00:05:32.260I want to talk to you about the Prime Minister.
00:05:33.960And I want to, you know, you straightened me out on this a while back.
00:05:37.200I read the Clarity Act. I did a video on it saying, I don't think it's too clear. You said,
00:05:41.480John, the Clarity Act's one thing. You need to look back a couple of years before that. The
00:05:45.880Clarity Act, I remember in 2000 when that came to being, but I did not know much about the Supreme
00:05:52.860Court decision in 98, and people should read that according to you. Carney's using the Clarity Act
00:05:59.080to hammer us when it comes to the independence movement. What are your thoughts on that?
00:06:02.300Well, it's fascinating what's happened last week with Quebec and how they've been standing up for Alberta and independence. But before I get that, let me just explain the legal context here. So in 1998, the Quebec or the Supreme Court of Canada issues this ruling on whether or not a province after holding a clear vote on a clear question can secede and become independent from Canada. And they say yes, and here's how it works.
00:06:30.380um and then that's 1998 in the year 2000 the the federal government brings in the clarity act the
00:06:38.780goal of the clarity act is to constrain and try and narrow and the ruling from the supreme court
00:06:47.200and make it harder for a province to leave immediately the problem is is that law if there's
00:06:54.100a conflict between a statute and a supreme court of canada decision the supreme court of canada
00:06:58.580decision trumps okay so you can't that's the constitutional hierarchy makes sense it's a
00:07:05.640general principle of law in alberta and canada so immediately upon in 2000 when the clarity act was
00:07:11.940passed the same day the quebec general assembly passed a bill i think it might have been bill 99
00:07:17.180i gotta double check the bill number it doesn't matter they passed a bill declaring that the
00:07:22.820clarity act was overreached by the federal government the federal government will not
00:07:27.780be deciding whether a question is clear the federal government will not be deciding whether
00:07:32.680it's a clear majority and that only the people of quebec when they decide in a referendum
00:07:38.420they will be deciding and exercising self-determination and deciding whether or not
00:07:44.000they're becoming independent not the federal government but out so when this past week uh and
00:07:51.060and even into the previous week a little bit when prime minister carney first said well we're going
00:07:56.080to have the question reviewed in ottawa that premier smith has set to see if it meets the
00:08:01.960clarity act test quebec politicians in quebec and bloc quebecois mp stood up in the house
00:08:09.000and held press conferences and said no this is authoritarian overreach by the federal government
00:08:16.640by the carny liberals they said albertans just like quebecers have the right to hold a vote on
00:08:23.640independence and it will be quebecers or albertans that will decide if the question is clear and
00:08:28.900decide whether there's a clear majority so it was really remarkable to see quebec coming to alberta's
00:08:35.900defense on the independent side and reminding the federal government that the clarity act is not
00:08:42.740constitutionally valid in many ways because it goes way further and and gives powers to the
00:08:49.220federal government that the supreme court of canada didn't give them and that we really need to
00:08:53.300remember that, that let's not get distracted by the Clarity Act. We need to remind the federal
00:08:58.520government that it's actually the people of the province that will decide whether it's
00:09:03.840independence, not the federal government through the Clarity Act. I don't think he's all that
00:09:08.560relevant anymore, but this has come up when it comes to the federal NDP as well. Abby Lewis has
00:09:13.220come out saying that Alberta separatists MAGA aligned disruptive despite the NDP endorsing
00:09:19.740Quebec self-determination this is more than what 25 years ago they did this so it seems like the
00:09:25.640east is all massing at the borders here coming against us but we've got Quebec who you know we
00:09:33.080are often very critical about because a lot of our money goes there we've got Quebec standing
00:09:37.320up for Alberta I find it quite remarkable that this is happening right now well me too and I
00:09:42.740it's a great thing but it's also interesting the double standard that uh we have where um
00:09:51.140the federal politicians will praise the uniqueness of quebec's culture and economy
00:09:57.540and their right to self-determination and then immediately smack down albertans how dare you
00:10:04.580think you can become independent right uh and and and this position uh well first of all it
00:10:12.820reinforces the point i've made it the debate and even here on your program that i think canada is
00:10:18.940no you know is a failed experiment confederations a failed experiment and the reason i say that
00:10:23.520is as we've grown and our economies have developed and our populations have matured
00:10:28.820and our economies have matured and our cultures have matured uh canada being the second largest
00:10:34.000country in the world by landmass i think it's just too big to be efficiently governed by one
00:10:38.800city effectively in the center of it and we have regional cultures we have regional economies
00:10:47.340and i think alberta is a more optimal size of government all of the decisions affecting
00:10:52.880albertans should be made in alberta whether that's what's in our criminal code what our
00:10:57.060monetary policy is our ability to develop our resources our environmental protection laws
00:11:02.300should be made here not imposed on us from ottawa and the fact that we have this complete
00:11:08.040disconnect between how central canada says quebec can work versus alberta sort of reinforces my
00:11:15.340point that it's a dysfunctional country that we've progressed into jason kenny brought up
00:11:21.600landlocked at the debate i don't want to go back to that too much but you came back adam with a
00:11:25.180great line we're landlocked by policy i thought that was a great line from you the other night
00:11:29.920it was uh we're we're not landlocked by the rockies we're landlocked by policy i like that
00:11:35.960a lot okay so yeah it's interesting so read don't read the clarity act and what i'll do is i'll find
00:11:40.760a link i'll put it in the description so people can read it because i went back to read it after
00:11:44.100you told me about that um probably about a month ago but remember let's not fall into the trap
00:11:50.020yeah we should be taking the same approach as quebec's taken which is to say to the federal
00:11:55.220government, look, this is unconstitutional overreach. You cannot tell the people of a
00:12:00.560province. You're not the gatekeeper. You do not decide. I think some of the expressions
00:12:05.320that Quebecers used and the Quebec politicians, you do not get to decide, Ottawa, whether a
00:12:11.140province gets to leave. Yeah. So I'll put a link down below so people can read it. You've got lots
00:12:17.480going on right now. I asked you before I went into the interview, how should I refer to you?
00:12:22.960because you've got a lot of things happening right now.
00:12:25.280The other night, you had a sit-down after the debate.
00:12:28.620A lot of people out there, and people ask questions.
00:13:07.780and to answer people's questions about passports
00:13:11.620and monetary policy and border security,
00:13:16.920basically how the Alberta government as a country
00:13:20.260will take over the few functions that the federal government provides so we're making good progress
00:13:25.060on that i'm co-lead along with dennis kelma who's the other co-lead as as many will know dennis is
00:13:33.020an amazing albertan uh he's the author of the value of freedom document that had done the fully
00:13:38.460costed plan that's right so but we're bringing in subject matter experts from everything from
00:13:43.560telecommunications to aviation to military to uh and the military is for the purpose only of
00:13:51.480how what would the new military uh forces uh civil defense forces look like in a new alberta
00:13:59.420um so yeah so that's progressing well and but you know i've been looking like you i think you've
00:14:06.420noticed that there's been some other groups on the other side more recently yeah uh and there
00:14:12.820and and they're and they're out there and they're busy right now you said you took a walk are you
00:14:16.900seeing signs in your neighborhood is that what you said to me before yeah i took the dog for a walk
00:14:20.880here the other night and i started to see some of these forever canadian signs and of course
00:14:25.040uh we've had three other groups form one is um vote to stay.ca another is this lead not leave
00:14:36.440group and what's really interesting and serious about these some of these new groups is they're
00:14:44.220just not you know average albertans they're the groups have been formed by public relations
00:14:53.260companies whose day job is to ran met to develop and implement campaign strategies whether it's
00:15:03.420for companies, whether it's for issues or political campaigns. These are the professionals
00:15:10.100that politicians and companies spend huge amounts of money on to develop strategies and messaging
00:15:19.300and advertising to achieve an outcome. And they have formed a group. So this is not grassroots.
00:15:27.500and um that should be very concerning to those us in the independence movement it is because unless
00:15:34.480we match them and bring the same level of sophistication and transition from a strictly
00:15:41.820grassroots highly motivated but grassroots approach unless we transition and match them
00:15:52.340we're going to get creamed. And, um, uh, so, uh, I, I gave that a lot of thought and, uh, um,
00:16:01.580I pleased to make an announcement if you would like me to. Yeah. Let me, let me just, let me
00:16:06.920just say one thing. Um, you know, you're talking about these, these groups and the way I look at
00:16:13.340this very much is that it's like the establishment versus us here in Alberta. They're all coming
00:16:19.060after us at once. And I like to root for the underdog. And if you're sitting out there,
00:16:23.480you can see what's happening here. You have the federal government, all the politicians,
00:16:27.520all the pencil pushers, all the bureaucrats, all of them coming after us at once. And we are strong
00:16:32.140when it comes to the number of people we have here and 7,000 people canvassing. But I look at it as
00:16:37.720the establishment is coming after us. And we want a right to self-determination as well. And I think
00:16:42.520that's what we need to fight for. But you do have a plan here. And this is what I heard you mention
00:16:47.960it the other night um after the debate alberta's next step what is that about so um i'm forming
00:16:58.540a new group to act as uh and it's in the formative stages right now uh to act as a formal third
00:17:08.200party advertiser that will be registered with elections alberta in full compliance with all
00:17:13.520the election laws we have here and the financial disclosure laws, they're pretty onerous and
00:17:18.440complicated. These other groups in favor of staying in Canada will be registering and being
00:17:26.500third party advertisers as well. And the idea is to match them. We'll develop an equally
00:17:34.800sophisticated campaign with campaign messages in support of independence, with advertising in
00:17:41.100support of independence because as you know uh john we're fighting for the same hearts and minds
00:17:48.520they're fighting for the people who are undecided or the reluctant federalists those who are would
00:17:55.780vote to stay in canada right now but they're really concerned about what ottawa's doing and
00:17:59.780what ottawa's imposing on albertans and the future so they're trying to convince them that the that
00:18:06.140you know don't shift your vote to leave stay with stay they're trying to scare them they're trying
00:18:10.840do all these things and you're going to see increasingly sophisticated strategies because
00:18:15.940again this is what these guys do as a day job right this is their profession so we're going to
00:18:21.680deploy the same strategies and be very strategic in our messaging and going into the forums that
00:18:29.500they're going into we're going to have to go into legacy media as if anybody follows me you'll
00:18:34.360probably notice I've done more legacy media interviews in the last 10 days than I've done
00:18:39.300in the last four years I've been on CBC three times CTV twice I could keep no three times on
00:18:46.020CTV yeah I could keep going so and I'll keep doing that because those were the people we need to
00:18:51.900reach are there that unfortunately they're not coming to the town halls a very small percentage
00:18:56.860of the undecided extremely small percentage come to town halls town halls are great for building
00:19:02.440enthusiasm but they're not going to uh these other groups that are trying to stop us are not
00:19:10.380putting on town halls per se they will put some on but so this new group that i'm forming will be
00:19:17.100called uh is is being called alberta's next step it's intentionally neutral because what the what
00:19:25.040the focus groups and polling is showing the data is showing if you're too provocative with this
00:19:30.540undecided group it turns them off if you get in their face it turns them off so you got to approach
00:19:37.100them much more gently you got to get them thinking about things more abstractly uh just telling them0.99
00:19:44.200they're stupid for not supporting independence is a surefire where to fail to be blunt about it0.95
00:19:49.880and um uh i'm very pleased to announce that uh tanya clemens who many in the independence0.99
00:19:58.280movement will know, is going to be joining with me to lead this new group. And we're going to be
00:20:04.540bringing others on of some name that people will recognize as well, to move us forward in a
00:20:12.840sophisticated, proper campaign style, focused on independence and independence alone, and getting
00:20:20.760Albertans to understand the benefits of independence and supporting it in the two
00:20:25.940referendums that will be coming up. Let me ask you this, because I think this is kind of important.
00:20:30.300I think it's great. Fantastic. Tanya is an excellent choice. I saw her the other night.
00:20:34.920Yeah, she was out at the debate the other night, and it's wonderful that you've got her here,
00:20:38.880and I'm sure there'll be other people stepping forward. It's about $600,000 you can raise as a
00:20:43.180third-party advertiser. We're going to need many of these. You've talked about different ways,
00:20:46.980different groups, farmers for, I don't think you can call them farmers for independence. You have
00:20:51.280to have a specific name, but you're looking for different groups to come forward. This is fraught
00:20:56.100with danger for people like myself. I thought about becoming one myself. It can be dangerous.
00:21:00.520I'm a YouTuber here. There's a lot of rules, like you said. But how do people go about becoming a
00:21:06.520third-party advertiser? And what can somebody like myself do? I'm just asking, maybe on behalf
00:21:11.740of other YouTubers, how can we support these groups to see that money's going to them so we
00:21:16.380can build up our coffers because we've got 1.4 billion dollars in the cbc going after us we've
00:21:21.480got all these other groups that are coming after us what can we do to help when it comes to the
00:21:26.140advertising and the promotion of of our cause here okay so first of all a group called farmers
00:21:32.900for independence can form and a group called you know nurses for independence first nations for
00:21:38.420independence veterans for independence i've talked about this in other interviews in my own videos on
00:21:43.940my youtube channel and an interesting enough right after i did my youtube on that recommending this
00:21:48.660as a strategy a group forum called veterans for independence so guys self-actuated so they don't
00:21:55.020need anybody's permission if you're a group if you're a senior and you've got a bunch of a network
00:22:00.040of people that you have and you want to build and you want to focus on seniors issues and creating
00:22:06.020awareness among seniors about independence you can do that same with farmers lawyers for independence
00:22:12.000you know whatever yeah uh um uh carpenters for independence trades people for independence
00:22:18.200you name it so that's perfectly permissible and and i encourage it um and any you're right uh each
00:22:27.200a third party advertiser is restricted to spending 600 000 i think it's 607 000 to be technical i
00:22:34.660have no idea why it's such an odd number but use 600 000 as your mental marker you know you know
00:22:40.600for sure that um these other groups uh formed by former politicians the vote to stay group this
00:22:49.080other group um lead not leave group is going to be spending the full 600 000 and we're going to
00:22:55.420be saturated with radio and tv ads and billboards and and and other campaign materials and mail
00:23:01.920drops and things so we got to match them and i encourage others who are concerned about
00:23:07.300independence and support it to form groups uh there's no way that one independence group is
00:23:14.400going to pull this off that's right the other side obviously has decided that forever canada
00:23:20.180was not a single group that's going to pull it off that's why they already have four groups
00:23:25.140and so we got to get out on the battlefield um and that's what i'm seeking to do and i'm thrilled
00:23:31.780that uh tanya clemens is going to be at my side and we're gonna we're gonna move forward and i do
00:23:37.180encourage others to get active and focus on a campaign to win hearts and minds rules changed
00:23:47.240as of midnight last night people are watching this saying i want to help how can can i donate
00:23:53.140to alberta's next step how do i do that i know the max you can do now is five thousand dollars
00:23:58.540that's it one time donation between now and the 19th of october correct me if i'm wrong
00:24:03.540How do people donate to that? Can I tell somebody, go donate to Alberta's Next Step being a YouTuber? Or am I colluding? Am I in contravention of rules and laws here? Can I send somebody to the Lawyers for Independence or the Farmers for Independence? And how do we do that? People want to give money. They're watching this right now. They've got their wallets open, Keith. How can we give you guys some money?
00:24:25.600well um we're in the process of setting up the website okay we're in the process of getting
00:24:32.980an accountant and a chief financial officer and we're not going to accept any money until we have
00:24:39.860all the legalities checked and everything's done in a proper form and the registration is complete
00:24:46.160with elections alberta so i'll let you know when that's all in place and we're not going to accept
00:24:52.560any money. We'll only accept donations in accordance with the law, period. We're going
00:24:58.960to do this completely lawfully and in full compliance. So I'll let you know when everything's
00:25:04.600in place, but it's not there yet. We're moving fast, but it's going to take us into next week
00:25:11.700for sure before we'll have everything in place. Okay. And can I, somebody like myself, if I know
00:25:17.000these different groups, can I direct people to give money to them? Absolutely. There's nothing
00:25:21.040preventing you i know these rules are so abstract so they're trap like you know like one thing
00:25:27.440seems intuitive and then you go to do it and you realize oh i can't do that so uh but no there's
00:25:33.160no restriction on you as a as an albertan uh as a podcaster because you're not a third-party
00:25:40.040advertiser you're not receiving money and spending money in support of independence
00:25:44.320your podcaster uh of indicating which groups you think are worthy of support just like
00:25:51.520um that jesperson guy uh with his podcast is encouraging groups to support forever canada and
00:25:59.860support these other things so he's allowed to do it on the other side you're allowed to do it on
00:26:04.880the independent side yeah it just seems like the rules for the other side a little different than
00:26:08.280our side for some reason in ways it's easier for them they've got political parties and unions and
00:26:13.280probably getting involved behind the scenes.
00:26:15.380Well, they also have this thing called the legacy media.
00:26:17.400Yeah, well, yeah, $1.4 billion CBC coming after us as well.
00:27:07.440And we'll develop, we'll use social media to get information out to our supporters, right? To supporters of independence. We'll use our website. We're going to have a very sophisticated website that's being constructed right now. It's amazing how the technology has evolved for these things.
00:27:26.560and uh you're going to see some cool stuff and we're just going to move forward uh you know
00:27:32.640one of the advantages we have if we have the truth on our side we have the truth on our side
00:27:38.780because the truth is that alberta does not need to be beholden to ottawa the truth is alberta
00:27:45.700doesn't need ottawa you know for every dollar we send to ottawa we get 65 cents back if we can keep
00:27:53.400that money here that's 23 billion dollars that we can put to uh delivering the services that the
00:28:01.360federal government currently provides um and we can free ourselves or we don't always have to go
00:28:08.040on bent knee to ottawa and say please sir may i work harder so i can give you more money right
00:28:14.840because that's our circumstance right now it's absolutely remarkable if you were to sit back and
00:28:19.920look at this objectively disinterestedly you know you're some i you know you're you're an alien that
00:28:25.360comes from mars or you're just even a person from another side of the planet and say what's going on
00:28:29.960in alberta you've got the third largest reserve of oil in the world and you're right beside the
00:28:33.580largest consuming market in the world you're right there at your border at coots what and you know
00:28:39.620you're being told by ottawa that you can't produce more of what the world needs and it's and we have
00:28:45.080all these global conflicts and uh consumers around the world and countries are desperate for our
00:28:50.420reliable supply of energy oh you can't you know the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is regulating
00:28:57.840your livestock industry to death uh you know and on and on and on one of the things that that's so
00:29:04.080motivating for me is that when I look at this objectively and I look at the facts is that
00:29:09.020Alberta truly can become one of the most prosperous countries in the world we can have a good
00:29:13.840relationship with the rest of canada we can be neighbors with the rest of canada we can have a
00:29:17.920trade agreement and mobility agreement with the rest of canada but we can change it so ottawa is
00:29:22.840not making decisions and imposing them on albertans if we need to change the criminal code if we need
00:29:27.560to change other laws it'll be albertans making that decision and not having to get permission
00:29:32.860from ottawa or convincing people in nova scotia and quebec and ontario and victoria to agree with
00:29:39.780us on a change of law. We'll be able to control our lives. We'll be able to control the future
00:29:45.380of government and how government performs rather than having no say, which is the current system
00:29:52.880and being ruled by Ottawa and having Ottawa impose its will and its ideologies upon us.
00:29:58.760Keith, thank you so much. I appreciate it. And don't get discouraged. We talk about things
00:30:02.940aren't moving along as quickly as possible. Remember, federal election campaigns, I think
00:30:07.420you can be 38 days long. And I think most people will start listening really a lot in September
00:30:12.980when the kids go back to school. So there is time here and we can win this thing for sure. Keith,
00:30:17.200it's always a pleasure. Good luck to you. Congratulations on Alberta's next step.
00:30:22.080Obviously the Alberta Transition Council, and we'll be waiting to see how we can assist you
00:30:26.920in the future. I appreciate this and we'll talk to you again soon. Thank you. Thank you very much.
00:30:32.160If you liked this video, give it a thumbs up, subscribe to the channel,
00:30:35.000ring the bell for notifications. I'll see you in the next one.