John Bolton - An Important Voice For Alberta Independence

00:00:00.000 Hi, it's John and welcome to the channel. Great to have you along today. This is going up on

00:00:08.040 Thursday, December the 18th, but recording it on Wednesday. And thank you so much for clicking on

00:00:13.380 this video. Of course, I've got my big blue mug of coffee with me again today. And joining me,

00:00:18.560 as you can see, we've got a guest. I'd like to welcome Tanya Clemens to the channel,

00:00:23.260 board member with the Alberta Prosperity Project. Tanya, great to have you here and Merry Christmas

00:00:27.600 to you. Thank you. Merry Christmas to you. Getting ready and excited. I've got my Santa hat over

00:00:33.980 there. Every once in a while, I've had my Santa hat on over the last week or so. But yeah, I'm

00:00:38.120 getting in the Christmas spirit as well. And you certainly are as well. I wanted to have you on

00:00:43.600 here because I think you have a special place when it comes to the independence movement here in

00:00:50.780 Alberta. I'm going to get to that in just a moment. You're also a teacher, is that right?

00:00:54.840 Yeah, I'm a teacher by trade. I'm not teaching currently at the moment, but yeah, I have been a

00:00:59.360 teacher and quite loved my role in the classroom with my kids. And you live on a farm? Yeah,

00:01:05.240 currently farming. We've been farming for generations out here in Alberta. Yeah, I know

00:01:09.780 because, you know, I went back and I watched your speech. You're one of the speakers at the Alberta

00:01:13.640 legislature on October the 25th. And, you know, I'm looking back now at the highlights of my year,

00:01:20.480 and that certainly was one of the days. It was just a remarkable day. And I was standing beside

00:01:25.000 you, held your flag there while you were speaking. And again, I, and here's the thing. Now, don't

00:01:32.020 take this the wrong way right off the top because there's a good thing here. You got a lot of booze

00:01:35.860 to start. I watched the video today. You did because you were going over the things, the way Alberta has

00:01:41.680 kind of suffered when it comes to confederation within Canada. But I know you tried to turn that

00:01:46.660 around into something positive here. So as we move into a new phase of the independence movement,

00:01:53.040 how are you feeling about it, where we might be getting to a signature campaign in January?

00:01:57.300 And, and how do you want to convey the message to people regarding Alberta independence?

00:02:02.200 Well, I guess like when you refer back to like my legislature's speech, yeah, there was a lot of

00:02:06.440 booze because I think people are realizing the historical timeline of for 120 years since

00:02:12.000 confederation, since we were brought into confederation, we have been trying to carve

00:02:16.720 out more autonomy for ourselves and more sovereignty and prosperity and Alberta keeps getting shut down.

00:02:22.300 So that draws the booze because that sentiment is recognized that it's, it's disappointing and sad

00:02:26.940 and frustrated and people have reached their max level of frustration. And that's why there is so much

00:02:32.200 support now for the sovereignty movement, especially with Alberta prosperity project. And I think my

00:02:37.040 message now is that we actually have a clear path. Canada is one of those few countries that has a

00:02:43.220 legal pathway for secession of a province from confederation. And we're following that path and

00:02:48.700 we are building momentum and support. And, and now there is hope there is a way out of this mess.

00:02:55.140 And Alberta has that opportunity to be not only sovereign and prosperous, prosperous for themselves,

00:03:00.600 but also to be that light of freedom and prosperity for the rest of the planet.

00:03:04.720 Yeah. You mentioned that there are countries around the world watching us in your speech

00:03:08.780 as well. And I've heard that from other people. Yeah. So the thing that a lot of people, I remember

00:03:14.680 when I went around on the legislature, I took my camera around, I was kind of interviewing a few

00:03:18.440 people. I did a video on a channel here and I went up to a family and I said to them, what,

00:03:23.160 what does it mean to you, the independence movement? There's some young people there and they said money.

00:03:28.260 And I think that certainly does draw people into the independence movement here. You know,

00:03:31.840 when you talk about maybe, you know, lower taxes or maybe no income tax is something or less money

00:03:38.120 going from Alberta to Ottawa, we can keep it for ourselves. But what I got from your message and I

00:03:43.200 heard a lot of, not, I mean, overtly heard from you, but also through the lines was self-determination.

00:03:50.140 We decide our fate, things like that. Not really not asking for permission anymore for Alberta. And is

00:03:56.460 that, is that part of your message? Is that the thing that you kind of focus in on? Because that's what I say.

00:04:01.120 We don't have to beg for anything from Ottawa anymore. That's the way I feel about this.

00:04:05.960 Yeah, I think there's kind of two parts to that. I think that being a farmer, we kind of, I think we tend to be

00:04:11.380 more libertarian by nature, that we're just, we're out, we're removed from the large portion of society.

00:04:17.060 We're doing the work on our farms. We're not maybe quite as integrated as you would be in the city.

00:04:22.160 And we just want to be left alone to do our work, to grow our products and to live our lives out in

00:04:27.740 the country. So that comes from kind of maybe that, that farming background that I appreciate the rights

00:04:33.920 to self-determination. And in a sovereign Alberta, we could create, you know, a direct democracy with

00:04:39.400 more representation for the people, the power coming back to the people that we can't have tax increases

00:04:43.880 without a referendum by the people and approving it and things like that. And then I guess the other

00:04:49.900 part is that the financial part is huge for everybody. And I think that's where it really

00:04:55.340 crosses all political lines. It doesn't matter where you fall politically. It's completely

00:05:00.260 nonpartisan. Every family could use more money in their pocket in Alberta and having no income tax.

00:05:06.240 That sounds really awesome. But then when you actually stop and think about it for a second,

00:05:10.740 what does that mean? What does your paycheck look like? What do you actually take home?

00:05:14.260 What could you do with that paycheck for your family? What would that mean for your kids' education,

00:05:18.580 for your parents' retirement age, for how you could contribute back to your community better?

00:05:23.320 Money drives a lot of that. So that's another huge part of it to me.

00:05:27.220 I think it makes it interesting when you, you know, people, you know, a politician might say,

00:05:31.040 we're going to save a billion dollars or a million dollars. If you talk to somebody and you talk about

00:05:35.700 eliminating income tax, maybe that might mean 30% more in your bank account. And you say that to

00:05:40.580 somebody, what if your boss gave you a 30% increase tomorrow? It would change your life.

00:05:44.720 And in your speech, you actually said 20 to 28 billion lost in equalization, which

00:05:48.860 means $6,000 for everybody who lives in this province and $24,000 for a family of four.

00:05:54.900 That really hits home, doesn't it?

00:05:57.080 It is. And that's like not money that we just give to Ottawa. That's money that we give to Ottawa

00:06:01.120 that we get no services back in return for. We give them much more money. And then they give us

00:06:05.420 back money, you know, for some of our operations within the province, but that's the overpayment

00:06:09.480 amount. We don't need to be overpaying that. I call it returning the money to its rightful

00:06:14.760 owner when they give it back to us, right? You said something interesting when you talked about

00:06:20.440 living on a farm, you know, being a guy who's lived in cities my whole life. I am not one of those

00:06:25.640 people who believes food comes from the grocery store, Tanya. Okay. I do know that farmers grow things

00:06:30.980 and they're feeding the country. You said something that was very profound in here. You said,

00:06:35.940 you think about the land, the sky, the work before me and the people I love. That's what freedom feels

00:06:44.320 like to me. And I thought that was very profound.

00:06:47.040 Oh, thank you. And that's, that was a sentiment that I had from this last harvest. And I think

00:06:52.040 I was in reference to the hockey stick I had with my flag on it that I fly from the top of my combine

00:06:56.980 and it's an Alberta flag. And I do love this province so very much, but yeah, that's where

00:07:02.180 I find the most peace is those harvest mornings when you're walking out to your equipment and my

00:07:06.920 whole family is active on our farm. So that's like a real blessing and a real interesting situation to

00:07:11.620 have your whole family involved in your operation. And the sky is always huge. We live out on the

00:07:16.800 prairies. It's a, you can see for miles and miles. Yeah. That's just, to me, that's the Alberta that I

00:07:22.800 love the most. And I'm not being, you know, governed by someone told what to do. I'm not

00:07:27.880 thinking about that. I'm just thinking about how much I love this land, the job that I have before

00:07:32.240 me and my family. And, you know, for somebody who's come from Ontario, I moved here about 13

00:07:36.600 years ago. I was out mountain biking a couple of years ago with a friend of mine who was from the

00:07:40.640 States. He was from West Virginia and we were out near barrier Lake mountain biking. And I'm out

00:07:45.420 looking over the lake from way, way up high after riding up there. And we stood there and looked out over

00:07:50.940 the lake and we could see highway 40, which goes off towards highwood pass into can and ask his

00:07:55.080 country. And my friend looked at me and he said one word to me. And I, I feel that way. Every time

00:08:01.400 I think about living in this province, I, the word he said was blessed. Yeah. That's how I feel.

00:08:07.460 We are deeply blessed. And, and, and the people are different here. Do you agree with me?

00:08:11.860 I think that's what's, yeah, I totally agree with you. I think that's what's, what's creating this

00:08:15.740 momentum too, is that people are hardworking and their creators and their builders were

00:08:20.700 makers. That's what this province is full of. And we just want to be able to do that without

00:08:24.600 punishment. Okay. So you're sitting in front of a fireplace. You've got your stockings hanging

00:08:30.900 there. I've, I've worn the Santa hat here a few times. We often forget, I don't forget, but people

00:08:38.320 often forget what Christmas is really about. It's not about Santa Claus and gifts. You talked about

00:08:43.120 faith, family, and freedom at your speech. What does that mean to you?

00:08:46.760 You know, I think a lot of my faith actually comes back to, um, this one moment and it's just a short

00:08:54.160 story, but it really, it changed how I think about faith a lot too. And I do have a very, um, deep

00:09:00.220 relationship with God and have a lot of conversations, especially lately about where we're going and am I

00:09:05.220 doing the right thing? And can you make sure that I have the tools to do this well? But, um, my dad,

00:09:10.700 when he was courting my mom, uh, long, long ago, over like almost 50 years ago now, they, uh, he took

00:09:17.700 her out into a field and they were having like the religious, um, discussion. And he went out into the

00:09:23.340 field with her and said, you know what, this right here, look around at this field in the sky, this is

00:09:28.980 where I find God. And this is where I feel closest to it. And once I was old enough and heard that story,

00:09:34.260 I think it just kind of sunk deep into me that, yeah, you know what, that's where I feel the

00:09:39.060 connection is being a part of this land. And I've worked really hard to try to bridge some of the

00:09:44.040 disconnect between some of like the urban rural communities that maybe don't understand that

00:09:49.200 connection or don't have a grandparent that farms anymore, an uncle that farms anymore to try to,

00:09:54.100 to show them that this, this is something very valuable. And this is where we are richly blessed

00:09:59.220 this land, this Alberta land. Yeah. Okay. So what I did was when I watched your speech,

00:10:05.060 I wrote three things down off the top here. I put teacher, you live on a farm and I put woman,

00:10:13.140 obviously, but I think this is very important. And this is what I wanted to talk to you about.

00:10:17.760 I've spoken to a lot of people on this channel and most of them are men and to have a female voice

00:10:24.960 out there on the 25th of October at the Alberta legislature and having a female

00:10:29.180 voice out there. Do you think it's important? I think it's very important that we have people like

00:10:33.340 you speaking on behalf of this movement. And that's why I thought it was important to have

00:10:38.120 you on here. And I need to get you back on this channel. What do you think of that?

00:10:42.340 Well, I think that's, yeah, having a female perspective maybe resonates with people,

00:10:46.200 but I guess I have the mindset that I've never actually thought of that I'm speaking as a female.

00:10:50.000 I'm just speaking to someone who loves Alberta and everyone else that's speaking on behalf of Alberta

00:10:54.340 Prosperity Project. They also have a deep love for Alberta and they convey their messages

00:10:58.900 in different ways and it resonates with different groups of people. And to me, that's kind of the

00:11:03.120 priority is having a wide group of people that can resonate with the rest of Albertans and do our

00:11:07.420 mission of educating on the merits of a sovereign Alberta. So I appreciate that it's, that you think

00:11:13.200 it's awesome too, that I am a woman speaking on behalf of this, but to me, it's not even about that.

00:11:17.440 It's just about people that can speak the language of others and make that message resonate.

00:11:23.120 Well, and that's fair. That's just, that's just fine. Now, moving forward, we're looking at

00:11:28.300 a possible signature campaign coming up. It's exciting. I want to try to accentuate the positive

00:11:34.220 a little more than the negative because we can beat up on the things that have kind of held us back

00:11:39.240 for 125 years in this country, or we can move forward to the things that can benefit people

00:11:44.500 with this movement. A big event coming up on January the 26th here in Calgary, a little closer to

00:11:49.940 home for us, Tanya. It's nice. I think, you know, we don't have to go all the way up to Edmonton.

00:11:54.740 But are you going to be involved in that? And do you, do you figure you're going to be spending

00:11:58.060 more time doing this in the coming months up to maybe a referendum vote in October,

00:12:03.420 maybe September, October of 2026? Yeah, well, I've already had that conversation with my family

00:12:08.360 that this is probably the most important year of Alberta's history. And this vote will be the most

00:12:13.040 important vote that Albertans ever get to make. So we've had that discussion and whatever time is

00:12:18.860 requested of me or however I can help the movement, I will give gladly all the time that I can and

00:12:24.280 whatever skill set that I have to that. The January 26th event, they're just, the team is still working

00:12:30.220 on that. There's like a whole group of volunteers that are organizing that. So I don't know all the

00:12:33.680 details of it yet, but I will definitely be there for sure. Whether I'm speaking at it for sure,

00:12:38.140 I'm not positive, but I will definitely be there and supporting that and bringing people in and making

00:12:43.100 calls to make sure everyone knows that it's happening. Yeah, it's really exciting. I can

00:12:47.740 hardly wait for that to come up in late January. Still waiting for details and I'm on it as soon as

00:12:53.080 we find out what's happening and how you can reserve seats because it's going to be a biggie,

00:12:56.900 I do believe, at the BMO Centre here in Calgary. Just before I leave you, you said something during

00:13:02.540 your speech. I think it's important, a message that we need to pass along. You know, it's been

00:13:07.160 something I've discussed here with other people who've been on my channel. Corey Morgan said,

00:13:10.700 you know, if we do leave the country, we're just going to have a different relationship with the

00:13:15.220 country. They'll still be there. Your grandmother might still be in Toronto. You might have somebody

00:13:19.240 living out in Nova Scotia. You said this movement isn't about dividing, it's about uniting. What do

00:13:24.740 you mean by that? That's like in reference to the pursuit of self-determination, the pursuit of

00:13:31.460 sovereignty, the pursuit of respecting each other. Those are unifying principles. This isn't about

00:13:38.760 dividing and conquering. It is actually about unifying people around that message that who

00:13:43.360 doesn't need, you know, less income tax, more money to be able to contribute to their communities

00:13:48.920 and their families. All of those are like unifying principles. So that's what I'm meaning by it.

00:13:53.320 We can get around this. All of us can get behind this. Great message. You also, I think you said,

00:13:58.220 was it choice and voice we're going to have if we get this opportunity to move ahead when it comes

00:14:04.960 to the referendum and hopefully independence in 2026. It's great speaking with you. I'm going

00:14:10.700 to have to have you back on again real soon. I really appreciate it. I enjoyed your speech

00:14:15.420 standing beside you there at the legislature. Again, one of the highlights of the year for me

00:14:19.400 was being there with all those people that day. It was really uplifting. You have a Merry Christmas.

00:14:24.360 I appreciate you spending some time with me here on the channel.

00:14:27.320 Thank you. And I just appreciate you very much. Thank you for all of your help and support.

00:14:30.400 Merry Christmas.

00:14:30.780 Merry Christmas. Tanya Clemens, board member, Alberta Prosperity Project teacher. She works

00:14:36.880 on a farm and she speaks on behalf of the independence movement. And we hope to hear from

00:14:40.960 her again in the new year. Thanks for watching the video. If you liked it, give it a thumbs up,

00:14:45.060 subscribe to the channel, ring the bell for notifications. I'll see you in the next one.

John Bolton - December 18, 2025

An Important Voice For Alberta Independence - Tanya Clemens (APP Board)

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