Shaun Newman Podcast - #558 - Chris & John Barber

Episode Date: December 29, 2023

Chris a.k.a. Big Red is one of the leaders of the Freedom Convoy. Today his son John joined us in the studio to discuss being the youngest driver in the Freedom Convoy along with an update on Chris’s court case that could see him in jail for 2-10 years.  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 Friday.

Holy crap. 2023 is about to be in the rear view mirror. I hope you stay safe this weekend, but before we still got a couple days to go. And today's episode, longtime friend and his son are in studio. So before we get there, Silver, Gold. Bull. They're North America's premier precious metals dealer with state-of-the-art distribution centers in Calgary and Las Vegas. They insure fast-fully insured discrete shipping right to your doorstep, and they offer a diverse set of services including buyback, wholesale, registered savings like

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of the Freedom Convoy. The second, he was the youngest driver in the Freedom Convoy. It's a father-son duo, Chris Barber, and Jonathan Barber. So buckle up, here we go. Welcome to the Sean Newman podcast. I'm joined by Chris Barber and his son, Jonathan Sale.

You know, this was supposed to happen in Ottawa. We talked about this. And then, I mean, Ottawa happened and everything else kind of changed. So thanks for, thanks for, I don't know, making the trip driving in. Merry Christmas. Merry early Christmas. By the time this airs, it will be well past Christmas. But thanks for making the trip here.

Well, we appreciate you having us. Merry Christmas to everybody. What do you think of all this? You know, one of the things that we, I don't know. I've always thought, right? Like, you got your dad who's like, I don't know, Captain Canada almost, right? And I mean, certainly in some circles and others, you know, as you're showing, they despise you. But I think certainly for the audience, there's a lot of love for you. And you're the son who's like watching all this go on. Like, I mean, I don't know, Jonathan. You can start. I feel like it's your first time on the podcast. Let the audience get to know you a little bit. Who are you? And then. And maybe just a little bit of a thought on, I don't know, what the heck's been going on? Well, I don't know. It's definitely different.

You know, I'm busy with my own things and you're obviously busy with your own things too, right? I mean, we see a bit of each other's lives. And, you know, it's a regular day. I'm working and he's off half of the time. I don't know where he is. But, you know, it is what it is, right? he's really had to step up in the last last you know four months here you know you've had dad who's been basically the company owner and the dispatcher the bookkeeper the paperwork and everything else and

then now you've had jonathan have to step up into the role of answering the customer's phone calls quoting the loads dispatching the trucks and while he's driving his own truck while dad's 3,000 kilometers to the east in ottawa facing a trial where it's going to be two weeks and now it's been like four months. Four months. Yeah, it's been a long time. Definitely. Stress level's been pretty high at times with the... How old are you now? 20. You're 20. Yeah, 21 this year on the new year, I guess. Well, the reason this all started is, I mean, like, I mean, obviously, I met Chris, like what? We did not even met. We talked five days before roughly you guys left. Um, and then, of course, along the way, I bumped into yourself and it was, you know, the, the,

the convoy's going east, you're getting to drive into it? Like, at that time, were you going like, this is a big deal? Or were you just kind of like the rest of us, kind of like, this is kind of surreal? Well, a bit of both. I remember when he had an idea and I had my doubts. I honestly never thought something would come out with it. I thought nobody would want to join something nowadays because everybody's so, I guess, to their selves, right? Nobody wants to get out and do something new.

So I definitely didn't think anybody would support him with it. But when I started seeing the people support his idea, and I think it was the day that we left Swift Current, headed east. I think we've seen so many people and the groups of people sitting along the highway. It was surreal. It really was. It was definitely a feeling like no other. So it was different, emotional, spiritual.

It's, I remember, so I was the, I remember, I think it was when you guys were going by Swift current. Was it Swift current? I can't remember because what I was going to do at the start was I wasn't going to go. Yeah, you know, he talked and I had a bull on a bunch of listsies. You need to be going. And I was like, I don't know. I'll just interview a few. And then day one went, you started to see some of the videos and you're like, holy moly, what's going on here?

So then I was like, I'm going to interview somebody every day that they travel. So I did one interview from like 15 minutes of a side of Lloyd. I paired my phone with the computer and was sitting in the vehicle interviewing. I'm spacing on who it was. It wasn't Jacob Morbutter. Morbutters were when I think they went through Winnipeg, when you guys were going through Winnipeg. I forget who it was.

That's odd. Anyways, it was by going around Swift Current or somewhere in that, and they're like, this is freaking wild. I'm sitting in the car, you know, interviewing. And they're going, it's a freaking wild. There's fireworks going on. There's people everywhere. You've got to come.

Everybody's got to come see this, right? And you're like, oh, crap, I think I'm going to Ottawa. Like in that moment, I mean, you guys, you too specifically at the helm of this thing, you know, out on the front, like when you talk about this real experience, I think it's leaving Thunder Bay, the morning of Thunder Bay. We're sitting there and we're waiting. And I don't know. I think I've said this story before, never to Jonathan, obviously. But, you know, I'm sitting there parked on the side of the highway. And you can see the semis getting lined up and then they slowly inch forward.

They're slowly, but you're kind of like, as a bystander of this, this is my first time actually seeing the convoy roll. And I don't fully understand what's going on. And then, you know, like, I'm a big Braveheart fan, you know. Mel Gibson comes in on his big horse and he, you know, he's got all war painted up and he's got the big sword and we're going to go fight them. And all of a sudden these two vehicles come up and one of them is obviously big red right to the front and they pop in the front and then it's like go time.

And away it goes, you're like, that is like, I don't know, besides. getting married and my children, it's up there in memories of like, that was pretty freaking surreal. And you're at the helm of this thing. Like, I mean, I don't know. I go like, I have memories of driving. My dad used to drive a truck across Canada.

So ours is like, Grandma used to make us, we were definitely scraping by at that point. And so grandma used to, she knew dad can afford food for the kids the entire way across. We'd go stopping at the, you know, breakfast is super cheap.

You get some giant breakfast. and then grandma made us like this bag of ginger snap cookies. And they were hard as could be. We put them on the heater and whatever. That's my memories. I go, you're sitting there, get to go with your dad across Canada in probably one of the most surreal moments

Canada's ever had. I don't know. I'm just prying on a guy that got to do it with his dad, you know, like first time I've ever hearing it from you because I wanted to do this in Ottawa and then Ottawa happened. Yeah. And Jonathan,

you know, a lot of people don't know this, but Jonathan actually led some of the convoy. He was 18. He had his Class 1A driver's license, and he did a couple different segments, didn't you? Where you actually drove, and I had to do some paperwork in the back for the company.

Yeah, no, I did drive for a little bit because in September of 21, that's when I got my Class 1A driver's license then. And I was still new to driving trucks, so of course when you're new to it, you're scared. Well, you might as well just lead the largest convoy in Canadian history. Why not?

So I didn't have a, much experience at all driving. And I think by the time the convoy came up, you know, it's wintertime. So your worst fear is driving on ice and especially a big Sammy, right? So when the highways were dry, I was driving. And yeah, it was a different feeling, that's for sure. Much less the 2,500 vehicles that are behind you. Yeah, you know, if one pilot behind you and then there's a roadblock, right? Right. There's a lot of people counting on your driving, so. Was it as intense as you thought it was going to be once you're in the helm at the, you know, You're rolling along.

Was it, I don't know. The first time I ever got to drive a semi, I don't know if I should tell this story, was with my dad in a semi-hauling, you know, a super be load or whatever. And it was like on the straight, narrow highway, nobody to worry about. And just, all right, take over for a bit. And, yeah, yeah, sure. Yep, way we go.

You're, you know, ice, darkness, people on both sides, vehicles all behind. you, on and on and on, you know, like, I mean, at one point, you're like, this may be the coolest moment, but please don't kill anyone, don't kill myself, don't slam on the brakes too quick, you know? Like, I got to ride with Pretty Boy there, Spencer Boats, and, you know, like, watching, we were trying to have a conversation, but at the same time, the amount of effort that went into, like, being in the middle of a convoy and not letting vehicles get in, and, like, you know, it almost gets glossed over. The time of year we all went there, and the weather and and and and the logistics in it.

And I don't think a lot, a lot of people don't know, speeding up, slowing down at five, 10 kilometers an hour. When there was gaps forming, you'd have to keep those gaps tight. You'd have to keep people in line. You know, you didn't want the convoy being in a bunch of different separate, you know, groups of people. So it was constant communication and you could, I could say something on the radio and that message would resonate all the way back through the, you know,

let's face it, there's 30 miles long. Have you ever done a convoy before? Never done a convoy before. I could tell you out of trucking stories and that, that is the one thing that every trucker wants to be part of. You know, it's legendary. You want to be a part of a convoy? Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. So you've played the convoy song a thousand times and then like, you know, here we go. Paul Brandt sang it for us. That was another big one. So, hey. Did he? Yes. Yeah, he did a little video for us telling us how he was Canadian country music singer.

He may sing it on the radio. Yeah, he did a. I don't know if I knew that. That's cool because Paul's been on here a couple times. Oh, an amazing artist. Yeah, I'm trying to remember now how long ago that was he was on. But certainly twice, yeah, I'm working on getting them back on here in the new year. That would be really good.

Yeah. Yep, he did a shout out for us. It was pretty amazing. You know, while I look at it, I should, who's the artist? So over Chris's head is a new addition to the studio, a painting of big red, Freedom Convoy 2022. Who is that? So Jerome Waldner is his name.

He is an artist out of the Regina area. Jerome actually painted that when we were in Ottawa in February there. I started seeing pictures of it on social media. And since then I actually held the original copy of that is in my basement framed on the wall with a couple other of his work. He's an amazingly talented artist. And so, yeah, for Christmas present for the podcast, We, Jerome, framed that one up for us.

It's a print and then got it to me late last night, about what midnight, I think it was, when we landed in Regina from a plane in from Phoenix. I met Jerome. That's awfully kind. Well, I hope it fits well. It looks awesome. No, it looks unreal on the wall, you know?

If people are wondering what the heck I'm talking about, I'll toss it up on social media so people can see it that way. That way they know what I'm talking about because it's, well, I told you once upon a town, I look around the room and one of the things I don't have is anything to do with the freedom convoy. And it's impacted my life as every Canadian's life immensely, right? Whether you're a part of it, fall along with it or you're just, you know, if you had no idea what it was about, it still impacted you. I mean, it changed the way government was governing at the time.

It exposed a lot of the corruption in this country, I believe, and it still is right to this moment. My basement is full. I have no more room left on the walls. What do you think? Do you still got your own place, John? Or are you still at home? I just recently kind of moved in with my girlfriend in town. What do you think of, you know, like you're seeing all this stuff.

Like, you know, like, I don't know. You guys were just talking about, yeah, dad had this idea. I don't know if anyone's going to go. And then, you know, now you see what it is. Well, it's definitely filled the basement with a lot of new stuff, let's say. There's a lot of paintings. There's flags. There's lots of signatures on the flags.

There's lots of items that's been gifted to them. And I got to say all these items are really cool. You're not going to find them in a store anywhere because a lot of them were made, right? So they're unique. Handmade, yep. Yeah, very unique. So it's definitely something to look at. When you go into the basement, it's definitely something to look at.

That's for sure. Through COVID, leading up to his idea or the group's idea, I don't know how, you know, I don't want to give, I don't know if it's complete credit to you. I don't need to get into that. Not to me, totally. But the conversations in the house between you two, or the group you, however you guys want to discuss it, like you mentioned, I don't know, I don't know. But it's funny, like, I don't know of a whole lot of other people that were discussing anything even remotely similar to that. Was it just kind of like we should do something had this been coming for a long time? Or was it, you know, like, not two weeks out, but you kind of get kind of like a month out or whatever it is?

I think we got to do something. Because I mean, like the stipulations on crossing the border, that was a discussion for more than just a week. It had been growing tension there for some time. And was it when it started to focus on trucking, you got your class one, obviously you run a business. Is that when it came to a head or had this been growing for some time? I think it was the point of me getting fired from my previous job. For not being vaccinated. Yeah, I was working a job in Swift Current.

and I got there one morning and the boss asked me there. He said, so how many vaccinations do you have? And I said, none. I never will either. And he said, well, you should probably look into that. From now on, you know, go look into that and I'll let you know when you can come back to work. And I said, okay, I never got a call back. So from that point on, I guess I was laid off.

So I think from him hearing that and me, coming home saying yeah I'm jobless I have no work to do can you help me out I need some work and I've been working from him or for him from that point on we got to Austin you know you're younger you know I'm younger than you're younger than me um like do you and your friends you know you're 20 I don't like right now with young kids I got like zero friends it feels like I got no time for you know like you love to sit and act like I get I love to sit and act like I time to sit down and, you know, friends ask me to go for lunch today. I'm like, I have no time. Like, I just, I just have no time. In your group of friends, is this like common talk or has

or do they talk about it at all? Not really. It's kind of a thing of the past. I mean, it's still our day-to-day life, and I'm the same as you. I don't have a lot of time to do my stuff, I guess. But you got to remember my stuff is also working too, so my life is working. And I enjoy what I do. it's just a part of the job. It's trucking is a lifestyle. Is there a lot of people, though, in your social circle, though, that aren't vaccinated kind of like what you are? Not really.

A lot of my friends did get vaccinated, but they wish they didn't. Which is probably a con, well, we know it was a common sentiment from a lot of people, right? They're forced into a corner. And I think it was their parents, too. You know, when you, I think it, when that all came around, I was 17 around there. 18 and you know you're that age where you your parents are still a big influence on you so all my friends their parents were influencing them hey get this vaccine you know it's good it's just like every other vaccine or shot out there it's going to be good for you well that

didn't really turn out to be like that and my parents here didn't influence me at all they said no don't get it we don't recommend it well more or less it's your choice I think is what it was And I think you made it quite clear to me right off the bat that you felt that your immune system at 18 years old was strong enough without it. And I urged you to make that decision whether you worked it or not. Your sister was a little different.

I feel like she was pressured into it in high school, kind of a peer pressure kind of a thing. And she's, you know, she struggled with her issues ever since because of that. Yeah. And I'll tell you, never had the vaccine. Also never have COVID. Never got it.

Even when your father was leading the convoy in the cab of the truck with you on the way to Ottawa, and I was sick with the armored gruntfires. Jonathan in the same cab of Big Red did not get, he didn't even get a sniffle. No, not a cough, not a sniffle, not a worry. Never had it. You know, before all this goes down, were you ever remotely interested in not saying you're interested in politics? But, I mean, certainly where your dad sit and I assume you pay attention a little bit to what the world is doing, or I shouldn't say the world, what the Canadian government is essentially doing to yourself

and a whole host of other people, I might add. Were you at all interested in this? Are you any interested at all? If it wasn't your dad, would you care? Well, I've seen the way it was all going. It seemed like it was a lot of pressure on all these jobs, and it was getting worse and worse as time went on that these businesses are having stricter and stricter rules applying to them.

And, I mean, I didn't have my... much of an interest in it because I was still young right I was a teenager you know teenagers have a lot of stuff to do right and I never showed interest in it but when when I got fired from a job because of it and I didn't really understand why why this had such a big impact on everything then I kind of took interest in it and that's I guess when we went to Ottawa yeah and then I figured out a lot more along the way so it was interesting it's probably been what you're no different than any of us It's been an eye-opening experience, hasn't it?

Yeah, for sure. And I mean, what he was doing before he became, you know, when he got fired, it was general labor outside contracting. You're working outside. With a group of guys that, you know, make it make sense. All you can do is laugh at this point. I mean, like, you know, some people get angry. I'm just like, we went through just an insane time.

I mean, we're in insane times. I don't mean to make light of today, but like, certainly back then. And it's just wild. You got to, you know, you know. in summer here we talked you know what was it supposed to be they build it as what a three week trial yes no not even that two weeks 16 days 16 days approximately yeah September 5th and now and now it's been extended it feels like almost indefinitely it feels like this you know like it's so hard to keep track on any of it right like I just like I don't know because and I feel like that's that's

their plan the plan is just let's just draw this out I assume there's probably uh a hefty legal bill in there and a bunch of other things that we can talk about. But maybe just to start with, you know, it was supposed to be this short little trial. Now it's ballooned into, I don't know, how long have you been going now? We've been in court 32 days now. The original trial was supposed to take 16 days throughout right to, right to submissions. We're on day 32 now. We're looking at probably approximately eight to 10 days left with court dates looming into March.

So they've spread it over. It was supposed to be 16 days in the month of September. September. And in the early part of October. So September or October. So September or October. So four. And you're going, so seven months is what they're looking at.

Our legal bills have tripled over what they initially planned for. So we've, I don't need GPS in the city of Ottawa anymore. I can drive around the city pretty freely and know exactly where I'm going when I'm, when I'm traveling to either to church or to the courthouse or to the lawyer's office or out for supper with friends and that, um, it's kind of scary. We've got a little apartment rented in Gatno, a nice safe little secure spot where we can, where we can, you know, and you have to feel safe. And that is one of the big things. There's people out there that actually want me physically harm. So I travel with my wife. She comes out with me. I went out with her, for the

second segment of court, it took my, my 18 year old daughter with me. We spent a month together out there for that. So personal security is huge. So, uh, we have a nice little secure spot where we don't have to worry about anybody bothering us. So, That's everything right there. Fundraisers? I assume. You just said legal bills tripled, right? Legal bills have tripled, yeah.

So there's a range of different things for donations. The Justice Center for Constitutional freedoms is helping me with the majority of the cost for the legal. Tamara is being funded by the Democracy Fund. The Justice Center's funding are, there's the other aspect of this is the $400 million lawsuit against people, as Tamara myself, brought on by the citizens of Ottawa. which is another one that's funded by the JCCF solely there. And then we have, in case people wanted to donate directly, we have a trust fund set up with my lawyer in Ottawa, Diane Magas, so people can e-transter her directly into a trust fund.

Do you want to leave me with the contact for that? We'll put it in the show notes. That way people, you know, it's Christmas. If they're Christmas season, if they're wanting to, I don't know. I don't think you have to ask too hard of myself or the audience. when it comes to yourself in particular because people think awfully highly of you out here in Western Canada for sure.

Probably it should be all of Canada, but you know how the story gets twisted as further you get away. And I've got to say, we've had such a very, very good turnout of support within the downtown core of Ottawa being in court as many times as we have. We've had a lot of people come up to us off the street,

downtown residents that have said, hey, thank you. We've seen maybe, there's maybe three, three, there's a couple people out there, social media people that, uh, that are obviously looking for attention, you know, and what better way than to try to get under big red skin, you know, on the way into the courthouse where the lawyers are walking beside them and, and they know darn well that I can't, you know, do my famous clapbacks on them. So, you, he, he seems like, uh, he's the wrong guy to like, get into it with, you know, like, I just watch the TikTok, uh, TikTok and

everything. I'm like, man, I, trolls whatever, they could try and troll me, but at the of the day, I don't even, I don't even go into it. I just like, it's just a waste of my time, right? Gets my emotions all over the place. You, on the other hand, you enjoy that. It's, it's a, it's kind of a, I like it. I like the interaction. I like, I like taking the most nasty comments that they can possibly throw at me and believe me, they've said some pretty horrible stuff and I laugh it off and I play it back to them in a positive light, you know, it's, uh, it's kind of my knickneck. That's the thing is you can't get under his skin. It's hard to do. I've watched, he does, the comments that people say to him would get under my skin, but for him, you just

can't do it. It feeds him. It feeds him. It just makes him want to do more and more. He'll go till the end of the world. Yeah. Tom Marazzle said it best in his book. He said, Chris, in the POEC in Ottawa there, I mentioned myself as a troll online. And Tom likes to say in his book that I should be called a counter-troll. I'm not the guy trolling. I'm the guy countering the trolls that are trying to counter. And the way I look at it too is they come after the most innocent people. You know, they've, they went after a lot of my really, really good friends, Evachia, Keith Wilson, Tamerlich.

What I do then is I try and focus their direction away from them, put it on me. As long as they're looking at me, then they're not looking at somebody else, right? It reminds me of Chuck Prodnick. Do you know who that is? I don't. Chuck Prodnick's a guy who's been on the show as much as you, honestly. He's a military guy. And he's on Twitter.

and he does the same thing. Like, I mean, more of a, I see what you do is more humorous. His is more, I've been over four tours overseas, don't mess with me, kind of, like, and he knows his stuff, right? He's really, really tuned in to the world. He's a sharp tack.

Anyways, it's cool to have counter trolls, because the trolls of the world, like, it's just, I don't know. It's cool that you say, it reminds me of, when you say downtown, people come up and are like thanking you, It reminds me of what Jordan Peterson says, or even Tammy, for that matter, when they're out in about, like 99 out of 100 people that come up are all thanking him for what he's doing, not the opposite. Whereas if you go online, it can make it seem like it's like, you know, 50, 50 or 60, 40 even of that hate what he's doing.

You got to remember the way that the bot system works now. You have bot farms and you have one guy running 50 accounts. Sure. He can program those 50 accounts and that maybe that one percentage. is the loudest when you watch it. You mean, I'm guilty of it too. I'll look through 100 or 2,000 comments on one of my posts and I'll pick out the negative ones on it

where I should be focusing on the positive ones. Well, that's the phone, though. So the phone here, after we release this, right, people can text me and say whatever they want. They can call me to. I've gotten away from, and I'm sorry folks, I've gotten away from answering a lot of those. I've been way too busy lately.

So a lot of them go to write to voicemail. But people text all the time. It's on every episode, right? So good or bad, I get text. And I would say 99 out of 100, maybe 999 out of 1,000 are like, for the most part, very enjoyable text to read. Even if they don't like a guest, for the most part, they're very cordial, they're not trying to attack you, whatever. And there's always the one. And the one just goes right for your soul.

And I sit and stew on it for so long, right? And I'm like, why? It's one text. What a weird thing we have in our, in our bodies, in our DNA to focus. on the one bat when the fact that you've got like such a giant percentage that enjoy what you're doing, enjoy the diversity of guests and everything else. Yeah. And that's, I think, where people need to get past that.

And that's where it does, I don't let it get under my skin when I, when I see those comments and I like to play those comments back on them, you know, like in a positive light or try to play back in a positive light. Are you a social media? Do, John, do you like, you know, like, I look at your dad and how much, I'm like, I don't know, does he drive truck or does he just sit there on TikTok every day? Like, I have no idea. I question that too. No, I'm on social media too. But I'm a little different because when I see something I don't like, I just scroll, you know, but I'm on it. I'm not, you'll never see my

voice on it. I never comment on stuff. I'm just there to watch, right? I'm quiet on it, but I'm still there, you know what I mean? And what's your, uh, what's your poison? Like what, which, which, which one do you like? Which app? Yeah, sorry, app. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Have to be Instagram.

Instagram guy. You go TikTok? I'm a TikTok guy. Twitter's actually picked up for me a little, like, that's because Twitter's a heck of a lot of fun. You got everybody coming back on. Oh, yeah, and it's like a social media magistrate of, I, I call them my trolls of the week.

and I think sometimes I can get onto it with, you know, I'll call a troll like my Tuesday or my Wednesday or my Thursday because it seems like that day they're on me and then the next day they've moved on because they realize they're not going to win. But yeah, I'm like, I like the TikTok is probably my favorite. And what's it about Instagram? Because I feel like we probably all have our different reasons we like.

I like Twitter because I always, I'm kind of like you. Like I probably should comment more on Twitter, but I'm always looking for the commenters and seeing which comments I like so then I can approach them about coming on here. Because if you can articulate your thoughts on Twitter against the people that are trying to like eviscerate you, chances are you going to do just fine here?

Instagram. Pictures? Well, I used to watch a lot of TikTok. I mean, when he started posting TikToks, we actually got you on TikTok. And so that's why it was... The kids got him on TikTok? Yeah, so he started posting TikToks and, you know, I liked watching his TikToks

and all the other TikToks, they were funny and whatnot, but I think TikTok went to a different platform where I was scrolling and whatnot, and it wasn't so much videos, it was pictures that I found myself kind of scrolling through, no, thank you. And not a big fan of scrolling through pictures, so I went to Instagram and I found a lot of funny videos and the comments were funny, and that's just, I think, what I like, you know.

I'll remember that too back when the convoy started. One of your comments to me was, you know, Dad, I used to watch TikTok for the dancing females and the jokes and all the fun. And then since the convoy started, that's all trucks and honking and whatever it may be. And he kind of lost his stride. Yeah, I remember sitting in the back of the truck. I was laying on the bed. And I was watching TikTok and I was a little frustrated because I wanted to watch my normal feed, but all of it was convoy stuff. Every video was convoy stuff

And I said, Dad, I don't like this You know, I'm living the convoy in the moment right now And all of my social media is the convoy too Everything is, everything. Did you, I don't know, emotionally tire out from being like at the front And just seeing everything as you came rolling through Like did you have to like, I don't know, take breaks?

Well, not really. It was enjoyable. Being at the front was I think the best part. What's the most... When you look back on the convoy to Ottawa, what town, city, person, flag, I don't care. What's the thing you're like, though, this? It was either Ottawa, being in Ottawa, or going through Heddingley.

I think Heddingley was the busiest city. Heddingly? Winnipeg, just on the west side of Winnipeg. Heddingly is the first town you come to. Gotcha. Yeah, and there was miles and miles. miles of people and especially on the back roads around Winnipeg there so that would have been the widowag bypass right yeah the perimeter highway yeah yeah and that highway was so full of people and it

was cold cold as can be and this highway was lined up with people yeah and it i think the convoy itself was going i think five kilometers an hour it was so packed because we couldn't move people were filling the highway and i was impressed because it was so cold out these people were just standing outside. And I think even the documentary unacceptable, I'll have to go back to that and give them a plug just because of how well that documentary is done. But it portrays Winnipeg

and Tamara's story and just tells it how many people and how we were supposed to stop at the Flying J. Truck Stop and have a bite to eat the hunter rates from five different colonies came in and we're going to feed the convoy people kind of rotate us through the parking lot and RC&P closed it down. They said

there's way too many people in Headingley right now. It's a safety issue. We can't get you guys to stop here. You have to kind of go through. And then in the documentary, then it tells how the hutter rates actually followed us to canora for the night where they fed every one of us at the end of the night. Five hour drive, you know, because Winnipeg was so full of people, it was just, it was insane. Yeah, those are the, the memories you're going to tell your kids about, right? Like, you know, like, what a, what a, what a, I don't even know. You know, I, every once in a while we talk about the convoy, on here, obviously, you know,

but usually it comes back around when, when yourself or Tamara or a few different people come on the show and we, you know, get to reminisce now, I guess, right? But like, certainly, I'm always just utterly shocked at how CBC didn't follow one of those stories, let alone 50 of those stories. You could have had, you know, like the day we got stopped. The convoy split in two, and we went the south side along Lake Superior, and we got stuck at White River, I think. And I just grabbed my mic, and I just started walking to every window

and just talking to, these weren't truckers, there was a whole line of just vehicles sitting there. And I just started interviewing all the families that were going, and like each one of them could have been a five-minute segment on the CBC over and over and over again because there were such wild stories from Vancouver to this to like four friends, a channel, like, where are you sleeping? In the vehicle? I'm like, how the heck are you sleeping? The guy with his three kids, you know, and on and on and on.

It went. Every vehicle had that story of what brought people out. That's why it's so easy to go back and talk about it. Because there's like probably easy 10,000 stories to a million stories that all came through what you guys were a part of. I think that's what I know we can sit around and we can reminisce of what the convoy and what our stories were from it, but going forward in this movement now,

my goal is to make sure people know the truth and what actually happened there and how the government turned against us and tried to demonize us make us look so bad. So when I'm speaking to people now, it's telling the stories, but it's also making sure people know the... What do you think the biggest misconception is?

I think the government, you know, went out and tried to make us look bad. They started calling us names right off the bad. I see that all the time on social media with the way different people leave their comments. They are misguided in the narrative that the government using the mainstream media used against us. They tried to demonize us when anybody that I know that attended the protest

knows it was one of the most peaceful and loving things you could ever possibly imagine. It changed me as a human being. It changed a number of people. Everybody has a story. And that going forward, especially when Tamara and, I are able to speak publicly again, it's, we'll be able to share those stories. And right now, we still have conditions in place. So outside of that courtroom where I sit beside her every

single day in the courtroom, when we leave that courtroom door, I can't have a conversation with Miss Litch until there's legal counsel present. Two years later. So you've been enjoying court somewhat then, because at least then you can talk to. Yeah, as long as the lawyer is right there with us. Yeah, we can have a conversation. So, you know, here's a girl that I met in the second week of January. and I spent this amazing month around her and got to know her as a person and then basically arrested and told that we can't have contact with each other unless legal counsel's presence. So, I mean, there's a relationship that started there. Her husband, Dwayne is an amazing guy. When my wife Rale and Dwayne and Dwayne and I are sitting side by side in the courtroom there,

it would be so nice to go have a beer with these two people afterwards as a couple, you know. And we can't do that right now, not unless we're paying a lawyer to come sit with us. you uh one day it'll all be over yeah you get this sense that uh i don't know how much you can share but you know like a whole bunch of us out here have no idea what the heck is going on out there right they put it so far away from you know if it was in downtown i don't know regina you'd probably have a pack cord and maybe you do but i mean i'm sure you'd have a thousand people there every day waiting to hear what's going on maybe i'm wrong on that but it being so far away and then them dragging it out the way they're doing

Lots of times they could ask. I'm like, I haven't talked to Chris in like a week. And I don't even know if they're in trial right now. Like they take these breaks and, you know, on and on and on. What can you tell people from being down there? Wow, it's been, there's been segments of it where it's been really frustrating watching how they try to paint you in this negative light, I guess. The lawyers get really nervous when I speak on any camera being in the middle of court. So I'm not allowed to discuss any of the disclosure that's taken place.

But I can talk about the search. certain stuff that's happened. The Crown Proseculeers implemented what they call the Carter application. And so we've spent probably about a week trying to argue that. The Carter application is that anything that I am found guilty of personally, Tamara will then mirror those, that same guilt and that same penalty. So if I said something horrible on social media, I'm guilty of that. Tamara's out of him found guilty with it. I think there was one segment of the courtroom where Tamara looked over it, and she said, you know, I'm getting kind of tired of the Chris Barber show here. Like, they need to.

start talking about me somewhat on this because it was basically Chris's social media that they've used us that's the only thing that they've really portrayed at us right now is the social media but that being said there was so much social media that was done in that in that three weeks that was used in a positive light as compared to anything that they're trying to twist the words or the narrative to make it sound like it was bad you know they were they really desperately wanted us to be their January 6th and we never gave that to them we never never showed an ounce of violence. We stayed true to peace, love, and unity right until the end

when those police officers were beating the living, you know, beating living shit out of Canadian citizens. And that's stuff that I think people need to know more about. Oh, I can't argue with that. While you're gone, you guys can fill in the gaps here. John's been taken over the business, yes? Yep. how has that been it's busy very busy lots of phone calls lots of people definitely yeah definitely

dealing with a lot of people you mean we got a few trucks on the road and these trucks always need to be moving right these trucks need to make money well it's it's it's the one part of you know like you forget the human aspect of what's going on right they pull you away to auto offer a huge chunk of time. And now, a young adult, I don't mean to make it seem like you're, you know, 12 years old or something. But at the same time, I'm into, this will be my fifth year of having a podcast. It'll be five years in February. And most days, I feel like I'm a completely utter moron. The only thing I'm good at is making sure that I get people to sit across from me and chit-chat. But the business side of things, there's a lot of moving parts to that. And I know I got a dad and two

brothers who run a trucking company and I know from my brief time working with them all the moving parts and the and the and and ands right like not just the breakdowns but the personnel the everything like there's so many moving parts um well my hat's off to you because that that's a i mean don't get me wrong one phone call you got your dad i'm assuming answering some questions but the same time in the middle of a trial it's not like you can be like you know dad we're having this issue here you know like i remember getting the phone with t bar my dad and brothers company's teabbar my dad and brothers company's transport here in town and uh you know uh we'd all take turns dispatching and i would have been probably five years older than you roughly when i first had my first crack at that i'm getting yelled

at by a consultant because the truck didn't show up and you're like you know you're just like hold on for dear life and uh huh okay mm-hmm you hang down the phone and like oh man this is going to be a day um how's that been well i don't know it's people are difficult to deal with that's for sure, I've definitely come up on a few farm yards where the farmers, a unique one, let's say. But most of the time, these farmers are really nice, really nice. I think they see your age, and I think that's, you know, you're the guy that is answering the phones now, and that responsibility is on a 20-year-old shoulder to get this, you know, let's face it, Jonathan pulls the airseaters for us, so the air drills are pulled behind his truck. His truck has a huge hitch on the

of back of it in a weight box and at some points you're 27 30 feet wide and 150 feet long and the weight of that unit outweighs the power of your truck by 10 to one it's a huge responsibility to have on a 20 year shoulder and then you're you're having a customer with phone and say hey can you move this one million dollar piece of equipment for me down the highway and you pull into the yard and you realize this kid just pulled in there he's 20 years old I have the utmost confidence in this kid to do anything I've he's been with me He was banging his head under the cross members of Big Red when he was two years old crawling around underneath there,

helping me meet and things. So he's been around a truck his whole life. I've trusted him to do wheel, seals, brakes, just about anything mechanical when he was 15 years old in the shop. So, but I think the intimidation factor that rolls in when you're, you know, you're a young kid and you're pulling into a yard. You're answering these people's calls. You're quoting their loads. Well, and it was funny, too, because I rolled up, I was here to swap an air seater with another guy. and he said to me, he's like,

you don't look the way you sound on the phone. Is that a bad thing? No. But it definitely would make a person question a 20-year-old jumping out of a semi looking at this huge piece of equipment. Like, okay, let's get this unit 500 kilometers down the road, you know?

Because a kid in my age, I don't see doing the stuff I do, really, but I'm not saying it's not possible. You're few and far between. Yeah. It's funny because T-Barr's had them, right? A young guy of your, you know, roughly age, come in and in the first, like, year, be, you know, driving, maybe not a 45-ton, but it ain't, it's in the first three years,

I would say once they have their journeyman, picker ticket and everything. And you think about the, you know, just the money side of that machine, you're like, who. And I know age is one of those things where you're like, you know, dad has this lovely story, and he tells it way better than I ever can, but he was first working in the oil patch on a back truck. And he was, you know, at that time he's probably in his mid-40s.

And they have the alarms going off because of sour gas. And everybody runs to him. It's like first week in the oil field. And they all run to him because he's the oldest guy on site of like, what should we do? And dad's like, oh, well, I guess get upwind of it, you know, like, let's get away from where it's going to go. And, you know, yeah, great idea. And off goes the consultant and everything else. Meanwhile, dad's hardly been working.

And on the flip side of that, as a society, we look at anyone who walks in who's young, and we go, yeah, they're not going to know anything. And yet where I sit, there's a girl in LaDuke. There's another girl in Winnipeg. They're both, like, I think, 16 now. And they've said some of the most profound things come out of their mouth that I think that tops anything I've heard an adult say speaking about COVID in the lockdowns. And it's just, you know,

like we overlook a lot of people. So when you get jump out of the truck, I can see why it's like, oh, I got that young guy, he's going to be rammy, whatever. But how many truckers do you know? They got the million kilometers driven and they sell this.

And then the first day they're driving, they wreck something. Right. I mean, I think we all know a lot of those. We call them Billy Bigriggers usually, but, you know, Jonathan's going to be 21 years old in May of 2024. The Big 21. on. He'll be able to cross the border with a commercial vehicle into the U.S.

And so I hope to be there to do that with him. I want to hook up to my big red and he calls his truck Great White and I want to go down to the factories in the States and I want to show him out a hollow sprayer out of Minnesota or a tractor out of Fargo or a combine in Nebraska. I want to be there with them and there is a slight possibility right now with the way this core thing is going if I'm found guilty of these charges I won't be able to cross that border anymore. Wouldn't that be ironic for the whole reason of us standing to get rid of these border mandates? And then I end up losing that privilege.

It's beyond wild to me. I mean, I feel like the way the court case should go is, uh-huh, uh-huh, okay, yep, carry on. Cars can done, go back to life. But that's not been the case. No. No, I would have never thought it's going to be. Did you guys pick out, when you picked out your first semi, I assume it's your semi, Great White?

Yeah. Was that, I don't know. Was that like you guys went to the dealership? Was this a big to-do? Or it was just like I was first semi, I bought. I just bought a... No, he had an idea. What did you get?

What did you get? I'm a Kenworth guy. I've always been a Kenworth guy. Okay. And her friend Dan Silverville. I need to get dad and dad would be a great person. And you guys could sit and talk semis the entire hour. Yeah.

What did you go with? Well, it's a 379 Peterbilt. And the reason of that is because during the convoy, when we left Red Cliff, Alberta, I rode with a guy in a 379 Peterbilt. It was a 2004, beautiful truck. And ever since I rode in that, I was like, I want one. I love them.

They're a beautiful truck. You know, interior's nice. The exterior is beautiful as well. And when we were looking for a truck after the convoy, because I needed to start working, right? I didn't have anything to do. So I guess we found this one. It was a white 379 fit the criteria.

We've been driving it ever since. And were you like disappointed with it being white? Or were you like, no, it's perfect? Well, I really wouldn't want it any other color. I'm not a big... So it was perfect. Yeah, I guess so, yeah. White's a good color, right?

I tried to talk them into a Canada, a red Canada on the side of the hood. there with a Canadian red maple leaf on the hood, but he's turned me down on that. There's only one of those trucks around, you know? You can't beat Big Red. Well, I tell you what, Big Red is pretty recognizable. I can't argue that. You know, I think it was in, man, was it?

Where was it? Where was I first ran into you on the road? Because I was looking for Big Red, no, I was, I'm like, anybody know we're at a pullover stop. So all the semis have stopped, just launched there. And this had to have been. after Thunder Bay, the day of Thunder Bay. So the first stop after Thunder Bay, wherever the heck that was.

Oh, yeah. Was it Blind River? Was it Blind River? Yeah, we filled that, Blind River or Nipugan, one of the two. And there's people everywhere, and I'm like, anybody know where Chris Barber is? I want to say hi to Chris Barber, and everyone's like, who?

Who? Who? Who? And finally, somebody's like, Chris Barber, you mean Big Red? I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah, Big Red. And then like 50 heads turn. Big Red, he's standing over there, and I look over, and it's Big Red.

And then yourself, and like a hundred people surrounding. I'm like, how the heck am I even going to say hello to this guy? You know, like I mean, at that point, we'd only met through a virtual interview. You'd, um, you'd gone down, you just came back from the States. You got to tell me a little bit about this. I think I did your podcast.

I was, uh, one of the first times I spoke with you on air was, uh, I was on my way home from, I want to say Minnesota. But not, not the first time. I'm talking what you just came home from. Yeah. Right? Because you just did this U.S. convention. Oh, just last week.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, yeah. Sorry, sorry, sorry, I'll phrase it better. Because you just, I'm staring over your shoulder and it's got a part of a U.S. flag in there. I'm like, you got to tell me about this, like Tucker Carlson, all this stuff. What is this? So, USA, the Phoenix, Arizona, there was a five-day,

four-day, five-day convention called America Fest down there. And it actually worked out really well that Josh Alexander was going down with Safe Canada as well as a few of his people. So my daughter's involved with that movement and those group of guys there. So I was invited to come. and join these people. I kind of went as my own, but it was a four day conference in Phoenix, Arizona.

And it was probably the most enlightening motivational thing that I probably could have done this month coming from the trial and the three months we've been sitting there. We got to listen to speakers like a lot of big Republican speakers as well as Donald Trump Jr. Tucker Carlson was there. They had everybody from was his name Rob Schneider, Roseanne Barr, a lot of the Glenn Beck, Steve Bannon. All the outspoken people that we, at some point, I feel like if you're listening to this, at some point you've listened to every name you just said, speak a little bit at least.

100%. And it was awesome. They're facing the same amount of trouble down in the U.S. And we are in Canada here where you have two political parties that are basically fighting for the left side of the field. And the people on the right are now wondering where the hell they stand. So they're trying. And you're watching just how the U.S. is fighting against Donald Trump.

right now or the possibility him running for politics again with a 60, what is it, a 69% approval rating with Republicans right now. And you've got Colorado banning him here just recently from being on the ballot. And people are wondering where to go from that. And I can tell you that we were facing that same thing up here. But the one thing that I left the weekend from in Arizona coming back here was thinking, man, we need something like that up here. We don't need, you know, the Republicans or we don't need Donald Trump or those people

in Canada. about we need our own Canadian activists or political people stepping up to the plate in this sort of a of a of a conference just to try and find a path forward April 19th 20th right I keep I keep I mean I don't like talking about it because it's not it's not cemented yet but but the Lloydminster April 19th and 20th I'm doing it's funny that you bring it up I'm bringing I'm doing a uh convention the loose title is ungovernable okay and um it's focusing on four areas because I just I just I look at, I guess, I don't know about you two. I look at 2024 and maybe moving closer and closer to 2030.

I mean, like they've pretty much, they've stated it out. 2030 is the big day, right? So I go, okay, well, you know, like they're going to keep trying to push us this way. I don't want to go that way. And so I'm going to have to become a little bit ungovernable, you know, hard to control. And hard to control doesn't mean you do January 6th. Hard to control means you get smart. Right.

And so there's four, four areas, key topics, I guess. and bringing in speakers on it is health and body, right? If you don't got your health, your body, you're no good to anyone. And then we got security. So whether that's, you know, guns, home security, et cetera, you know, like Chuck Prodnick's a guy, once again, military background. They get him and, him and Jamie just sat in your chairs yesterday. And they were talking about, you know, like, you know, like, it's not, it's inevitable,

it's no longer if it's when things are going to happen in North America. So you got those two, you got money, right? Whether you're talking gold, silver, Bitcoin, you've got to be paying attention to the financial system. And then I'm missing one and energy. You know, like, so we got a list of Canadian speakers coming. And I wonder if a guy shouldn't reach out to the likes of like a Glenn Beck or something, you know, and bring one or two if you could.

I don't know if I can. But regardless, you've got to start somewhere. because I'm like, I look at it and I think I'm like, you know, I've done the nights where you bring in three speakers. They kind of do their thing. They speak and you leave and you get the community sense. But I don't know how many times I leave going, oh, I can implement this and we get to move ahead. And I think with a convention, you get two things. Hopefully you get actual items you come out of it with, which I'm hoping to provide or the speakers to provide.

And two, you get more time to network and talk and see who's there so that you can, you know, like, Where do you go in Alberta, Saskatchewan where that's happening? That's exactly. The closest thing we've had now is the Wii Unify Conference in Victoria, BC, which they've... Which is not Alberta or Saskatchew. Right. It's Victoria. There's nothing wrong with it being in Victoria.

I was there last year. We were one of the keynote speakers, and they've invited me to come back this year, this summer. Now I think it's at the end of June. That's a good conference, and I'd like to see those grow too. But we need something here on the prairies, something similar to like that, exactly what you're talking about right now. if it's April where you're planning. April 19th, 20th. Yeah.

You're coming. Do that. I will come. Yeah. I mean, as long as you're not wrapped up into the eighth month of trial. You know, like, I mean, geez, well, I may even eat my words there, but you should, I mean, there's like two people that I know that are beyond ungovernable and it might be you and Tamara. So maybe Pat King fits in there too.

He's pretty uncomfortable. He's very voiceless. Yes. Yeah. We do. Pat Scott is work. cut out for him, you know, and that's, I can see how in going through our trial right now, I'm a little nervous for, for some of the others that are coming along after us. You can see how

they're setting the stage through our trial right now for people like Pat or for James or that. And so it's, in my opinion, it's important to make sure these people are well funded with legal advice going into these things too. And I know Pat is definitely struggling, struggling in that field a lot right now. So he's got his fundraisers out there. He's got a lawyer that he's using. She's a very capable Ottawa lawyer. And it's just going to come down to funds like it is everything, right? We've all been in that position. Well, it's, you have all been in that position. I don't think me sitting here, I know the first bloody thing about it, you know? It's like, you know, one day you need five grand. You're like, oh, five grand. What's the legal bill up to these days? Well, it started at 35,

and then it was 50, then it was 70, then it was 120. And, and it was 120. And, and it was 20. And, and, now we're pushing 150 plus. And that is my lawyers working at half rate. Tamaras will be well over, if not a half a million dollars. Merry Christmas. Yeah, yeah, it is right. You know, and then like you touched on it before with, you know, the stuff that goes on behind the scenes, you have, you know, a 20 year old kid Jonathan here running, running this company and

dispatching four semis and looking after customers and all. But you've also got the aspect of we own a farm. So my father is. is my nearest neighbor at a half a mile away, and he comes down every day to water the horses and make sure they're fed and have their bales and the things that happen around the farm yard and a daily basis with sewer or water or wells

or that sort of stuff. My 71-year-old father is out there in his overalls, making sure the farm's running. He looks after his farm. He looks after my farm. At 71? Yeah. God, I hope I got that type of energy at 71.

Hey? Me too. Me too. What are you hoping for, you know, like let's assume end of March this is all done. You get, you get Scott free, you know, rubber stamp. I hope, you know, I should say I pray for that for you because, I mean, I think all I can to want that. But let's assume that happens. Good, good vibes.

2024 is going to be a great year. What are you guys doing when that happens? You know, the first thing I think I'm going to do is drive to medicine hot and give Tamara a hug, you know, and I'll throw my wife in the car and, and, and, and go there and we'll, maybe just the four of us, Duane and Tamara myself and go for a beer. Just go for a beer. Go down to the local eater and you and have a beer. Or four or six, one of the two.

Like I, at this point, it would be just, that is probably one of the first things I think I would do. If we get a verdict, we probably will get a verdict over Zoom or that. Yeah, it would be a drive to medicine hat and, and hang out with her. We've already been, we've been talking about the possibility of doing a little bit of speaking together. We've got a story to tell. It's an amazing story. There's lots to hear. You know, Tamara's got her book out there already. Are you writing, are you writing a book? I'm, uh, I'm journaling throughout the court. Are you meming a book? Yeah, yeah. I don't know if you get,

can you make a TikTok book? I feel, I feel like you could probably tell it in, in, in, in, in, in, segments. I'll see if I get a hold of Derek Smith. You'll help me out. That's right, Derek would help you. Yeah. It would be a number one bestseller with him. Oh, yeah. So are you going to write a book then? Yeah, I've got some people that have been asked me, if I want some help with it. And of course, I'm, yeah, and I've been journaling throughout the court day. So I sit and I write day to day events

and bring back memories that I had during the convoy and I write it all in a journal. And so it'll be nice someday to decipher those notes and then go back over the other stuff that's been written down. And well, maybe put something together. On the way out to Ottawa, we've driven to Ottawa now back and forth on the car.

So the last drive. Why do you do that? It actually saves money. We're mile in the wife's car out, but it saves money. It saves me about half the cost for us to fly two adults out there with return trips and then with the fuel in the hotels and then the rental vehicle because you do need a vehicle when you're out there. It's kind of impossible to do without.

So I'm not a flyer guy. I've just spent the last 24 hours in an airport. And it takes you a day to fly from Saskatchewan to Ottawa, usually, with a stop in Pearson. And who knows how long that takes. It takes me two and a half days to drive it. And then you've got a vehicle when you're going to. you're there and it's about half the cost. So that's, that's kind of where I... That's the truck driver in you. Yeah, it is. Like, I'm going to drive like, how many hours is it?

It's 3,000 kilometers, so... Yeah, only 3,000 clicks. But it's been nice because Audible account and we, we downloaded Tamara's book. So on the way back this time, I listened to Tamara's book. Did she, uh, did she read it? She read it, yeah, she did. I don't know if I knew that. Yeah, she's got it out. It's finally on Audible now. Tom Marazzo, we did on his, on the way out of Ottawa this time. We downloaded Tom Rassel's book and, uh, yep. There you go. It's, it's got, you know, I really enjoyed listening to the story that Tamara tells her. And the good part is

you can put Tom's book and Tamara's book side by side and they're very similar in the events that happen. So you know darn well that those are the two stories. You know, I should, I haven't touched base with Tamara in a little bit. Uh, but if she does listen this, hello Tamara. Merry Christmas. Because, uh, it's, um, one of those, uh, strange, uh, I don't know. You meet friends that you don't realize they're going to be friends in a really weird way, you know?

And I think Tamara came in the bowels of the Ark Hotel. I think it was the first time I ever met her. And yet she'd heard me, you know, I think she says it on, on, she was a, I think we were counting down the top 10 episodes of 2023. And I can't remember. Was she number seven? I think she was number seven. Oh. And I think it's in there.

I find out, I realized she was listening to me before she left for Ottawa. I was like, oh, I had no idea, right? Like, what a weird, you know, because I had no idea who half you folks were. But people have been listening and tuning in and everything else. So it's, I don't know, to be on this side and then to get to meet half of you in Ottawa, actually three quarters, because it was a weird. You know, it's kind of the, if that group of people could show up to ungovernable in April, you know, and have, and not have to have conditions and everything and just get to enjoy themselves, maybe talk to a few different people, hear some different ideas. you know, that could be a lot of fun. It would be.

She's an amazing person. And I can't say this enough. When you walk into a room and Tamara Litch is in that room, you automatically feel like a sense of warmth and love from her. She's honestly cares about what you are as a human being. And it just makes her a really, really good person. So when I see all this negative stuff written online about her, I kind of get a little, I get offended.

Yeah, but I know, do you hear it anywhere? Does anyone talk in your circles? Does anyone talk ill of, Chris, well, nobody's going to, I assume that. But like Tamara Leach, even Pat King, does half the society even know who those people are? Tumara for sure, but like, you know, I don't know. If I started talking about Pat King out in the general population,

the population that's just going about their day working, I don't think they know who they are. I don't think so, no. Yeah. They all know the convoy, but do they know the key players in it again? Yeah, you can talk about the convoy, you can ask somebody, so you know the convoy, yeah. who were these main people in it

and I think the main people they would list would be Chris Barber and Tamar Leach right? And Pat, yeah. And Pat, but there's a lot of other people in there that people don't mention, right? Quite a lot of people. Yeah. That's just because you're so close to it, right?

You think of how close you are to it. Oh, I met them all, right? You know the key players. Yeah. Met a lot of people out there. 2024. Other than being in court, we can do predictions. We can do what you think positively might be coming in 2024.

I'll let you guys take it wherever you want. But, you know, when this airs, we're a couple days away from 2024. It's going to be close. So what thoughts do you have on the year to come? I hope that Big Red is back on the road trucking, because I would love to see that truck going again. She will. We're going to spend the first parts of 2024 with a lot of maintenance on Big Red.

She needs to have a lot of fixing up done. She's like a lot of people don't know this, but she's got a lot of miles on her, 3.2 million kilometers on her. And she's kind of, she needs some break work. She needs some axle work. So that'll be the project for the first part of 2024 is tearing her part getting her ready for spring. I'm kind of retiring it in the wintertime now. So once you get past this trial, I think it's going to be time to just.

just kind of catch your breath. I think will be the big thing for me. Maybe take the camper out of British Columbia and just take a little bit of time just to go. It's been a run. It's been a nonstop run for the last number of years here. And I don't know where I keep getting the energy for it. But I think I get the energy from all the support

all the way across this country. So, but I'm going to have to crash eventually one of these days. And I think this summer will probably be it. You're going to try and disappear if you would a little bit. Yeah. Yeah, we'll go do some speaking. we'll make sure people know the story and make sure that everybody knows

how much we appreciated the support throughout all this. So that's the priorities to get out there and speak to the public. You know, Samarana, I have one hell of a good story to tell but aside from that, they'll be... Are you going to have a speaking tour?

It's been talked about within... I mean, I guess it's pretty hard to plan when you're literally not allowed to talk to each other outside of. Well, we'll be do some shows. It'd be nice to sit with her on a show like this. and there's a few others that have been in this birth. Wouldn't that be fun?

Yeah. How are you, Jonathan? What do you, what do you, I mean, besides seeing Big Red, you know, like are you pushing for anything? Are you just holding on for dear life until Big Red's back in the big chair? Well, just kind of holding on. This is still a learning curve for me. I definitely seeing the business side of a business.

So running everything. I'm not running everything. I'm not going to take all the credit for that because I'm not doing everything, right? there's a lot of other people helping me through this, but it's definitely a lot to do when you're 20 years old, right? So when this is all said and done, I'll look forward to having him back helping this. We've had a lot of support too.

We've had a lot of people that we worked over the years in the trucking industry that Jonathan uses daily for advice when it comes to loads and other guys. And yeah. When he doesn't answer the phone, I have other people to call. You know, I can go a few days without even talking to him, right? Because when he's not there and something goes wrong, I have nobody to figure it out.

I got to figure it out myself. And every time that's happened, he's came through. Like, I've watched this kid take one of the trucks for, you know, every six months, the commercial vehicle in Saskatchew needs a safety. So on a Friday afternoon, this truck leaves the shop. And we get an email right away with a list of repairs that needs to be done on this truck. and what he did then in a couple occasions was took that truck back to the shop, fixed everything on it that needed to be fixed,

had it back at the shop on the Monday morning for the recertification, the sticker, and he was working again. And, I mean, 20 years old. It's funny what, you know, if you go back, how long do you got to go back, folks? And at 20, you were running your own business and you were, you know, and you just think of society how we progressed to where we look at 20 as if they're 12 when you're young man. Like, I mean, you can move and shake as much as you want, right?

Like, you can start your own company tomorrow and there has been lots of people. And when you say, you know, I got to just figure it out. I mean, that's one of the best things I mean, this is a bit extreme going off to court for as long as you are. But like, forcing your kids to like figure it out. Well, solve the problem. You know, you got nothing but a wealth of things in front of you to help solve said problem. And if you surround yourself with good people, I mean, you're getting one heck of an education right now.

Yeah. I mean, maybe not by the way you wanted it, right? Like, it would it be better if, if Chris was there? Yeah, probably.

But at the same time, by the time this comes out, you'll be able to, you could leave for a month, and be like, yeah, I got it. 100%.

You know? Well, and I think that too, there's no better way for somebody to learn out there other than to be thrown into it. You know what I mean? Thrown in the deep end

and then you can learn your own way of doing it. Probably not the best way, but I think it's the best way. It's either fight or fly, right? It's an extreme way to get it thrown in the deep end. Usually when you throw them in the deep end, there's at least the edge to go grab, you know? This time it feels like it's a dingy in the middle of a 100-foot wave storm, you know? It's funny for years he'd phone me through the day,

and it'd be like, oh, sorry, kid, I got to phone you back. The customer's calling. And then I'll call him from an update from Ottawa, you know, after trial. And they'd be like, sorry, Dad, I got to go. The phone's ringing. It's a customer. And I have hardly enough time to talk to the kid tomorrow because his phone has been so busy. Pretty cool experience, I bet.

He's so good with people. He's, uh, I've listened to him on the other end of the line, all the customers that we have and deal with Jonathan, love dealing with him. He's, he's really approachable and easy to get along with and willing to work with anybody. So I know he's done an amazing job. So. Well, boys, any final thoughts on 2023? This is the last podcast I do in 20203. There will be two replays.

We're going to replay number two and number one. But this is the last podcast to record this year. So any final thoughts on 2023? Other than Merry Christmas to everybody and Happy New Year, all that good stuff. Thanks for being a part of this. We did hit 1 million downloads for the calendar year, which is, I don't know. For me, I tell this story. from time to time, I guess probably a lot this month.

But the first year I did this, I had 26,000. And now to have a million, I don't know what to quite make of that. But I do know that it's largely in Alberta, Saskatchewan, where we got a combined population of 5.6-ish. And you think, you know, close to 750,000, 800,000 of those downloads are coming from our population, which is majority here. It's a congratulations moment. You're doing a good job and we've all seen that for the number of years now.

So just keep that going. And you, sir, what do you? That's my good news for 2023. 2023 has been, you know, as much as people like to think that we've gone through hell in the last little while, the amount of public support around us in the last two years has been been so overwhelming and appreciated. So I just wanted to make sure that everybody knows that then I see all these messages. I see the emails, the calls, the texts.

I appreciate every single one that is out there wishing the best for us right now and supporting us. And I think that's what helps get us through all this. We wouldn't be in this position right now. It would be a very, very dark place if we didn't have the public support behind us. And so I appreciate that. I want to make sure everybody knows that. One last time, too. We'll put it in the show notes.

If they want to donate, we'll toss an email address. Yeah, there's always the Justice Center for Constitutional Freedoms. JCCF. well as a law firm Diane Magus. There's a need transfer account to send her directly, anything that goes directly to her. And other than that, we've done some fundraisers around home for, you know, it costs a lot of money.

And if it goes directly to her, is that directly to like funding you? Yes. Okay. So if they want to directly fund you, we'll put the email address in the show notes. I think that's the easiest thing to do if people are interested in that.

And then besides that, keep supporting the Justice Center for Constitutional Freedoms, the democracy funds looking after Tamara. That's, there's quite a bit there. So there's a lot of different places that need to fund. The Justice Center is still funding quite a few of the people that are working their way through the courts right now within Ottawa and a lot of people that are coming up. So it's really important to keep those donations coming in. And we'll leave it to the youngest in the room.

What's what is 2023 done for you? What's something I don't know, good, the bad, the ugly in between? Well, definitely learned a lot about how to run a company and I think my favorite thing too is learning how to pull an airseater down the high That way. I got a hitch on my truck this year. Actually, quite a few months ago. What was that September? I think September, yeah.

And I've learned how to pull air drills. It's a milestone, right? A lot of stuff is on the CB trekking LTD Facebook page, too. We put a lot of videos and pictures of the stuff that Jonathan's pulling on a daily basis. So anybody's curious? Do you have a, I don't know, watch Dad and Jay and Harley, two of my older people, brothers, once again, the trucking company here in town, they've pulled a lot of like, you know, first it's like, you know, I'm sure, you know, like a load of pipe.

Oh, and then they get a thousand barrel tank. And then it's like a 2,000 barrel tank. And then it's like shutting down the entire highway. Then it's driving into Yukon. And, you know, some of the moves that he sends me videos of, I'm like, oh, my goodness, right? Like, this is, this is quite something. You got something on the old bucket list that you're like, I want to make sure I haul one of those?

I think I've done it all. I think, yeah. Yeah, I, uh, I, uh, Everything I've wanted to haul, I think I've hauled. And to be 20 years old and to say that, I think is a proud moment. It'll be an interesting place then you get to go next when you're hauling something, right? That'll probably be the thing that catch you as you'll haul that thing now to somewhere like, I don't know, somewhere in the States, right? Because, I mean, that'll be next.

Yeah, that'll be May of 2023. Hopefully we'll be able to take you across that border and have some fun. Yeah, new locations. I think I've hauled majority of the stuff I've wanted to haul. Now it's just the locations. I think I've explored most of Saskatchewan, a little bit of Manitoba, quite a bit of Alberta, never touched BC, but I think next will be the U.S. of A. Cool.

I mean, I would say you've got to kick off, you know, get off the bucket list leading the largest convoy in Canadian history, but, I mean, that's been done. So, I mean, everything else after that is minor, isn't it? Right. Well, let's hope so, right? Thanks for coming in, boys, and doing this. And Merry Christmas to you both. And thank you again for the painting.

Who's the guy one more time, Chris? Jerome Waldner from Regina, Saskatchew. Yeah, that's cool. I'm going to have to send him a note because it looks pretty darn good on the wall. I think he's Prairie Whitetail on TikTok. You can get a hold of them. He's got these pictures as well as a calendar that you can buy for 2024. There you go.

Thanks again, boys, for doing this.