John Bolton - Grey Power - Seniors For Independence

00:00:00.000 Hi, it's John, and welcome to the channel. Wonderful to have you here today. And I think

00:00:07.360 this should be an interesting and maybe an educational interview we're doing right now.

00:00:12.460 I'd like to welcome Arlene Johnson and Sabine Brazok to the channel, Seniors for Independence.

00:00:19.240 And ladies, thank you so much for being on the channel. I appreciate your time today.

00:00:23.760 Thank you for having us.

00:00:24.700 Well, I think it was an email where I was connected. I think it might have been Fred who got in touch with me. I think it was Fred. And he said, you have this organization. I just want to point out right now to people who know what's going on with the independence movement. You are not a third party advertiser, are you?

00:00:41.760 And we couldn't get it because we couldn't find a CFO. We interviewed one person and I mean,

00:00:50.360 people are so busy, right? But anyways, we thought we're doing fine without it. We'll

00:00:53.620 just carry on the way we are. And for people that don't know, you can go out there and talk about

00:00:59.320 this as much as you want, as long as you don't spend a thousand dollars. And I guess you're not

00:01:03.820 spending that money. You're just a group of seniors who are interested in independence.

00:01:08.340 Maybe I can go to Arlene first. Arlene, why do you want Alberta independence? Your shirt said,

00:01:14.160 this is my pride flag, which is the flag that's in behind me right there. Yours happens to say

00:01:20.000 independence on your flag there. But why do you want Alberta independence?

00:01:25.760 Because nothing is going to change with the status quo. Elections are called before they

00:01:31.900 hit Winnipeg, the federal government is never going to capitulate to anything that the province

00:01:39.320 wants or needs. I was a campaigner all through the Stay Free petition campaign and a chapter

00:01:50.520 lead. The oldest signature I had was a 92-year-old bedridden lady up in one of the counties who 0.91

00:02:01.040 that was going to be her dying wish was to get her name on that petition 1.00

00:02:05.480 to improve things for her kids and her grandkids. 0.99

00:02:11.520 So some seniors aren't worried about their pensions.

00:02:15.720 They're more worried about their kids' future.

00:02:18.560 We'll get to that in a minute.

00:02:19.800 Sabine, do you have anything to add to that?

00:02:21.680 Is there anything that comes to mind when it comes to wanting to be independent here in Alberta?

00:02:26.160 oh all the things um arlene said but the reason i got involved with um seniors for independence

00:02:32.880 is because i think they are a group collectively that oftentimes through no fault of their own

00:02:39.520 doesn't have access to alternative alternative forms of media so and they rely on mainstream and

00:02:48.400 there were being told lies by them like we had heard along the way that the forever forever

00:02:54.400 Canada campaign was going to the seniors homes and telling them that the Alberta independence

00:03:00.880 movement's goal is to become the 51st state, which is absolutely incorrect. So there's just

00:03:08.760 been so much fear. I mean, this is an instant replay of COVID. Like people aren't able to make

00:03:16.000 informed decisions because they're not given the information and oftentimes they don't know where

00:03:21.880 to find it, like seniors typically. And my other reason is because I have a background in

00:03:29.720 journalism. I didn't practice it. I got my diploma in the mid-80s at Grant McEwen in Edmonton. And

00:03:37.800 back in those days, it was drilled into our heads about the importance of finding the truth. And

00:03:44.200 the media's job is to get to the bottom of things and report on it. And I mean, get all sides

00:03:51.360 for sure but that's certainly not what's happening and poor seniors they're they're left in the dark

00:03:57.620 and i believe that no senior would deliberately do something to harm their children or their

00:04:04.440 grandchildren and if they vote for option one that's what they're doing and they have no idea

00:04:10.120 and i'd hate to think that like months or years or whatever down the road they'd be like i didn't

00:04:15.560 know which is why we have a graphic that Arlene helped develop of a grandma looking at her phone

00:04:22.880 like her cell phone and her grandson is saying grandma why didn't you choose independence

00:04:29.920 and she her response is I didn't know I just want people to know I don't care make their own

00:04:36.480 decision but make it based on information not just because somebody told you to we know we know and

00:04:43.060 And, you know, it's interesting you say that because we know that people are getting this information from the mainstream media.

00:04:48.120 I was in media for my whole life, my previous my previous life.

00:04:51.600 That's what I did. And, you know, I graduated from school back in the mid 80s as well.

00:04:56.300 Integrity and credibility were the most important thing when it came to media.

00:04:59.960 But, you know, you're putting it very bluntly here.

00:05:03.160 You know, if we can just get that information to them, you know, I was talking to my mother in law yesterday.

00:05:07.320 She's 90. She's going to vote option two in the fall.

00:05:10.200 Her friend's concerned about the pension plan because she's been scared about that.

00:05:16.180 Is it just because you have access to alternate media, to social media, that you know about these things?

00:05:24.220 Or are the other people just totally clueless when it comes to what's actually going to happen in the fall,

00:05:31.380 which isn't, by the way, a vote for independence.

00:05:34.280 It's a vote to send a message, right?

00:05:37.660 Totally.

00:05:37.900 Maybe I can go with Arlene on that one.

00:05:39.780 You can answer that, Arlene. 0.67

00:05:41.520 Well, I think part of the problem, too, is there's two subsections of boomers, and we keep getting lumped in all together.

00:05:51.080 But it's the older boomers that tend to go with the liberal mindset and watch the CBCs and, you know, repeat ad nauseum, whatever they're hearing on mainstream media.

00:06:04.520 it's the younger subset the generation jones that's media savvy on their computers designing

00:06:13.680 websites and memes and and whatever else so that younger subset i think is is on board with

00:06:21.100 what we're saying it's the older boomers that we have to get and i think the silent generation for

00:06:27.380 the most part, don't even vote. You know, they're kind of beyond that. You know, a lot of them are 0.65

00:06:35.640 non-ambulatory or whatever, not engaged. They just want to sit and play bingo and do crafts.

00:06:42.880 So what are Seniors for Independence doing? By the way, the website is seniorsforindependence.org.

00:06:49.460 Sabine, what are you doing to try to change minds, to try to get to those seniors who haven't got

00:06:55.520 the correct information well i had been sending a lot of information letters to the editor op-eds

00:07:04.360 potential op-eds to um media outlets everywhere i've done a couple and the only one there's only

00:07:11.780 one mainstream media outlet that picked up on the first batch i sent out and ironically it was the

00:07:19.460 Calgary Herald. As you probably know, John, like the Heralds, like Sun Media tends to be more

00:07:27.240 like right wing slightly. The Journal, Herald, more left wing. So they picked it up and based

00:07:34.960 on Alberta's voices. And I also hear, I live in Stony Plain and we get a small newspaper called

00:07:42.580 stony plane reporter and um a couple weeks or a few weeks ago i noticed a full page op-ed um

00:07:50.740 from somebody talking uh like all the mainstream media talking points and i um challenged that i

00:07:58.340 wrote to the editor and i'm like are you guys supposed to like report on both like sides of

00:08:03.700 the story like are you deliberately not doing your jobs or are you being told not to and i received

00:08:12.020 back quite a terse reply. I mean, Arlene knows about it. And Fred, who incidentally is the

00:08:18.840 founder of Seniors for Independence. And so I wrote back to him again, like just pointing out,

00:08:27.380 oh, and this is the other thing I want to say. My brain goes in circles.

00:08:32.140 It's all right. It's all right.

00:08:33.360 Yeah. I don't know if you saw this, John, but at the turn of the century or millennium,

00:08:39.120 1999, A&E did a special about the most influential people of the second millennial, 100 most

00:08:46.900 influential. And they did, you know, the typical, you know, Isaac Newton, all the incredible

00:08:52.400 inventors, etc. The number one person, most influential person of the millennium was

00:09:00.980 uh johan gutenberg which is incredibly interesting to me because of him um printing press exactly

00:09:12.580 channels were opened and so people could get information more easily so my point um to the

00:09:20.260 stony stony plane reporter was that and anybody like any mainstream media like now um mainstream

00:09:28.260 media have decided to become the gatekeepers of the free flow of information which is absolutely

00:09:36.660 contrary to what they're supposed to be doing and we talked off camera about me being an optimist

00:09:44.500 optimist i think i'm i looked it up one time um a rational idealist yeah i don't think it's

00:09:54.580 unreasonable to want the truth. So people who aren't asking, then don't say you care about

00:10:03.940 the truth. Because if you're not asking for the truth and going to look for it on your own,

00:10:09.020 you obviously don't care. So Arlene, let me ask you this. How do you get the message to the

00:10:14.880 very large percentage of people in Alberta who aren't getting the message right now? You're

00:10:21.860 obviously trying to do that. How are you trying to, are you looking for volunteers? Are you trying

00:10:27.440 to get out to places so you can talk to people about this? It's really difficult to get out to

00:10:33.380 places because most seniors' homes, you have to go through management or front desk or whatever.

00:10:42.420 And as soon as you state your reason for being there, they're going to shut you down. They don't

00:10:46.800 want. I mean, if Tommy went in there, he'd be welcome with open arms. But so we do our newsletter

00:10:56.960 once a week. We try to cover some of the points that seniors are worried about. You know, I did

00:11:07.000 a dive into the other nine questions last week. We usually include a meme that's kind of thought

00:11:14.460 provoking like the grandma with the cell phone um or you know and then plus i i usually generate

00:11:22.700 you know a couple of three memes a week and add it to we have a facebook platform as well

00:11:28.160 um and then those get shared out so it sort of you know builds a profile so we're slowly

00:11:36.200 gaining more members and as we get more members those memes and and newsletters get shared out

00:11:41.500 more. And, you know, we're slowly getting some traffic and some traction. So hopefully more

00:11:49.960 people will get some information that way. If you go to seniorsforindependence.org,

00:11:55.180 when you open up the website, there will be a pop-up there that will allow you to get a

00:11:59.120 newsletter. So you'll get information on this. You know, we've talked about the fact that a lot

00:12:04.620 of seniors don't get the information. Why aren't you afraid? Is it just because you do have access

00:12:10.920 to these things? Why are you not afraid of Alberta independence like others are? I'm just I'm just

00:12:17.600 wondering, maybe Sabine, you can answer that one. Well, I don't know if this is cheating. But like

00:12:23.500 I said, my background is like I got the training in journalism, but I never really practiced. Yeah,

00:12:29.380 because when I went into journalism school, I was 23. And I've been working for a while. And I found

00:12:35.500 out that my job when I graduated would be a reporter in a small town and I'd be earning

00:12:40.940 less than I was making as a secretary. So I decided to go into corporate communication. So

00:12:46.620 me personally, I've always been curious and I'm not afraid to ask questions. You know, that's,

00:12:52.680 that's my training. Um, so that's, and I've lived in Alberta my whole life and way back when,

00:13:01.340 when they started talking about you know carbon dioxide being a pollutant i'm like what did you

00:13:09.020 guys not pay attention in grade three science so i sound incredulous because um because i am like

00:13:18.620 well you're a skeptic and and you need i always say to everybody be skeptical about everything

00:13:23.660 reagan um reagan said trust but verify i think these days because of the world we live in you

00:13:29.500 need to verify before you ever trust anything so always be skeptical about things like that and and

00:13:34.700 i am as well and it's good to be that way and to be inquisitive ask questions and if people want

00:13:40.460 to help you there is a volunteer button what would they be volunteering for arlene well hopefully

00:13:48.140 they can get a toe into some of these seniors homes they might have a friend or um a relative

00:13:54.860 that you know can get them past that um locked access yeah um you know they could print off a

00:14:02.700 batch of these newsletters or whatever and and leave them with grandma at the nursing home or

00:14:08.300 whatever she can share it with their friends over tea they can have a discussion instead of just

00:14:14.540 watching the six o'clock news and being told what to think you know yeah yeah well you know i you

00:14:21.020 You know, the farther I get into this, and we're less than two months away, we hit the two-month threshold a couple of days or three days ago now.

00:14:27.940 The more I get into this, I know that mass messaging is going to be important moving forward.

00:14:33.340 But I think one-on-one or one-on-two or one-on-three discussions and having those discussions are going to be one of the most important things we can do.

00:14:41.440 You know, you've got neighbors on either side of you, and if they don't know about this, I know my neighbors are asking me questions about this.

00:14:47.780 And I'm trying to convince them to vote for option two in the fall.

00:14:53.020 So people can help you by volunteering.

00:14:55.640 They can get a newsletter there.

00:14:57.240 How many people are involved right now with Seniors for Independence?

00:15:01.100 And maybe you can answer that, Sabine.

00:15:03.020 Well, the core group is myself, Arlene, and Mary.

00:15:08.540 If Mary was able to get on, she would have relayed the frustration she has with the seniors in her complex.

00:15:17.180 like basically they're just shutting down and you and i both know there's no point in trying

00:15:22.660 to convince people that have decided no for whatever reason but i think what we will try

00:15:30.220 to continue to do is to reach the undecided the ones i mean in my opinion i don't understand why

00:15:37.320 people aren't curious at least curious about what this could mean so we're just we're trying if

00:15:43.640 possible to access people who are curious and as you also know there are so many groups doing

00:15:50.260 what we're doing we're just you know hyper focused on seniors hence the name because we really

00:15:57.780 really believe that if they knew what was at stake they would rethink their option one decision

00:16:05.540 because you don't put all that effort into raising your children only to have all of the potential 1.00

00:16:10.980 taken away by idiotic governments. I want to ask, I'm just going to finish up with this question, 1.00

00:16:16.280 Arlene. Maybe you can answer this one for me. You know, I'm 61 years old now. I remember what

00:16:21.780 Canada used to be. You obviously remember what Canada used to be. I used to be a very, very

00:16:28.320 proud Canadian. I'm no longer that. I consider myself Albertan. I've got a hat back there that

00:16:32.740 says I am Albertan. How often do you hear people say to you who are seniors saying they can't vote

00:16:40.840 to leave canada because they may not say this word but patriotism is the thing that that keeps

00:16:46.160 them from voting to leave or voting option two oh yeah it's it's daily online that i'm called a

00:16:54.040 trader and a seppy and all the names badge of honor as far as i'm concerned yeah but you hear

00:17:02.840 that do you oh yeah yeah yeah i'm 65 yeah and still working full-time probably for at least

00:17:12.080 another 18 months um until my employer sees this video right right um well i yeah i i i hear that

00:17:27.860 lot right yeah the the vitriol coming from the other side is just off the charts you know like i

00:17:38.660 i i i can't even reason with these people like how do you need trying like sabine said not even

00:17:45.220 worth trying don't even bother no don't waste your breath yeah yeah the psychological damage

00:17:50.340 that's been done to canada over the last 10 years oh yeah i don't think we'll ever recover from like

00:17:56.980 People like to push the idea of economics and wealth and prosperity for an independent Alberta.

00:18:05.080 I just want to get away from the insanity.

00:18:08.240 And I don't think that that part of it is discussed enough.

00:18:13.140 You know, you thought the federal government and the media has done an amazing job of pitting people against each other.

00:18:21.560 And it's going to happen with the seniors, too.

00:18:23.760 They don't realize this yet.

00:18:25.420 But they're part of this, you know, generational inequity where we're being handed made instead of health care so that people have better access to our assets.

00:18:36.920 And they don't get it.

00:18:39.520 They're more worried about their CPP and not worried about the home equity tax that Ethan Sittle is going to bring back up.

00:18:48.440 So people have to get with the program and start doing their homework.

00:18:53.860 Well, I hope they do.

00:18:55.420 Thank you so much for talking with me.

00:18:57.160 We need to convince more seniors.

00:18:59.460 You know, I go around my neighborhood.

00:19:01.640 I go for a bike ride over here, over to the park, Fish Creek Park, here in the south part of Calgary.

00:19:05.740 And overlooking the park are three, $4 million homes.

00:19:09.360 And these homes probably have no mortgage on them.

00:19:11.840 People have been living there for years.

00:19:13.520 I see the people with the gray hair, with the Forever Canadian signs out front, with the brand new driveway that has just recently been paved.

00:19:21.080 And I always yell at them, vote option two, save Alberta.

00:19:24.040 but I don't think they get it. And I don't think they're thinking about their grandchildren and

00:19:27.840 what's coming for them next, because a lot of seniors say to me, listen, I'm concerned about

00:19:32.300 my grandchildren and my children as well. And I know you two are as well. Good luck. If you'd

00:19:37.080 like to volunteer, the website is seniorsforindependence.org. You link a lot of

00:19:42.420 different YouTube channels people can go to, including mine. Thank you very much for that.

00:19:47.480 seniorsforindependence.org, get the newsletter as well and talk to people. I think that's the

00:19:52.200 number one thing we need to do. There's going to be a lot of one-on-one discussions, but those

00:19:56.600 discussions will push us to have people vote for option two. So Arlene and Sabine, thank you so

00:20:02.300 much for talking to me today and good luck. Thank you, John. Okay, if you like this video,

00:20:08.100 please give it a thumbs up, subscribe to the channel, ring the bell for notifications.

00:20:11.940 I'll see you in the next one.

John Bolton - September 01, 2026

Grey Power - Seniors For Independence

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