The Ben Mulroney Show - Olympic prep with snowboard fun/How does a cop turn corrupt

Episode Date: February 6, 2026

GUEST:  Ross McLean/    Former law enforcement / bodyguard to billionaires GUESTS:  Dustin Heise / CEO Snowboard Canada   GUEST:  Tyler Turner / Canadian para-snowboarder  If you enjoyed the podcast, tell a friend! For more of the Ben Mulroney Show, subscribe to the podcast! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://link.chtbl.com/bms⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Also, on youtube -- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@BenMulroneyShow⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Ben on Twitter/X at https://x.com/BenMulroney Insta: ⁠⁠⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠⁠⁠ Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠⁠⁠ TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠⁠⁠ Executive Producer:  Mike Drolet Reach out to Mike with story ideas or tips at [e-mail] Enjoy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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perhaps society is not as done for as we once feared. Gavin McKenna, the story we told you about yesterday, the young man from Yukon, who has made a name for himself at Penn State, to the point that he is now the number one, potentially the number one draft pick in the upcoming NHL draft. We told you the story yesterday that he was involved in an altercation outside of a bar and charges were laid. He was charged with battery. And the guy was in the hospital laid out, had surgery on his jaw. And this carried with it a penalty of $25,000 and up to 20 years in jail. I think he can handle the $25,000. His name, image, and likeness rights that he earned at Penn State, earned him about 700K U.S. So that's a drop in the bucket. But

20 years, those are kind of your prime earning years in the NHL. So a lot of people were wondering about that. We talked about it here on the show yesterday. The more that we talked, the more it sounded like hopefully, hopefully all the information will come out because if it does, it does sound like he was not necessarily in the wrong. Here's what the police said. Upon further review of the video, prosecutors believe that McKenna did not act with the intent to cause serious bodily harm, nor did he recollects.

act with extreme indifference to the value of human life. And thus, officials say they will be withdrawing the aggravated assault charge against McKenna. And the sun shines through the dark clouds. So I'll tell you what this isn't. Because people will say this. They will say that this is proof of white privilege. They'll say proof of all sorts of stuff. Oh, he's a, this is a successful athlete who was able to get off Scott Free from his

the consequences of his actions. That is not this. That is not this. This is the system acting as it should, ensuring that people don't do anything wrong, don't suffer the consequences. And a lot of the allegations, a lot of the stories that came out suggested that he was egged on a little bit.

Yeah. Well, when somebody calls your mother a whore in front of you and they get booted out of a bar and then they wait for you out there, and my guess is that the rumor that this guy took a swing and missed and then that he effed around and he found out what Gavin's fist feels like. I bet dollars to donuts that that is what came out. That's what I think. Anyway, there's peace in the valley.

There's peace in the valley and Gavin McKenna can do what I know his parents are very proud of him for. So well done. Justice has been served. Meanwhile, Canada is serving up some looks at the Olympics. Did you like that segue? I like it. Yeah, but I don't know about the looks. The looks, all right.

That's questionable. Yeah, so, you know, how it works in the opening ceremonies of the Olympics? We are in, the Olympics are in Italy right now. The opening ceremonies just happened. And that's where you get your first look at the entire team as they wave and they let you know that they're there. And they're all wearing the same stuff, right? And every year, every four years, the Olympics, the Olympics. Olympic teams are dressed in a signature look.

This one featured a bright red transformable and topographic printed Translu Wonder Puff Jacket. I haven't seen it, but you say it looks like a Christmas tree. It does look like the Christmas tree. If you think about those people who, I don't know who it is that, you know, the green Christmas trees and you just see the feet and somebody's got like the, it's just like a triangle of a Christmas tree, and that's kind of what they look like. Let's see.

And the name of it is just such a mouthful. Yeah, it's a lot. Okay, so this is, I mean, yeah, it's not great. It's not great. The last Olympics, I thought we looked good. But this is, yeah, this is no-bueno. I'm giving this one a no-bueno. It is a no-buende.

But, I mean, what we're not seeing is exactly how it transforms. Because I think it does, it's like a three-part thing or something. It is something that is, it's a transformer jacket. I don't, I've, I've had those before. for? Yeah. You know, those feel like to me

like pants that become shorts, you unzip the pants, you know, the legs. Oh, God. And then what happens? The zipper breaks or you lose one of the legs. Tell me you're not one of those

zipper pant guys. Does it sound? Okay. No, no. Okay, you're a smart man. You spent time with me. Do I give off Transformer pants vibes? No, I don't,

which is why it's shocking for you to talk about them. Okay. I talked about how I don't like Transformer things. And then I use those as an example, and you insinuated. You seem to understand how they worked. See, you're why people don't trust the media.

That you're the reason. You're the reason. Specifically me. Yeah. Yeah. But anyway, I can't see you wearing one of the, if you came in wearing one of these, I'm sorry, the top of graphic printed Transluo Wonderpuff jacket. It's a, it would just make my day.

Well, liaison strategies released a poll exploring Canadian's views on these Winter Olympics. Some of it's surprising, not too much. 86% of Canadians say the Olympic team makes them proud. But that pride doesn't automatically translate into support for hosting the games. Only 24 strongly support a future bid, 43 back a bid, only if no new permanent venues are built. I mean, I think that's why Calgary is being talked about and Vancouver are perfect spots. Sure, but I have to believe that even Calgary that is, you know,

they're building a new venue for skating and hockey and all that stuff. with the Scotia Bank Center, I believe it's called. Scotia Center. Yeah. I get it. You don't want to be on the hook for that stuff. But even if they build that, you know, some of the venues from 88 would need updating.

I can't imagine that they're all still there. So you would need to build something, but you can always, so long as that building has future value, if you can repurpose it or if you can keep using it as it was intended, I think that's a great idea. But I get it. I like that the people are vigilant. My favorite was what they did.

in Atlanta, 96. So they built the Olympic Stadium. And then they cut off half of it to build extensions onto it so they could become the baseball stadium for the Atlanta Braves, which I believe they played in for about 25 years

and then they built a new one. And there's something about the Americans. They love building stadiums. They built one in Texas for the Rangers and I think it was too big. So they built a new one. It's crazy. It's crazy. 25%.

oppose hosting the Olympics under any circumstances due to cost concerns. Okay. I love it. Yes, that's fine. I respect your opinion. But I think we have entered into a different world. Well, because we have no money. We have no money for anything.

But it used to be the Olympics you'd have to spend an insane amount of money to build all these new venues. Now governments are saying, you know what? We want to use existing things and find stuff that's going to be reusable. We had the Pan-N Games in Toronto. and they built this massive swimming pool complex. And then, boom, right after it was done, it was handed over to the city of Toronto, and it's being used, and it's a fantastic facility.

Oh, I didn't know that. I agree. But if you look at what happened in Athens, that place is derelict. Sarajevo, obviously, but there was a war there. When they had there, a FIFA World Cup in Brazil, which doesn't have the money to be able to do this thing. They built a bunch of stadiums.

Some of the stadiums were never used again. same with South Africa. Yeah, I heard about that. No, I like that people are paying attention, but I would love to see the Venn diagram of representing the 25% of the people who oppose hosting the Olympics under any circumstances due to cost concerns.

And I'd love to know who they vote for in elections. Well, who do they vote for? I wonder. Well, listen, I'm not making a judgment. I'm just asked, I just ask the questions. Not the way Tucker Carlson does. I don't do that. I ask genuine questions.

Yes. I'm thankful for that. I'm just asking the question. You know, was Winston Churchill the evil, the bad guy of World War II? It's just a question. So, hey, which sports do you think Canadians are most likely

to be interested in watching during the Olympics? Oh, according to this, so according to this, hockey dominates with 43%. I was going to say, but what would you have guessed? Well, I would have thought, hockey for sure, in Canada, but I would have thought quickly thereafter would have been figure skating. Not that big of a spread, 43 to 17.

It is a big spread. Huge. Yeah, it's a huge spread. Bigger spreading is very popular. Yeah. It's one of the primetime sports. It's like the 100 meter dash. Yeah.

We got a text about the Canadian uniform. Just saw a Canadian uniform as they entered the arena. Brown and red looks like a hemorrhoid. Seriously, so embarrassing. You clearly do not get the fashion. You don't get the fashion. If you don't get the fashion, I can't help you. The big.

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When we learned the news of the vast corruption that was uncovered by York Regional Police of the inside the Toronto Police Service, still trying to wrap our heads around it. One of the stories, the one that gets me the most is that first cop that they uncovered who was searching up other people's names, searching up other people's addresses, and then allegedly handing it over to the criminal element. so that they could do what they needed to do. And so before I go down this rabbit hole on my own, I want to be joined now by a former law enforcement member

as well as a bodyguard to billionaires. Ross McLean, Ross, thank you for your service and thank you for being here on the Ben Mulroney show. Yeah, good to be with you, Ben, and I hope I can add insights where I have them to give. I think I can help a bit on this story. Yeah, so, okay, so tell me what you thought, and if you had any conversations with former cops,

what did you think when you heard this story as it dropped yesterday? So I heard about the story before it dropped. As you know, people like to talk and you have connections everywhere and you hear things. So I heard there was going to be a charges coming down in the press or the next day. And I thought, okay, well, this will just be a bit of a blip. We'll see what it is. A couple of cops are charged. That happens, right?

But as I'm watching and listening to the press conference, I'm like, this is like, ripping off the lid of Pandora's box and staring down into a pit of corruption and hell. I mean, I was quite surprised about what the York Regional Police were able to uncover, the depth of the criminal activity, the depth of the betrayal. Quite shocked at all that. But let me jump forward to the next thing. I know that what most, believe it or not, what most cops think about this, is their word is they weren't surprised that it happened.

So what do you think that means? What do you think that means? Because when I hear you say that, it feels to me like what you're saying is they know that they're working alongside corrupt cops. Like good cops know that next of them might be a corrupt cop. No, that's not really where they're going with it. Okay. Where they're going with it on the most part is that the environment is there to allow for that to be able to come out.

Okay. And there has been a lot of complaints about the hiring standards for the last five, seven years at Toronto Police Force. So what do you mean by that? Because I know that in the letter to the auditor general, one of the things that they want to look at is how they screen a potential applicants and how they ensure that the people to get through the training are the right people for the job. Look, I know a couple of recruiters for various different police forces. They really want to find good people. They work hard, right? But usually for people who are able to fit the bill to do it, it's a pretty high bar.

And the bars become lowered. They've taken in people. And it's all the politically incorrect things to say, Ben, but I'll just say them. There's been concerns about people who can't read very well. They can't write very well. They don't communicate well in the language. and they don't think that they've hired some of the brightest bulbs. That's in essence what they've been seeing for the last period of time.

So if you're if you're someone who plays at a high level, you use the sports metaphor, and all of a sudden you start putting people who aren't at your level who belong down in the AHL instead of up in the NHL, you know that there's going to be trouble coming. So I think that that's really where it is. It speaks to the leadership and the way the leadership is taking the hiring, the staffing and just the running of the force.

I think that's where the comment about not being that surprised about it. Not so much that there's corrupt cops. I'm talking with Ross McLean, a former member of law enforcement, giving me his perspective from his side of the fence. And Ross, let's stick with recruitment for a second because I think they have a big problem now. Because back, I guess one of the selling points was you get to be the good guy. You get to be the good guy protecting the good people from the criminal element. And now what they're going to be telling recruits or recruits might be thinking is you are going to be protecting this side of the wall from that side of the wall.

But surprise, surprise, there may be an enemy within your midst and you may have someone next to you who may be working with the guys on the other side. And he may be coming and giving them your address. And you may face a firestorm of bullets if you do your job too well. The trust level is massive. And it will hurt recruiting. And I mentioned this the other day on a live cast that I did. You know, cops from the time they've been on for six months, you're used to being called all names. They bounce off you.

You don't care. Ah, pig, this, that. That's why I laugh when you see the Minneapolis stuff. They're yelling at it. It does nothing. So let me give you this example. If you're skinny and in great shape and someone comes up to you and calls you a fat still, doesn't bother you, right? Because you know you're not fat.

But you're sitting there in the police uniform and someone yells, ah, you guys are all corrupt. there's a little bit of sting there. Yeah. Right? Yeah. Because this corruption is the sting on the open wound, if you will, that it needs to be dealt with. So apparently my producer was telling me that on your retired cop's Facebook page, most of them, a lot of them said they weren't surprised it happened, but also the line

that this is a city that runs on drugs. What does that mean? And how big is the drug trade in Toronto? Well, this has been, look, I think that this city does run on drugs. There's a massive amount of drugs. drug money that goes through. And with massive amounts of drug money, Ben, comes what? Cash, right? Comes payoffs, comes massive amounts of money. I mean, we saw it going back not that many years ago with the entertainment district with all the shootings that are going on there, right? You know,

I don't know, Ben, I'm not sure how good your expense account is. Do you go and order bottle of service anywhere for, you know, 500 bucks? I haven't been, I haven't been in a situation like that in about 10 years. It used me because I didn't want to go. Now it's because I can't afford to go. Yeah. Well, there was lots of those all over Toronto. Yeah. And I guarantee it it wasn't corporate expense accounts that were picking those ones up. Right. So there is, there is a lot of money going. And with that comes corruption. Right? Yeah. And you've watched, but you've, you've been in the game. You know a lot of different types of people. A lot of people get to get into the game of being a cop for lots of reasons. I have to believe that there are as many reasons that are to become a cop,

that's how many reasons there are to go down the wrong road. If you had to speculate about reasons why or scenarios in which a good cop goes bad, breaks bad, what do you suspect? Well, I'm going to say there's probably two things. One would be greed, right, and opportunity. I had a guy one time I pulled him over for speeding in the dark street in the middle of the night. I asked for his license. This is an American guy. So he hands me his license with a plastic envelope with a $100 bill sticking out of the back of it, right? And I said to him, I said, here, I just take your license out of there.

I don't need it in there. Take your license out. No, no, he says, that's for you. That's for you. And I said, no. I said, you can take your license out and hand it to me. So he did. And I thought after, he was this guy thinking, I'm going to ruin my job for $100, right?

Yeah, yeah. But then I thought, what if he said to me instead, hey, officer, you got me. See that hockey bag in the back? It's two million in cash in it. Just let me go. You can have the cash and I'll go. Now, I have been tested because I've been around billions of dollars before. And I wouldn't take it.

But people don't know until they're in that situation sometimes is what they would do. So there's the greed factor and then there's weak character, right, where you'd rather do it the lazy way or the cheating way. Yeah. And then the money comes to you there and it seems like an easy way. Ross, I've got time for one more question. And this one sticks out to me that it could be very concerning. Hearing the story of organized crime leveraging relationships with cops to then go and find out where their enemies live and take them out. Feels to me like they might have crossed a line.

They might be emboldened in a way they haven't been emboldened before. Does that have the ring of truth? Doesn't get any worse than some cops setting up another cop or law enforcement guy to get killed. You know what? I'll notice to you. They named this project South, right? Yeah. Out of the Toronto Southwest Detention Center.

Is that where the name came from? Maybe. But they hit on that. Yeah. That's where they hit on that guy. Yeah. Maybe. That's where they uncovered the cop.

Yeah. And there's lots more to that story, Ben. Well, yeah. He was, it's being reported that he was instrumental in keeping contraband out of Toronto South detention center. which could have cost organized crime millions of dollars. I mean, I don't know what sets them off. I don't know what makes the organized crime guys decide,

all right, that's a bridge too far. We've got to take this guy out. But something happened that made them want to take him out. And they leverage relationships with cops to do it. To me, that is a disgusting betrayal. And it makes me so upset. I don't even want to think about it. But I do thank you, Ross McLean, for joining me here on the show.

And I do hope you have a wonderful weekend. And again, thank you for your service. Yeah, and getting in the way of the money, Ben, is what does it, brother. Thanks. Thank you, my friend. You take care. With Amex Platinum, $400 in annual credits for travel and dining means you not only satisfy your travel bug, but your taste buds too. That's the powerful backing of Amex.

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Medcan. Live well for life. Visit medcan.com slash moments to get started. All right, you want to know how old I am? I'm old enough to remember screaming at the first snowboarders. as they were coming down the hills at Camp Fortune in Ottawa. I remember, I didn't know what it was. I didn't, actually, that's not true. I wasn't the guy screaming.

I actually thought they were cool and I couldn't do it. But there were older people at the time who wanted none of this to where they skied, none of it. And then I watched them slowly coming on board. Then I saw a whole bunch of my friends abandoning skiing to take up snowboarding. And then I watched it become like the coolest thing in the world at the X games. and then I watched it become an Olympic sport, and I watched Ross Rebliatti at the, you know, bring it to a place it had never been before.

And here we are today that Canada is established as a, it is established as a true and wonderful sport. And we have great Canadians that are performing at the highest level all around the world and most notably at the Olympics. And so we want to take stock of where the sport went, started from, where it is today, and where it needs to go. and we're here in a studio. Dustin Heist, the CEO of Snowboard Canada,

is in the studio with me in person. Dustin, thank you so much for being here. So good to be here with you, Ben. And on the phone, we've got Tyler Turner, who is a Canadian para snowboarder, and I was just hearing about, Tyler, welcome to the show. I'm in awe of what you've done and the skills that you possess,

and congratulations to you. Right on. Thanks so much for having me. Okay, so let's talk snowboarding first. We'll talk about getting the Olympic. after. I want to talk about the sport because it really, in my lifetime, it went from not existing to being where it is. And as the CEO of Snowboard Canada,

you've been on that roller coaster ride. Sure have been. Yeah. So talk to me about your perspective. Well, it's been an incredible journey. I mean, this is, as you mentioned, tremendous athletic ability of each of these athletes that compete and participate, but even better human beings. You know, they've got a great style and, you know, how they carry themselves, how they lead and drive themselves by the values that they possess. But, you know,

we've come from, you know, a relatively small shot back in, you know, 2006 when I first got started within the organization and continue to grow and climb and see the full potential that we've had. And, you know, I've had so many great supporters and leaders and mentors along the way to get us to where we are today. We've got an incredible roster on both the Olympic and the Paralympic side, as you said, with Tyler there as well. Yeah. And I've watched some incredible snowboarders. Just, just on the slopes when I'm skiing. But Tyler, it takes a different level of dedication to go from being just awesome in everyday life to, you know, to be one of the best at the international level.

Yeah, absolutely. It consumes your life. But when you love snowboarding and you're passionate about it, it's not the worst thing to take over your life. And I'm pretty grateful that I get to call snowboarding my job. And I've been able to call snowboarding my job since I was about 15 years old. which is pretty awesome. That's awesome.

But when you say it takes over your life, what does that mean? Because I've got, you know, there are people listening going, oh, I'm obsessed with my job or I'm singularly focused on X, Y, or Z. What does it mean when you're operating at your level? Well, obviously, you know,

you think right away financially. We have to figure out a way to fund this whole thing. So that means that snowboarding is not just what I'm doing, what I'm training, and when I'm on snow training, when I'm off snow training, but then I'm also talking about snowboarding all day and I'm also consuming snowboarding all day

because of the fans. So even two nights ago watching big air qualifications, those are my friends out there. And yeah, it's just snowboarding is everything all the time. And even in the summer I'm thinking about when the snow's coming. And in the spring, I'm sad that the snow's going away. Just, you know, to live at this level, you have to love it so much because it is everything.

And I got to assume, though, and that's so wonderful to hear. But there's a part of me, because I'm a dad, right, there's a part of me that thinks like, you know, you got to prepare for ultimately the day where you can't do that part of it. You can't do the things physically used to do. And so if it means that much, if it is everything to you, then you have to find it. At some point, you're going to have to find a different part of it to love so that you can focus on that part. Does that make sense? Yeah, well, what's kind of crazy is that that that's been.

once in my life already. I essentially, you know, retired from competing and I'd found my different way in snowboarding. I was designing and building snowboard parks. And I was driving snow cats for backcountry operations, working on guiding certifications, kind of that continuation of the snowboard career after competitiveness. And then I had an accident in 2017 and I lost both my legs. And a few of my friends from Canada snowboard and from the snowboard community were, you know, that bird on my shoulder saying, you know, Paralympics. Like, here's an opportunity for snowboarding. It's still alive for me and well, competitive snowboarding. And, you know, I obviously dove in head first and all in on competing. So I've been able to have a second career in the competitive snowboard

world, which is really awesome. But like you say, that can't last forever. And I can tell you, my body hurts more every day than a lot more younger. Yeah, Dustin, I apologize. I'm fascinating here. I got to ask, I got to ask. I got to ask. here. So, so you lost the, you lost your legs at, uh, below the knees, right? Um, and talking to me about timeline here, um, between that happening and you deciding to embark on the challenge of becoming a paralympian. How, how long are we talking here? Well, it was about a two-year process in the hospital because of all the complications. And I actually had one leg amputated immediately. And then the second leg wasn't.

amputated for another year and a half. And so the process of just kind of rehabilitating and getting back to normal life was just over two years. But once that decision was made and I was back on a snowboard, it was only two years until I was standing in the Stargate at the Paralympics in Beijing in the big finals. And honestly, I was laughing to myself, like, how, how am I here? Well, that, but that's, see, that's what I wanted, that's what I was trying to get at. Like, that doesn't happen for everybody, right?

If you have defined yourself by your by your physicality and your love of pushing yourself and your body to its limits and then all of a sudden your body is different. I mean, that could have cataclysmic effects on one's psyche and how one sees oneself. And I got to think, and this is where I'll bring a dust in. I have to think that it has something to do with the sport and has something to do with the community that you have. I mean, you said it yourself, Tyler, that it's, you know, your friends and your family all came to you and showed you that this could be another goal.

And the fact that you so quickly, I don't want to diminish the transition or the pain, but relative to other people that I've spoken to, the fact that you were able to pivot in a relatively fast time to then find yourself as a Paralympian, I think that speaks to something special about sport, right? Dustin? Most certainly, you know, Tyler, you can't say enough about the guy because it wouldn't matter what part of Tyler's life,

he'll continue to focus both athletically and then as he continues to mature and grow and drive his businesses and things of that nature, he's at the highest level in every part of his life and super intentional about how he goes and does that. And he's such a humble guy that he'll never share otherwise. But he set the stage, set the tone of how that team leads. Yes, it's absolutely a sport piece

where sport does bring people together and unite people like no other sector, like no other. ability within the human psyche. Of course, there's other great opportunities out there like music and whatnot, but sports there each and every day for people, each and every community for people. This community is unique in how it supports and bonds and, you know, allows for people's creativity to, you know, unite with the athleticism of this sport. But you'll see the determination that's required in each and every one of these young athletes and Tyler leading the way and leading the charge and the parricide, you know, but, you know, he inspires that and he's

just an example of the entire community across this country, across the globe, quite honestly. And, you know, snowboarding's uniqueness as you look at the Olympic and Paralympic stage of everyone wants to perform at their best, but they want the best for everybody else out there also. I think that's a really neat part of this sport. Yeah, well, we'll talk about that on the other side. I wonder if that has to do with how the sport evolved and how it had to elbow its way in and demand respect and prove itself along the way. And whatever, whatever the attack. acts were, oh, it's a bunch of irresponsible kids. You had to prove yourself each and every step of the way

to one day become what it is for so many people. We're going to take a quick break. I thought this conversation was going to be one thing, and I'm so excited that it's something different because this is very meaningful for me. Yeah, we're still going to be here. I'm in conversation with Dustin Heiss and Tyler Turner. We're talking snowboarding.

It's a sport that's too cool for me. We're going to leave it at that, and we'll be back with more. We're talking about the state of the Olympics and the Paralympics when we come back. Don't go anywhere. that Ben Mueller and you show continues. For the next little while, we're going to be talking a lot of sport. And throw the Super Bowl in over the weekend.

And that's a lot of conversation that we're having. But I'm really glad to continue my conversation about snowboarding with Dustin Heise. He's the CEO of Snowboard Canada. And Tyler Turner, with an incredible story of being a Canadian para snowboarder and using sport. And I think one of the most positive ways possible. I've always said that sport and organized sport can, it can take you in one of the two directions, especially like with hockey, for example. It can teach you to be a leader.

It can teach you to follow rules. It can teach you to be part of a team. It can teach communication. It can teach discipline. It can teach all those things that you can take later on in life and turn you into a great person. Or it can turn you into someone entitled and go down that path. And it feels to me like the story we're telling today is the former, not the latter. You got that right?

That's great. Let's talk about Snowboard Canada for a second because when you join the organization was when? February 2006. Okay, so you've been there a while now. Yep. So 20 years. 20 years. Okay, what's changed there? What's the mission of Snowboard Canada? Well, it's our goal and our vision to be the world-leading snowboard nation. And so we've gone through the process of working with all the provinces and territories with the snowboard community, our athletes on, well, what does that mean to us in a Canadian context? And so, of course, you know, we want to make sure that we're leading by example with podium performance. We want to make sure that we're uniting and aligning

our system across this incredible country. We want to make sure that we're finding long-term viability around how we can grow the business. And that's exactly what we've been able to accomplish over the last few years with a scaling strategy around major events that drive economic impact across this country for each of the communities that we host World Cups in and other major events

and make sure that our athletes have what they need to the best of our ability through that approach and making sure that we drive the revenues and make sure that we can get that into the hands of the athletes at the end of the day. support their journey, as highly saying. It's not an easy journey. It's a very expensive journey.

And what can we do to make sure that we're doing our part to the best of our ability? I want to take a step back, though, but snowboard Canada, I mean, the way you're talking about it, sounds like it's, you're running it like a business. We are,

and that's the absolute need to drive this organization. We're a national not-for-profit. So, you know, we're federally sanctioned as the Canadian Snowboard Federation. We do business as Canada's snowboard, but we've had to look at it very strategically, because in order for us to keep pace with what the needs are globally,

to be that world-leading snowboard nation, we had to look at it as a company, as a business. So how do we grow that? How do we build assets that we can take to market with a value proposition that enables just that? So not only to sponsors, but of course sponsors, but what's our economic impact in a specific region with sport tourism entities and things of that nature

where we can grow with them, grow with the communities, have a legacy that gets left for each of the stages of the athlete pathway in our, awake as we leave the venues and then make sure that our athletes have what they need on top of that. They get the home field starts and then we leave what we have in the wake for the athletes that are coming up behind them. Tyler, let's talk about competition, right? And we as Canadians, depending on the sport, if it's a sport that you love it, you follow it

all the time. And if not, it's a sport that pops up at the Olympics and you're a casual, a fan and you'll watch it once every four years. But you've been an athlete since you, as you said, since you, you're 15. And there's a community of Canadian athletes and I'm sure a community, a broader community of international snowboarders. Talk to me about, you know, seeing an athlete from another country in one year. And then you go off and you do your thing and you train and you do all this. Then you see them at the next thing. Is it uncommon for somebody to,

because of their training regimen, because of their access to the highest level of training, is it uncommon for somebody to just show up and just perform at a level you never expected from them? Well, you know, it's not that uncommon in the para world because these are folks that had something a lot of the times a traumatic accident happened.

So I very much was that case. I came out of nowhere at my, I got a wild card into my first World Cup because it was so close to the games, it was kind of one of those like, hey, if we're going to do it, let's hail Mary. And I showed up and won that World Cup and that, you know, everyone, it's a very close-knit community.

We travel the world together. We compete World Cups throughout the year. Once you're in the community, it's hard to kind of show up out of nowhere from your year-in-year event to event. But I came out of nowhere. No one really was aware of me because I had both my legs and I was a healthy, able-bodied person. And I had this accident that brought me into the para world. And, yeah, that's where you get the kind of folks coming out of nowhere.

and showing up. And there's been a few over the years since me. There's some, yeah, it's just an unfortunate event. But like we talked about earlier, that passion. If that's where your drive is, then, yeah, you can show up. And some people have to really work for it. But sometimes, you know, I was lucky enough to come from a really long reporting background and high performance background.

And it just continued on. And I think it definitely turned some heads. But once you're in that community, then there's, there's no, you know, it's kind of slow progression if you're going to try and make it to the top. Yeah, Dustin, I've got to wonder about, you know, training for,

look, in Canada, we're an Arctic nation. We've got the Rockies. We've got the, you know, we've got mountains out east. There's a lot of places that you can ski and you can snowboard. Is that enough for us to be able to compete

on the world stage against against countries that they want to dominate everything. I mean, there's a lot of, I think Japan is as an up-and-comer. I know Australia, for some reason, has a strong snowboarding team. So talk to me about what we need in Canada to ensure that the reputation that we've earned on the snowboarding podium is ours for as long as we want it. Yeah, you're dead right. And certainly the Asian nations and China as an example, you know, they've continued to improve and grow and invest millions and millions of dollars into their opportunity to progress in winter sport and in summer sport.

And it's going to be really challenging for all nations to keep up. And it's an opportunity for us as Canadians to really galvanize around sport and to show that Canada is, in fact, that greatest nation on the planet. And we know that to be true. And, you know, we want to do that through Canada as a sporting nation. we have that potential here in Canada, of course, with the resorts and the mountains, but we need that entire ecosystem as a snow sport community to come together, come up with a strategy and make sure that we are in fact aligning that we are in this for win, win, win, finding ways for resorts and partners to continue to grow economically,

support their customers, have great relationships, but also how do we make sure that the sport is healthy and has a long life ahead of itself and supporting these young athletes who inspire the future of those that compete and want to make sure that they're participating, healthfully, in snow sport and for snowboarding. So what do we need? As a nation, what do we need? Well, so we need venue security.

Big part of that venue security is going to be a future where we also have some indoor facilities and be that first in market here in North America to be able to put 24-7, 365 athletes on snow like they can in other parts of the world. And if we don't come up with that strategy

and come up with the opportunity to unlock that potential here in Canada, we'll get left in the dust. So when you say that, I remember seeing an indoor ski hill in the Middle East somewhere in Dubai. It wasn't great skiing, right? They didn't think of a great skiing, but it was something for people to do. I'm thinking you're not thinking something like that.

It's a combination. You know what, Ben? You know what, Ben? We're actually traveling to Dubai to train because that's our opportunity. We're traveling to Dubai. We're traveling to the Netherlands, which has a great indoor facility. And in the summer, you're going to South America. or, you know, we do go to Dubai because it doesn't need to be, you know, as much as it looks

small, we're able to set up exactly what we need there. Okay. To train some of the basics of snowboarding, which is only going to, you know, then when it comes to the big stage and the high speeds and the big jumps, those basics are really solid. Gotcha. I got you. Yeah. Somewhere like Dubai actually is valuable.

Interesting. So, yeah. So what you're saying is there are other countries that are training every second of every day, you know, whether it's warm outside. whether there's snow on the ground and we are missing out. If we don't get behind that and make sure that a front end, we get partnerships with those resorts and with those partners. For example, there's half pipes that are in existence in China and Japan indoors

that they can train 365, 24-7 and get that volume in. And this is a volume-based business. Like every business. Yes. So listen, we've got people listening in Calgary. Calgary, 85% of the Olympic team, Olympic athletes live within a stone's throw of Calgary. Let's do this, Calgary.

Let's build this. And yeah, if you build this, it's being run like a business. You'll turn a profit on it. And then that's one more thing that you need done. Everything will be done for you to host the Olympics again. We've got really open minds here too. We want to make sure that our friends and colleagues in the Montreal and Quebec City area, you name it.

You name it. Here in GTA. Yes. Wherever. Hey, let's just build this stuff. Our athletes deserve it. Not just our attention once every four years, but they deserve our support every single day of every single year.

Tyler Turner, thank you for your story. Dustin Heist, thank you so much for everything that you're doing for the snowboarding community. Don't go anywhere. The Ben Mulernie show continues. Our intel chain is compromised. New on Showcase. You were hacked.

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We either save the mission or save his life. The Copenhagen Test. All new Tuesdays, only on showcase. Stream on Stack TV.