 Heaps is the grandson of Abraham Albert Heaps, a leader of the Winnipeg General Strike, left-wing Member of Parliament in the 1920s and 1930s, and founding member of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation.Heaps' father, Leo, received a military cross for service in World War II and was a New Democratic Party candidate in the 1979 federal election in the riding of Eglinton—Lawrence, while his son Toby was a senior staffer in Ralph Nader's 2004 US presidential campaign.Heaps is a former vice-president of an independent music label.