Shaun Newman Podcast - #739 - Sask School Board Elections

Episode Date: November 5, 2024

I’m joined by three Saskatchewan women who are all running for School board positions in the upcoming election on November 13th. Kristen McGowan a business owner here in Lloydminster, Charla Sebastian a business owner in Lumsden and Lise Merle a copyright writer and former guest-host of the John Gormley Show from Regina. Cornerstone Forum ‘25 https://www.showpass.com/cornerstone25/ Clothing Link: ⁠⁠⁠https://snp-8.creator-spring.com/listing/the-mashup-collection⁠⁠ Text Shaun 587-217-8500 Substack:https://open.substack.com/pub/shaunnewmanpodcast E-transfer here: [e-mail] Silver Gold Bull Links: Website: https://silvergoldbull.ca/ Email: [e-mail] Text Grahame: [phone]

This is Ben Davidson. This is late and great. This is Tanner Nadey. This is Tom Romago. This is Chuck Prodnick. This is Alex Kraner. This is Jim Sinclair. Welcome to the Sean Newman podcast.

Welcome to the podcast, folks. How's everybody doing today? Happy Tuesday. Man alive. I forgot to change the... This is how my substack came out late. The fact that I didn't change out the start of the podcast for November. Holy man.

That's how busy it's been on this side, in a best possible freaking way. But let's just get to... to it. I mean, U.S. election today, I think everybody's going to be paying attention to that. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens tonight, and, you know, it's going to really point the direction for the world here in the next four years, isn't it? Like, I mean, is there anything bigger than the United States election? I know that at times you get annoyed with all the coverage, but this one just seems like it doesn't get any bigger than this. Maybe that's just because I'm staring paying attention to it. I don't know. You text me and tell me, you know,

you know, people who've been on this planet longer, me staring at this. Is this the biggest one, or have there been big ones like this before where you were just, you know, grab the popcorn, honey, because we're going to sit down and see which way this goes.

I don't know about everybody else. This one, I'm just going to sit here and see what happens. Yeah, precious metals. This is going to be interesting to watch because, you know, we've been talking about how they're the ultimate insuracy policy against economic uncertainty.

I tell you what, Is there more uncertainty going in, like you walk into this? If Trump gets elected versus Kamala Harris, man, gold could go through the roof. Uncertainty and government incompetence with deficit spending and fiscal irresponsibility. Oh, my goodness. You know when they write these out for me?

I'm like, man, they really are testing me, aren't they? I wonder if they're sitting in their, you know, I wonder if Silver Gold Bulls sitting there typing this up, being like, let's give Sean some tongue twisters. Uncertainty, incompetence, fiscal irresponsibility. responsibility. Mouthful. Unlakely to end anytime soon.

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Kristen McGowan, she's running for Division 7 Northwest School Division trustee position. Of course, she is on today's podcast. You're going to hear all about it, who she is, why she's doing it. The three key issues she wants to see address, though, I'll rattle these off, is parental rights and inclusive education policies, funding and resource allocation, and curriculum changes and monitoring of new testing policies adopted. That's Kristen McGowan.

on rec tech. For 20 years, they've been leaders in the power sports industry. If you have not stopped into the west side of Lloyd Minster, I don't know what you're doing. You've got to stop in and see it, you know, like snow isn't hit, thankfully, but it's probably right around the corner, I would think. So I was just talking now the other day. It sounds like snowmobiles are flying off the shelves. So, hey, if you're hanging out going, well, maybe I should get one. Stopping in today, take a look at what they got out there. That isn't the only thing.

You know, they got these Alberta-built aluminum trailers from Lethbridge, utility dump trailers, goose necks. They love the aluminum out there because it's a lighter pull, but they're built to haul large payloads. So it kind of gives you the best of both worlds. They got those as well. They're open Monday through Saturday. That I'm just scratching or maybe like brushing the tip of the iceberg

with how much stuff they have out at RECTech. Plus the building is just fantastic. So stop in today. Ryan, tell them I sent you, and you can find out more at rechtech power products.com. Ignite distribution out of Wayne Wright, Alberta. They can supply industrial, safety, welding, automotive parts. They got on-site inventory management to make sure when you're racing off to the UCPA, GM, I'll wait that passed. But let's just assume you're staring at today's U.S. election.

And you're like, we're out of something? Don't worry about it. We'll worry about that a different day. I'm seeing if we're going to war or we're not going to war. Maybe we're going to war no matter what. I don't know. Well, if that's you and that's the case, Shane Stafford's your man, 780 842-3433.

He's going to make sure you don't run out of all the things while you're paying attention to things that matter here in life or you're off on holidays or you're doing that or you're dealing with customers or you're a one-man band and you're just like, I could just use some help. Shane Stafford is the guy. Here in Lloydminster, November 13th, that is your election for not only today's ladies

that are talking SaaS school boards, but also for city council here in Lloydminster. So please mark that on your calendar. You have tons of candidates running. 14 of them in total. 13 of them were on the podcast last week, and you can go hear what they have to say. You know, I think I'm not suggesting anyone.

I just, you know, from the podcast standpoint, Tanner Nadee has been on several times, and he's running here in Lloyd Minster. I think that's worth noting. And there's a whole bunch of others. Go check it out. It just happened last week. And make sure to mark your calendar to vote November 13th.

I believe you can vote right now as well. So if you want to vote, go out and vote. Just make sure you vote, right? Let's boost the numbers here in Lloyd Minster and across Saskatchewan with school boards and get the right people in. Okay. Substack. Normally it comes out at 5 o'clock on Sundays unless you're having a weekend like Sean did where the mashup had a hospitality room among other things and the premier showed up. and you know like holy dinah half of you showed up it was an awesome night but the substack was

late now normally sundays 5 o'clock subsdack coming out week in review to keep you all up to date and i want to make sure that uh that continues to happen and if you want to keep up to date with everything podcast sign up on the substack down in the show notes Friday November 29th S&P Christmas party bringing in the dueling pianos we got a couple more days before ticket sales are toast or whatever that sound was and would love to see you there. Okay, that's all I got for you today. How about we get on to the show?

I'm joined by three ladies today. I don't know if it really needs a tale of the tape. Ah, you know what, screw it. Let's have a tale of the tape for the ladies, shall we? The first is a wife, mother, and business owner in Lumsden, Saskatchewan. The second, a wife, a mother, a copyright, writer, and former guest host of the John Gormley Show. She's sitting in Regina.

And the third, a wife and mother and business owner from right here in Lloydminster, Saskatchewan. I'm talking about Charlotte Sebastian, Lees Merle, and Kristen McGowan. So buckle up. Here we go. Well, welcome to the Sean Newman podcast today. I'm joined by three different people. We got Charlotte Sebastian, Leas Merle, and Kristen McGowan. So ladies, thanks for hopping on. You're very welcome. Thanks for having us. Now, I'm going to go around the table, virtual table today, and let you just give a little bit of a background on yourself. Two of you have been on the podcast before Kristen's been talked a lot about on the podcast. Obviously, as one of the, you know, you've been supporting the podcast

advertising your company. But maybe people haven't heard those episodes. Maybe we've got newcomers. Let's just go around the table and a little bit on your background. Don't feel like you have to keep it to 10 seconds or anything. And we'll start with Lee's. Well, hello, Sean Newman podcast listeners. Again, it's great to be back. My name is Lee Smurl. I am a Saskatchewan-based writer and mom of six. And most recently, I am a Regina Public School Board trustee candidate in our upcoming election coming up on November 13th. And I just like to say, if you're recognizing my voice, it's because I was on Gormley for 10 years. And this is the face that goes with that voice. So it's so good to be here with these.

You made quite the impression on the Sask Live stream. You came on for a hot minute, like a spitfire. And then just as fast as you came in, she disappeared. And everyone's like, who was that lady? Can we get her back on? Well, here you are, folks. You ask and you shall receive. So it's great to be here, but especially with these two brave mamas that are joining me on a campaign run.

So that's it. Who's next? Kristen. So Kristen McGowan, I'm usually in the background. I've never been on a podcast before. This is my first time. It's also my first time running for a school board trustee position. My background is mostly in business and finance.

I run and operate a professional accounting firm in downtown Lloyd-Mondon. Minster. I've got two kids, which is part of the reason that I'm running. They go to Hillmont school, so we're rural folks here. We come into the city to work, but we do live outside of the city. And yeah, I'm so excited to be here today, especially with these other two ladies. And Charlotte. Okay. I was on the podcast, I think almost two years ago now. And this is only my second time I've ever talked on a podcast as well, so I'm relatively new. My name is Charlotte Sebastian, and I just live around Craven, Saskatchewan. I have two boys, 16 and 19. And I've been doing massage therapy for 25 years now. Over that time frame, I have built a beautiful

clientele, and I've lived in this community around here my whole life. Actually, Lee and I, grew up together and went to elementary school together in a town nearby called Pence. So we'd known each other a very long time. I really got interested in running for school board trustee. It just kind of happened organically a little bit gradually, I would say, when we had an issue in our school a couple summers, well, spring is end of the school year. June 2023, yeah, June 2020. 23, yeah. Right, thank you.

I got quite interested in what was going on at school, decided to join the Student Community Council Board, and I've been doing that for the last year and a half. It just so happens that it is that time where new members can be voted in for council. And I think that it was just the next step for me to try to run for the school board to just see how I can service students, community, and parents there.

Yeah. Okay, from this point on, we're going to lose the stuffiness of a round table. So ladies feel like you can jump in at any point. That's the way I enjoy these conversations. A, I did not realize, Lee's and Charlotte knew each other for that long. Two, I didn't think it hasn't been two years. It was just after that news broke. It was July 2023.

So, I mean, what is that? Okay. year and change. Lees was on in June of this year and then obviously Kristen first timer to the show. So ladies, you're all, you know, in this community running for different things has been talked about an awful lot. Why are you, you know, like what is it that, I don't know, got you off the coach or I highly doubt any of you were sitting. Who am I kidding? You're all mothers of children. You're probably running 12 different ways. What is it that makes you want to run the 13th way? because, you know, my hat's off to you.

And I know there's a whole bunch more doing it as well as we get into this, you know, I don't know. This is kind of like the, as I transitioned this podcast from like talking sports and Stanley Cup being in June. Now it seems my Stanley Cup season is October, November of all these elections. And I've been trying to tread water. Hopefully I've been doing a decent job. But I don't know where to you guys take my mouth full.

And I don't know. Why and how. and how are you dividing your brain to go one more direction? I can start with this one. For me, I was waiting for this opportunity. Truthfully, I was hoping it wasn't me. But I'm going to say COVID for a lot of people. And for me especially felt like an awakening period.

There was a lot that went on in COVID that made me just open my eyes to what was going on around me. And during that period and talking with other parents, other members of our community, what was going on in the world and at our schools, it seemed like we didn't have a voice. And so even through the proper channels that we normally would be allowed to speak, like the SEC and things like that, felt really blocked and really shut out.

And that leaves people feeling angry and even more anxious in a situation where we were all trying to figure out what was going on in the world. And so during that time, there was a lot of discussions about the importance of our local boards. And we've never before seen a time or I haven't in my lifetime yet in my experiences

where that has been more apparent. So ever since COVID, it was like we just had these elections. And in my school division, they were all acclaimed. There was so little interest that every single person who ran, so anybody who put their hand up, they were in. So it wasn't even really, nobody was really engaged in this process then. And I remember just thinking, and with a lot of people, the next time these elections come up, we know. Like, we now know how important this is.

And we need to find leaders in our community who are going to fill these positions and are going to spend the time to hear and listen and talk to people of our community and really represent, really represent them in all views. And so for me, that was it. And so it felt like it was only a short time. but here we are and the elections are up and exactly what Charlotte was saying, you know, the time has come. So we're here now and we need to fill these positions. And I didn't see anybody else who was able to do it. So, you know, kind of rearranged my life and business and different things to be able to run. And I'm glad to take the calling, I guess. Oh, that's so great, Kristen. Yeah. I think I think a lot of us had a great awakening in COVID,

when we realized the things were not exactly as they seemed. And that was the sort of impetus for so many of us to get involved in these races. And make no mistake, now I know why they call them running for public office because you don't stop running while you're trying to get your message out and manage your family and keep your business afloat and all of the things that you have to do. But yeah, like you and like so many people in Saskatchewan, I think that when Brad Wall formed government, the Saskatchewan Party formed government in 2007,

I think a lot of us just thought that the NDP was just going to go away. And they did not go away. What they did was they took over. They infiltrated all of the board positions municipally. So that is your, those are your school boards, your municipal boards, your city councils, your water boards, you know any board that a lefty could get on they did and I think all at once we realized the folly in letting that happen. Yeah we were so busy working and running and we didn't even you know

what I mean didn't even realize what was happening really true story it was such a it was such a slow and insidious creep and then and then COVID happened and all of us went holy shit what has even happened here and then you add in all of the you know all of the the the the the new fandangled things that have crept into education that are extraordinarily controversial, that aren't supported by families, you know, that are contrary really to the deeply held values and beliefs of families. And we just, we, we just all sort of realized at the same time that something must be done. So in Regina, we have a group called the Regina Civic Action Awareness network. It is a group of just concerned people in Regina. It was founded by by really ethical and

people, well, really ethical and people with a lot of integrity. We have a lawyer, founder, and a teacher founder, and we got doctors and we got engineers and we got, you know, these are just concerned people that started by looking at what was going on at City Hall, but then very quickly focused on the school board as an area of contention, I'll say. And we've spent two years strategizing about how we can make this better. And we just decided that it wouldn't be enough to get just one person on the board. We needed a balance of power on that board. So we are running seven candidates for every area of Regina to really, I guess, lend parents

a voice in this because parents, Parents have been relegated to this situation where we're considered sort of inconvenient and ignorant observers in our own children's experience. And this is abhorrent, that this has been allowed to get to the point where it has. So, you know, ask any parent, ask any parent that's tried to advocate on the behalf of their own children and you will hear them tell you that they will, they are gaslit, they are stonewalled, they are overtalked. They are experted out. They are mansplained and they are shown the door. And there is no mechanism for parents to even get a word in edgewise. And I see that very much as part of my role is creating pathways for parents to be not only, not only just involved, but the key part of this education piece.

That is what we are missing is the involvement by the parents. So so that's, yeah, that's why I decided to run. And honestly, I just felt like, and I'm sure you felt the same. if not me then who and if not now then when we can't afford to do this for the next four years none of us can afford to do this for the next four years our kids aren't doing well our institutions aren't doing well trust in all of these relationships is not doing well and we got to get us on a path where we're all working together better so yeah yeah that's exactly i knew i just couldn't sit idle and hope that somebody else would do it absolutely i'm right on board with both of you um i think

for me too, I not only did it just feel like the next step for me, but it also felt like I have a thick skin. I am very good at trying to have my whole tagline is strong foundations, open conversations, because I just feel like that is lacking so heavily. We can't as adults have conversations about any specific thing in case we offend somebody and being on the SEC board, even trying to have a conversation regarding anything that's gender ideology or anything regarding anything surrounding that terminology is just, it's like talking to nobody because nobody wants to touch it with a 10-foot pole. And I'm just thinking, we are very much lacking conversation in general. So without being derogatory, without being blameful,

hateful, anything at all. Just being able to actually have conversations and ask questions is a big, big problem. So I really want to be able to have conversations. Whether you agree to disagree or not, it's lacking. I feel like parents are shut down to conversation. I feel like they don't have an avenue like Lee's was saying. I also know for a fact that they just, they try and they step up and they get the courage to finally say something and do something. And then there's a big runaround.

It's like, well, you can't talk to the administrator. You can't talk to the board. Well, this problem goes to the minister of education. That's his problem. And then he turns around and goes, nope, this is actually a problem at your school. And so when parents have that run around, they just, they quit because what are they going to do? And so I thought, I have a big voice. I can step up for people. I would take good pride in actually being able to do that as my next step. And I agreed there in this area. So I'm in Prairie Valley School Division. There's actually 10 positions here. So I'm in Division 2, subdivision 2. And a lot of them are acclaimed. Yeah. And so. I found that very interesting.

What I've really noticed when I'm talking to so many people is that they had no idea they could even vote for this position because most of them have never done it in their whole lives. So people are very interested. They're going, I didn't even know I could do this. Well, actually, you raise a really good point. I was wondering about this. So when is the, when are your school board elections? Are they all on the same day? November 13th.

Same as the municipal. Yes, same as municipal elections. It's the same day you elect your mayor and your counselors. It's the same day you elect your school board trustees. November 13th in Saskatchewan, Wednesday. Yeah. So do you forgive me, folks, because I'm like, maybe I'm just dumb and that's fine. Like, is it the same voter card as what you're going to vote here?

It's the same ballot. It's the same ballot. In the cities, it may be slightly different because we have a Catholic division and a public division. But they ask you that when you get to the, like when you get to your voting center or you, you know, wherever you vote. They say, are you Catholic? And if you say, yes, you get the Catholic ballot. And if you're not Catholic, then you get the public ballot by default. And maybe sometimes as, like, if they're all acclaimed, you wouldn't even have to vote on it. Just basically what you're telling you. Right? You wouldn't even see it. Yeah. You would never see it. Yeah. So they don't have any idea around it.

So I think the biggest thing that I am, well, I'm getting a lot of questions, which is excellent. I always private say, hi, do you have time for a quick phone call? Because I would rather personally talk to somebody over the phone, you can really get a feel for the emotion behind it, rather than messaging somebody over your phone or what have you. And I really feel like connecting with people is my superpower, being able to just actually have conversations. And so I've got a lot of people, whether they even have skin in the game or not, it could be grandparents, it could be random people going, why would I vote for you for this position? What is your policy? What are you looking at? what do you want to do here? And people are just interested. And a lot of people are interested in

exactly all of these little pieces of stories they've been hearing around. And so they're like, well, I don't know about school anymore. I what's going on there. And they want to have conversations. So a little, I think a lot more people are waking up now in the sense of they're saying, you know what, there's a lot more going on. right now. And of course there is. Kids are glued to social media. COVID was a big example. You know, they didn't have each other as much, so they turned to their phones and whatever little algorithm they were following could lead them in a direction. Oh, yeah, without question. And your parents don't understand you. And this is maybe where you belong. And you just saw a big

influx of kids looking for anything to belong to, looking for attention, looking for attention, looking for or they were just hard-pressed for friendship, I think. And it was just an easy time for a lot of things to slip into their worlds that maybe aren't servicing them at all at this point. It was sort of the beginning of this mass social contagion into gender identity and sexual orientation as a solution to their problems that were created in COVID. So we took everything, Sean, we talked about this on the original podcast, but what happened in COVID was, you know, kids were denied all of their natural peer groups.

They were denied everything that brought them joy. They were denied all of their routines, everything that they found normal. And then we told them, we said, digital devices are the safest place for you to be. So, you know, nobody was monitoring their kids, social media or their digital device usage during COVID. We were all trying to survive. We were trying to survive. So away go all these little kids onto digital devices and what did they find? But this, you know, laundry list of solutions that are not solutions that have done nothing but lead them down, you know, really damaging and destructive rabbit holes.

And this, make no mistake, all of this is a fallout that we're experiencing to COVID. All of the things that are going on in education that we're talking about right here are fallout to what happened in COVID. And we're just getting caught up. I throw that in with the regular stuff that we expect to be seeing at our schools, like the core learning. Like we see our mass scores just are brutal. Like the how we're academically performing. We're behind in reading. We're behind like we're behind in everything.

So we're struggling with academic measures. And then we're struggling with all these social divisive issues that are being brought in when the priorities of the division should really be on that core learning. And we're just wasting time. we're wasting money. We're going in circles on some of this other stuff that seems to be taking up the airspace when that should not be the focus. Ladies, can you answer this question for me?

Because the only, like, if it was five years ago, I don't think I'd even think about a school board. I'm probably like the rest to everybody. It's like a school board. What the heck is that? Yeah. But then COVID happened, right? And one of the things about Northwest School Division, which is the one Kristen's running in,

was it was the last school division, as far as I know, to bring in a Vax anything. And they had it out for a very long time. And so in my mind, I went, oh my God, I didn't realize how powerful it could be. Because if they had voted the one way, there would have never, ever been a Vax mandate for the Northwest School Division. Now, it took a lot longer than the rest of Saskatchewan because it was the last holdout. I remember just being, everybody watching it and being like, I wonder what's going to happen here. And how can you influence it and on and on? Because all of a sudden, this becomes this really important board of people that are acclaimed.

And you're like, I can't believe this is a claim. This is what's going to decide what they're doing with the Vax policy, right? Like that's insane. With all the kids. With all of the kids. Yes. With all the staff, with everything. Yes.

And so I want. All in 2021. And that was the biggest win during the pandemic that we ever had. because Lisa, just like you, we had a group of concerned parents and we formed together. And we were like, how are we going to survive through this? How can we be a support system to each other? And I shouldn't just say parents because something Charlotte said that I wanted to really stress to you was you don't have to be a parent to vote in this.

Just because you don't have children in school, everybody can show up to this and vote. So if you're a grandparent, if you're a community member, if it doesn't matter who you are, you do have a vote in this school board. And please, we want to hear from you too. Like we want all perspectives at sitting at that table. And so don't think if you're not a parent that you can't vote because you absolutely can. Absolutely. And you pay taxes to the school.

And just over to Charlotte go. She's coming back. Okay. Okay. Yeah. And the importance of those everyday voters is just couldn't. There you are, doll. The importance of the everyday voter is just so imperative in this election.

especially on the school board level because I think at some level, we're all just acknowledging, okay, all of us are just acknowledging that something has gone terribly, terribly, terribly, terribly sideways in education, all of us. And it's going to take a real groundswell

of common sense, prudent people to show up on the 13th of November and say, right, enough. Back to math, back to reading, back to science. So this is, this is where my question goes. Okay, so on the vaccine mandate, date, I saw it firsthand of the board got to decide whether North, and I was like shocked. I was like, that's who's. Why wouldn't this be the ministry of education? I don't know.

I just, I was shocked by that. So if you get on these boards, it's not like you get to walk into the classroom and be like, this is what you're teaching. No, no. What does the board members actually get to do moving forward? What are the big things, the big issues you're actually going to get to decide on for each of your school divisions? So on the board, when you're on the board, the board only has one employee, and that is your director of education. And it is the board's responsibility to direct the director of education, and then he or she goes forward and makes the administrative changes, like the administrative policy changes.

The board has policies, the director of education has administrative policies, and you can change those policies, depending on what the board, orders. But so, you know, I've heard this, I've heard this happening in Saskatchewan. Most of the time, it is the director of education that is running the board, not the other way around. And so we must be very, very careful as new board members to understand our responsibility and the things that we must be willing to do to make the changes that we deem necessary for for the betterment of our kids and of our school environments. So that was just one interesting thing that I heard is some school districts have got it really,

really backwards. The director of education runs the board, not the other way around. And that's not how that's supposed to work. Yeah, this is why we need such strong leadership because the board is the governance of the school division. So the way to think of it is we direct the director who direct staff on what to carry out. You know, we approve priorities. We approve budgets.

You are the final one. So the director of education can give ideas or come with these things, like, you know, the facts, all the stuff that happened. But the board makes the decisions on those and the votes. We seem to be, Charlotte seems to be having trouble with internet. She keeps popping in and out, which is, well, we'll see if she gets it figured because she's popping back in again. I'm sure she's going, son of a bee. I don't know you guys. I'm sorry.

She's got real internet. in and out and we'll just keep catching up. Charlotte, I'm going to crowdfund a Starlink for your studio, is what I'm going to do. Well, usually I'm at home and I have Starlink, but not here. Okay, okay. What big issues then do you see coming down the pipe where if you get voted on the board, you're going to have some sway over that parents should know about? Oh, so many things.

I know for me, I've got a top three. And without going into each one in too much detail, their parental rights and education. So we're right, probably all of us. Our core values as parents are respected. And we are absolutely part of our kids' education. The next top priority for me is budgeting and resource allocation. So I just want to say I admire the staff and at my school so much. They're amazing people.

My community is amazing. I live in the best place in Saskatchewan. And I want to see those people represented. And I want to see our school be able to thrive. And I think a lot of it has to do with inefficiencies, bureaucracy, red tape, all of this stuff that's happening in the budgeting process. And that's where I can add a lot of value because that's literally what I do every single day.

And I think if we ran our division a little bit more like a business, we would see a lot better outcomes. So that's, you know, that's another big one. And then the third thing I would say is like the academic side of things. So it's a little different for where we are rurally because funding is actually based on per student funding. We don't have the crazy classroom sizes that people in the city centers are experiencing. So it often feels like I don't have a good word for it, but we kind of get the shit end of the stick because we don't get the same access to programs. we don't get the same access to things that other people get because we just don't have the population. But I feel like my kids and those in my community have every right to the same quality of education as anybody else in Saskatchewan.

So I think we really have to have a look at that. And I don't have answers for that. I have so many questions, though, and I would love to dive into it more and be at that table so I can ask those questions. Somebody needs to just say it. Like Charlo was saying we need strong voices, and I can just kind of sense that probably with all three of us. That's what we have. You want somebody who's going to sit there and say the things that everybody is thinking but scared to say. You just need to say them.

You need to be respectful. But there's a lot of things that aren't getting said because we're not great communicators anymore. And we need to communicate and we need to say these things so that we can make some progress on them. Absolutely. Agreed to 100%. Yeah. Well, exactly like you, Kristen, parental advocacy is number one for me.

Like without question, parents have... And sorry, Lee's to hop in, I am cutting you off. But I'm like, the difference between the two you is quite stark, right? I see, well, I just see small town rural Saskatchewan, and then I see, I forget what you called it the other night, but you're in the heart of Regina, right? Oh, the walk at the center of the province. I'll have another word for you for that,

it's the two orange dots in our province, mostly are Regina Saskatchewan, so the but but hole is Saskatchewan because there's the one dot, the two little dots there, but at least you're saying like the class sizes, there is, there's a huge difference between, but you know, a lot of our priorities are similar, but your kids have class sizes of 68, minor, 16. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Our kids are, our kids go to the most heavily overpopulated school in in the entire city, maybe even in the province. One of our kids is in a classroom of 63 students. Our youngest twins are...

63 students. How do you... Immigration. How does a teacher even deal with that? Oh, and it's not like, oh, you guys. And we're talking like eight different languages being spoken in that classroom. It is wild. And so to say, and then, and then, okay, so we have, we have all of these,

all of these kids being literally shoehorned into the same. same room. There's two teachers that will teach those two and a handful of EAs to assist, but you have kids on every spectrum imaginable. You have kids with behavioral issues. You have kids with psychological issues. You have kids coming from war zones. You have kids with no functional understanding of English. You have kids that have, you know, that are, that have fallen behind and years gone by and they're not caught up to speed yet. And then at Regina Public You know what we have to fix all those problems? A million dollar DEI department.

How on earth is DEI serving any of these kids? I have a piece coming out in the Western standards. So this little roundtable is going to come out on Tuesday next week, but on the weekend that we're talking about right now, I have a piece coming out in the Western standard. And in it I say, you know, our educational elites will say say that DEI stands for diversity, equity, and inclusion, but ask any concerned parents who's dared to advocate on behalf of their own children. And they'll tell you the DEI stands for

discrimination, elimination, and intimidation. And that is what they are focused on at our school division side. So if we could, listen, I'm like you, Kristen, like I can run a budget like a single mom. Okay. Nobody can stretch a budget further than a single mom. And I was one. And I want to go through and do a complete financial and resource audit. What exactly are we spending money on and why are we not serving students with with that with that money? And then getting back to basics, getting back to basics, same as you. Saskatchewan students right now, this is according to the PISA report. Have you guys looked at the PISA report? It's a program for international student achievement. It's the largest standardized. Okay, here, Sean, I'll tell you about it. It's the largest

standardized test in the world. 80 countries, 100 and some odd thousand kids participate. all grade 10, all age 15. Okay, it happens every four years on a rotational basis. So one year, they'll do math, the next cycle they'll do literacy, and the next cycle they'll do science. So in any 10-year span, you get a really good idea of how your kids are doing. And Saskatchewan students, okay, brace yourselves. Brace yourselves. Saskatchewan students have fallen further and faster than any other cohort of students in the nation of Canada. We rank second last in the nation, in math. We're third last in the nation in literacy. This, while the students next door in Alberta, who are identical to us in terms of culture and resources, run circles around us every single year

and have for 40 years. And this is not because there is a lack of funding. This is not because there's a lack of funding. There's more than enough money to go around. It is because there has been a lack of focus. We have been so wholly focused on all of the wrong things in these last 10 years. And we've seen our student achievement plummet. So what we're doing is graduating kids that have no hope of competing ever with the kids from Alberta, the kids from BC and the kids from Ontario and Quebec, that we really have to, we really have to buckle down. And if we all, okay, if we all do this at the exact same moment in Saskatchewan, and we are

just from like three different school divisions, but make no mistake, we have like 29 school divisions, I think, in Saskatchewan, every single one of them has moms like us running on those boards. And if we buckle down, starting right now, in five years, we could be top five in the nation in five years. But it is going to take, listen, it's going to take a hell of a lot of focus and a hell of a lot of heavy lifting. But I mean, what else do we have going on? So the other thing happening there, too, like it wasn't just COVID. And this, you know, COVID is obviously a huge part of everything that happened. But we've also moved towards this discovery-based approach of learning. Oh, yes. We're not even doing like standardized tests.

It's like you look at a kid's report card, you're getting letters, numbers, they're very broad categories. They don't really give you a great idea of where, how your kid is achieving because it's not a standardized testing method. And so we've seen the effect that this has had already by these stats that you've shared. Like, we're dropping because we're not, we're not, we're not even testing where we're at. So we're soon going to even be able to lose focus of how we're stacking up to, you know, each other and other countries. Yep. No, and the teacher unions, like the super far left woke teacher unions, hate standardized testing. They hate it. They argue, well, kids learn in different ways. There's lots of different ways to assess the children. Yep, but you know what the best assessment is

for teacher, you know, teacher accountability? Standardized tests. Because if they show year after year how a teacher is doing and how well they're teaching. And I'm just of the mind of, listen, if you're an an effective teacher, okay, that doesn't do your work yearly year after year after year. Well, then you need some additional training, but then that brings us to our next, that brings me to our next point. Professional development training for teachers in Saskatchewan, they get, I think they get 10 days off a year for professional development. In Regina anyway, they have had no math, no science and no literacy professional development, not in the last five years. It is fully DEI-based training. It is fully gender training. It is fully sexual orientation.

It is climate. It is critical race theory. It is oppressor versus oppressed training. We're literally not training teachers to keep up with the latest developments in education. And it shows. There was an education minister in Ontario. His name was Stephen Lecci. And he last year declared that teachers in Ontario could not take professional development unless it was STEM related. So science, technology, engineering, and math, that's it. He limited them to that kind of training. And guess what happened? They started doing better in all of those proficiency.

So it's, I mean, that's what we need to have happen here. I might text Jeremy Cockrell and tell him that we need that first thing. But, but yeah, like, are we surprised that our kids are learning about gender? Well, this is what the teachers have been learning about too. So, so, yeah. Is, you know, I wish Charlotte was in here because, you know, one of the things that, you know, started me on this, I don't even know what it is, right? I'm married to a teacher. So it's like, it's really, really interesting, right?

Like, I'm like, I wonder if a guy should be adding in teachers to this round table. because like one of the things you know that I see different from a rule perspective to the city perspective is the maybe the pace of change but at the same token I'm also like are we all starting to see there's these little gender things starting to creep in just ever so slightly and you know like you look to rejoining you're like holy crap what a wild thing that's going on there and yet in Lloyd and I I go direct to Lloyd because It's the school closest to us that I've been given a book that their kindergarten girl brought home. And it was, you know, the king and the prince. I don't know, gay love story is what it is. I'm like, well, why would that even be in there? Right. Like, why are we doing that?

Except that's what we're starting to see everywhere. Are we starting to see this ladies everywhere? Because, you know, sometimes it's like, no, it's only happening in Regina, right? It's only happening over there. So not to be like not to be, uh, how? not to scare you or anything. But if you don't... You fire away, Lee's.

But if you don't do something about this right now, this is less than three years in your future. Like this, what I'm describing to you is less than three years in your future. Like, for instance, for pride, so our kids went to a school that opened seven years ago and it was like fully, it was just like a rainbow academy for the first six, six years.

And after, you know, after talking to our principal and saying, look, we don't, I don't want, I don't want my kids exposed to this or to have this be the center of their learning experience at Regina public schools. You know, I don't send them to school to be, to be exposed to any of this. I want them to be great at math and reading and science. But, you know, if you're hearing from moms and you're hearing from me, then you'll just know that I don't want any part of this for my kids. Well, guess what happened? Our teacher librarian sent out a digital library for Pride Month. So what it was was like a Google worksheet, right?

And it looked like really colorful and it was all animated and sparkly for kids. And it had a bookshelf on it. And then you clicked any one of the books on the digital bookshelf and it linked to a kid's YouTube video where they could be read the Pride books. These are books by, you know, Jazz Jennings, the Transitioner in the States. These are books that are covering topics that I don't want my kids, not within 100 feet up. And yet these are being, it's just being promoted without parental knowledge or consent as something that's just so completely normal. And they do it under, this is just so maddening. They do it under the guise of safety and inclusivity.

Well, we want this to be a really safe and inclusive space for all kids, they say. But if you ask them why it's so important to expose kids to this ideology without using, this is the key. without using the word safety or inclusion. Tell me why it's so important to expose kids to gender ideology. And they literally derail. Their little brains just cannot. You're like, but safety, but inclusion, but safety, but inclusion. It's actually pretty hilarious.

But no, they're using DEI. So as a sort of Trojan horse to ram through all of these ideas. and it absolutely must stop. And this is occurring, P-S-D-E-I is occurring at the ministerial level. Because when you, you know, Charlotte talked about really quickly, and she's texting me, she said her phone is malfunctioning. She can hardly send a text message right now. So she's, I was just like, restart, restart and try it.

She's going to try and get back on. But if you ask a question, if you have a problem with a teacher or a situation or an occurrence at your school and you go to the teacher and don't get resolution, you go to the principal and you don't get resolution and you go to the superintendent and you don't get resolution you go to the ministry, they're going to tell you that it's really important

that we have safe and inclusive places and send you right back to the school. So like Charlotte was saying, it's this sort of evil creaking wheel that just never has an off ramp for parents and it's designed to do that. I mean, it's designed to sort of to outlast us

and make us make it seem like what we're asking is too much and really when it comes to education parents are the key stakeholders um if it weren't for parents delivering children into schools we would have no need for schools and yet we've been sort of relegated to this spot of of nothing burgers and and that really needs to stop so i'm just so so heartened to know that you know that i'm not alone in this that you know that there's other mamas that have identified this is a big problem issue and that we're going to solve it together so Well, I think we're starting to see, like, Sean, I think it's absolutely everywhere across the province.

You look at something like the provincial education plan, which lays the framework for education. And their plan right now is from 2020 to 2030. And the goals that are outlined in there is, I am learning what I need for my future. I feel safe and supported. I belong. I am valued. I can be myself. Sounds great.

Sounds like something that everybody can get behind. But then what comes out of that is these rainbow. days in this glitter and this promotion. And so it makes kids second guess themselves like, am I enough? Am I flashy enough? Am I different enough? Am I, you know, and I think that's what's coming out of some of this. And we see it in little ways. And it takes its form differently in different communities and different places across our province. But absolutely, it's everywhere. And it's going to start coming, I think, harder and faster if we don't set some boundaries for where this is acceptable and not because we can, I think, we can all agree that we want everybody in the school

to feel safe, belonged, and that they can be themselves. But let's stick to that. Let's not get into, you know, creating this environment where they feel like they're not enough because they're not glittery or whatever, right? And let's also, you know, create the norm that whatever the family values are, that you're learning at home, that that is sufficient. And that is. good and let's keep some of that other stuff out of the school. That's not the ones to learn about it. I'm so happy you said that because I have a I have a little part in my Western standard piece that'll be out by the time this airs that sort of touches on that. And it says, and what I said was it's not the job of parents to betray their deeply held values, beliefs, and traditions to suit

the tyrannical demands of the education elites. It's the responsibility of the education sector to respectfully reflect the values, beliefs, and traditions of the families they serve, not the other way around. And we've got this really, really backwards right now in education, like really, really backwards. And so we need a real course correction. We need a real course correction. Thank God we don't have an NDP government in Saskatchewan. I mean, to say that I had the stress sweats about just the thought of our parental bill of rights getting flushed down the toilet if the NDP got in. I mean, we are just so lucky that we have a that we have a SaaS party government right now

because I know that somewhere deep down, they are acknowledging that something definitely did go wrong. Okay, in education. They're also very cognizant of the fact that they were the guys in charge when it did go wrong. And they have a vested interest in getting it right. because if they don't get it right, especially as it pertains to education, they will pay for it four years from now in the next election. And they know it's really interesting, you guys, the way that this happened. But the notwithstanding clause, okay, notwithstanding clause is like a five-year pause on a piece of legislation. It was wielded last October 10th. So October 10th,

2023. When is our next federal elect or when is our next provincial election? It is going to line up exactly when the notwithstanding clause expires. So they have a vested interest in getting this right in the next four years because they know if they don't, there will be help to pay. Well, we don't have an NDP government, but I don't know that I'd argue that our SaaS party governments that conservative either in some of their policies and things that they roll out. I'm deeply concerned. But that being said, you know, Scott Moe did say in his acceptance speech or whatever you call it the other day, he said the message has been heard and we will do better. And I mean, of course, every politician's going to say that, but I will use

those words against you. You better be sure that whether you're a conservative or an NDP or a liberal, I really don't care. But if you say you're going to do something, I will be there to remind you, you're not doing that. So you said it. And let's see better. Because absolutely, Absolutely. Just because you, you know, got in again, we need better. And even the people who voted for you, I think, are saying that. Yeah. So how many, how many people are running in each of your school divisions? Like, are you up again, like, you know, are either of you acclaimed? I assume not. I assume you have to actually have like a runoff here. Do you know how many, how many each side? Like, there's just myself and another gal. Um, So there's two of us. And it's interesting. It's a very interesting process learning how to campaign. I've done a little bit of work with John Rumick before.

So I've learned a little bit of campaigning strategies that way and door knocking and what that tends to look like. But it's all an interesting procedure. When you are baptized by fire, you just throw yourself into it and you are just trying to do your best with what you know and what you have and your resources. And that's another thing is it's, you know, I have some wonderful people who have donated some, some, what they can to me to help me with some flyers, with some literature, some stuff like that. So people have something in hand to kind of reference, but also money out of your own pocket and a lot of time spent to do so. So, you know,

talking to people, um, doing some mail. out here and there, this podcast, just really, my strategy is really just talking to people having conversations, either face to face or on the phone is I find, like I said before, very personal rather than conversations over the computer. But it is a lot of hours that you end up putting in just to put yourself out there, just so people can let, you can let them know who you are, what you're doing. It's a crazy investment. It's a crazy investment. Yeah. And it's a barrier. And that's why we don't see people doing it every day, right? Absolutely. Absolutely. So for me, yeah. And just back to even my policies before because I got cut off there.

Yeah. Yeah. I didn't hear what was going on and then I was in the desk. So for me, too, it's just big on open conversations with people representing parents being able to into a meeting and just be a voice in general, whether it's for students, parents, community. Like I said, I feel like I am really called to do this. I don't feel it to be a burden. I feel very driven. I'm a very driven person. I have done things in my life that competition-wise with sports and various things that have gave me a lot of discipline have just given me a lot of drive to move forward. And I've learned a lot through those things to just create a space where I can bring things to the table, have a thick skin, say hard things, do hard things.

You know, there's so many parents that just cannot come forward. They just, they're just not those types of people and I would I would be I would love to represent them so yeah yeah that's all of us like all of us have that in common we're here for to represent the parents and it's really an honor it's really an honor when you hear from parents and they tell you things that they've never told anyone else before because there was nobody that they could trust to talk to before or they were afraid of getting judged for speaking yeah yes yes and so I I I'm I think that that's something that all three of us have in common is that we're just going to be a sort of soft landing spot for parents to come if they have an issue just to really hear them and take their side because nobody has taken the side of parents, nobody. And I think so there's for how many people are running, there's two in my subdivision and our school division as well.

And most of the, in our entire school division, all of the subdivisions in our division, there's about, two as well is what it looks like. And we're in a really good spot right now in the fact that three of the previous board members are the only ones out of the 11 seats running. So we potentially have a very new board, very fresh blood. Awesome. Awesome. Yeah. And the same as the same as Charlotte's in Prairie Valley School Division. Like if there is one school division, that's a bigger disaster than Regina Public School Division. It's Charlotte School Division. And, and, and, and, And we sort of pulled off a little bit of a miracle. A bunch of moms got together really last minute and put together more than a handful,

you know, a small handful of candidates that are looking at taking over the board in Prairie Valley, too. So, I mean, just, you know, don't discount moms who get a bright idea. I mean, if we can pull off a Halloween costume tonight in 45 minutes or less, We can pull off a school. And that's and grandparents too. Because like my husband, you know, so that I can do all these things, he is equally doing just as much in my house to support this. You know, like, and grandparents, like my in-laws are there to help, watch out, cover, you know,

I'm going to an SEC meeting in all the schools because I want to hear from all of them in the division, not just the ones my kids attend. And, you know, grandma's always the first one right there to say, I can come hang out with the kids tonight so that, you know, while dad's working late, taking care of his business, you can go that way and do this. And so is, you know, my sister-in-law. So it takes a whole village and community. And, you know, my neighbors in Green Street have been huge support systems too. So moms are incredible, but, you know, our communities and those around us are what really empower, empower us to be able to do those things. Well, I can sit here and say I'm really impressed with the three of you. And I'm

sure there's others. As Lee said, there's mothers across all in Saskatchewan. You know, the first time I ever heard about this, it was at a for kids' sake meeting. That's a group here in Lloyd. And it was a man. I want to say Brad Benzmiller. I think that's who it was if memory serves me, correct. Not that that names means much to the three of you. He was the one that suggested this. And this was back in the middle of COVID before anyone started talking about it. And then he ran. And that was a Buffalo Trail School Division, I want to say. And since then, I believe they've had multiple people, down multiple people get appointed because like you know like who wants to be a part of a board

where it's going to be a little bit contentious if you would right and so and then the heat got turned up because in COVID the heat got definitely turned up and you know when when everybody agrees that nope this is exactly what we're doing you know the outside forces can say whatever they want but once you get into those meetings where it gets a little bit um dicey there's a lot of people but don't enjoy that. And you ladies, what I see is you could be walking into dicey situations. But what I keep hearing is I think there's a little spice in there. You're not worried about it.

Let's do it. Yeah. You know, fighting with lefties is one of my favorite hobbies. I mean, it just gives me life. And I like to joke that my campaign is being funded because every time a lefty is mean to me, somebody sends me $100 bucks. And long story short, I can now buy my. myself an island in the Caribbean because I'm not joking they take a swing at me online somebody

shows up with a hundred bucks and I'm like whoa this is a wow this is amazing you guys so so no it's it's pretty great it's pretty great but you do like like charla said though you need to have thick skin you just need to have thick skin and and charla and i were raised in a in a in a same little small town and i like to say that like i'm scrappy because of where I was raised in pence Saskatchewan in northwest Regina and a and a, I don't,

I don't back down from many fights. Well, actually I can't even think of one. So there you have it. Any final thoughts, ladies,

before I let you out of here. I know, Charlotte, I feel bad because you're in and out, but at the time, at the times you've got to join us, I feel like you've made very valuable points.

All three of you had. I don't want to cut it short, but at the same time, I'm like, okay, November 13th, pay attention to your voting card in Saskatchewan because there's a good chance

you're going to get to vote on who is going to watch over your school divisions. And as we learned in 2021, certainly here where I sit, it became a very, very, very pivotal thing. And I don't fully understand everything that can be done there. But I really want important people or common sense people, I should say, in those positions. Because when those important things come down through the pipe, whether it's municipal politics or all the way up, school boards, etc., you want to have the right. people in there to catch things, to stop them in their tracks, to change the direction of certain policies. So with all that being said, make sure to vote. But if there's any other final thoughts, ladies, have at her. Yeah, that's what that kind of mimics what I was going to say too,

Sean, was just, this is a tough one for people to kind of be bothered to do. So after all of the provincial voting, people are kind of voted out. And please don't be voted out. Please come out for your municipal elections, they are so incredibly important. Again, it doesn't matter if you have children in school right now or not. Everybody can and should be voting for these positions. It doesn't also help in very small communities if there are acclamations because people kind of just go, eh, then I don't really need to go down there. But please, please vote. This is the thing that I'm reiterating to all of my people that I've talked to just the day before or the day of, just a little quick reminder to them, like,

hey, hi, just don't forget to vote today, or whatever it looks like for you, whatever wording it looks like for you, depending upon maybe who you're talking to. But just so that people actually make the trek down and go do it, again, that's in a couple weeks. So it's November 13th. That could be a blizzard.

I really hope it's beautiful. And people will actually, like, go out and support us. One of the things, if I may, just for Lloyd, and then I'll let Lee's hop in. is like I one of the things I hope that I've done and continue to do on this show is like I went and looked at the Lloydminster municipal election for city counselors and how much it took to represent me and my city and the number one guy who got voted last time in 2020 was 1,800 votes we got a city of 30,000 and what's voting population half of that 15,000 for that people right so 1,800 people that's like horrendous voter turnout. Like, you know, we, we rag on on a provincial or federal election turnout, but like municipally, it's brutal. And these people, was that was that your 2020? 2020. Okay. So COVID could COVID played a great big humongous part in having like historically

low voter turnout. And what I've heard on my side from people who are like way, way up here, they are saying they're expecting record turnouts from you. I hope so. this year because of the school board elections. So just take heart, dear ladies, take heart. Yeah, sorry to interrupt. John. Keep going. Yeah, there's a lot of elections going on right now. And I guess my final message to people is not to forget that this one matters too. They all matter. And so if you care about the future of education in our community and what the children in your community are being taught, it's important to learn about the candidates and it's important to get out and vote. And then a final thought to you, Sean, too, just to thank you for, you know,

making sure that there's information and light and some true media on these things that are going on in our communities, because without that resource, like, we're in the dark. We just have what's fed to us, and it's not what's going on boots on the ground, and it's not what people are talking about in our communities. So I feel extremely honored to be invited to have this discussion with you guys today. And yeah, just a thank you on that end as well. Yes, thank you so much. It was really great. I'm sorry that my internet was not the best, but I really appreciate the time I have spent on today too. Thank you. Well, I look forward ladies, to seeing what voter turnout is this year. I feel like there's a lot of people engaged right now. A lot of pissed off people that are running or just ready to get out and vote. To me, I'm really excited about it. The fact that, you know, I don't know, five years ago, I wouldn't even have thought to have done this.

you know, and then to have the three of you. And I know there's a whole bunch of else, right? Like when Lee's and me were talking, I'm like, okay, this is who I got coming on? She's the, well, you got this person? I'm like, well, no. And there's probably somebody going to text me after this. Why didn't you get this person?

I'm like, well, you know, it's like somehow, I think we're all learning how important all these little boards and voting positions are. And to try and cover it all is really tough. But to put the idea into people's heads that, oh, maybe I should take a look and see, what's going on and pay attention for it is part of what this is all about. And that's what I would encourage people do is to right now, whatever you're doing,

pick up your phone and put a reminder in your calendar for November 13th. It's a Wednesday. You must find out, before that Wednesday, you must find out where your voting station is. You just got to quickly look into your school board trustee candidates and just commit right now to voting for candidates who prioritize children and their families, including their parents who are going to create pathways for parental involvement, who are going to prioritize traditional academic excellence to get our kids out of this learning slump that they're in, and to create learning environments that are free of political and social justice activism.

That is what we are looking for, Saskatchewan on the school board level. And if we can all do this on November 13th, we will be having a very, very different conversation in four years. Well, I can promise everybody who listens to this podcast for the next whatever it is, two weeks, you're going to hear a lot about November 13th. And just please, love of God, get out and vote, right? Like, get off your butt and go vote. I mean, like, the federal election and on and on, we all seem to have this.

Well, my vote doesn't mean much. I'm like, in a city election, I think it means an awful lot. And a good reminder is we also have the American election one week before our municipal election. So we're going to watch, we're going to watch Trump take it. And then we have the municipal election. And that's the most important one, okay? Everybody else be damned.

We know we're all voting federally on the conservative. We know how we all voted on the provincial done deal. Our municipal elections are the most important elections. And I might say you get away from the party system, ladies. Like one of the things about the Lloyd municipal election candidates, I'm like, this is fascinating, right? There's no filter. There's no.

This is really interesting, right? It's not like, oh, I flip open my book and go to my answer and that's my answer. and that's my answer. It's like, this is very interesting. So if there's ever a time to get involved in Baltics, you're like, politics sucks.

It's so boring. I'm like, that could be as far from the truth as humanly possible when it comes all the way down to like your neighbors running. They just walked in. I'm running for this. And you're like,

really, okay. Not to be like Regina is like, hold my beer, but one of our mayoral candidates is right now wanted for brandishing a weapon. Hold my beer. There's Regina.

I'm kidding you not. that's actually happening and you know who else is running for regina mayor that i just can't get enough of dancing bob dancing bob is running for a mayor of virginia i'm like this is going to drag the 18 to 24 year old another podcast incredible it's just going to be incredible it's just going to be dancing bob that's that's a whole other podcast dancing bob you don't know who dancing bob can i interview dancing bob is he that good or what he's he's he's like he's next level okay he's like he sounds like a good time but He's of Regina legend. Like he's a local legend in Regina.

Everybody knows where he is. Have you guys heard of Just Binns? Yes. No. Okay. Oh my God. Okay. So Just Binns is a garbage company that's moonlighting in the news.

They do like current events. They don't do news because news is like banned off the internet if you know what I mean. But Just Vince is a garbage company that started telling local stories and made dance and Bob absolutely famous. This is a man who just dances for joy. Okay. He gets on street corners with a great big ghetto blaster and just dances for the people. He did it all through COVID. But the crazy thing is he's borderline insane genius at the same time.

He's trained as an electrical engineer. He has like a 70-year-old Regina company that he looks after. It closed during COVID's and now he dances full time, but he's running for mayor and I can't get enough of it. Is there a chance he wins? Or is it like a long shot? It's a long shot, but I got faith, man. Dance and Bob is the best.

Please, can you hook me up with Dance and Bob? Yeah, Dancy and Bob. doesn't have actually I'm one of the few people that have Dancin Bob's uh phone number so yeah I sure could well you just Sean he doesn't have internet okay he doesn't he doesn't he doesn't do internet can we can't we hook up a way to get dance and Bob on the Sean Newman podcast and have a little dance and maybe it's just maybe it's just maybe he just comes on dance is five minutes and that's all it is I might be I'd have to drive him to Lloyd Minster because he only rides a bike Dancing Bob sounds like quite the character.

I'm telling you he's the best. We were headed this way and then we hit the guardrail and we danced all the way over there to dance and Bob. Yeah, we did. I'm sorry. I just want you to get you guys jazzed for the Regina election. I mean, it's pretty incredible. For whatever wildness is going on in Lloyd Minster, we got it. We got it cased in Regina too.

Well, ladies, thanks for hopping on. Best of luck. And thanks for, I don't know, as I told all the munisings. people. You know, love or hate any of them. It doesn't matter. The fact that people are getting involved in their communities is what needs to happen. And I appreciate you ladies putting your foot forward. I appreciate you hopping on. Man, this turned around real fast. I mean, it was like 24 hours. Like, well, we're all coming on. I'm like, oh, well, you talk to moms and they get shit done. That's what happens. So thanks ladies for hopping on here. Thanks for having us.

Bye, guys. I'm real proud of you guys. I'm so happy to be running with you and all the best.