background of being a chemical salesman, you know, and before that a hockey player, you know, I just stroll in and they're like, oh yeah, go sell the customers. And I think of the first days I was in chemical sales. or before I even got there, I spent two weeks at Novelins as a car salesman.

Didn't sell a dang thing. I was so nervous in my own shadow back then, you know, and you think the learning lessons you have, I still have them. I just had one couple days ago where I'm like, oh. And how that, you know, this is actually, I was talking to, I was talking to Jordan Scott in town about it, but then I actually asked Preston Manning about it.

is, you know, if you don't come from a long line, if you come, you know, you can put it to whatever, school teacher to farmer, to business owner, on and on it goes. If you come from a family of it, then essentially your second generation, and I'm starting to realize they can pass down, like, don't do that. Well, why? Well, because, like, listen, this is the pitfalls.

Now, if you come from a long line of it, they just probably have, you know, if you're smart about it, you probably have like a book. Don't do these things. Why? Because this happens. And you go, oh, so then you completely circumnavigate all the pitfalls of what you're going to do. But when you say, I, you know, I had no idea what I'm doing.

There's lots of days, folks, where I'm like, I had no idea what I'm doing. Like this is, you know, I've just ran into the wall for the 17th time. Meanwhile, there's a light switch over there. If I just flick it on, I could see the door and I could walk out and be, you know, and that's taken five years. And thankfully I'm still here. And thankfully, Prophet River obviously is still here as well. Yeah, it's, um, and maybe it would have been different.

if we had taken over somebody's business and even if we took it and grew it, but it would already have some structure in place to stuff, where ours literally just started from, like you say, from the basement to the, to a small-ish downtown location. And even then, when we first moved in, we had nothing there.

It was just an empty room, basically, a place for people to come instead of coming to the house. And by the time we left there, it was pretty packed jam. Well, it was boxes on top of boxes. I remember that location. Yeah, yeah. And the, it was a, it used to be that building was a bank at one point in time, correct? Not to mine knowledge.

Oh, I thought, what was the vault in the basement? We put the vault in. Oh, you put the vault in. I actually didn't realize that. I thought it was there. We bought it from a flower shop, but it had only been a flower shop for a couple years. People older than us, or maybe even my age that are from Lloyd would know it as Phillips menswear. Okay.

That's where all the boys used to go and rent their tuxes and they, shoes and stuff for a prom and everything. And that's why it had that big basement was, it was like a two-floor department store. So when you first opened that place, you built a giant vault in the basement of it. Yeah. That would have been the big project back then.

That was a, it seemed like an overwhelming project to me, but luckily for me, I had, um, uh, friend of a friend, Trevor Thorpe,

um, who is, um, a general contractor. in town, but also a gun guy. You know, he's a very interested in firearms. And, um, he, uh, he quickly came on board and, and looked after. And what, what's intimidating to me, you know, young teacher who doesn't know

anything about it. He just looked at it and said, that's, this is what we're going to do. Bang boom, you know, and it was done. So like I could say, it would have been overwhelming for me to think about all that stuff. And, and, uh, luckily I had Trevor and still happen to this day. He does a lot of the projects and. the new store as well and being that he's interested in firearms and security, plus he's a general contractor.

Yeah, a nice fit. A nice, great fit for us. He does lots of stuff for us and we're thankful for him. But a lot of what happened over there was his ideas and like I say, it was intimidating to me. Was it was simple for him. And that's a good lesson for all of us, right? Like you stare at a problem, you don't know what's going on. Chances are there's an expert or somebody who's very comfortable with dealing with what you're

what ails you. Absolutely. The new building, you know, I talk about it an awful lot because, you know, like as when it first got built, you know, certainly on the far end was the cooler and, and on and on and the different iterations to the tier lounge and then the buckle. And, you know, by that time I wasn't going to the buckle. But the tier lounge certainly took the wife multiple times there. It was quite the place.

And for folks who haven't been through Lloyd, you know, it's funny. I got listeners who drive through Lloyd on like a Sunday and, you know, of course, not open and they drive by and they go I saw the profit river right and I'm like well you got to go in the profit river um was that like a I don't know dream like off the bucket list to have like that size of location with everything there or did that just kind of come out of nowhere well kind of both I you know I'm not as young as I once was and um um you know at some point a guy has to do has to get retired. But, you know, in my wildest dreams, I had a picture in my head of what, if we were to build what it would look like. Even though I had no intention, I had no real plans, I always

thought that if we built, we'd have to build halfway out to Kit Scottie, which for if people don't aren't from here, it's about, you know, 10 kilometers, we built halfway out to the next town here and, um, just for, because there's no really any land left here. And, but I had a picture in my head of what this place would look like with parking and how the store would be set up and everything. And then all of a sudden this place came for sale. It's set for sale for a long time. It set, yeah, which was beneficial for us too. And the really funny thing is it's almost the perfect location for us.

It's just off the highway, visible from the highway. And the design of the building, which when we bought it, because it had been owned by the bank for so long, it was just a gutted building. There was no demolition or anything to be done. But the really amazing thing was it was almost exactly what I had pictured in my head as far as the retail and the warehouse and how it would all work. There's a few little things that I would have done a little different if we had been building from scratch. But it was almost like too good to be true. It came along in a good time for us where we were able to afford it. and it came along at a time when we were starting to bust at the seams in the downtown location.

And I can say it was almost just, you know, like a dream come true because it was a better location that I had ever thought. And the design of it was almost exactly what I would have built anyway. So we got extremely lucky there. Well, it's a beautiful, it's a beautiful story. And I'll say first that, you know, when we move, into our house, we had the strippers and the buckle walking distance from us. And I was like, and since then, you know, it's all changed. And I can tell you that the night's sure aren't as rambunctious as they once were, which is, which is rather nice. Not that it ever got that bad,

but at the same time, it was probably once every two weeks. You'd have a few fellows walking back at two in the morning, you can imagine. And quite the, quite the atmosphere. But it's funny when the right businesses come in, all that goes away, right? Like there's none of that anymore, which is one, you might argue, you know, where Lloyd's at right now, where the economy's at right now. Certainly there's a lot more vacancies than there was back then. But it is different. And it's, if you haven't been across to the brand new facility, you just got to poke your head in because it's quite the, I don't know, it's just big. It's like, and I guess I was in the, the original store so many times and it was so small and it wasn't small that small of a store

but it was narrow and you know by the time you guys had like boxes on top of boxes you know it was it's quite the uh the change um you know dealing with firearms firearms firearms is a hot topic uh when it comes to Canada probably when it comes to the world it's it's not like you're I'm selling bouncy houses, although I suppose that's become a hot topic in Canada, too. You know, when you first started until now, I don't know, it just seems like every year, or is it more than that, fire arm owners will tell me, is it every three months? Like, it seems like there's a new law that you're trying to push to try and gun grab, they're trying to do all these different things. From where you sit, what have you seen, and what are your thoughts? Yeah, I mean, in my personal opinion, I think.

think it's just the liberals trying to pander to a certain voter, but there's certainly been a couple of big pushes in the last three, almost four years here that have certainly hampered legal gun ownership. And I very specifically say legal gun ownership, because of course, none of their new order in counsel and now law for the C-21. have anything to do with the illegal gun ownership of course so or very little and it definitely has affected us in some ways you know in the short term some of it affect us in good ways people rushing out to you know buy before these bands or so-called bands came in and and certainly in the long term in in negative ways I mean negative in for the business and also of course

more importantly, negative for, you know, the firearms community in Canada in general. And, you know, it's also kind of upsetting that, you know, these laws come in that are known to, that will do nothing to, you know, help reduce crime in Canada. And it's strictly pandering to people that don't seem to understand who's being targeted and who's not with these laws. Have you, because I mean, obviously this isn't a new, certainly the laws are bringing in or new, but like overall this has been a conversation that's been going on for a long time. You know, I put, not that it's equal or less than, but I put gun debate rate alongside probably pro,

life, pro choice, and there's probably a couple other that I'm missing. And it's just, it feels like it's been a conversation for a long time. Do you think there's, whether it's the education of the population or just voices getting maybe a little more stirred up to push back on the government, do you think that we're getting to a point where people are starting to realize, like, these laws aren't, you know, they're targeting legal gun owners and the statistics, you lay them out, and you're like, why would we do this? Like, you know, like, it's just, it's pretty self-evident that it's not legal gun owners doing all this stuff. and everything else. Do you see that from where you're standing or are you like, no, it's, it's actually getting worse. Yeah, I don't know which way it's going, but I think, you know, as the liberal government has been in power now for what, eight years or so, I think people,

when they bring in this new law and it panders to the crowd that just thinks, you know, that just ban everything and that'll solve all our problems, which of course, it won't, because most everybody that is committing these crimes is already banned and they're already, using illegal firearms and stuff. But hopefully, you know, as people realize, you know, it's one thing to bring in a law and say, hey, look what we did. We're helping. And to try and fool some of these people.

But when the statistics don't change where they get worse, you know, hopefully voters, liberal voters in particular will realize that, you know, maybe that's not such a good idea. And maybe what the other side has been saying is correct. And we actually do need to target criminals. and smuggling and all those things where they're getting their firearms from. Like an interesting statistic, like, you know, we talk about, it's not the legal owners that are committing these crimes. I was talking to the Saskatchewan chief firearms officer on the phone the other day. And he had mentioned that, you know, there's only ever been one documented crime committed in Canada with a legally owned AR-15.

So the the liberals banned they call it a buyback, but they banned AR-15s and a slew of other firearms back just over three years ago. A lot of it was in response to the what happened in Nova Scotia. Yeah. You know, because he had used an AR-15. But of course, his was illegally obtained. He wasn't allowed to own firearms in the first place. his was smuggled in and if memory serves me correctly

he'd also taken one from one of the RCMP officers as well but regardless they were not legally owned they were smuggled in and he was he was not legally licensed to own a firearm in the first place so they brought in a law basically banning sports shooters from owning them

but they were solving a problem that just doesn't exist correct there's only ever been one crime documented that was committed with an AR-15 in Canada. So they're spending potentially, you know, billions of dollars of our tax dollars

that could be used elsewhere to solve a non-existent problem. Of course, the AR-15 gets a bad reputation from some of what's going on in the U.S. and then, you know, that gave them political capital what happened in Nova Scotia there

to do this ban, but you know, they're banning it from the wrong. own people. Like say that the people that were allowed to own legally in AR in Canada are the most vetted, you know, citizens in the country, essentially. Not only do they have a firearms license, they have a separate layer to theirs called a restricted firearms license, which is not easy to get. And, you know, you, you know, they go through your background, they do background checks, which is why those people are not the ones committing crimes, because they've all. already been heavily vetted by the government already.

Of course, then the government never did buy them back, and they just bumped it another two years now, so they won't even think about this so-called buyback until after the next election, 2025. So, you know, they deem these firearms too dangerous to own, but yet you're still allowed to keep them. So none of it makes any sense. That's a theme with our current government.

It's, and that's the disgusting part, whether you know no matter where you stand on the debate and stuff they're they're doing this knowing that it's not good doing any good and they're going to spend a lot of tax dollars doing it for for no reason other than to pander to voters you know to people that just don't understand the situation that they've done by by the so-called buyback they're they're they're not getting the firearms from the people that are committing the crimes with them you know they're going after the wrong people. Those dollars could be used at the border to help with smuggling and with, you know, extra officers on the streets, whatever. There's lots of places that those, what will

almost certainly be billions of dollars could go. And all they've done is ruin sports shooting. And the people that legally own the ARs were, and still own them, they just can't use them now, but they still have them. Really, we're only allowed to take them to the range and back. Even had to have a permit to do that. So these are not the firearms that are being used by gangs and others in Canada to commit crimes. And they know that. They just want people that don't understand the issue to vote for them.

And it's going to cost us a lot of money for them to get those votes. One final thing, I guess, before I let you out of here, because I completely agree with you, is this had happened. Now, you'll have to refresh everyone's memory and maybe set the story straight because I don't know if I got the story correct or not. But I remember whether it was two years ago, maybe longer, shorter,

Scotia Bank giving you some issues. And I don't remember if that was as serious as what they made it out to be, but I'm like, I kind of just want to hear if it was or not, you know, and I hate to put anybody on the spot, but I remember there being a huge cofferful over whether or not they were going to allow you access to, I don't know, was it they didn't want to deal with your industry or what it was, and I can't remember. Maybe it was around the Nova Scotia shooting time, actually, now that I'm thinking about it.

It would have been in a similar time, and yeah, they basically sent us an anonymous letter saying in 30 days, I shouldn't say anonymous, but there was no signature, there was no phone number, It was just a letter saying that your accounts will be closed in 30 days. Please make arrangements to basically get your money out and put it somewhere else kind of thing. The local branch knew nothing of it. And by the time we actually managed to get a hold of somebody had gone up the chain, I think, to a vice president. And we had several meetings with them on phone conference calls and stuff. And in the end, there was so much pressure from the firearms community, from hunting community, the shooting community, that in the end, they just basically said, we're sorry, and you can keep your accounts.

So it was like, well, thanks, but no thanks kind of thing. But they never did admit that it was just an industry-related thing. they had said because you import firearms that we don't you know it's all risk you know based and stuff and it's like okay well what's wrong with importing firearms you know like there's tons of companies in Canada that do it it's totally legal activity and we do it by the letter of the law and they so they would never admit their exact reasoning but they basically apologized and said you know sorry but I think I think most of that was due to pressure from people that had read the posting that we had put up on various form boards and stuff, just basically saying that, you know, it looks like Scotia Bank is not a very firearms-friendly bank anymore.

That's what I remember. You know, and I remember thinking, wow, like this is, you know, like you say, everything but from the law following the letter of the law. And for, you know, I mean, it's their business. They get to decide, you know, we think, you know, it's one of the, you know, when it comes to banks, you know, and certainly pointing out it wasn't the local branch is good to know. I've had Brett Oland on here before Bow Valley Credit Union. And it's one of the things I've enjoyed hearing them talk about. They're in one of they got seven locations. I can't remember.

Can't believe I'm promoting a bank. But anyways, Brett's probably laughed out at that too. But one of the things is, you know, we just want to. to deal with your money. Like, I mean, we don't want to get into the politics of the world. We just want to your healthy business. We want that here. We just want to, and I think more and more as we go along, more businesses are starting to see the light of that. But still, there is a healthy dose of political rhetoric and everything else in a ton of different businesses. And specifically when it came to the bank, you know, they really control, you know, we saw that through COVID with

with the Freedom Convoy when they started freezing accounts and different things like that, everyone was just like, oh my God, like, you know, money is a lifeline of living in society. And so, or for a business, you know, for them to be like, you just don't realize the cards they hold on whether it's a business or just a person, individually, I guess, on, you know, and how much pain that can cause real fast, real soon.

You know, and you think 30 days, like 30 days is not a long time. whatsoever. Yeah. We were fortunate and we did have the local credit unions here reach out to us immediately saying, hey, we'll take your business. I guess so. Yeah. And we said thank you. And actually Royal Bank, believe it or not, was really good to deal with. And we've got a good guy that we work with there now. And yeah, it was, I mean, who am I to tell Scotia or any other business which, yeah, how to operate? I don't want to say take sides. But, you know, but when you start, when you take businesses that are operating legally, and let's be very specific that, you know, illegal activity is a whole different thing.

And when you start playing politics with your business, I personally think that that's a mistake. But, you know, your business is to loan money and to hold money and to, you know, as long as the activity is legal. I mean, what's it to you? it's a slippery slope when you start going down that one. One final question for you. We do, as listeners know, and I guess it's become part of the fabric of the show

is what a bunch of different people have told me, actually over the last week, but it's a crude master final question. You know, I always say a shout out to Heath and Tracy because they were, you know, on the list of businesses that I first approached, I was actually just looking at it. And, you know, like,

they have been along for, a journey. There's a lot of you now that have been along for a journey and the growth of this. And Clay always, I walk in and talk to Clay and Ed, and this year, Ed, you know, hopefully is feeling a little better. Wasn't there. But, you know, you joke with me. Someday I hope I can't afford you.

You know, and I'm like, yeah, I hope, I think we all hope that day, you know. But in saying that, you know, when I look back, I'm like, man, there's been some companies along for a journey. And, you know, and when it first started out, it was very, very. much what I'm doing right now. It was the chef of the world. Dad, I forgot the brother. I always said chef was episode four, but he's episode five. It was the

original Brothers Roundtable was episode four. And, you know, and on it went, there was just a whole bunch of business owners in town that all came on, shared their stories, shared their hockey stories. And, you know, and once again, I come back to crude, Heath and Tracy, he's been on the podcast once upon a time.

And so the final question. It's kind of become this, I don't know, it's kind of become part of the fabric of, it's had as different iterations. But here, the final question is, you know, with 2024 on the horizon, very quick, what's one of the things you're, well, I got the two peas,

is either preparing for or positive outlook. What is, what is it about the new year that you're staring at? Well, the, the simple Christmas wish would be an election, wouldn't it? True. Yeah, but it's hard. I don't know if you're getting that one. I don't know either, but I think we could all use it.

But, um, uh, I'm not sure, uh, 20, 24. I think, you know, we're always looking forward. We're always positive. Um, they'll be, um, they'll be, I'm sure there'll be political things happen. There'll be, uh, ebbs and flows in the business. And I think, um, we're just, uh, we got to be ready to roll with the punches. And, um, you know, the good and the bad.

And, but, you know, I'm looking forward to continuing to work with my management team. And like I say, no matter what happens, as we talked about earlier, I'm pretty sure that I've got the right people in place to handle it, you know, in all the different facets and departments and things, you know, customer service, shipping, everything that comes up. I'm looking forward to spending another year with them. Well, I appreciate you coming in and doing this, Clay. It's been long overdue. I think the first time I mentioned it to add, and maybe you.

I can't remember if I mentioned to Ed first, was probably two years ago, and it just didn't happen. And then we talked about it last year, and I can't remember why it got pushed down the line. But I'm happy, you know, I always think things will happen when they're supposed to happen. So I appreciate you coming in and doing this and sitting down and I look forward to whatever Profit River has gotten in the future. Because, you know, as a business owner and as an individual, I've really admired what you've been able to do in town. And then honestly, the way you conducted yourself, you know, I tell the $50 story, but, you know, for me, where I sit, walking into your office is never a hard place to go. You've been very kind and generous and very supportive. And I don't know how to put it in the proper language, but I just go back to it.

You know, you never understand fully what a little bit of belief in somebody's idea or where they're at can do in their life. and I certainly hold our first encounter way back when in the clock tower as one of those, I don't know, important moments in a business career or starting entrepreneurship. And to get us to it across from you and do this is, well, I was looking forward to it, I guess, is where I'm going. So thank you again for coming in and experiencing, you know, hopefully the start of a very, you know, when I look at Profit River, where it started in the different iterations as it grows. I hope the podcast is certainly on a trajectory very similar. Oh, I have no doubt that it will be, Sean, and all the best to you in 2024.

And come see us when you can. Sounds good.