The NHPPA Podcast

Shawn Buckley interviews Elliot Overton, qualified nutritionist and leading expert on thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency and high-dose therapy. Learn why thiamine deficiency is more common than most realize and how targeted supplementation can make a significant difference. Learn more and help NHPPA ensure access to natural health products in Canada https://nhppa.org/subscribe/

A short address by MP Blaine Calkins recorded during the Parliament Hill event of the Health Charter Tour, following the official handoff of the Charter of Health Freedom paper petitions by Shawn Buckley. MP Calkins accepts over 150,000 handwritten signatures, noting that additional petitions were still arriving by mail, bringing the total well beyond that number. He thanks volunteers and advocates across Canada for their sustained efforts to protect access to natural health products and reflects on his nearly two decades in Parliament, emphasizing that this issue has returned due to recent legislative changes. MP Calkins explains that Bill C-47 redefined natural health products without meaningful debate, prompting widespread public response. He describes drafting a private member’s bill to restore the previous definition of natural health products, drawing on personal experience as a regular user and highlighting the absurdity of regulating vitamins such as vitamin D in the same manner as chemotherapy drugs. He outlines the parliamentary process ahead, stresses the importance of continued public pressure across party lines in a minority Parliament, and commits to tabling and advancing the bill as a matter of common sense, affordability, and Canadians’ right to care for their own health. Learn more about the NHPPA’s cross-Canada tour and the Charter of Health Freedom at nhppa.org/join-the-tour/. Subscribe to our free newsletter to stay informed about how you can educate and activate your community: https://nhppa.org/subscribe/

A brief conversation with Jason Dahl, campaign coordinator for the NHPPA, recorded during the Parliament Hill event of the Health Charter Tour. Speaking as a Yukoner from Whitehorse, Jason highlights the nationwide relevance of the tour by contrasting the Yukon’s small population with the scale of federal decision-making that affects all Canadians equally. He explains how concerns about access to natural health products and the right to make personal health choices resonate just as strongly in northern and remote communities as they do in large urban centres. Jason describes organizing a Yukon event with uncertainty about turnout, only to see it fill a local health food store, reinforcing that Canadians across the country share the same concerns about overregulation and health freedom. He emphasizes the importance of national solidarity, grassroots organizing, and ensuring that voices from the territories are represented in conversations about health policy and access. Learn more about the NHPPA’s cross-Canada tour and the Charter of Health Freedom at nhppa.org/join-the-tour/. Subscribe to our free newsletter to stay informed about how you can educate and activate your community: https://nhppa.org/subscribe/

A conversation with Marie-Lise, recorded during the Parliament Hill event of the Health Charter Tour. Speaking in French, Marie-Lise describes her role as the Quebec representative for the Charter of Health Freedom and her journey running the “Blue Highway” from Quebec City to Ottawa to collect signatures. (Translated from French) With more than 40 years of experience in the natural health field, she reflects on how increasing regulation since 2008 has forced companies to close, raised costs for natural health products, and placed growing burdens on practitioners, manufacturers, and consumers. Marie-Lise explains that the Charter was created to protect freedom of choice in healthcare, including the right to choose one’s naturopath, homeopath, therapist, and treatments. She recounts personally collecting approximately 3,000 signatures in Quebec as part of a nationwide paper petition that surpassed 150,000 signatures, making it one of the largest of its kind in Canadian history. She describes the Health Charter Tour as a historic, grassroots movement that brought together consumers, practitioners, retailers, producers, and distributors across the country, and emphasizes that delivering the Charter to Parliament represents the beginning of a larger effort to reclaim health choice, dignity, and access for Canadians. Learn more about the NHPPA’s cross-Canada tour and the Charter of Health Freedom at nhppa.org/join-the-tour/. Subscribe to our free newsletter to stay informed about how you can educate and activate your community: https://nhppa.org/subscribe/

A reflective conversation with Ken Drysdale recorded during the NHPPA Health Charter Tour event at Biker’s Church in Ottawa. Ken explains the origins and structure of the National Citizens Inquiry, a citizen-funded and citizen-run quasi-judicial inquiry formed to examine how governments at all levels handled COVID-related policies. He describes the unprecedented scope of the inquiry, which heard testimony from 305 witnesses across eight Canadian cities, producing a comprehensive public report exceeding 5,000 pages, including a 664-page written analysis. Ken outlines how the inquiry was designed to be accessible to everyday Canadians through plain language, a detailed table of contents, and freely available online access. He reflects on the emotional and social impact of the hearings, noting how the process helped many participants realize they were not alone or “crazy,” and compares the inquiry’s role to an “injection of truth” that reduced fear and restored dialogue. The conversation addresses widespread media silence, censorship, and the concentration of media power, emphasizing the importance of grassroots communication and citizen involvement. Ken concludes with a call for Canadians to move beyond passive voting, get involved locally, share information responsibly, and actively participate in restoring democratic accountability and community resilience. Learn more about the NHPPA’s cross-Canada tour and the Charter of Health Freedom at nhppa.org/join-the-tour/. Subscribe to our free newsletter to stay informed about how you can educate and activate your community: https://nhppa.org/subscribe/

A conversation with Renato Persechino recorded during the NHPPA Health Charter Tour event at Biker’s Church in Ottawa. Renato shares how his lifelong interest in health began in childhood after witnessing his grandfather’s rapid decline from lung cancer, leading him to study human performance, nutrition, and resilience. He describes his training in orthomolecular nutrition, homeopathy, and functional medicine, and explains his work supporting clients through lifestyle, movement, stress reduction, and targeted nutrient support. Renato discusses the critical role of independent health food stores, where well-trained staff provide guidance tailored to individual needs, contrasting this with big-box retail and online purchasing. He outlines how Health Canada regulations restrict staff from discussing effective nutrient dosages, using vitamin C as an example, despite its well-established role in immune function. Throughout the conversation, Renato emphasizes the importance of community-based health stores, ongoing staff education, and maintaining access to vital nutrients to prevent worsening chronic disease and rising mortality. Learn more about the NHPPA’s cross-Canada tour and the Charter of Health Freedom at nhppa.org/join-the-tour/. Subscribe to our free newsletter to stay informed about how you can educate and activate your community: https://nhppa.org/subscribe/

In this episode, we explore the growing impact of poor nutrition on chronic conditions, the role of vitamins like vitamin D in preventing disease, and why many patients see profound improvements when underlying deficiencies are addressed. Dr. Malthouse also speaks candidly about the limitations of the conventional medical system and how integrative approaches can offer meaningful alternatives for patients seeking better outcomes.

In this segment, Shawn Buckley explains why Health Canada’s safety assessment of cloned meat is fundamentally inadequate and why key risks have been ignored. Shawn walks through how Health Canada claims cloned meat is safe while explicitly refusing to assess the very risks that make cloning dangerous, including unpredictable genetic defects, anatomical abnormalities, and increased use of hormones, antibiotics, and other drugs. He explains that Health Canada’s assessment ignores the reality that most cloned animals never survive to maturity and relies only on data from the small fraction that do. Shawn compares this approach to evaluating seatbelts while refusing to consider car crashes, illustrating how the core danger is deliberately excluded from analysis. He also explains that Health Canada relies on limited nutrient comparisons and selectively cites U.S. regulatory conclusions while failing to mention that the European Union has banned both cloned meat and the cloning of farm animals entirely. Shawn outlines what a reasonable safety process would actually require, including large-scale, long-term animal studies, ethical human trials, screening for genetic defects and drug residues, and post-market surveillance—none of which currently exist. He concludes by warning that Canadians are being asked to accept cloned meat without evidence of safety and urges viewers to recognize this as part of a broader manufactured consent process. Find out more:https://nhppa.org/manufacturing-consent/ Read Shawn’s discussion paper:https://nhppa.org/manufacturing-consent/#discussion-consent Support this work with a donation:https://nhppa.org/donate

In this segment, Shawn Buckley explains why Canada is in the middle of a manufactured consent exercise designed to normalize the consumption of cloned meat—first with labeling, and eventually without it. Shawn walks through Health Canada’s own opinion document and shows how regulators begin with a predetermined conclusion that cloned meat is “safe,” then work backwards to justify that claim. He explains that most cloned animals never survive to maturity due to genetic defects, organ damage, and developmental failures, yet safety claims rely only on the small fraction of animals that survive long enough to be studied. Shawn details how Health Canada uses superficial comparisons, such as limited nutrient equivalence, while ignoring the core risks inherent to cloning itself, including unpredictable genetic abnormalities, increased illness, and the heavy use of hormones, antibiotics, and chemical drugs in cloned animals. He also explains why these risks are never meaningfully addressed in the safety assessment and how similar genetic technologies have already produced unexpected harms in other contexts. The segment concludes by showing how ignoring known dangers is a defining feature of manufactured consent, allowing regulators and media to promote cloned meat while discouraging genuine public scrutiny. Find out more:https://nhppa.org/manufacturing-consent/ Read Shawn’s discussion paper:https://nhppa.org/manufacturing-consent/#discussion-consent Support this work with a donation:https://nhppa.org/donate

In this combined segment, Shawn reviews the animal studies that Health Canada relies on to justify the safety of cloned meat. He explains what these studies actually reveal: high rates of abnormalities, developmental failures, health complications, and premature deaths in cloned animals. Despite these outcomes, regulators present the data as proof of safety. Shawn shows how selective interpretation, omission, and reframing of evidence are used to manufacture an impression of confidence where none exists. He also explains why these animal studies raise serious unanswered questions about long-term human consumption. Find out more: https://nhppa.org/manufacturing-consent/ Read Shawn’s discussion paper: https://nhppa.org/manufacturing-consent/#discussion-consent Support this work with a donation: https://nhppa.org/donate

Interview with Jenn recorded during the NHPPA Health Charter Tour live event in Lloydminster, Alberta. Jenn shares her perspective on health freedom, access to natural health products, and the importance of community advocacy and patient choice in healthcare. Learn more about the NHPPA’s cross-Canada tour and the Charter of Health Freedom at nhppa.org/join-the-tour/. Subscribe to our free newsletter to stay informed about how you can educate and activate your community: https://nhppa.org/subscribe/

Interview with holistic practitioner Sheila recorded during the NHPPA Health Charter Tour live event in Lloydminster, Alberta. Sheila shares her experience leaving hospital nursing due to ethical concerns, emphasizing the loss of healing environments, whole foods, and patient-centered care. She discusses the health impacts of processed foods, sugar consumption, genetically modified foods, and glyphosate, including their role in gut inflammation, nutrient deficiencies, and chronic disease. Sheila also explains how unresolved emotional and developmental trauma contributes to illness, describing healing as a process that must address physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of health. Learn more about the NHPPA’s cross-Canada tour and the Charter of Health Freedom at nhppa.org/join-the-tour/. Subscribe to our free newsletter to stay informed about how you can educate and activate your community: https://nhppa.org/subscribe/

A wide-ranging conversation with Udo Erasmus recorded during the NHPPA Health Charter Tour in Vancouver. Udo reflects on his early life experiences as a war refugee and how they shaped his lifelong search for harmony, health, and truth. He recounts leaving medical school after realizing that medicine focuses on disease rather than understanding health, and later suffering pesticide poisoning while working as a sprayer, which led him to investigate nutrition as the foundation of health. Udo explains the concept of essential nutrients, emphasizing that essential fatty acids are required for life and that omega-3 deficiency is widespread due to industrial oil processing methods that damage fats through heat, chemicals, light, and oxygen exposure. He describes how damaged oils contribute to chronic illness, why modern food systems fail to protect health, and how his work led to the development of oils made with health rather than shelf life in mind. The conversation also explores broader themes of truth, spirituality, personal responsibility, and the need for honest dialogue about health, nutrition, and policy, including concerns about Health Canada restricting access to essential nutrients. Learn more about the NHPPA’s cross-Canada tour and the Charter of Health Freedom at nhppa.org/join-the-tour/. Subscribe to our free newsletter to stay informed about how you can educate and activate your community: https://nhppa.org/subscribe/