Great Northern Discussions

​Jasmin Laine is the host of the hit Youtube podcast "Over Opinionated". The show tackles Canadian politics daily, with the common underlying theme of holding our government to account. The former broadcaster, turned online sensation consistently ranked in the Top 5 in Canada, just behind Joe Rogan for Canadian podcast listenership during the 2025 Federal Election. There is no holding back in this...

Canada Action is an energy advocacy group that was started by a local Calgary Real Estate guru in Cody Battershill way back in 2010. I started by asking one simple question of Cody, and that is how does a real estate guy find himself advocating passionately for resource development? Over an hour later my noggin was filled with so many stats and figures on our own sector I couldn't wait to share wh...

Dr. Robert Dickson is a long time Calgary physician. Most importantly he is a health advocate and founder at Safe Water Calgary. Happening very soon, we once again will be putting fluoride back into Calgary's water. Calgary has voted on the hotly contested issue of fluoridation in our city's water supply 7 times dating back to the 1950s! In fact, it's hotly contested everywhere! In a landmark case...

Andrew McMurray is the CEO of Calgary based ShearFRAC. It's a revolutionary company that provides the missing link between completions, geology and reservoir engineering through their unique fracture diagnostic measurement technologies. Their live-streaming technology platform, FracBRAIN®,, displays second-by-second fracture measurements and active fracture guidance to visualize rock response and...

Sean Alexander is a former Canadian Oil-Patcher turned CEO at Kailani Outdoors. His path to get there was unconventional to say the least. In this episode we tip our toes briefly into Sean's up-bringing, which includes him being forced to live on is own at the age of 16, and having already switched schools 14 times by grade eight. Eventually he would drop out of high school to go make a life for h...

Adam Tiller is a stand-up comedian and podcast host located in Seattle, WA. He performs regularly at Laughs Comedy Club, Tacoma Comedy Club, Nate Jackson's Super Funny Comedy Club, and Club Comedy. He was a Participant in the "World Series of Comedy" Festival and a semifinalist in Nate Jackson's "Funniest MF" Competition. He has also opened for the following Headliners: Sam Morril, Doug Stanhope,...

Caylan Ford was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta and is the current Founder and owner/operator at her recently expanded Alberta Classical Academy. They're up to 3 locations already in Alberta in a very short amount of time. But how she got here is a story still unfolding. Caylan was one of the brightest up-and-coming star political candidates for the UCP, running for a spot in her riding of Cal...

Meet Brittany. She is outstanding Social Media content creator, turned political promoter for all things Conservatism. Based on her core values she decided to dive deeper into having more of a voice for the conservative movement in Canada. She found herself pumping messaging for  @canadaproud7022  while garnering hundreds of thousands of views. While most of the responses were positive, with the g...

Sonya Sharp is a Ward 1 born and raised City of Calgary Councillor. She is a rare-breed indeed for two reasons, the first being a City Councillor whom was born and raised in her own Ward, although it does happen from time to time. The second being that, not only does she represent where she has spent her entire life, but she also worked for the City of Calgary for 20 years before deciding to enter...

Lesley Atkins is a Scottish-born Social Media Manager for the Windmill Golf Group here in Calgary, Alberta Canada. She also happens to be a budding Social Media Golf Influencer, a current Rookie of the Year World Long Driver now ranked #17th in the world, AND combined with all of this she is a true little Candian sweetheart, that packs a monstrous punch! In this episode we get into Lesley's upbrin...

Generation Green is the latest documentary from Heidi McKillop and ASN Productions. She is a proud transplanted Albertan from the maritimes, with a true passion for the west and western interests. In this episode we trace Heidi's unorthodox journey into filmmaking, and then get right down to brass tax. We dissect Generation Green, which is available on youtube now. It begins with a focus on the bi...

Claire Masikewich had the seemingly normal storybook tale of a healthy young family of four. Until the fateful day of May 26, 2023.  Sloane Masikewich, 5 and half years old and the youngest sibling to sister Indy, wasn't feeling very well one may long weekend. Her signs and symptoms didn't seem too serious for anybody to fuss about, but she kept on getting worse including fever, body aches and pai...

Hey Folks, in this episode I give it a crack on my own to give you, the listeners, an update on Great Northern Discussions. I simply wanted to convey the point of the show, how I got here and where I hope to go with the show. I ramble for a good 25 minutes, wow I can yap! In addition I do have a couple of gripes regarding Politics, and the state of Canada as a whole right now.....weird eh? Please...

Dr. William (Bill) Kent saved my life, twice. That is his job.  Being a cardiac surgeon, a Director of Surgical, and a Clinical Assistant Professor-Cardiac Sciences at the University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada it's safe to say Dr. Bill is one busy guy. And after this phenomenal discussion on everything hearts, that is putting it lightly. We are lucky to have him here in our backyards saving heart...

Kevin Humeny is the Managing Director, and CFO of Parcel B Limited. It's a savvy Calgarian Private Equity Company that has been making some terrific headway in that space. He also happens to be my brother in law! I am a lucky guy to have been able to welcome Kevin into the family some 6 years ago now. K2, as he is affectionately referred to around the households, has had quite the past. Kevin is a...

 Dan McLean grew up living the farm life just outside of Camrose, Alberta, Canada. He grew up learning the values of work ethic and respecting others. Fast forward to his earlier working years, he took a chance on selling golf-carts, of all things. And he never looked back. His business rapidly exploded as he couldn't keep his farmland full of enough golf carts to keep up with the orders. His crow...

Chanse Vigen has spent his entire life on a horse. He had followed his Father, Mike Vigen, and his grandfather Ralph Vigen since he was a young cowboy with a whip in his back pocket hoping to just get tall enough to "reach the horn" (on a saddle) and to race like his family did before him. Many years later after spending almost 15 years as an Outrider on the racing circuit, he found himself thrust...

Aaron Volpatti is the author of his current book Fighter-Defying the NHL Odds, and Cognitive Performance Coach/Speaker. Aaron grew up like most Canadian kids dreaming of making it big in hockey while living in the picturesque town of Revelstoke, British Columbia. While admittedly not the most talented kid around on the ice, once he ventured to the bigger cities, it became apparent to him he had a...

Chris Carlsen is the President and CEO at Birchcliff Energy Ltd. based out of Calgary, Alberta Canada. In this episode we discuss growing up in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and later chasing his schooling dream of becoming a Chemical Engineer. He eventually almost literally stumbled into the Canadian Oilpatch, from a field level. We track his path through schooling, and to eventually grinding it out an...

John Barlow is a Member of Parliament representing Foothills, Alberta for the Conservative Party of Canada. He is also the shadow minister for Agriculture, Agri-food, and Food Security. John spent the first quarter of his working life in Journalism after having left Saskatchewan to chase down his future. He excelled in Journalism so much so, he eventually went on to be the Editor of the Western Wh...

Chad Hayden is the President, CEO and Founder of Galatea Technologies here in Calgary, AB. After getting over 10 years of field experience from land and off-shore drilling rigs, to running as a mud man, all the while learning to write code on his own, Chad discovered himself to be a problem solver. While in the field he also discovered some serious flaws in the industry......he sought out the solu...

Jay McNeil is the new President of the Calgary Stampeders football club. Jay had a tremendous playing career as a massive 300lb Offensive Lineman first at Kent State University, Ohio, and later while playing for the Calgary Stampeders. He was a 7 time CFL All-Star, was awarded the President's Ring as voted on by his peers, and won 2 Grey Cups with the Stamps. Aside from all of his accomplishments...

Ken Reid is no stranger to any Canadian sports fan. He is the Co Anchor along with Sportsnet desk partner Evanka Osmak. They make a deadly duo. Perhaps an even greater duo was born in this episode! We discuss his newest book (#7) Hometown Hockey Heroes, whereby Ken ripped across Canada trying to discover local legends that never quite made the "show" for various unknown reasons. One of those puck...

Brad Banister is the current President of New Tech Solids, a game changing and innovative start up venture, based out of Calgary, Alberta, Canada that could help revolutionize Drilling Rigs from an environmental perspective. We discuss getting started on the drilling rigs in Alberta in his mid 20s, to building 2 niche start ups in the energy sector, and hitting home runs on both those businesses....

Patrick Seymour is a local Drilling Superintendent and Workover/Project Manager here in Calgary. He is the 3rd generation in his family to be a part of our boom or bust energy sector. While he is passionate about oil and gas, he is also passionate about the environment, climate change, and of course the preservation of the beautiful Rocky Mountains. So much so that he has transformed himself into...