John Bolton - A Kinder, Gentler Jeff Rath？ - Crowds, Momentum and Talk of Treason

00:00:00.000 I mean, we're very serious people. We're treating this as a very serious project.

00:00:04.060 We're doing our due diligence on behalf of the citizens of Alberta.

00:00:08.200 We are looking forward to the day where we leave Canada and we will be paying no more federal income tax,

00:00:13.380 no more GST, no more carbon tax, and that Alberta will be the lowest tax,

00:00:18.160 lowest regulated jurisdiction in North America.

00:00:21.680 So that's what we're working forward to.

00:00:26.180 Hi, it's John and welcome to the channel.

00:00:28.160 Well, great to have you along recording this on Tuesday, February the 3rd.

00:00:32.160 You're watching it on Wednesday, February the 4th here with the Big Blue Mug of Coffee.

00:00:37.420 Hope you're having a wonderful day today.

00:00:39.080 Familiar face on the channel today, Jeff Rath, who's been very familiar in the media over the last week or so,

00:00:46.140 which we're going to talk about here, Jeff.

00:00:48.040 Welcome to the channel. It's always good to have you on.

00:00:51.040 Thanks for having me on, John.

00:00:52.520 So we've got an event. I want to bring this up right off the top.

00:00:55.060 It was sort of a last-minute one that I found out about on Monday, but there's an event coming up here in Calgary at the Dalhousie Community Association.

00:01:03.440 I'll put the information up on the screen right now.

00:01:06.500 And you're going to be there, one of the speakers, and Mitch Sylvester as well.

00:01:10.500 You've been doing a lot of these things, and you're looking forward to Thursday night, I'm sure.

00:01:14.180 Yeah, absolutely. I love doing events in Calgary.

00:01:18.180 We get to talk to friends and neighbors and family and all kinds of new people that are coming out to Alberta Independence events for the first time.

00:01:28.120 And having the message reinforced as to why we all need just to get the hell out of Canada.

00:01:33.140 So, yeah, I'm really looking forward to it.

00:01:35.300 It's going to be at Dalhousie on Thursday night, 7 o'clock p.m.

00:01:38.140 at the Dalhousie Community Association, 5432 Dalhart Road, Northwest.

00:01:47.880 And there will be a petition signing from 6 to 9 as well.

00:01:50.580 So if you haven't signed the petition, you can do that.

00:01:53.600 And at 7, you'll be speaking along with Mitch.

00:01:55.540 And I'm going to be there as well. I'm going to see the event.

00:01:57.200 So I'm looking forward to seeing you.

00:01:58.320 And what we're trying to do now with these events is we're trying to have lots of canvassers out so that there aren't any big lineups so we can get people through 10 or 15 people at a time.

00:02:08.080 You know, they're all going very, very well.

00:02:09.920 The event at the Big Four we held last Monday was incredibly well organized.

00:02:13.820 We had 150 canvassers at the Big Four building, and we were literally running people through 150 at a time.

00:02:20.960 We had a lineup of over 700 people waiting to get in first thing Monday or, yeah, first thing Monday morning at the Calgary Big Four event.

00:02:30.120 And that whole line was serviced, and people were going merrily on their way, merrily, I mean happily on their way within half an hour of the doors opening.

00:02:37.820 So it was fantastic.

00:02:39.160 Well, I was told that day that they got 888 signatures in the first hour and 10 minutes.

00:02:45.540 That's incredible.

00:02:46.180 Oh, yeah. No, it was great.

00:02:47.260 We had that day, if you want to hear something interesting, we had over 10,000 people go through the Big Four building that day.

00:02:54.400 We had 4,960.

00:02:56.620 The fire marshal was turning them away at the door Monday night for the speaking event.

00:03:01.420 And then throughout the day, we had over 6,000 people filter through the Big Four to sign the petition.

00:03:07.060 So it was a phenomenal day for us.

00:03:09.120 Calgary really came out to show, you know, that Calgary spirit and show that, you know, that Calgarians are just, you know, are as fed up with the way we've been treated by Canada as the rest of the province.

00:03:22.120 And it was just a great day all the way around.

00:03:24.340 Yeah, I was at home checking out, seeing people line up there.

00:03:27.560 I went down about 2 o'clock in the afternoon.

00:03:29.140 And fortunately, they don't allow you to take pictures where the petitions are being signed.

00:03:32.680 But there were, it was just incredible all afternoon.

00:03:35.680 Let me ask you this, Jeff.

00:03:36.580 Something dawned on me when you were talking about the new people coming out to these events.

00:03:41.660 Do you feel that maybe sometimes you go out to these events and you're preaching to the already converted?

00:03:46.240 Or are we seeing a lot of new people and new faces at these events?

00:03:49.140 It's a lot of new people.

00:03:51.040 We always ask people at these events how many people are new and how many people, you know, have been before.

00:03:56.100 And right now, all the audiences we're speaking to, it's about three quarters of people have ever been to an APP event or, you know, an Alberta independence event before.

00:04:05.520 But they're there to sign the petition, whether they've been to an event or not.

00:04:08.600 They just stay to hear what it's all about.

00:04:10.760 And they leave even more energized afterwards, knowing that, you know, that they've done the right thing or that they can now do the right thing by signing a petition to get Alberta out of Canada.

00:04:20.520 I've heard you say that you're looking to get a million signatures.

00:04:23.100 Do you think it's, do you think that's a wise thing to do to set yourself a goal like that?

00:04:27.300 If you fall short?

00:04:29.060 Yeah, go ahead.

00:04:30.440 No, no.

00:04:30.940 Well, I mean, have I ever been accused of being wise?

00:04:34.000 Well, you know what?

00:04:36.660 You know, in this interview.

00:04:37.820 No, but I mean, you know, I mean, the reason we're doing that is that, you know, we want people to understand that, you know, like we're peddled to the metal right now.

00:04:46.800 And we're not, we're not stopping at 178,000 or 200,000 or 300,000 signatures.

00:04:52.360 We want to get as many signatures as we possibly can to demonstrate the strength of our movement to the government of Alberta.

00:05:00.220 We certainly want to get more than, you know, the 400,000 signatures.

00:05:03.700 And I don't even believe Lukasik got 400,000 signatures because the initial pass that, you know, Elections Canada took to the Lukasik signatures, they were going to get this.

00:05:13.260 They had a 20% fraud rate right off the top.

00:05:16.160 They turned in 456,000.

00:05:18.600 And then that number got knocked back to, you know, 406,000.

00:05:22.600 And then Elections Alberta said, oh, that's close enough, blah, blah.

00:05:26.560 But I think, you know, if you have a 20% fraud rate, they should have gone through all of those signatures, not just sort of do an audit of them, right?

00:05:35.820 I think the fraud rate was a lot higher than 20%.

00:05:39.200 You know, and keep in mind, you know, Lukasik wasn't, they weren't, you know, they weren't required to ask for photo ID.

00:05:45.400 They, you know, were signing up people from out of town.

00:05:48.880 I mean, I don't know how many Mickey Mouses and Donald Ducks, you know, said that they were remaining in Canada.

00:05:54.360 I mean, that whole Lukasik petition effort was, you know, and it was, I can use this language, it was a fraud from start to finish.

00:06:00.740 Because even the question was, you know, we want a referendum on the following question.

00:06:05.980 So then what happens after Lukasik runs around the province saying that his petition is going to block our petition and blah, blah, blah, right?

00:06:13.720 Well, then after the petition's over, it's like, oh, well, we never wanted a referendum in the first place.

00:06:19.460 So wait a minute.

00:06:20.220 So were you lying to Elections Alberta when you submitted the petition on day one?

00:06:24.340 Or are you lying now?

00:06:25.940 And I think, I think there should be an investigation held.

00:06:29.400 And I think, no, Lukasik is, you know, has withdrawn that petition and said he never wanted to go to a referendum when it clearly says we want a referendum.

00:06:37.340 Elections Alberta should be going after Lukasik and having him personally repay Elections Alberta for all of the time and money they had to spend counting his signatures, verifying his signatures, his whole signature process, when it's clear that it was fraudulent from start to finish.

00:06:55.680 You know, he engaged Elections Alberta in a process that he never intended to see through.

00:07:01.460 It's pretty shocking what he did, if you actually think about it.

00:07:04.080 And the thing that would concern me about that, and we'll move on from it in a second here, is I actually sent, I actually sent some questions to Gordon McClure, who is the chief electoral officer of Alberta at the time, saying, what's the point in having a referendum if regardless of how it's answered, you get the same result?

00:07:19.640 Because that's what Lukasik's thing was about.

00:07:22.020 It was really not a referendum on anything because it wasn't a constitutional question.

00:07:26.160 So I don't know why they even okayed the question in the first place, and I didn't really get an answer to my questions.

00:07:32.600 I look back to January 10th.

00:07:34.760 I was at an event at the Queensland Community Centre, and it was only about eight days after they started handing out badges for petitions.

00:07:43.360 And before the event, a couple of days before the event, I'm saying, are there going to be anybody there signing people up?

00:07:48.700 Well, we're going to try to get a few people there.

00:07:50.340 Not a lot of people have badges.

00:07:51.680 And that night, things started to go crazy.

00:07:53.780 It was insane that night.

00:07:55.740 We had 1,500, 2,000 people show up outside wanting to sign the petition.

00:07:59.620 I think the people who were there signing people up are still in the hospital with issues with carpal tunnel syndrome because it was just crazy.

00:08:07.200 And it went crazy after that, Jeff.

00:08:08.880 It went crazy.

00:08:09.800 I mean, God bless her at Water Valley.

00:08:11.920 It's like, you know, we had people lined up out the door, and that poor woman was just signing, you know, like writing petitions out all night long.

00:08:18.640 Her poor little hand must have been falling off by the end of the year. 0.74

00:08:21.700 Yeah.

00:08:21.880 But I mean, that's why we now have, you know, 10, 15, 20 canvassers at every event we do so that, you know, so that that doesn't happen.

00:08:30.300 And the only reason that happened was because we didn't have, there were literally the only two badges in the entire province that had been issued the night of that Water Valley event.

00:08:39.400 But, yeah, no, it's been, it's been remarkable, and it's night after night.

00:08:42.920 And we'll, I want to, I want to move on to, you've been busy.

00:08:46.160 You've been doing a lot of interviews.

00:08:47.560 In fact, I don't know, you're paying CTV to get on there, Jeff.

00:08:50.460 You've done, I think you've done two in the last week.

00:08:54.420 And I want to say this.

00:08:55.600 Believe it or not, they're asking me to come on, right?

00:08:58.480 Well.

00:08:58.680 So it's, yeah, no, it's, it's pretty funny.

00:09:02.660 It is.

00:09:03.220 So, okay.

00:09:04.260 So you, you get on with Vashie Capellis.

00:09:06.360 I talked about this on a video yesterday.

00:09:08.440 I thought it was, I thought it was a good, a good interview with Vashie Capellis.

00:09:13.440 I thought you were able to answer questions.

00:09:15.300 I thought we owed her a debt of gratitude for allowing you to go in and clear a few things up.

00:09:20.400 But I think the second interview, which I watched this morning on CTV, was exceptional, Jeff, with what she talked about on there.

00:09:29.540 And I'll tell you why.

00:09:31.120 Because I think there's a bit of a confrontational, Jeff Rath, okay?

00:09:34.760 I think he'll agree.

00:09:36.160 You called Vashie silly it a couple of times.

00:09:39.080 I thought she.

00:09:40.200 Oh, no, no. 0.89

00:09:40.600 I said the question was silly. 0.85

00:09:41.840 You did. 0.99

00:09:42.420 It was silly. 0.74

00:09:43.160 I was very careful. 0.69

00:09:44.080 Okay.

00:09:44.380 I like Vashie.

00:09:45.140 She treated us, she treated us really well.

00:09:46.960 Even though she was trying really hard to put us into this weird little box that she created that didn't make a lot of sense.

00:09:53.960 And I think there's a better way to put that.

00:09:55.860 And I am going to endeavor a lot more in the future to, to try to be, you know, to find better language.

00:10:01.220 I know I can.

00:10:02.220 I mean, I should have just said, look, Vashie, I don't accept the premise of your question.

00:10:05.280 That's what I was trying to say.

00:10:06.600 You know, the premise of your question doesn't make any sense, right?

00:10:09.440 Because it didn't, right?

00:10:10.700 Jeff, you were, the second interview, I can't recall the name of the man you were talking to.

00:10:15.540 He did a really good job of talking to you.

00:10:18.120 But you were incredibly effective in that second interview because you focused on the positive of this movement and why Alberta wants to leave.

00:10:26.720 And when you were asked the reasons why, you gave really good, clear answers on it.

00:10:33.200 And they were really good, good interviews with you.

00:10:36.300 Boy, have you ever had your face over social media over the last week over these things?

00:10:42.060 Yeah.

00:10:42.200 A lot of people not very complimentary of you as well.

00:10:44.420 Yeah, well, I mean, as far as I'm concerned, I mean, I'm, and as you probably have guessed, I mean, you know, and you've observed, I mean, people either love me or they hate me, right?

00:10:53.760 It's just one of those things.

00:10:54.940 I've got that kind of personality.

00:10:56.260 And obviously, the issue, you know, not only can I be very polarizing, you know, individually, but the issue that we're dealing with is very polarizing, right?

00:11:05.760 So, you know, I'm trying to do a little, you know, to try to do better to soften my tone.

00:11:10.780 But at the same time, I mean, I have a fairly acerbic sense of humor.

00:11:14.400 And if people, you know, if people poke me, I have a tendency to poke them back, right? 0.99

00:11:18.940 Like, you know, it's hard not to call David Eby an idiot when he calls you a, you know, treasonous or calls you a traitor. 1.00

00:11:26.240 I mean, it's an idiotic statement, but there's better language. 0.99

00:11:29.140 I mean, I could say it's childish or I could say that, you know, David Eby simply doesn't know what he's talking about and that he's inciting violence against myself and people in our movement. 0.99

00:11:38.700 Because ever since, you know, he started with all that treason nonsense.

00:11:41.780 I mean, the number of death threats that we've been receiving have been going up through the roof.

00:11:45.640 You know, like getting emails about we're going to be hung like the Vichy French and we're going to be hung the way that they hung collaborators after World War II and all of this stuff.

00:11:55.060 And David Eby is intentionally inciting that level of violence and then he doubles down on it. 0.82

00:12:00.080 And it's ridiculous, right? 0.73

00:12:01.360 There's nothing we're doing that's treasonous.

00:12:03.560 There is a, you know, we have the secession reference that says that what we're doing is lawful and constitutional.

00:12:10.260 There's the, you know, Clarity Act that says what we're doing is lawful and constitutional.

00:12:13.960 There is no law in Canada that says that free, you know, that, you know, Canadians can't use their mobility rights and freedom of speech to speak to whoever they want about, you know, whatever they want.

00:12:25.000 And that includes the State Department, you know, of the U.S. government.

00:12:29.240 I mean, you know, one of our supporters the other day posted on X, the Canadian government had Bill Clinton come to Ottawa during the Quebec referendum to speak against the liberation of the province of Quebec.

00:12:41.300 So if the Canadian government can, you know, interfere, you know, in a referendum process by bringing a U.S. president up to talk against independence, why can't members of a province, you know, or citizens of a province go to the United States to see whether to, you know, ascertain the level of support within the United States for Alberta independence?

00:13:05.000 There's no law against it. It's not unconstitutional. It's not legal. It doesn't offend the criminal code.

00:13:10.780 And of course, the people that are doing that are simply doing it to create a false narrative and to incite violence, you know, against myself and other members of our movement.

00:13:20.620 And it's really sad and quite despicable that a provincial premier would do that.

00:13:25.060 And you and you are a private citizen. You're not you're not elected to anything.

00:13:28.980 So, you know, and I mean, I have no obligation in that regard to answer any questions in the media if I choose not to. Right.

00:13:36.100 So, you know, this is, you know, you know, but at the same at the same time, we want to talk to people and tell them what we're talking about and what we're doing and why we're doing it.

00:13:44.480 I mean, people need to understand. Right.

00:13:46.460 Right. You know, I way I look at it is this, Jeff, you know, Mitch Sylvester's got his name on the petition.

00:13:52.320 I have a great deal of admiration for Mitch. He's very giving of his time, as you are, and a number of other people involved with the independence movement.

00:14:00.960 But, you know, really, when it comes down to it, you seem to be the face of the independence movement because you're a big man.

00:14:07.800 You got a big hat. You got a big voice, big personality as well.

00:14:11.480 And I would really like to see more of that second interview, Jeff, because, boy, I'll tell you, that's CTV.

00:14:16.800 I'll put links in the description because, man, you were so good on that second one, even though I thought the first one was good.

00:14:21.820 Because I think it's important that Alberta focus on the benefits of independence, right?

00:14:26.320 Like the fact that we're not going to have any income tax, the fact that we're going to be able to afford to double pensions of pensioners in Alberta.

00:14:33.400 Yeah.

00:14:33.840 We should. I think it's disgusting that, you know, that senior citizens and veterans get $1,200 a month or whatever ridiculous amount of money it is. 0.63

00:14:41.480 That the federal government gives them.

00:14:43.560 But the federal government's paying $3,700 to people that arrive here on international mobility program visas to take $15 an hour jobs at Tim Hortons.

00:14:54.260 I mean, it's ludicrous that that kind of money is being wasted to bring people into this country to take jobs away from our kids. 0.86

00:15:01.260 When I was a kid, a fast food job was a job for kids that were in high school, right?

00:15:05.920 We weren't importing people from the third world to fill Burger Kings and Kentucky Fried Chicken joints.

00:15:12.480 I mean, it's ludicrous that they're doing this.

00:15:14.140 In fact, that was my first job when I was 16.

00:15:16.100 I worked at a, you know, Burger King KFC and River Bend in Edmonton.

00:15:19.960 You know, that's, you know, that's just the first job for a kid, right?

00:15:22.880 So why are we importing people here to fill those jobs when they clog our schools, bring in kids that don't speak English as a first language that, you know, that means special assistance in our classrooms, clogging our emergency room. 1.00

00:15:36.100 So that Albertans are literally dying because they're not getting appropriate emergency care because our facilities are all strained to the breaking point because of this ridiculous notion that, you know, large multinational corporations should be able to have an unrestricted pipeline to import third world labor to Alberta and completely perverting our labor market.

00:15:58.280 You know, so that labor costs, you know, prices do not go up in accordance with a shortage of labor so that people can make a living wage from a full-time job.

00:16:07.960 I mean, all of those things are part and parcel of what's going on.

00:16:11.360 And our people, you know, and Albertans are fed up and we want it to stop.

00:16:16.240 Do you think we need, I remember when I had Mitch on, I went back actually before I started this interview with you to see when I first had Mitch on the channel.

00:16:23.400 It was early June last year.

00:16:24.940 And I had Mitch on it and one of the things that concerned me back then was that there was no singular face of the independence movement.

00:16:32.680 There were a number of different people because I said, you're going to see if we get further down the road, which we're getting to quite quickly here, is you're going to see a number of big names pop up who are going to fight against the independence movement.

00:16:43.960 Do you think we need a singular voice to speak on behalf of the independence movement?

00:16:49.720 And that could be Mitch. I mean, he certainly is the top guy here because his name's on the petition and whatnot.

00:16:55.700 He's been the head of Stay Free Alberta. You are certainly a big name. It could be you.

00:17:00.100 Do you think we need somebody who everybody goes to that person when it comes to talking about the independence movement and they are the, pardon the expression, the figurehead of Alberta independence?

00:17:10.080 Well, I don't know that that's necessary. I mean, I think, you know, there's, you know, there's lots of voices in the movement. Right. So, you know, I mean, I don't think that we're at that point yet.

00:17:18.620 I mean, obviously I've been getting a lot of airtime this week. Mitch has been getting a lot of airtime.

00:17:22.760 I mean, Keith Wilson has his own YouTube channel where he talks about things on an ongoing basis.

00:17:27.240 And I think he does an excellent job. Right. You know, Keith and I, you know, we're, you know, we're, you know, basically, you know, we have a different style.

00:17:34.740 We have a different approach to things. A lot of people don't like my approach, but I hear what they're saying.

00:17:38.840 And I'm trying to, you know, I'm trying to do a better job in that regard.

00:17:41.820 And I think my last two interviews with CTV sort of, you know, show that I'm trying to, you know, try to be a bit more statesmanlike and, you know, a little less in your face.

00:17:50.200 I mean, but again, you know, you know, we are where we are and I think it's working so far.

00:17:55.280 I mean, look at the support we have. We all speak to a different audience and we all speak to a different constituency.

00:18:00.960 Right. And even, even, even Eva Chipiak, I mean, she did a phenomenal job on Monday, you know, with the speech that, that she gave and she was speaking, you know, she was speaking to, you know, a completely different constituency than Mitch and I speak to.

00:18:16.480 So I think, you know, Kathy Flett does a great job. I mean, there's room for lots and, you know, there's room for lots of voices, you know, in the Alberta independence movement.

00:18:25.000 I mean, the voices we don't need to hear, you know, are the ones that are, you know, that are intolerant or, you know, you know, out to left field or attacking other members of the movement, you know, all that kind of, all those kinds of things.

00:18:38.040 Right. But, you know, we just, we just keep moving forward. Right. And, and I think, you know, quite frankly, you know, I think we're fine.

00:18:44.780 Everybody seems to be saying that, oh, we need to have a leader. Well, you know, we'll see what happens when, you know, when, and if, you know, we need to take over the provincial government, you know, that at that point, that'll be, you know, it's a different structure.

00:18:57.680 It's a different process, but I think for now, everything is fine.

00:19:00.820 Okay. So what do you think about this? I want to, there, it's just unbelievable. We've, you've spoken a little bit about threats.

00:19:08.500 Traitor, ditch billies, stupid people who wear big hats and funny boots and the, the, the insults that are coming this way. 0.99

00:19:19.960 How do you think that affects people who actually live in the province here? 1.00

00:19:23.540 I know you've said, I want to know you've said that every time David Eby or Mark Carney speak out, that more people are driven to the independence movement.

00:19:30.200 Do you really believe that?

00:19:31.000 A hundred percent. Every time they insult us, I think it just drives more, it just, it reminds Albertans of why we're so fed up with all of these arrogant Laurentians, you know, in Ontario, you know, ruling over us.

00:19:42.940 Right. I mean, that's literally, I mean, they're just showing us on the daily, how they think of us.

00:19:47.000 Right. It's not, and it's not me. They're not aiming those contact comments at me.

00:19:51.020 They're naming them at every Albertan. It's like, just shut up and keep sending us money. Right. That's all they want us for. Just shut your ignorant mouths and send us more money. 0.98

00:20:00.980 And of course, what they don't realize is that we have more university degrees per capita in Alberta than any other country, any other province in Alberta. Right. 1.00

00:20:09.000 We're an extremely well-educated population. You know, they want to characterize us as, you know, as ignorant and they want to pretend that people in Ontario or Toronto, especially are so much smarter than us.

00:20:19.040 Well, you know, maybe they are, they've been subjugating us for, you know, for over a hundred years. So it's time for that to stop. Right.

00:20:25.880 And like I said, I mean, you know, and I understand, like, it's really upsetting to them. I was on an interview with, you know, 940, some character by the name of Brad Smith, who is a bench warmer for the Edmonton Eskimos, who was going on, you know, no BS with Brad Smith.

00:20:40.340 But if you tell them any straight talk and if you tell them straight up that Alberta has no interest in staying in Canada and, you know, that another pipeline or reversing all of the things that have been done to us, you know, isn't going to entice us to stay.

00:20:53.840 And I said, look, it's like the equivalent of, you know, a spouse being punched in the face repeatedly by 14 or 15 years by a drunken, abusive husband.

00:21:02.280 And you are the moral equivalent of the guy saying, oh, but you should just go back to him. He's going to give you a little box of chocolates. Right.

00:21:09.920 And he promises not to hit you again. It's ludicrous. Right. So I literally laid it out to this guy exactly like that. 0.95

00:21:16.460 And then he did the typical Ryan Jesperson thing where he waits until I'm off the air and then starts, you know, he literally threw a hissy fit and started attacking me.

00:21:24.940 And he's like, he's going to destroy Canada. Yeah. You know, literally it was like that. Right.

00:21:31.540 It's like, well, dude, like, you know, I'm, you know, involved with the independence movement in Alberta.

00:21:37.080 We do want to remove Alberta entirely from Canada. And our position is that that is what we are doing.

00:21:43.300 There's no in between. We're not going back. We're not doing this to get a better deal.

00:21:47.940 Like we're not, you know, we're not somebody threatening, you know, threatening a divorce so that they can get, you know, that they can get their spouse into counseling.

00:21:56.100 You know, like we're past that. Like, and this guy, like when he figured out that that's where, who I was, then he started, oh, I can see why people call him treasonous.

00:22:04.820 Oh, he's going to destroy America. It was ridiculous. Right. I mean, but again, you know, my, my comeback on that is people in Ontario, I get that they get upset. 0.98

00:22:13.260 And they said the same thing to actually get fellows, you know, are, you know, get rightly upset when they realize that they're going to have to start paying their own bills for once.

00:22:22.120 Right. When they realize that they're going to now have to shoulder the burden of carrying the welfare of the, you know, the, you know, all of the welfare payments of the Maritimes on their backs, they don't like it.

00:22:33.760 They don't like the idea that we're no longer going to be paying their bills so that they can pretend to be this wonderful center of this wonderful country. Right.

00:22:41.400 Right. You know, so sure. They get upset about it.

00:22:44.060 What do you, so what do you think just to finally, before we'll, we'll mention the event that's coming up again on Thursday night, the latest, I think it's an Ecos poll has got us at 41%. How do you feel? What are you thinking about that?

00:22:56.700 Well, that completely tracks with our internal polling. We think it's a little bit higher than that. I mean, we have, you know, we think we're, you know, we're over 40% in the city, 60% in rural Alberta, but you know, 41%, I'll take it.

00:23:09.500 I mean, cause it shows that, you know, I mean, Danielle just the other week was talking, oh, they're at 30%. So that's a million people. Leave aside the fact she can't do math. 3% of 5 million people is really 1.5 million, but whatever.

00:23:22.420 Right. Let's leave that alone. But anyway, yeah, no, it doesn't surprise me. And again, keep in mind, we're only four weeks into this independence campaign and our poll numbers are coming up. Right.

00:23:33.320 So, you know, I think by the end, we're four weeks in and we're at 41% or, you know, or better by the end of this campaign, with all of the attention that we're getting and all of the opportunities that we're going to have to speak to Albertans about how much better off they're going to be when we leave Canada.

00:23:50.660 Right. Like specifically, you know, no more income tax, no more GST, no more carbon tax, no more corporate income tax.

00:23:57.840 You know, basically all of this money that's going to Ottawa is now going to stay in your back pocket.

00:24:02.340 So, you know, if you're a family and you've got two frontline workers as a husband and wife, you know, let's say a fireman and a, you know, and a registered nurse or a fireman and a paramedic or a fireman and a police officer, whatever it is.

00:24:14.840 Right. They're making, you know, a hundred thousand bucks a piece.

00:24:18.060 Right. They take a red pen.

00:24:20.220 They circle the amount of money that goes to the federal government off the pay stub.

00:24:23.560 Right. In income tax. And then they quickly come to the realization, holy crow, if Alberta is independent and we have no federal income tax, that means that we have an extra 30 to $50,000 a year in our take home pay that we can use for better vacations, do more stuff with our kids, take care of our parents better, pay off our mortgage faster, whatever.

00:24:45.700 You know, the money, they can spend the money as per their own choice. Right. And it's a real tangible benefit.

00:24:54.060 I'm going to have to let you go running out of time here, but I do want to remind people coming up on Thursday night, you will be there. Get, get better. I know you got a bit of a cold then.

00:25:03.300 It's worse than that. But anyway, yeah, I'm going to go back to bed here. And then sure. Thursday night in Dalhousie, Dalhousie Community Center.

00:25:10.960 Yep.

00:25:11.640 And yeah, we're going to be there. It's going to be a great event.

00:25:13.760 Yeah. John's going to emcee.

00:25:16.440 Yeah. I'm looking forward to it. It's always great to see everybody come on out. I think it's going to be a full house there. Mitch Sylvester will be there as well.

00:25:23.040 And if you haven't signed the petition, you can check that out as well, because we're looking for a million. Let's get the million. That would be real.

00:25:29.040 No, that's it. That's it. Exactly. Like we've got to crush whatever it is Lukasik had, you know, to demonstrate, you know, for the province that, you know, that, you know, little Tommy Nakami and all of his, you know, all of his little forever communists do not speak for us. 0.64

00:25:42.280 Yeah. I, you know what? I think back to when they were gathering signatures, I never saw a signup place the whole time. I never did. And I never saw.

00:25:50.360 That's why I don't, I don't, I honestly don't believe the number. Like I do not believe that they got that, that many signatures, but anyway, it is what it is.

00:25:57.200 I, you know, we'll just move forward. Jeff, great to talk to you again. Keep it positive. You're, you're great for your message.

00:26:05.200 We have a brilliant future ahead of us and everybody needs to focus on how exciting it is to create a new country because that's what we're doing. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity, right?

00:26:14.320 It truly is. Jeff, always great to talk to you. I appreciate you being on here and we'll have you on again in the future.

00:26:19.200 I will see you Thursday evening. Thanks so much. Okay. You bet. Over and out. If you like the video, give it a thumbs up, subscribe to the channel, ring the bell for notifications.

00:26:27.200 I will see you in the next one.

John Bolton - February 04, 2026

A Kinder, Gentler Jeff Rath？ - Crowds, Momentum and Talk of Treason

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