.png)
Under the Canopy
On Outdoor Journal Radio's Under the Canopy podcast, former Minister of Natural Resources, Jerry Ouellette takes you along on the journey to see the places and meet the people that will help you find your outdoor passion and help you live a life close to nature and Under The Canopy.
Under the Canopy
Episode 128: What Anchors Us When The Weather Turns And Life Shifts
A bluebird thaw turned blizzard overnight, and that whiplash becomes a guide to living smarter in winter. We start at the wood pile—why ironwood carries the night, how to plan heat days ahead, and where all that ash can actually help your yard and icy trails. Then the road widens: a check-in from Alberta where plus-four feels like spring, crews gear up for 24-hour shifts repairing Calgary’s aging water mains, and confined space training gets real about oxygen, shoring, and staying sharp when the job is tight and cold.
The conversation threads health through every scene. Night shift routines and vitamin D, a true story about an axe rebound and scalp cut that doubles as a field lesson, and a chaga tea testimonial from a 233-time blood donor who saw blood pressure stabilize. From the shop to the backwoods, preparation beats bravado. We carry that mindset into Red Deer’s hospital expansion—tower cranes, frozen ground, and a province booming as people chase affordable housing—and into energy talk that actually touches the ground: wind turbine realities, bird-safe blade speeds, and why hydrogen timelines hinge on infrastructure and buyers being ready, not hype.
The final turn is the biggest: Garrett is engaged, planning a move back to Ontario, and expecting a baby. That news resets priorities and trip planning alike—choosing the Hearst route over the Soo when lake-effect snow threatens, timing a March drive for safer weather, juggling pets and family health. Through every turn, one truth holds: family first, conditions-aware, and community strong. Hit play for winter-smart strategies, jobsite safety you can use, and a reminder of what warmth really means when the wind picks up. If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review—it helps more people find their way under the canopy.
Hi everybody, I'm Angelo Viola. And I'm Pete Bowman. Now you might know us as the hosts of Canada's favorite fishing show, but now we're hosting a podcast. That's right. Every Thursday, Ang and I'll be right here in your ears, bringing you a brand new episode of Outdoor Journal Radio. Hmm. Now what are we gonna talk about for two hours every week? Well, you know there's gonna be a lot of fishing.
SPEAKER_00:I knew exactly where those fish were going to be and how to catch them, and they were easy to catch.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, but it's not just a fishing show. We're going to be talking to people from all facets of the outdoors.
SPEAKER_08:From athletes, all the other guys would go golfing, me and Garcie and Turk, and all the Russians would go fishing.
SPEAKER_06:The scientists. And now that we're reforesting or anything, it's the perfect transmission environment to line with these.
SPEAKER_13:Chefs, if any game isn't cooked properly, marinated for me. You will taste it.
SPEAKER_03:And whoever else will pick up the phone. Wherever you are, Outdoor Journal Radio seeks to answer the questions and tell the stories of all those who enjoy being outside.
SPEAKER_08:Find us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
SPEAKER_12:But they are still available to those who know where to listen. I'm Jerry Olette, and I was honored to serve as Ontario's Minister of Natural Resources. However, my journey into the woods didn't come from politics. Rather, it came from my time in the bush and a mushroom. In 2015, I was introduced to the birch-hungry fungus known as Chaga, a tree conch with centuries of medicinal applications used by indigenous peoples all over the globe. After nearly a decade of harvest, use, testimonials, and research, my skepticism has faded to obsession. And I now spend my life dedicated to improving the lives of others through natural means. But that's not what the show is about. My pursuit of this strange mushroom and my passion for the outdoors has brought me to the places and around the people that are shaped by our natural world. On Outdoor Journal Radio's Under the Canopy podcast, I'm going to take you along with me to see the places and meet the people that will help you find your outdoor passion and help you live a life close to nature and under the canopy. So join me today for another great episode, and hopefully, we can inspire a few more people to live their lives under the canopy. Well, we really appreciate all our listeners and everything that goes on. I know a couple of businesses have posted a number of the um podcasts on their site. They asked permission first, so I said, sure, if you want, go ahead, yeah, go for it. And it's uh actually it's helped your business quite a bit, so which was kind of very nice to hear. And uh as always, we have our listeners all across Canada, the States, Switzerland, Ghana, Caribbean. Got any questions? Come on, let us know. We do whatever we can. A lot of times I don't get a lot of questions unless people see me, and when they see me is when they tell me. And one of the questions, uh Snuffa, we've heard it from a couple of people, was getting an update and what's happening with Garrett. So we're gonna have Garrett on the program in a little bit, and we'll bring some updates there. And it's it's the weather out here is like crazy. So yesterday was I don't know what plus two, three, something along that line. And then today and they called for a big storm coming in, so I uh got the the everything ready for that, filled up the the wood box in the house to make sure there's a a couple of days worth of wood and get up this morning and have to take Diane to work, my wife. And it's like ten inches of snow out there, minus fourteen, plus the wind. And it's just like, where did this come from? And it's still snowing as I'm talking on the podcast here. It's just amazing to see. And you know, the the the big thing is so I out there I had to send Gunner out, who's a uh my chocolate lab for those that haven't heard, to to break trails so I could get to the wood pile outside today to take in a few more pieces before I came to the studio to hook up so I can just put some put a little more in on the on the fireplace insert to make sure the house is nice and warm. And it was minus fourteen last night, plus two yesterday. I get up this morning and it's twenty-two in the house. I can't believe how well that that fireplace insert works. And it's just it's it's great to see him burning mostly uh hardwood. I've got uh what have I got there? I've got some I've got some crab apple, I've got some maple, I've got some ash and cedar for kindling, and that's what I'm using to keep it going. But it's interesting because now I have to I do planning. And what I mean by that for the fireplace insert. So I have to look days ahead at the weather to try and determine where we need the fireplace the insert to be uh cranking out the most heat, which is days like today and supposed to go down, I don't know, with the wind minus twenty-two or something tonight, but we'll see. And uh two days ago, so I shut her down in order to get rid of all the coals. Uh-huh. Because quite frankly, about a third of the bottom of the the insert ends up being like hot coals, like the size of charcoal briquettes. And if you want to get that down in order to clean it out, I gotta let it sit for a day or two or twenty-four hours anyways, just to take the the ash out of there to make sure it's clean. So that's what I did. I sent I f filled it up, sent out a pile of the ash, and what do you do with all this ash now? Well, I got a couple of spots in the backyard where I actually had a a couple of holes. And what happened was I took some trees out and the the roots started to rot, so there was a big depression there, and when I'm cutting the grass in the back, it makes it tough. So what I did was I I in the winter time, this time of year, now it'll be tough now, but when I could, the dog dirt in the back, I'd fill the hole with dog dirt and then pour some ash in and fill it up that hole. So this spring I'll s put a little bit of topsoil on, seed it, and it'll be nice and level. I got a couple of those, and the ash goes very well in there. And uh not only that, but uh a lot of times in the past, I built a trail through the the woods near our place. And in that trail, it gets everybody uses it now. Nobody knows that I built it, worked with the city. Noel Hutchison was uh a great uh parks and rec director, and I worked with Noel in getting it done. And and now it's solid ice a lot of times there, so I'll take some some of the ash down there and sprinkle it on the ice to just uh give a good grip when I'm walking. Because a lot of people do use that and it's a good spot, but it's a use it on wrist sort of thing. So now, like I said, a couple days ago had to plan. Last night got the fire going and it was still pretty warm. Took uh Gunner for his 10 o'clock r walk around while he runs a run around the block, shall we say, and filled up the stove, had it going, got it going about eight o'clock last night. It was still pretty warm by that time. And last night I put in a big block of a 16 inch by probably six, seven inches in diameter of ironwood. And if you don't know ironwood, it's one of the hardest burning woods around. And that lasted all night long. Got up this morning, like I said, it was twenty-two. So that's that's pretty good. You know, and I was out shoveling the driveway today, I've shoveled the driveway three times already, and I'm sure I'll have to do it a fourth time. But I showed the neighbors, now we've got a neighbors uh on one side of us. They're um they're great people. Well, actually, all the neighbors are nice. But I showed them again how to, because they had snowblowers, I got a shovel. I just use well, I got a snowblower that my father-in-law uh we we we inherited on his passing, bless his soul. And it still sits in the garage and I don't use it, but I gotta get it out and probably get it going. Because it's not so much I don't mind shoveling the driveway, but when the plow goes by and covers the end of the driveway, it is such a pain. So two neighbors out with their snow snow blowers, and I showed them because they're fairly new to the neighborhood, I said, Look, if you make two passes to the front of my yard on the one on the north of us, and across the road to the north of them, two passes about halfway into into the yards, when the snow plow goes by you ain't gonna get any snow. And the rule, well it used to be this, I'm assuming it's the same, you couldn't throw the snow from your driveway onto the road, but nothing to say you can't clear the the snow off the road in front of your place to make sure that it's clear. So when the plow goes by, there's virtually nothing at the end. So I did that once already, and then the neighbor came across and did a bit of a clearing. And I'll have to clear that again because otherwise I'll come by and it'll be a three-foot drift at the end of my driveway. And if you don't get to it fairly quick, it starts to crystallize and makes it pretty tough to kind of shovel. Otherwise, you've got to bring a spade or a and not a snow shovel, but like a spade in order to get into it and get the blocks out of there. Once it hardens up, it makes it really tough. But yeah, so I make a couple of passes there and I clean off the end of the driveway out into the middle of the road, and it works just perfect. I don't have any problems with that at all. But that's what we do for each other, and trying to let everybody know the little secrets on what works and what doesn't work. And it kind of works out, it's pretty good. So now they come across and uh they're more than willing to help out at our place as well, which all the neighbors seem to do, anyways. If it's a snowplow goes by and you're stuck and they got a snow thrower going, they'll come over and clean it out for you, which is just great. And it's kind of good, but we're gonna get to our son Garrett, who's gonna be with us, and we'll talk about what's happening in Garrett and where he's at now.
SPEAKER_07:Back in 2016, Frank and I had a vision to amass the single largest database of muskie angling education material anywhere in the world.
SPEAKER_01:Our dream was to harness the knowledge of this amazing community and share it with passionate anglers just like you.
SPEAKER_07:Thus, the Ugly Pike Podcast was born and quickly grew to become one of the top fishing podcasts in North America.
SPEAKER_01:Step into the world of angling adventures and embrace the thrill of the catch with the Ugly Pike Podcast. Join us on our quest to understand what makes us different as anglers and to uncover what it takes to go after the infamous fish of 10,000 casts.
SPEAKER_07:The Ugly Pike Podcast isn't just about fishing, it's about creating a tight-knit community of passionate anglers who share the same love for the sport. Through laughter, through camaraderie, and an unwavering spirit of adventure, this podcast will bring people together. Subscribe now and never miss a moment of our angling adventures.
SPEAKER_01:Tight lines, everyone.
SPEAKER_07:Find Ugly Pike now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever else you get your podcasts.
SPEAKER_12:And now it's time for another testimonial for Chaga Health and Wellness.
SPEAKER_11:Okay, here we are in Lindsay with Bill, who's actually this gentleman has given blood over 230 times.
SPEAKER_05:233, yeah.
SPEAKER_11:233, and that's amazing. And you've had some success with Chaga. Uh tell us what you're dealing with and what you did and uh how you um what you used.
SPEAKER_05:Well I had mild uh high blood pressure. My high blood pressure wasn't very really high when I was on medication for a few years. And then I drinking company started drinking this tea, and uh the combination tea, the green and the chaga. Really? And uh my medication is gone. Your medication is gone?
SPEAKER_11:And you couldn't give blood during the other times? Yeah, I could. Oh, you could? I could, yeah.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, so but uh a few times uh the machine kicked me up. So it doesn't anymore.
SPEAKER_11:So you think uh the the green tea in the chaga was uh helped uh normalize your blood pressures?
SPEAKER_05:Oh yeah. Very good. Because it wouldn't be just stomping coffee, it would have to be something else.
SPEAKER_11:And that's the only thing you did differently.
SPEAKER_05:Yep. Well, we're thank you very much for that. My blood pressure is probably that of a 40-year-old man and I'm 71. Oh, very good.
SPEAKER_11:Well, that's good to hear. Thank you very much for that. No problem. Okay.
SPEAKER_12:We interrupt this program to bring you a special offer from Chaga Health and Wellness. If you've listened this far and you're still wondering about this strange mushroom that I keep talking about, and whether you would benefit from it or not, I may have something of interest to you. To thank you for listening to the show, I'm going to make trying Chaga that much easier by giving you a dollar off all our Chaga products at checkout. All you have to do is head over to our website, Chaga Health and Wellness.com, place a few items in the cart, and check out with the code CANopy, C-A-N-O-P-Y. If you're new to Chaga, I'd highly recommend the regular Chaga tea. This comes with 15 tea bags per package, and each bag gives you around five or six cups of tea. Hey, thanks for listening.
SPEAKER_10:Back to the episode, how's it going out there? It's good. It's uh a little windier today, but um we're still on the plus side of the temperature. What do you mean plus side? What were you yesterday? It was plus fourteen yesterday, and it's only plus four today.
SPEAKER_12:Oh, only plus four. Well, we're minus fourteen here, buddy. Got up this morning and and it was like eight inches of snow out there. It was just like unbelievable.
SPEAKER_10:Well, I mean, the grass is uh showing here, but it's a little brown, not quite green.
SPEAKER_12:Oh, really? Well, it's I gotta say this it to be honest, it was start of this week. We had some warm weather like you had. I think uh yesterday was plus two, but today it got up, it was uh minus fourteen when I drove in. And the s the roads are horrendous. The plows are out, but uh it's like well, I had to drive mom to work because you know she doesn't do the the the roads, and to be perfectly honest, one on Rosalind Road, the cars couldn't get up the hill crossing the Oshawa Creek there. So I was backed right up to Somerville, and so we uh I had to turn around and and then head down Simcoe to take a different route to get her into work because it was that bad.
SPEAKER_10:Wow, that's kind of surprising.
SPEAKER_12:Yeah, yeah, but so uh but plus four, well it's kind of like me. You don't like the the heat that much, and yesterday was what was it yesterday again? Plus fourteen. Plus fourteen. Were you were you golfing?
SPEAKER_10:You know, I thought about it because it was feeling like spring, and like when that spring air hits, you're like, oh, golfing season's right around the corner. And I thought about it, but no, didn't go golfing.
SPEAKER_12:Plus fourteen. Wow. Well, I'm hoping that that weather blows this way in the next couple of weeks, because to be perfectly honest, I'm almost out of wood. So and I was gonna go get wood today until I got up and went out and go, everything's gonna be covered. I mean, taking down trees and then uh sledding them out on the toboggan and stuff like that. But there was no way. I mean, I'd be trudging through pretty heavy. I well, it was so bad, Garrett. I had send Gunner out into the backyard to break snow to be able to get to the wood pile to bring in wood for the fireplace insert. Well, at least he's doing his job. So what what project you're working on out in Alberta there, Garrett?
SPEAKER_10:Um, so we got a couple on the go. Um just after the New Year's there, we were doing uh training for um a new job coming up because there's uh water main issues out in Calgary here, and there's about probably two dozen, I think there's 25 in total, I think they said, that have to be repaired or serviced or looked at. And uh we'll have to do the training for those. And it's gonna be a uh 24-hour shift kind of thing. So we'll do a day shift, night shift for that. I'm on a couple uh smaller projects until that takes off because they're just waiting for the go-ahead here because they're doing all their pressure testing and everything else. Um, and then I'm back up in red gear uh when they start getting busy again there as well.
SPEAKER_12:So now training, what kind of training do you do then? What uh like what's the specifics for training for the job? I thought you were a red-sealed, uh licensed uh uh steel worker.
SPEAKER_10:Yeah, so uh every couple years though, or every three years, you have to do a confined space training. Um the areas we're working in are gonna be very tight, very close together. Um more or less, if if you can imagine, think of a pipe underground, you got maybe one or two feet underneath that pipe, you have to tie rebar to it to encase it in concrete to secure it for the long time. So you're only working and tying rebar within maybe two, three feet of space.
SPEAKER_12:So when you're doing that, are you are you in an actual hole that you're doing the work?
SPEAKER_10:Um, so it's kind of like a trench. So, and then they'll have proper shoring. Um, so make sure nothing slides in, but more or less you're gonna be kind of in trenches kind of thing, and uh tying rebar very close to your chest because that's all the space you'll have to turn your pliers.
SPEAKER_12:I I can remember uh Bert, you know, the best man at my wedding, Rowley's brother. Yeah, and Bert was telling me he was a carpenter and he was a lead in um on a construction site. And the the rule out here is that you have to have a hole short up. And anyway, so unless it's it's a non like a where a person doesn't go down the hole. So a backhoe went in and dug the hole and two guys were were walking by and they had shovels and they stopped and they looked at the hole. Well, the owner of the company went by and and these two guys are standing there and the hole's not shored up, and he says, Get that hole short up. And Bert says, But but he said, I don't want to hear any excuses. I gotta get it done. Get it done. But but but what because they were just walking by going for lunch with shovels in their hand and stopped and looked at it. And anyway, so all right. So they spend a few hours putting all the boards in for something that uh, you know, backhoe dug, and was the only thing that was gonna be using that was the backhoe. Nobody was going in that one. So I guess those are the sorts of things that you in your confined space, you gotta be sure to make sure everything's okay. Yes, no?
SPEAKER_10:Yep. Oh, you you never know, so you never take any risk. Um so there's lots of testing that goes on for the drawing, there's lots of testing that goes on for air quality as well. You know, they gotta make sure it's in a certain range or percentage there, which usually I think is between, I remember correctly, it's like between 19 and 21 percent of oxygen.
SPEAKER_12:So oh, right, because yeah, because then um, well that's why they got rid of uh if you if you wouldn't remember, but they used to have pits when they worked on cars. Well, you know, when you go in for um an oil change at these drive thru places, they have these pits. Where they you drive over the pit. Yep. All the garages used to be that way. They didn't have hoists to work under. They went down into the pit to do all the work. But all the carbon monoxide would settle at the bottom and people would get carbon monoxide poisoning from working on the cars. So they made them illegal. And I guess it's the same thing there that you have to watch out to make sure that there's not issues like oxygen levels and things like that, right?
SPEAKER_10:Oh, absolutely. Because you can't have too much oxygen either, because then it comes uh like for fire hazards and stuff like that. So it has to fall on certain uh parameters there to make sure that um you know it's all good.
SPEAKER_12:Right. So now you say a 24-hour shift. Is does that mean that uh people are working two 12 hours or 24 hours straight or three, eight-hour shifts, or how does that lay out?
SPEAKER_10:So they're gonna be doing it with two 12-hour shifts. So there'll be a day shift and a night shift. And uh, I've been put on from what I've been told is I'll most likely be put on night shift there.
SPEAKER_12:So is there a premium for working a night shift like extra pay for it?
SPEAKER_10:Yeah, so night shift usually get about uh I think it's 10% um premium for working on the night shift there.
SPEAKER_12:Oh, so there's a bit of an advantage to that, although, you know, um it it makes I can recall the miners, believe it or not, uh was up uh when I was um in government or in opposition when I was elected. Uh Paul, my assistant, his father-in-law worked in a mine in Timmins. So he set me up to go down to this mine. And the elevator shafts were huge. The elevators hold like 150 people for some of these elevators. That's how big these elevators are. They're actually kind of two levels. One uh where you walk into, and then on top of that, everybody's on top of that. But point I was getting to is a lot of these guys when they're working in the mine, they never see sunlight all winter long because they're in there all day, and when they come out it's dark. And they're working in the dark down in the mine. So it's kind of hard on them and end up doing what I end up doing uh and making sure to get my vitamin D level in. So you gotta make sure you have it with food because vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin, which means you have to eat it with food, otherwise it doesn't work. Not like vitamin C, which is a water-soluble one, so you can take your vitamin C. But so even in the wintertime when I'm not getting a chance to get out and be out in the work, out in the woods doing wood or chaga, I'm taking vitamin D fish oils, I get my omegazin, complex B vitamin, some glucosamine with chondroitin, and of course my like I said, my vitamin C and vitamin D. And depending on what the day is, I'll end up taking about anywhere from five to seven thousand five hundred international units of vitamin D just to make sure I got my levels up. So if you're working nighttime, at least uh in the daytime, uh well, you're probably sleeping quite a bit. But it uh you get a chance to get out and get some uh sunshine to get your vitamin D levels up. Because vitamin D is produced naturally in the body with the sun sign. So you there still, Garrett? Have I got you? I think I've lost you, buddy.
SPEAKER_10:Can you hear me?
SPEAKER_12:Okay, I got you back.
SPEAKER_10:Oh, okay.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_12:I lost you there. What did you what did you hear of mine? Did you hear about the vitamin D?
SPEAKER_10:I did. I was gonna say I think in the training they actually advise uh if you're at certain levels or certain indications to take vitamin D at these points now.
SPEAKER_12:Oh, really? Yeah, that's interesting. Well, it's good that it's being recognized as a a way to make sure a good quality of life continues on.
unknown:Yep.
SPEAKER_12:But I I gotta tell you, Garrett, I got a brain fog. I hadn't had enough fluids and so I was in the backyard and and I was out splitting wood. Well, do you remember um the the old house, uh first house where you were in? Well, you probably wouldn't remember what happened, but uh the neighbor, he was working on the storage units that he had and he fell off the roof, he broke his arm and and smashed his head because he went straight down. Anyways, uh it swelled up in his head, and he ended up dying from it because he didn't go to the hospital. So I'm out splitting wood. Was it yesterday or the day before? Let me see. I got brain fog, so uh I need a little more fluids. Um two days ago. Yeah, it was it was two days ago. Okay, and I'm splitting with the axe. The axe hits I somehow I don't know how I did it. The axe hits another um one of the the blocks I'm splitting. It hits that, bounces back, smacks me right in the head. I'm like, what the heck happened there? Anyway, so I start feeling around, I go, what the heck? Blood starts running down my face, down my hand, all covered in my hands. I thought, oh great. So what do I do? I said, uh, I better get over to the clinic, which is not too far away, you know, over the one around the corner from us, Garrett. Oh yeah. So I I rush over there. Uh I've got blood soaked cloth on my head, and I walk in. Uh yes, what happened to you? Well, I split my head open with an axe. What? Oh no, it's a two-hour wait here. You gotta go to the hospital. So I head out. I because I couldn't tell, I couldn't even it was on the top of my head. But it wasn't the sharp edge of the axe, it was the back end, uh, you know, the the part uh just the flat kind of part that hit me. Yep. Anyways, um so and I can't see it because it's on the top of my head, the very top of my head. So I head over to see Mom, and on the way over to see Mum, I pulled through uh one of the drive-thru uh coffee shops and I pull up or make my order and I pull up holding this blood-soaked thing. So and I'm trying to get out my uh my my debit card to pay, and the girl's looking at me, and so I have to take the thing off my head. She's looking, it's just like oh my god! And it's covered in blood, blood down my face, all over my hand. And so I said, Well, hang on just a sec, I'll get my card out, give her my card, and she's like, she's like panicking and doesn't know what to do with the manager and stuff like that. And you better take care of yourself. I say, Yeah, I don't worry, I'm okay. Anyways, got mom to have a look at it. It it was it was just a minor cut, it didn't even require stitches, but uh could certainly still got a little bit of brain fog today. I just need to increase my my uh water level and make sure my Chag A intake is up to make sure it's all okay. But all is good and just another lesson learned that you never know when these things are gonna happen.
SPEAKER_10:Oh, absolutely. And like I've uh I've gone camping before many times, and uh people are like, you know, I usually take care of the firewood because you know, I split wood and cut wood and all this stuff. And then the guys go, oh, let me try, let me try. And you see them swing an axe, and you're just like, you're gonna either smack your shin and then you know have a nice big gash on it, or because you're swinging and you're you're hitting, you're missing the block, you're gonna bounce off like a root or a rock, and it's gonna bounce right back at you if you're not holding it firmly enough.
SPEAKER_12:Yep, exactly. And and this was just by accident, of course, the backyard uh two days ago was solid ice everywhere. So I was trying not to slip. And I I didn't move a lot of the blocks along, so I'd set a block on the splitting block that I'm gonna split, and there was one in front of it, and when I brought the the the axe down, the butt of the axe hit the other block and then caused it to bounce back and hit me. So and I watch TV shows all the time and I'm looking, going, that guy doesn't know how to split wood.
SPEAKER_10:Oh, yeah, me and uh Brittany all the time. I used to say it all the time. Like you sit there and like, yeah, I'm giving that guy uh, he needs to give me his man card because he can't split wood if he's talking about splitting wood.
SPEAKER_12:Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_10:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_12:So whatever uh you mentioned this project in Red Deer. Maybe you can just update us on that.
SPEAKER_10:Yeah, so it's a uh it's a hospital expansion. It's um they said at one point there's gonna be over 800 workers there because there'll be uh guys building the actual clinic, doing all the medical stuff. There's it's a huge uh project there for especially for the size of Red Deer. Um right now they're still in the ground. They are about halfway done, but because the ground's freezing up and everything's getting a little bit harder nowadays um to dig out there, they're having uh a bit of trouble to keep up with us. So they're slow right now, but um they're they're chipping away, uh that's for sure. They got two cranes up now, and I think they're gonna put a permanent mobile crane on the one end because there'll be uh originally they were gonna put three tower cranes, but they had a space uh issue, so they uh decided to put a mobile crane in there.
SPEAKER_12:Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_10:Yeah.
SPEAKER_12:And so and so there's now uh there's quite a bit of work happening in Red Deer?
SPEAKER_10:Um just for the hospital, really. Like overall work, there's not a ton going on. Um just the populations are expanding here in Alberta um actually immensely uh because of all the housing development and everything else, and especially because the way the prices of housing and rent out here is much more significantly cheaper than what you can get other places across Canada. A lot of people are migrating to Alberta right now.
SPEAKER_12:Yeah, so you got a population of about 110, 115,000 at Red Deer and new construction, and and and the same thing in Calgary is where the water water issues are taking place. Yeah. Yeah, I understand that they've had uh at least we see the media stuff on that. So uh but there's no real problem with the quality, you're not on boil water advisory or or any of the sanctions on okay, you can only use water on this day and stuff like that, is there?
SPEAKER_10:No. Um when when they had the first water main issue, I think two years ago now, uh they were like advised to just reduce your water consumption because you know half the line was down. Um, but water quality was fine, everything else was fine. It was just that the the system was about 30 or 40 years old, I think. And and so it was just time to be maintained and replaced. And when they uh did an inspection there, um there were so many significant cracks and pressure cracks in the piping system, they're like, Yeah, we have to replace this. And and now they had another um water main burst that they're just starting to either do the full thing or they're gonna chip away the stuff that needs to get replaced right now.
SPEAKER_12:Oh, yeah. So so that's that's good. Yeah, because I I recall seeing something in the media about the water issues in Calgary and things like that. But uh I know at least they don't have a boil water advisory. I know there were some communities when I was elected that actually had a boil water advisory for 10, 15 years because it was it was way too expensive to upgrade it, but there was nothing wrong with the water, but they couldn't verify and certify it, so they just made it easier to local municipality to have a boil water advisory. So yeah, and so what else is happening out in Alberta? Anything what or what's new or what what's happening, uh things that are happening out there that our listeners haven't heard about lately?
SPEAKER_10:Well, I guess uh personal thing is I'm uh now an engaged man, I'm now a fiance.
SPEAKER_12:Oh, congratulations. Britney's very happy. Yeah, we had you and Brittany on the show. Everything's going well there.
SPEAKER_10:Yeah, everything's good. She's very excited. Um, looking forward to it. Um we're also we've come to the decision that we're uh gonna move back to Ontario to be closer with friends and family.
SPEAKER_12:Great. That's nice to hear. I need somebody to help me with wood. Yeah, well, I uh I'm kidding.
SPEAKER_10:I got one day on February 8th, the day or February 9th, the day after uh the Super Bowl, because I'll be uh home for home for the weekend there because we were able to find a really cheap price on a flight, so I'm gonna come home for four days.
SPEAKER_12:Oh, so you're coming, you're coming to Ontario too.
SPEAKER_10:I'm gonna come to Ontario too now.
SPEAKER_12:Oh, okay, good. Uh does mom know yet?
SPEAKER_10:No, I didn't tell her.
SPEAKER_12:Okay. Uh do you want me to tell her or you want to tell her? I'll let you tell her she likes that.
SPEAKER_10:Yeah, I can tell her. It was kind of like we decided we saw flights last night when Britney was uh me and Britney were going over about booking stuff, and they uh we just checked and they're like, oh, price has dropped, and we can get a round trip for two of us for under you know 400 bucks. We're like, well, why not?
SPEAKER_12:That's a good deal.
SPEAKER_10:What about uh what about the dog?
SPEAKER_12:What about Belle?
SPEAKER_10:Uh we're probably gonna board Belle for the four or five days that she needs to be boarded simply because to have her on the calming drugs and for her to get out of it, she just had to go right back on the calming drugs when we fly back because it's a short trip. So we're probably gonna end up boarding her for the those couple of days.
SPEAKER_12:Yeah, yeah. And last time, well, Brittany was a bit short because Belle and short on having enough medication or wasn't sure. So it was a bit of a scramble because your vet, you know, Bell's vet's in br Alberta, and a lot of the vets here are just nope, you can't do anything unless we do a full inspection of your dog and on and on and on. And and so finally one vet, a great one in Whitby, which was nice to see, and uh giving them a good plug. Uh they're at uh Thickson and Taunton. They said, look, uh just get your vet to send us a prescription and and uh we'll fill it out for you here at this clinic, which was great to see. So yeah, so what happens with well, tell you can tell the story with and without the calming medications.
SPEAKER_10:Well, with that, so the first time we just gave her a very minimal amount. Um, because our our vet said, Oh, just give her uh one or two. She's a very calm dog, it's fine. And of course, when you're on the plane and we're sitting uh sitting there, and next thing you know, like you just hear this barking in the background. You're like, what is that? Oh, it must be just loading them, and then you know, flight takes off, everything goes quiet, and then the air, and you just keep this constant barking in the air, and and Brittany's sitting there and gripping the seat and panicking, she's like, Oh my gosh, like something's wrong, and she's freaking out. And Belle's freaking out too because, right, it's first time flying, different experience, and she has no idea what's going on. And so now uh that we gave her the proper medication, um that we got prescribed somewhere else. Uh she was very calm, didn't hear it once. More or less, she she only barked when they took off because and it was loud and noisy from the plane, and then they barked when she we landed, and that was it.
SPEAKER_12:Oh, yeah. So so a big difference, uh a lot less stress on the dog, too, I guess.
SPEAKER_10:Oh, absolutely. And I feel like because Belle's also known about flying now. I don't I feel like in general she's less concerned about it.
SPEAKER_12:Yeah, she knows what's going on. The first time it's like, what is happening? You know, my ear. I wonder if dogs' ears pop when they go up. Do they have to chew gum?
SPEAKER_10:I I don't know. And I for me, I always have to have a pack of gum. If I'm flying and I don't have gum with me, that's the one thing I will always buy at the airport, is I gotta buy some gum.
SPEAKER_12:Oh, yeah. I remember the first time that we took you and Josh, your brother, uh, we flew out to Manitoba when you guys were still young, and that was the month that Air Canada and Canadian merged together, and they were just, oh, you know, at first, uh, you know, can we get you a kid's with the scented like a kid's meal? Oh, that'd be great. Well, you get on the plane, and because of the mass confusion uh when we booked, it was before any of that. And then uh the merger took place and it was just a a disaster. But you know, you get through that and you learn what to expect and how to deal with it, right? Oh, absolutely. Yeah. So what kind of time frame are you looking at to when you're coming back to Ontario?
SPEAKER_10:Um probably mid-March, depending on how things play out here. Uh I know Brittany is looking around earlier March, and I'm gonna pack up and have everything loaded and shipped out, and then I'll be driving back, but uh someone doesn't like me driving back. Actually, two people don't like me driving across the country by myself. So someone has been requested to drive with me. Oh, who's that? I don't know, but uh this this person there, this guy that's calls on my dad sometimes.
SPEAKER_12:So sounds like I'm taking a trip. Well, it's gotta be after the the show, the sportsman show though, right? Well, it's either gonna be after or it's gonna be right before.
SPEAKER_10:Like so that way we get back in time for it.
SPEAKER_12:Well, but the uh right before the weekend before uh do the Belleville show, and then the week after I've got the uh Toronto Sportsman show. So and we'll be uh lecturing. Well, I don't know yet. I haven't been asked uh or I haven't talked to Mike about that yet, but uh I've always been on stage there. So we'll see what's happening there.
SPEAKER_10:But we'll work it out. Sounds like I'll just say you're coming out and I'll just start driving myself.
SPEAKER_12:Well, the big thing there is the the longer you wait in March, the more likely you're gonna get good weather. And if you can plan the trip uh well enough so that at times it was good weather would be a good thing.
SPEAKER_10:Yes, that's what we're that's the other whole dilemma there and the thought process there of, you know, do we um do I go back early March and when it's still kind of winter in northern on Canada, I guess for that matter? Or do I wait until end of March when maybe it starts to warm up a bit? But again, it all depends on the weather and and what's going on. And obviously, I'd like to be there to help with the sportsman show.
SPEAKER_12:Yeah, I know a lot of guys that drive that northern Ontario route, and there's two ways to go around it. You can you can go down and you go down through Sault Ste. Marie, or you take the northern route and go along through through Hearst. Uh kind of uh it kind of splits over at um Lake Nippagon there, and you go up through Hearst and Kappa Scasing, and all the guys tell me that the the lake effect snow coming off uh Lake Superior and everything down through there makes it really, really tough. It's a little bit farther about I think they said about an hour or more drive total time, something like that. But they don't hit the the bad weather as much when they take the the Hearst Timmins run. But it's like anything, watch the weather, and just like planning for the the woods, uh the fireplace insert, I gotta watch the weather to know when to add the wood and when not to and make sure everything's running good. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, so well, we'll work out the details. But that's glad uh glad you're heading back. Now, I I know you're on lunch, so you haven't got much time. But uh anything else you want to update us on?
SPEAKER_10:Um, there was one thing. Um me and Brittany are also uh we're expecting now.
SPEAKER_12:Oh, well, congratulations. Well, thank you. Congratulations, that's nice to hear.
SPEAKER_10:Yeah, I mean uh Brittany was kind of told uh in recent years and ever since she had a lot of her her personal issues that she was told she can never really have kids. And you know, and if anything was ever gonna happen, it it probably wouldn't be able to go to full term or anything like that. But right now we're uh we've reached viable weeks, which means that if something were to happen, the baby is uh healthy enough and viable enough that it can survive out of the womb right now.
SPEAKER_12:Oh, congratulations. Well, I'm sure you're just delighted and it'll be nice to have family around for such a special occasion.
SPEAKER_10:Oh, absolutely. And you know, something it's it's exciting. You know, obviously the first when you first find out, you're obviously trying to freak out a bit and think, you know, what's going on, how to plan, what do you do, kind of thing. And and now things are a little bit more organized and straightened out. It, you know, it doesn't sound as bad anymore.
SPEAKER_12:So so that adds a lot of interesting aspects of coming back. And and moving back to Ontario and uh you know finding a place and having a place to stay. I mean, obviously yours are welcome at ours, but uh you've got Belle and uh Gunnar and Bell kind of work out details after a bit of time, but then you have the cats, which makes it tough on me because I'm I'm deathly allergic to cats. But uh y you know my sister who lives in Manitoba now, uh Charmaine, anyway, she had a cat, and then I would take medication just to go over and visit her. And within 20 minutes, 25 minutes, I would be because I couldn't breathe. But anyway, so those are all details that we need to work out, right?
SPEAKER_10:Yeah, so yeah, so me and Brittany are excited, and yeah, details we gotta work out with the cats and whatnot, but I'm sure we'll find a way to make a solution there. And you know, Brittany uh wanted me to make the joke and be like, oh, you know, just here's the the baby registry. If anyone wants to donate, you know, appreciate it.
SPEAKER_12:Oh yeah. So yeah, well, that'll be uh a good time and it'll be uh it'll be nice to have a little one around again because they uh have a tendency to refocus life. And for yourself, it kind of I know in our lives it just changed everything, the the importance of or the reality of life and where what really matters as opposed to what we what uh a lot of people think matters. And you find out that a lot of that other stuff um doesn't really amount to anything, but family is so important. It was just like I was with uh John the T guy yesterday who'd rush out and and my first response was family first was one of the key things. And I know that when I got first got elected, the the premier of the day, that's exactly what he said. He said, I want everybody in his uh caucus to realize family first, constituency second, all other responsibilities after that. And uh I've always done that, I've always made sure that we are around. I don't think I ever missed any of your plays or any of your any of your events in your entire life, because family was always first, and I just worked around it because quite frankly, most people don't know, but any elected official who who does their job and does it uh works at it, they're going 24-7. And I could tell stories. Uh I I remember we were out uh we were out at an event at a restaurant and and it was ten o'clock at night.
unknown:Okay.
SPEAKER_12:And uh we come out and I was with staff at the table, and and uh Lori says to me, Was that guy talking to you about politics while you're in the washroom? I said, Yep, he sure was. And it was just like that's the way it goes. And and so I was playing golf with Chris and and Mike, and I can't remember who the fourth was uh at the time. But anyways, um I got talking about that and I said, you know, these guys didn't really understand politics. So I said, everywhere you go, it's it's you just can't believe it. And uh they said, no, really? I said, Oh yeah, you watch. I said, Okay. I said, I'll tell you what. Um you see the starter up there for the at the golf course? And these guys have been playing at this course, they have the same time slot for like 20 years. And sometimes somebody doesn't show up or can't make it, so I get to fill in. Good course, I like it. Anyway, so they said, Yeah, I could talk to I can't remember what his name was, Mike or whatever it was. They said, well, just uh tell him, you know, uh what what I do. Anyways, and uh said, Oh Mike, do you know Jerry here? Da da da da is the MPP for Oshawa? And Mike says, Oh, really? He says, Listen, can you help me out with it? He starts to go into details for his daughter about whatever this issue, and they looked at each other and go, I can't believe this. But just becomes part of the job. But the thing there was I always made sure family was first, and that's what you need to do, because that's what most important thing is. At the end of the day, the the biggest thing is when you need help and everything else, family will be the one there for you.
SPEAKER_10:Yeah, absolutely. And uh, I mean, as someone who grew up with uh, you know, a politician being their, you know, being their dad there, so everyone's like, oh, how's it like? How was it like? And I remember going on your campaigns and uh going on and knocking and door knocking and stuff like that. And um, you know, I had one lady that just asked me there, it's like, and like you get trapped or you get stuck and you you need a rescue there, what we called it. And uh the conversation was having this lady was she wanted just to know, like, what's it like being the you know son of a politician? And I said, Well, to be honest, my dad goes and goes and goes and goes and goes and goes, but he'll never miss my event, and he always makes sure he's always there. And you know, maybe he'll he'll take me to hockey and drop me off, and then you know, when I get go to bed when I was a kid at seven or eight o'clock, he's like, Hey, God go, I'm going to an event tonight, you know, see like a see the way bye kind of thing. Out the door you go, and you'd be home around 11 o'clock after the event closed. Yep. So, you know, and I I never noticed it, you not being there, and that's obviously something that's important and stuck with me, and something that I will always, you know, tell people I'm proud about.
SPEAKER_12:Yeah, well, thank you. Well, I know, and staff got to know that any of the events that took place that I could include kids, they would always put that as a priority. Because quite frankly, most days you have two and three events on in the same day. And how do you decide? Do I go to this, do I go to that, do I go here, or do I go there? And so any of the time that the kids were, you know, there was something that would be you know okay for kids to attend, then those are the ones that took the priority, and I always uh attended those ones. And a lot of people used to say when I was the junior minister for Northern Development and Mines, they said, Oh, we really appreciate you coming up here. You know, you're not like those other politicians that fly everywhere. You drive everywhere. Well, that's because my two kids and my wife were in the car with me. And it was it it it was cheaper for me to drive than it was to fly on short notice and quick flights here, there and everywhere else. But I got time with the the family, and the family got to see northern parts of uh Ontario. Mind you, we didn't do a lot of Thunder Bay was was pushing it a bit. You know, we got to Geraldton once, but that was a bit too far. But any of the other ones, whether it was even Timmins or Sault Ste. Marie or Sudbury, when I'm doing events and announcements and and conventions or speeches, uh the family was always included. And all I did was get two double beds in the hotel room instead of uh uh one single for myself, and then everybody was there and certainly made it a part of a family, made it a family event.
SPEAKER_10:Yeah, I mean I never complained because I always liked uh you know seeing Canada, and that's why a job I'm doing now. It's like I've been to northern BC, I've been to Saskatchewan, northern southern, I've been to almost all over Alberta now. I've been except for Fort Mac. Um and then I hear there's a job in Newfoundland that's potentially was delayed, but there's another one starting up. They got a big uh a dam going on up there. It's Churchill Falls, and that's gonna be a huge expansion there for another Oh, probably two or three year project. Oh, yeah. Yeah, and then uh yeah, lots of stuff going on in northern Ontario. There's a couple gold mines, stuff like that that I was a part of there, and they've got more, and then there's this ring of fire job that's uh making a lot of noise again, and we'll see how that plans out.
SPEAKER_12:So, what's happening with the wind turbines in Newfoundland? Have you heard?
SPEAKER_10:No, so I haven't heard about the wind turbines. They uh were rumored to still possibly go, but because that hydrogen plant isn't gonna happen for another, I think they said eight or six years, I can't remember correctly. Um, the power demand isn't gonna be significant enough to do the windmills at the full thing. So they might just do some smaller ones, but I'm not too sure about the windmill project.
SPEAKER_12:No, yeah, because I met I was doing um an event in Peterborough, and uh the the people beside me, he was from Newfoundland, and and I mentioned to him, I said, Oh, I hear that they got some wind turbines going up because you're talking about uh doing uh the camp job for wind turbines there. Well, I hope they don't come. Do you know the the environmental damage that they do and everything else and on and on and on? And I just like, well, I guess there's an opinion that uh is not uh with a lot of the other people, and he said, Well, we got a new government in there, hopefully they cancel the whole thing. And it's hard to say which is the way to go. I mean, you've there's there's so many different sides. And quite frankly, I'm trying to get uh the uh the the Canadian association that deals with wind turbines on to do a a podcast with us, but they turned me down. So I'll try with somebody else to see if I can get somebody just to talk about the impact and the the actual reality of those situations because I don't know enough about it. I you remember when we went to go used to go to Manitoulin Island? Yep. And they put a wind turbine on Manitoulin Island and we purposely drove up to it to listen to it to see if there was any noise while it was going. And I couldn't hear anything at all. Because they say, Oh, the noise level is so bad. Well, unless you actually expose to it and try and find out. Um maybe it's a little bit different. But yeah, we didn't get any any sound or anything. And I think they they solved the bird issue because uh uh just have the the blades turn slower so the birds can see them. And that way they don't get large die-offs of because uh I I actually read a it was kind of like a wildlife journal that was out there that uh that scientists do reviews and then they publish it on there. And one of the studies was the impact on red-tailed hawks because it's in their perching area, so they would purchase on the tops of these turbines, and then when the blades went too fast, they would end up getting killed. Well, they corrected that by slowing the blades down so they can see them, and it's not an issue now. So but different places, different things, and you're talking a hydrogen plant out there as well?
SPEAKER_10:Um, yes, there's a hydrogen plant going on, and uh their base buyer was supposed to be Germany, but Germany's technology is behind it, they weren't able to be able to process hydrogen for another, I think I said, eight years or so. So they delayed that project because if the project was completed and they weren't producing and shipping hydrogen within a year after, they it put them too far in debt. Um, but there is a hydrogen project going on in Edmonton right now, and that should have actually wrapped up this summer for the main construction of it now, just be all the the boiling makers doing all the piping and stuff for it.
SPEAKER_12:Right. Yeah, I remember you talking about that. Uh certainly was interesting to find out that these sort of new technologies are moving forward. We heard about it. And I recall back it was before I was minister, so it would have been the late 90s, I believe it was. Um meeting with a major corporation who told us that they had uh six hydrogen vehicles that they were testing in the States, and it cost them a million dollars each to produce these and for future future development. And but the biggest part of it was the infrastructure, the the loading stations, and the stability for hydrogen to run vehicles off it. But at that time in the late 90s, they had that technology there that they had in operation, and certainly it was uh an eye-opener for me. Oh, absolutely.
SPEAKER_10:Like uh they had, I think, about maybe a dozen cars in Edmonton running on a hydrogen right now, and more or less they were just doing like airport taxi services, things like that, because uh they weren't trying to do them too much, but they were just trying to make it a little bit more so that people can see them. So, like, oh, let's do an airport service with them, and yeah, you can get a taxi that's a hydrogen vehicle.
SPEAKER_12:Yeah, very interesting, very good. Well, Garrett, I'm gonna let you get back to it. I don't want to take up too much time because you can go out in the nice warm weather there, but I gotta go out into the snow, and Mom said, okay, come get me. So uh I'm picking her up early from work and uh try and muscle it's a way through the roads, and especially if they've plowed out front of the recording studio here, it might be a little difficult to shovel out, but we'll see.
SPEAKER_10:Yeah, well, I mean, uh, we got no snow here, but it's just windy, so but we're uh we're definitely expecting to get it cold again soon here because it was minus 30 uh like two or three weeks ago, and now it's plus 14 yesterday.
SPEAKER_12:So all right, Garrett. Well, thanks for the update. Really appreciate it. Congratulations on all the great news. We're glad to hear those details and look forward to what brings the future there. And whatever you do, after you hang up with me, give mom a call and let her know you're coming in February, okay?
SPEAKER_10:Well, I'll let her know after work because I'm sure the boss is like, where the heck is this guy now?
SPEAKER_12:All right, Garrett. We appreciate your time. All the best, and just some updates out there under the canopy. Yep. Take care.
SPEAKER_04:But this podcast will be more than that. Every week on Diaries of a Lodge Owner, I'm going to introduce you to a ton of great people. Share their stories of our trials, tribulations, and inspirations. Learn and have plenty of laughs along the way.
SPEAKER_02:Meanwhile, we're sitting there bobbing along, trying to figure out how to catch a bass. And we both decided one day we were going to be on television doing a fishing show.
SPEAKER_08:My hands get sore a little bit when I'm reeling in all those bass in the summertime, but that's might be more fishing than it was punchy.
SPEAKER_04:You so confidently you said, Hey Pat, have you ever eaten a drink? Find diaries of a lodge owner now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.