John Bolton - Can ALBERTA Leave Canada？ The Clarity Act Says So - But Are Hurdles Ahead？

00:00:00.000 I hope this video provides all of us something that we really need.

00:00:05.220 Clarity.

00:00:09.280 Hi, it's John and welcome to the channel 358 a.m. Monday, March the 16th.

00:00:13.880 I hope you're having a great start to your week.

00:00:15.860 I hope you had a good weekend as well.

00:00:17.660 Only a few days, about five days away now from the official start of spring.

00:00:22.140 But you never know here in the north when snow is going to fall again.

00:00:25.920 we do have some 17 degree weather expected in Calgary this week, which is just awesome. I took

00:00:30.460 the big blue mug of coffee to you. I think this video will be of interest to you if you live

00:00:36.040 outside of Canada, anywhere. If you're in Canada, I think you need to pay attention to what's going

00:00:41.900 on here because the end of Canada is nigh. And from a standpoint of living here in Alberta and

00:00:47.920 being part of the independence movement, we need to be very, very clear on what we're doing

00:00:52.840 going forward with the process of independence. We need to have the facts on our side. I think

00:00:59.020 it's quite evident that the other side, the pro-Canada people, they really haven't got a

00:01:03.720 good argument as to why Alberta should stay into Canada. Simply patriotism doesn't work.

00:01:08.880 The pro-independence side talks about the money transfers from Alberta to Canada, the fact that

00:01:14.000 we really don't have a say when it comes to elections, the keeping of natural resources

00:01:19.020 in the ground and other things are top of the mind here for many of us. I call Canada the country of

00:01:25.720 no. I'm tired of hearing no from the east telling us what we can do here in the west. But it's

00:01:32.000 becoming quite evident the tactic that the other side is going to use to try to keep us in or force

00:01:37.080 us to stay in and it's using a group of people and it's these people right here. This article from

00:01:44.780 the National Post just yesterday. I've seen other stories similar this week in the National Post and

00:01:50.400 other media here in the country. And here we have a group of Alberta Treaty 6 chiefs standing on both

00:01:55.620 sides of King Charles. Now, what's fascinating about this, and I mentioned this in my independence

00:02:00.760 calendar yesterday, is these people standing on both sides of the king, they would refer to me

00:02:05.740 and people who look like me as settlers, as colonizers. And here they are running to the king

00:02:12.620 of the colonizers and the settlers looking for help, looking for cover, looking to stop the

00:02:17.560 Alberta independence movement. Now, I don't like the title of this article, Separation Speed Bump

00:02:22.800 Negotiating with First Nations. I prefer the word independence, but let's use the word in a different 0.97

00:02:27.660 form. It's separating and then negotiating because the rules here in Canada are quite clear.

00:02:35.380 And the reasons I say clear is because it's all laid out in the Clarity Act. I was watching a

00:02:41.400 video with Corey Morgan yesterday on his channel. Link in the description. He talks about the

00:02:45.200 Clarity Act. He brings it up. And in nowhere in this story is the word clarity. I actually

00:02:51.460 searched for it. You can see it up here. Clarity not found. And that needs to be in every article

00:02:55.760 like this because the rules are quite clear. The other thing I'd like to say about this picture

00:03:00.460 is these people are standing with the king while the people they're supposed to be leading

00:03:07.700 aren't doing so well here in Canada, despite the fact that Canadian taxpayers are putting about

00:03:13.700 $32 billion into Native affairs in this country, or whatever we're calling it, Indigenous affairs

00:03:20.680 in this country. It was $15 billion in 2015 when the Liberals got in under Justin Trudeau,

00:03:26.340 and it's more than doubled, and they're not doing so well. Corey Morgan has been quite clear

00:03:30.700 in the videos that he's shown on his channel, which he's been taken to court over.

00:03:35.560 But doesn't that make you sick? And it's criminal. And what the independence movement wants is a

00:03:40.700 better life for all of these people. So what is the Clarity Act? Have you ever read it?

00:03:49.060 You know, a lot of people don't want to read government stuff because it can get long-winded

00:03:53.340 and hard to understand. You know, it's the same thing with treaties. But if you read the treaties,

00:03:58.860 they're not very long. They're pretty clear. They go back a long way. You kind of have to

00:04:02.800 think about it a little bit, but they're not really hard to understand, and the Clarity Act

00:04:07.000 isn't very long, and it's not hard to understand, so let's read a little bit of it to find out

00:04:12.720 what's in there. Here is the Clarity Act. It's called Bill C-20. It received royal assent

00:04:19.660 June 29, 2000, so this is almost 26 years old, and I'm not going to read it all, but I'll read

00:04:27.520 the pertinent parts for you. I am not a constitutional lawyer. The parts in red are

00:04:32.660 especially important to understand. There are poison pills in here, folks.

00:04:40.240 And there's something, there's a four-word phrase we hear in the independence movement,

00:04:45.180 which I'm going to get to in just a moment. But there are poison pills in here that could

00:04:49.400 stop us. But we have to be strong. And I mean that figuratively and literally. So let's read

00:04:56.100 a little bit about this. An act to give effect to the requirement for clarity as set out in the

00:05:00.720 opinion of the Supreme Court of Canada in the Quebec Secession Reference. Okay, so this is in

00:05:06.520 response to the referendum in 1995. There were never any clear rules. It took them five years

00:05:11.600 to come up with this short document, and it's not very long. I'm going to read some of this to you

00:05:16.020 so you'll have an understanding. So, again, you can go and read the whole thing. I've highlighted

00:05:22.060 some spots here. Whereas any proposal relating to the breakup of a democratic state is a matter of

00:05:27.560 the utmost gravity, it is of fundamental importance to all of its citizens. Whereas the government of

00:05:33.240 any province of Canada is entitled to consult its population by referendum on any issue and is

00:05:38.980 entitled to formulate the wording of its referendum question. Whereas the Supreme Court of Canada has

00:05:44.380 determined that the result of a referendum on the secession of a province from Canada

00:05:48.040 must be free of ambiguity both in terms of the question asked and in terms of the support it

00:05:54.500 achieves. Some poison pills. More on that in just a moment. Now here in red, this is very important.

00:06:01.340 Whereas the Supreme Court of Canada has stated that democracy means more than simple majority

00:06:06.960 rule that a clear majority in favor of secession would be required to create an obligation to

00:06:12.800 negotiate secession and that a qualitative evaluation is required to determine whether

00:06:18.580 a clear majority in favor of secession exists in the circumstances. So, a simple majority rule,

00:06:26.160 more than a simple majority rule, what does that mean? Good question. 50% plus one. Do you really

00:06:33.920 think the rest of Canada will agree with Alberta leaving with 50% plus one? We need this to be

00:06:40.280 much bigger than that. And here comes your four-word phrase you hear a lot about, too big

00:06:45.120 to rig. It has to be too big to rig. What that means, I don't know. What the number is, I don't

00:06:52.380 know. But 50% plus one might not be enough. Let's go back over here. Whereas in light of the finding

00:06:58.800 by the Supreme Court of Canada that it would be for elected representatives to determine what

00:07:03.460 constitutes a clear question and what constitutes a clear majority in a referendum held in a province

00:07:08.000 on secession, the House of Commons, as the only political institution elected to represent all

00:07:13.120 Canadians, has an important role in identifying what constitutes a clear question and a clear

00:07:17.980 majority sufficient for the government of Canada to enter into negotiations in relation to the

00:07:22.920 secession of a province from Canada. So that's another one of those poison pills. It will be up

00:07:27.500 to the rest of Canada and the Parliament of Canada, the government of Canada, to determine

00:07:31.400 on whether we can do this, okay? So we have to make sure that this is too big to rig. Moving on,

00:07:36.340 The House of Commons shall, within 30 days after the government of a province tables its legislative assembly or otherwise officially releases the question that intends to submit to its voters in a referendum relating to the proposed secession of the province from Canada, consider the question and, by resolution, set out its determination on whether the question is clear.

00:07:57.800 In considering the clarity of a referendum question, the House of Commons shall consider

00:08:02.980 whether the question would result in a clear expression of the will of the population of a

00:08:07.560 province on whether the province should cease to be a part of Canada and become an independent state.

00:08:12.460 Does that sound familiar to you? Because Mitch Sylvester and the folks at State for Alberta

00:08:16.460 wrote the question thus. Do you agree that the province of Alberta should cease to be a part

00:08:21.780 of Canada to become an independent state? I know a lot of people objected to the word state,

00:08:26.180 But there it is right there. The province should cease to be a part of Canada and become an

00:08:30.920 independent state. That's why it's there, because it's in the Clarity Act. And I think this question

00:08:36.200 is quite clear. Do you not agree? Let's get back over to the Clarity Act just a little bit more

00:08:43.280 here. And keep in mind, we're not even at the question on a ballot yet. We're still fighting

00:08:47.520 over the question. And this paragraph here discusses that. In considering the clarity of

00:08:52.880 a referendum question, the House of Commons shall take into account the views of a number of

00:08:57.360 different groups. And that includes the Legislative Assembly of Alberta in this case,

00:09:02.780 also legislative assemblies of any province or territory in Canada, the Senate,

00:09:07.940 representatives of the Aboriginal peoples of Canada, especially those here in Alberta.

00:09:12.300 And if the Government of Canada determines based on the views of all these different groups that

00:09:16.320 the question isn't clear, there will be no question. So again, they're going to have the

00:09:20.460 say and whether we get this question on a ballot, but I think it's quite clear. Now we move on.

00:09:26.120 Where the government of a province following a referendum relating to the secession of the

00:09:30.240 province from Canada seeks to enter into negotiations on the terms on which that

00:09:35.160 province might cease to be part of Canada, the House of Commons shall, except where it is

00:09:39.960 determined pursuant to Section 1 that a referendum question is not clear, consider and by resolution

00:09:45.360 set out its determination on whether in the circumstances there has been a clear expression

00:09:50.920 of a will by a clear majority of the population of that province that the province sees to be

00:09:56.080 part of Canada. So what is that number? We do not know. We go back to too big to rig.

00:10:03.380 Okay, we've got to be too big to rig. So they've got it in considering whether there has been a

00:10:08.920 clear expression of a will by a clear majority of the population of a province, that province

00:10:13.840 cease to be part of Canada, the House of Commons shall take into account, A, the size of the

00:10:18.920 majority of valid votes cast in favor of the secessionist option, B, the percentage of eligible

00:10:24.900 voters voting in the referendum, and C, any other matters or circumstances it considers to be

00:10:30.420 relevant. Folks, we're going to have a fight on our hands over a lot of these things because they

00:10:34.680 don't want to lose their sugar daddy, Alberta. In considering whether there's been a clear

00:10:40.960 expression of a will by a clear majority of the population of a province that the province sees

00:10:45.880 to be part of Canada, the House of Commons shall take into account the views of all political

00:10:50.380 parties represented in the legislative assembly of the province whose government proposed the

00:10:56.180 referendum on secession, any formal statements or resolutions by the government or legislative

00:11:00.960 assembly of any province or territory in Canada, any formal statements or resolutions by the Senate,

00:11:06.360 any formal statements or resolutions by the representatives of the Aboriginal peoples of

00:11:10.740 Canada, especially those in the province whose government proposed the referendum on secession

00:11:15.060 and any other views it considers to be relevant.

00:11:21.100 Okay, so it's going to be up to all these other groups to determine whether there has been a

00:11:26.060 clear expression of a will by a clear majority of the population. So again, there's a lot of

00:11:31.900 hurdles to jump here. So let's get to the final couple of paragraphs of the Clarity Act. It is

00:11:38.340 recognized that there is no right under the Constitution of Canada to affect the secession

00:11:42.780 of a province from Canada unilaterally and that, therefore, an amendment to the Constitution of

00:11:48.420 Canada would be required for any province to secede from Canada, which in turn would require

00:11:53.100 negotiations involving at least the governments of all the provinces and the government of Canada.

00:11:57.520 No Minister of the Crown shall propose a constitutional amendment to affect the secession of a province from Canada unless the Government of Canada has addressed in its negotiations the terms of secession that are relevant in the circumstances, including the divisions of assets and liabilities, any changes to the borders of the province, the rights, interests, and territorial claims of the Aboriginal peoples of Canada, and the protection of minority rights.

00:12:22.400 So that is the Clarity Act. It's not a long document. But I think the most important paragraph, if you read it, is this one I've got in orange. And then we're going to wrap all this up.

00:12:30.720 Whereas, in light of the finding by the Supreme Court of Canada that it would be for elected representatives to determine what constitutes a clear question and what constitutes a clear majority in a referendum held in a province on secession,

00:12:45.280 The House of Commons, as the only political institution elected to represent all Canadians, has an important role in identifying what constitutes a clear question and a clear majority sufficient for the government of Canada to enter into negotiations in relation to the secession of a province from Canada.

00:13:03.660 The House of Commons will determine the question, whether it's clear enough, and whether it's a clear majority, but it has to consult all the groups we talked about.

00:13:13.740 And that would be the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Legislative Assemblies of all the provinces and territories, the Senate, Aboriginal peoples as well.

00:13:22.660 And God, you know, a lot of them are going to try to say that it's not a clear question, which I think it is, and then they're going to get into whether it is a clear majority.

00:13:30.280 And that gets us back again to the words, too big to rig. And what is too big to rig? To be

00:13:39.140 determined, I guess. Is the question clear? I think it is. It's written directly from the

00:13:43.440 Clarity Act. That's the reason why they wrote it that way. And will we have a clear majority?

00:13:49.040 That's up for determination. And you have to realize that the rest of Canada, the House of

00:13:54.420 Commons, the provinces, the aboriginal groups are going to fight like hell to keep us in. 1.00

00:13:58.380 We have to be prepared for that.

00:13:59.800 And, you know, we get beat in the head all the time about treaties.

00:14:03.500 We're told we live on stolen land.

00:14:06.240 Do we know?

00:14:07.020 I mean, the land has been ceded.

00:14:08.440 And here's Treaty 7.

00:14:09.740 I'm in Treaty 7 land here in Calgary.

00:14:12.300 And I looked up the word ceded.

00:14:13.840 It means to give up, to surrender.

00:14:16.320 They signed this.

00:14:17.300 They beat us over the head with this treaty.

00:14:19.120 But they ceded the land.

00:14:21.900 It's in here five different times.

00:14:25.140 But be prepared for this to be used constantly against us.

00:14:29.540 Much like this article you saw in the National Post just yesterday.

00:14:36.680 Running to the king for safety.

00:14:39.420 And there are a lot of Aboriginal people that would like to see the power taken away from the people standing in this picture on either side of King Charles. 1.00

00:14:46.460 Now, I'm not a constitutional lawyer.

00:14:50.060 I can just read the document.

00:14:51.980 There are a significant number of speed bumps in the way here, hurdles that we will have to jump.

00:14:57.900 And I think we've got some smart people who are working for us in the independence movement,

00:15:01.620 but it makes me think I need to get a constitutional lawyer on here. Maybe I can try to get Keith

00:15:05.460 Wilson on with me or maybe somebody else for a different point of view on this. But what do you

00:15:10.360 think? It's very easy to read. Link in the description. Read the Clarity Act. It puts

00:15:16.120 everything in line for Alberta to secede from Canada to get her independence or any province

00:15:21.740 that chooses to do the same. If you like the video, please give it a thumbs up, subscribe to

00:15:25.940 the channel, ring the bell for notifications. I'll see you in the next one.

John Bolton - March 16, 2026

Can ALBERTA Leave Canada？ The Clarity Act Says So - But Are Hurdles Ahead？

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