John Bolton - June 20, 2026


Game Changer - A Formidable Force For Independence - Let Alberta Decide


Episode Stats


Length

16 minutes

Words per minute

197.91

Word count

3,267

Sentence count

211

Harmful content

Misogyny

2

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Let Alberta Decide is a new independent third party advertising company that was officially launched in Calgary on Friday, June 20th. I was there yesterday as the emcee of this event. Here are some interviews I did with Keith Wilson and Tanya Clemens at that event.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
00:00:00.000 To help Albertans make an informed decision, we've started this new group,
00:00:05.120 this new independence organization called Let Alberta Decide.
00:00:09.560 And we also have our campaign that Alberta's done waiting.
00:00:14.640 I just want to make sure that Albertans are engaged in this.
00:00:16.620 This is a conversation that has been building for decades, like I said.
00:00:20.560 And now we're to the point where we're going to be given this incredible opportunity,
00:00:24.180 once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, to be asked the most important question that Albertans will ever be asked.
00:00:30.000 Hi, it's John, and welcome to the channel, 3.37 a.m. Saturday, June the 20th. I hope
00:00:37.580 you're having a great start to your Saturday and your weekend as well, and I hope you had
00:00:42.500 a good work week. I'm here with the big blue mug of coffee, and I appreciate you clicking
00:00:46.420 on this video. Yesterday was an amazing day. As I tell you every morning, I get up very
00:00:55.120 early. Yesterday, I was up earlier than usual. I was up thinking about an event I was at yesterday
00:01:01.900 morning in downtown Calgary. I was a very small part of this event. The rock stars were on the
00:01:06.900 stage after me yesterday. And it was the launch of a brand new third-party advertiser here in Calgary
00:01:14.440 called Let Alberta Decide. I'm going to show you some interviews I did with Keith Wilson and Tanya
00:01:19.800 Clemens at that event yesterday. I'll do that in just a moment. But I was there yesterday as the
00:01:25.100 emcee of this event. About a week ago, I got a text message from Keith. I'll put it up on the
00:01:29.820 screen here. It says, John, Tanya and I are in the process of arranging a press conference in
00:01:34.580 Calgary next Friday, which would have been yesterday, to announce the launch of our third
00:01:38.440 party advertiser at the bottom. Can you act as the emcee for that press conference? Thanks. I got back
00:01:43.360 to Keith in just seconds. Absolutely. Thanks for asking. This was very important yesterday.
00:01:48.760 I think all of the third party advertisers that have come forward, and there's many of them now,
00:01:52.840 are very important. The one yesterday was especially important because Keith has become
00:01:57.620 one of the more prominent voices in the Alberta independence movement, as has Tanya Clemens,
00:02:02.420 who is the co-lead of Let Alberta Decide. You know, this was so important to me.
00:02:08.780 Just going out for five minutes to do a little bit of an introduction of Keith and Tanya yesterday,
00:02:15.040 I went out and bought a brand new suit yesterday. I used to wear a suit a lot.
00:02:19.140 I haven't had a suit on very much since I've lived out here in Calgary,
00:02:22.680 but I bought a brand new suit for this event yesterday,
00:02:24.660 which you're going to see in just a moment.
00:02:25.800 I'm going to show you a very short clip of me
00:02:27.340 because what I had to say yesterday wasn't all that important.
00:02:30.900 Now, I want to send you over to LetAlbertaDecide.com.
00:02:35.400 Let me bring it up full screen here so we don't block any of it off.
00:02:38.620 Very impressive website here.
00:02:40.300 And as you can see on the side, you can donate to them.
00:02:43.220 Very important to donate to all of the third-party advertisers.
00:02:46.520 But if you can go over right now and make a donation to LetAlbertaDecide.com, that would be terrific.
00:02:52.700 And you can make a donation of up to $5,000 here.
00:02:56.960 And that will be the maximum you can give for the whole independence referendum campaign.
00:03:03.160 Alberta's done waiting is their message.
00:03:05.740 Let me bring myself up on screen.
00:03:07.520 Great message, by the way, which I discuss with both Tanya and Keith in the interviews you're going to see in just a moment.
00:03:13.200 Here's Keith looking also looking very pro.
00:03:16.520 That would be him, I think, at the debate with Jason Kenney.
00:03:19.920 And here's Tanya, who I have a great deal of admiration for.
00:03:23.760 Tanya is a formidable woman, a former teacher of math and science.
00:03:29.800 She's a farmer, great advocate for the independence movement.
00:03:32.740 You know, her mother came up to me yesterday.
00:03:35.020 She wanted to meet me.
00:03:36.480 And now I know why Tanya is so nice, because her mom is just awesome.
00:03:39.480 And you might want to check this website out as well for some information,
00:03:43.060 because there is great information about why we want to leave,
00:03:46.680 talking about how much money we give to Ottawa and how little we get back.
00:03:51.060 But a great day yesterday.
00:03:52.260 Now, the wonderful thing about what happened yesterday is that we got the coverage that we needed.
00:03:57.200 There were some media advisories that went out.
00:04:00.260 Lots of media showed up yesterday.
00:04:01.800 This was not an event for people in the independence movement per se.
00:04:05.840 There were some people there, but this was for the media to get the message out.
00:04:10.620 It was very well done.
00:04:11.660 It looked very professional.
00:04:13.060 Let's just take a look at a couple of the stories that are running today in the National Post.
00:04:17.980 Alberta never gets a voice.
00:04:19.580 Pro-Separatist Lawyer launches independence.
00:04:21.540 There's Keith and Tanya on stage.
00:04:23.740 And this one from the CBC.
00:04:26.300 New Alberta Separatist Group launches campaign.
00:04:29.380 There was a little bit of commentary from people who are obviously pro-Canadian in some of these articles.
00:04:35.160 But for the most part, the message is getting out.
00:04:37.200 And again, thanks to the media for telling our side of the story.
00:04:41.940 Now, what I'm going to do is I'm going to get to the interviews with Keith and Tanya in just a
00:04:45.920 moment. Very short, not long interviews. I think it's always important to be concise. Good interviews
00:04:51.340 coming up in just a moment. But before that, I want to just show you me. Thanks to Igor,
00:04:56.160 my friend Igor. I'll put a link to his YouTube channel below. Go over and subscribe to Igor.
00:05:00.960 I poached this from you, Igor. I hope you don't mind. This is a very short little bit of me
00:05:05.880 and my brand-new suit yesterday in downtown Calgary.
00:05:09.680 Nice to have the media here.
00:05:11.040 We appreciate you coming out today.
00:05:12.400 We really do.
00:05:13.220 We will have you out of here quickly.
00:05:14.760 This won't be a long presentation today.
00:05:17.260 You'll have lots of time to get back to your offices
00:05:19.740 to write glowing reviews about what we're talking about here today.
00:05:24.120 But thank you so much for coming out today.
00:05:26.040 And here we are in downtown Calgary. 0.96
00:05:28.380 Let Alberta decide. 1.00
00:05:30.080 Alberta's done waiting.
00:05:31.180 as really quite a message that you and Tanya Clemens talked about here, Keith.
00:05:36.840 How do you think things went today?
00:05:39.240 Well, I've been in nonstop scrums and interviews, so I'm not sure yet.
00:05:43.400 But, you know, I was very pleased with the turnout from Legacy Media.
00:05:48.100 I think there was 10 to 12 or more camera crews here,
00:05:53.500 and that was who we were targeting.
00:05:55.700 You know, the independence movement needs to move out of its comfort zone,
00:05:59.840 needs to reach audiences in ways that we haven't been doing it in the past.
00:06:05.560 Not that there's been anything wrong with that, how we've done it,
00:06:07.900 but we've got to go further.
00:06:08.840 We've got to do more.
00:06:10.260 And so what today was about was sending the message
00:06:14.060 that there's a new approach.
00:06:16.480 It's game time.
00:06:17.440 We've got four months.
00:06:18.580 We can win this.
00:06:19.880 We've got to take a broadened approach.
00:06:21.880 We've got to take a sophisticated approach.
00:06:23.680 We need a professional campaign.
00:06:25.560 That's what we launched today.
00:06:27.040 We've got the team together.
00:06:28.840 We've got lots of strategies and tactics that we plan to deploy.
00:06:32.900 We launched our website this morning, which is letalbertadecide.com, letalbertadecide.com.
00:06:39.420 I encourage people to go there.
00:06:40.580 I think you'll be impressed with it in terms of the information and accessibility of the information and the tools to help persuade others.
00:06:47.020 Importantly, though, we're a registered third-party advertiser.
00:06:50.960 We just got that confirmation two days ago.
00:06:54.280 And so we are looking for donations to help us fund this campaign.
00:06:57.800 We plan sophisticated advertising strategically in time, as well as embracing and reaching out to the legacy media, making ourselves accessible to them, developing other tools and information approaches so that those of us who know that it makes sense for Alberta to become independent can approach our friends and neighbours who haven't yet reached that conclusion and help slowly bring them on to our side.
00:07:26.240 so that in four months from now, on October 19th, people vote for option two, which is for a referendum.
00:07:34.500 And the message you're passing along, I'll just show it over my shoulder here, Alberta's done waiting.
00:07:40.200 I really, really enjoyed both of your speeches.
00:07:42.920 I really enjoyed yours because I got what the meaning was behind it.
00:07:46.940 You know, I remember at the debate with Keith and Jason Kenney, and Jason kept saying,
00:07:54.140 And, well, you know, all we have to do is keep negotiating with Canada to get a better deal.
00:07:59.980 We've just got to lock arms.
00:08:01.220 We're done waiting, aren't we?
00:08:02.520 Right.
00:08:02.940 Yeah.
00:08:03.320 So tell us a little bit about what message you wanted to pass along here today to people
00:08:07.620 and how you got that message out to the quite sizable media that showed up today, which is great.
00:08:13.560 Yeah.
00:08:13.760 Well, I guess I look at it from a little bit of a historical perspective, too, that we have tried.
00:08:18.100 Alberta has tried very hard for decades and decades.
00:08:20.780 and thousands and thousands of people have been on this movement trying to carve out some more
00:08:24.860 sovereignty for Alberta within Canada. And whether it's the firewall letter or the equalization
00:08:29.940 referendum, the reform party, all these different things that we have attempted to try to reach
00:08:35.400 those goals have all been met with a no. And when we are looking at the future now and trying to
00:08:41.040 move ahead, what are the options for achieving that? I know that we have Jason Kenney advocating
00:08:46.320 for just keep trying keep doing it the status quo yeah and our message is you know what alberta's
00:08:51.120 done waiting we have tried we're ready to stand on our own two feet and when we're talking to
00:08:55.420 the media today they're actually like very gracious and i'm so thankful that so many of
00:08:59.260 them showed up and can get our message out there because we're trying to reach that group of people
00:09:03.080 that is undecided and they they do struggle with our place within confederation but they're unsure
00:09:08.480 of the steps forward so we need to be able to reach and engage them in conversation and give
00:09:13.000 them some reassurance yeah so what's the plan of doing that we've got four months actually today
00:09:17.840 it's four months exactly yeah that's a referendum it's not a lot of time as summer goes by quickly
00:09:22.900 you know we'll be in it'll be labor day pretty soon so what's the plan moving forward over the
00:09:26.920 next little bit what kind of things you're going to be doing you figure well it's not a lot of
00:09:30.720 time in some ways but in some ways it's a very long campaign period in political campaigns yeah
00:09:35.200 this is a very long one a four-month window so we just got to make sure that we're facing
00:09:38.560 ourselves too so we got the perseverance and the energy reserves to get there but we're going to
00:09:42.980 utilize a kind of a hybrid campaign strategy i guess where we employ a lot of like the standard
00:09:47.780 campaign practices which will be you know putting out media pamphlets resources educational things
00:09:53.700 like that eventually get into door knocking and some of those things but then also employing some
00:09:58.580 of like the latest social media and marketing strategies and we have some really cool technology
00:10:03.300 available to us and some really amazing people on our team that know how to utilize that to best get
00:10:08.980 get our message out. I talked to Tanya about this, and we're done waiting. And it was interesting
00:10:14.220 because I was thinking back to the debate you did with Kenny, and I mentioned this to Tanya. I mean,
00:10:19.280 Kenny's plan was to, well, we just have to sit down and hammer out those deals and get, you know,
00:10:24.160 get what we want here. But we've been waiting a long time for that. And that was your message
00:10:28.080 back then. And I really heard that from both of you today when you addressed the media and the
00:10:33.940 crowd that showed up here today. Well, and that's why we have the campaign slogan of we're done
00:10:37.920 waiting yeah yeah i mean we we we supported uh we helped elect in the walrooney government
00:10:43.360 and both attempts at amending the constitution failed with the meach lake and charlottetown
00:10:47.960 we embraced preston manning's reform movement we sent prime minister harper uh to ottawa and
00:10:54.900 made him prime minister we sent jason kenny to ottawa as a minister in many portfolios
00:11:00.260 and nothing has changed we're still on bent knee asking ottawa for permission we're still
00:11:06.860 held back by Ottawa, were constrained by Ottawa, decisions that affect Albertans are not being made
00:11:13.180 in Alberta, they're being made in Ottawa. Through independence, we can elect our politicians
00:11:19.480 here in Alberta. If we want to change the criminal code, we don't have to convince the people in
00:11:25.460 Nova Scotia and British Columbia, we just need to convince other Albertans. If we want to enter
00:11:31.160 into a trade agreement, we don't have to compromise our resource sector in the trade agreement with
00:11:36.100 the United States because we're trying to prop up a failing manufacturing sector in Ontario and
00:11:41.700 Quebec. When the Bank of Canada right now goes to send interest rates, if the economy in one
00:11:48.040 part of Canada is in recession, that would signal that the Bank of Canada should reduce an interest
00:11:52.860 rate. If it's on fire somewhere else and the economy is doing well, that should indicate that
00:11:57.280 Bank of Canada has to increase them. The Bank of Canada can't make the optimal decision because
00:12:02.380 Canada is too big and too diverse. So if we have a bank of Alberta, the bank of Alberta will be able
00:12:07.380 to make interest rate decisions that are optimally efficient for the maximum benefit of the economy
00:12:11.800 and the people of Alberta. There's so many reasons why this makes sense. This campaign is about
00:12:17.720 getting out there and reaching into audiences that are currently would vote no, that would
00:12:24.120 currently vote stay, and to proactively trying to neutralize and counter the fear campaign.
00:12:29.920 Yeah. Fear is a function of uncertainty. And the more certainty we can provide, the more answers we can provide about how an independent Alberta would work, how the transition will occur, will increase people feeling comfortable supporting independence.
00:12:44.680 How did you feel when Keith came to you and wanted you to be part of this? You know, you've been a great voice for independence. You know, you have. You've been out on the road talking to people. I remember meeting you, I think it was at the legislature the first time. You did a great speech there. What were you thinking when Keith asked you to do this?
00:12:57.900 Oh, completely honored and humbled and probably like scared the bats off me soon because it's
00:13:05.580 Keith Wilson. And I think he's not looking for leadership or to be anything of significance in
00:13:12.280 that way. But because of the way he's conducted himself and always been an advocate for freedom,
00:13:16.120 I believe that the people on the side of independence have naturally elevated him
00:13:20.280 to that level. They look to him for guidance and advice. So to be asked to work with him
00:13:25.200 is definitely an honor yeah keith was asked about leadership today when uh he was doing a question
00:13:30.640 to answer there he says he's happy to be on stage with other people as well i have to tell you this
00:13:34.480 so keith asked me to come out here to mc today it takes it takes a lot of people it takes quite
00:13:41.200 a person to get me to wear a suit i'm wearing a suit today so keith asked me very good so thanks
00:13:47.360 danielle i know you're you're being dragged that way well done today thanks for talking to me yes
00:13:51.520 Thank you so much. Appreciate it. It was an outstanding event. Thanks again to Keith and
00:13:55.580 Tanya for allowing me to be a very small part of it. I went downtown yesterday around 10 o'clock,
00:14:00.100 didn't leave until 1.30. People milled around to talk about the independence movement yesterday.
00:14:05.540 I'm very, very excited about it. You know, my friend Heather Field was there, Dennis Kalma,
00:14:09.660 who wrote The Value of Freedom. He was there, had a good chat with Dennis as usual. Dennis
00:14:14.640 working on the Constitution, actually going on tour with Jason Levine, with Bruce Pardy and
00:14:19.420 Matthew Rowley. Go over to Jason's website, thelevineshow.com, to be part of that, so you
00:14:23.600 can see one of those events. I spoke with Dennis yesterday. Eva Chipiak was there. Mr. and Mrs.
00:14:29.060 Albertan were there as well. Corey Morgan showed up. I'm sorry if I missed anybody, but I talked
00:14:33.880 to everybody yesterday. Berta Proud Dad was there. Hello, Berta Proud Dad. Thank you so much for all
00:14:38.420 of what you do for the Alberta independence movement. But we all are very excited about
00:14:43.040 this. And yesterday marked four months to the day until the referendum on October 19th. So we got
00:14:47.760 four months to win this thing, folks. Again, go over to LetAlbertaDecide.com to support Keith and
00:14:54.640 Tanya and what they're doing and support the other third-party advertisers as well. I plan to have
00:14:59.080 them all on the channel over the next little bit. And of course, I'll have Tanya and Keith back on
00:15:04.260 the channel to talk about what they're doing, which is incredibly important. One more thing
00:15:08.540 before I go, I'm hoping by midweek, by Wednesday, to have a big announcement for you about an event
00:15:14.780 coming up. Going to need your help with this one, but it's going to be very important as well. And
00:15:20.000 I'm going to need the help of a lot of people across the province. And everybody I've asked
00:15:23.940 so far or told about this event I'm planning are in 100%. It's going to be very exciting. So that
00:15:30.400 will come up very soon. I hope to tell you by Wednesday, if everything works and I get all my
00:15:36.020 ducks in a row. Thanks for watching. Thanks to Keith and Tanya, everybody involved in the
00:15:40.300 independence movement. I love all of you. I even gave a shout out yesterday in the introduction
00:15:44.800 to Keith and Tanya to all of you who sat in the snow for four months collecting signatures on
00:15:51.000 petitions. You got to know that we're here because of you. Thank you. If you like this video, give it
00:15:57.440 a thumbs up, subscribe to the channel, ring the bell for notifications. I'll see you in the next
00:16:02.420 one. I look back until January of this year on the 2nd of January when we started a petition
00:16:08.480 campaign in the province and i saw a lot of friends and great people thousands of them
00:16:12.640 standing out in the snow for months collecting signatures on petitions i admire those people
00:16:18.320 greatly we know what's happened since then but we do have a question coming up and i don't know
00:16:22.880 whether any of you have checked your phones recently but um four months from today is the
00:16:29.440 is the referendum.