I Didn't Think The Lineups Would Be A Kilometre Long - Dr. Dennis Modry interview
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Summary
In this episode, Dr. Dennis Moldry joins me in Panama to talk about the sovereignty movement in Alberta. We talk about his experience at the sovereignty event in Calgary on January 10th, 2019, and how the movement has grown since then.
Transcript
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Hi, it's John and welcome to the channel. Great to have you along today. It is Thursday,
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January the 15th. It is 10.05 Panamanian time. I am in Panama, despite the fact it looks like
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I'm at Two Jack Lake just outside Banff. I am in Panama right now with the big blue mug of coffee,
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of course, and I have a guest with me today and I'm very, very happy to have back on the channel
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once again. It's been a while since I've had Dr. Dennis Moldry with me. Dennis, it is a pleasure
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to have you here again today and I'm really excited about what we're going to talk about.
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Thanks for being here. Yeah, wonderful. Thanks for having me on again, John.
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I was out on Saturday last week, the 10th of January. I was here in Calgary. I was at the
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Queensland Community Center. I was asked back in December by Jeevan Mangat if I would come out and
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do an event. I lost my light. I hope that's okay, but if I would do an event with him on January 10th,
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we ended up having Corey Morgan there along with Dennis Kalma, Eva Chipiuk, and a few friends
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showed up. It was incredible. Heather Field, one of the other organizers at the event, sent me a text
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message the day before on January the night saying, I think we're going to get slammed. So what are you
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talking about? I think we're going to have a lot of people, she said. And oh my God, Dennis, it was
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incredible. Then I saw the other events that were happening on Saturday night and it seems like
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there is some kind of momentum. I can feel it here in Panama. There's a momentum growing with this
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that people want to be part of this now. And I think it started last Saturday night in a big way.
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What are your thoughts on that? Well, you know, I think you hit the nail on the head, you know, for
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somebody like myself who's been involved with this right from the get-go, this whole process of
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educating the public on the rationale and merits of sovereignty. You know, going into this, you never
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really know, you know, what the response is going to be. I mean, we've had, you know, at our educational
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events previously, we had lots of people come out. But, you know, when the petition started, it was an
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expectation that we hoped there would be a lot of people. But I didn't think there would be a flood of
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people. I didn't think that the lineups would go on for kilometers, you know. And this is the kind of
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thing that we're seeing. Mitch and I were up in Fort McMurray on Saturday. And it, I mean, it went on
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for hours, for several hours where people were lining up to come in. And then I did an event in Millet
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on Monday. And for about four hours, from about six o'clock till 1030, people were four and a half
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hours, people were signing. And my job was to entertain them as they were coming in and just
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answering questions and that sort of thing. And it was a lot of fun. And then last night in Red Deer,
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and this is the second event in Red Deer. And again, it went from like 630. We got there about
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630. But the lineup just went forever. And that too went till 1030 last night. But the thing that's
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interesting is the enthusiasm and the age range. There were young people there. There were older
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people there. There were middle-aged people there. There were people on crutches. There were people in
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wheelchairs. I mean, you know, this, this is a grassroots populist movement, like Alberta has never
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seen before. And perhaps never in Canada has there been a movement like this, other than maybe what
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was going on with the trucker convoy. But, but I think I think what's happening here, John, is that
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sovereignty, the concept of Alberta becoming a sovereign country, cuts across all political
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stripes. Because it does not matter if you're a union member, or you're a schoolteacher, or a nurse,
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or you're in the private sector, it just does not matter. The economic benefit that people recognize,
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the cultural benefits, the preservation of your values, it, I think this is, this is, this is going
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to be world changing. I think Alberta is going to be the example for the world of what people can
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accomplish when they come together. When I was out at the event last Saturday night, Corey Morgan,
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he wrote the Sovereignty's Handbook. And if you hear just the first part of his book, he talks about
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trying to start a movement about 20 years ago, and he said it just kind of fizzled out, it didn't have
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any momentum. Back in 2019, I went to a event here in North Calgary, when I first started getting
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involved in this. And I saw about 1200 people show up at an auditorium in Calgary. And then I saw it
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kind of fizzle out after that, there were a lot of different groups who were wanting independence,
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and they weren't working together. And then when this group got together, now Stay Free Alberta,
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Mitch Sylvester, yourself, others going out talking around the province, it seems to have brought
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everybody together. I met Jeevan Mangat, who worked with the Wild Rose Independence Party,
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Ron Roberts from the Independence Party, other independence groups, they're all together.
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Everybody's in on this right now, and everybody's working together. So I don't see any fracturing,
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and I see it growing. And you're right, I saw young people out last Saturday night,
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we had a young man who just moved over here from Ukraine, had some concerns about, you know,
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people coming from other countries saying, I moved here to Canada, why do I want an independent
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Alberta, but he seemed really enthusiastic about it as well. We do have naysayers, though. And the
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thing I'm noticing, and I talked to you about this the other day, we're starting to see,
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wow, some of the insults coming from the rest of the country, it's remarkable. And within Alberta as
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well, even hearing things from senators, and I don't think that can slow this movement down. I think
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there's a lot of positivity here. And much of what we're having said about us is totally untrue.
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Yeah, well, you know, for people to make disparaging comments about the values and about
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individuals that are involved with and want a better Alberta, they want greater freedom and
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prosperity. I think they actually denigrate themselves because what when they say the sorts
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of things that they do, it's so classless, that they just descend to, to a level of disgrace to
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themselves, that I think it, it only fans the flames of, of Alberta sovereignty. And the reality is,
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John, is that they, they resort to those kinds of comments, and ad hominem comments, because they
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don't have any arguments that, that would be persuasive in the other direction. As an example,
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what could Canada possibly offer Alberta that would be better than being completely out from under all
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federal regulation and taxation? And for everybody, whether you're a union member or a
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worker in the private sector, you know, and you may want a 10 or 12% increase in your wage, just
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because of what's happened to the cost of living. Well, being out from under all federal regulation
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and taxation means two things. One, your income will virtually double in the province of Alberta
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within a year or so, not even probably more than a year. And second, the cost of goods and services
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that are free of regular federal regulatory costs and taxes, fuel costs, GST, etc. means that the,
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your purchasing power increases in two directions. One, you have more money to spend. And two,
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the cost of goods and services are less. This is so fantastically beneficial for an individual for their
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family and to plan for their retirement, that there is absolutely nothing that the federal government
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can offer Albertans or people in Saskatchewan that is superior to getting out from under. And this is,
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this is Quebec as well. Quebec wants the same thing.
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Steve McLaughlin Interesting you say that. I was talking to my wife before I,
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before I started this interview. I said, is there anything you would be interested in asking Dr.
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Modery? My wife is the smartest person I know, as far as I'm concerned. She said, is there anything
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we can learn from Quebec? Obviously, there's going to be discussion about the independence
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movement out there as they've got a new leadership campaign starting with Legault resigning the other
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day. It's going to be interesting later this year with an election. But back in 95, there was an
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election there. Is there anything you think we could learn from what happened then? I'm sure you remember
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Steve McLaughlin Well, I do. I do remember it very well. And I think part of the part of the issue of
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what was occurring in Quebec at that time was that those who were in favour of Quebec remaining in Canada
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pulled on the heart, tried to pull on the heartstrings of people. And that may have been the final
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persuasive aspect to it. But there was one other thing. And that was that there were fears of losing
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out on equalization, for example, if Quebec became a sovereign country, and how would they survive?
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And the interesting thing in all of that is that when we met with Paul Saint-Pierre Plamondon,
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the leader of the Parti Quebecois in mid-September, he came to Calgary to meet with us.
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Steve McLaughlin We met with them. But when asked, why did he want to take Quebec out of Canada?
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And he said, we want to preserve our language, our culture, and we want to get out from under
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federal political corruption. But then he referred to equalization. He said, we don't need equalization
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payments. If we're out from under all federal regulation and taxation, our fiscal capacity surplus
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more than exceeds, significantly exceeds the money that we would be losing from equalization.
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Steve McLaughlin So they want out as well. But think about what he said. We want to preserve
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our language and our culture. Culture is something that is being wrested asunder out here in the West,
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because the values of Ottawa are not necessarily the values of Alberta and Saskatchewan, Central and
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Northern BC. And we see that reflected in every federal election.
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Steve McLaughlin Yeah. And I remember, and I remember back then,
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it was all about being a distinct society as well. And I brought that up here. I think Alberta is a
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distinct society. I think we've, you know, I think Confederation worked for a long time,
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but I would think it's starting to come apart. And the other thing I think about as well,
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Corey Morgan mentioned this, he said back during that campaign, they started way behind and they got
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darn close to winning. You know, we have to pick up 10 to 15 points here to get over the top,
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get over that 50%. But I think we can do that. And that's something we certainly can learn from it.
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I think the momentum is showing that we can get over that 50%.
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Steve McLaughlin Yeah. Well, I'm very confident of that for two primary reasons. Three, actually. One,
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Steve McLaughlin Just recently, I didn't expect to see the massive, and I'm not talking trivial,
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massive lineups of people coming to sign of every age. That's number one. Number two, from our many
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town halls previously, that we've had in the last four years, so many people would say to us,
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Steve McLaughlin All of my family members or the people at work are in favor of sovereignty. And
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they may not have registered with us, so we never had a clear idea. But we've heard that. And then the
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final piece was that 2021 referendum on ending equalization in Alberta and 62% of Albertans voted
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to end equalization. Well, if you ask the question now of those same people, if the only way you could
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get equalization would be for Alberta to become a sovereign country, how many of that 62% would vote
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in favor of sovereignty? And I think the momentum is stronger now than it was in 2021. So I'm very
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confident that when people talk about the one-third, one-third, one-third, I think we're talking more
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about, to be honest with you, I think we're talking more about 60% in favor, 10% to 20% unsure, and the
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balance opposed to Alberta sovereignty. So I think it's a very different paradigm than what the polls are
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telling us. And the polls are not accurate, I don't believe. Yeah, it's interesting you bring that up,
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because I've made that point a number of times that is 61 to 62% voted to get rid of equalization.
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The only way, the only way that's going to happen, it will never happen if we stay in Canada. The only
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way that's going to happen is if we have an independent Alberta. Do we know, are we keeping
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track of how many signatures we have? Do you know if there's any way of knowing that right now? I mean,
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there's just so many signatures. You're not yet? No? Yeah. Well, you know, I mean,
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we are keeping track, but this becomes a decision of the leadership as to how much is revealed, you
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know, because our objective is not just the threshold. Our objective is to get over a million,
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well over a million signatures on the petition, and the rationale for that is to make a statement.
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I mean, you know, although the provincial government wasn't elected with a secession mandate,
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for a sovereignty mandate, the political realities on the ground is to read the tea leaves, right?
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And as Ralph Klein used to say, find a parade and get in front of it. And so this parade, I believe,
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is so massive that it's political suicide for the provincial government not to start getting in front of
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it. And I think we can make that point by May the 2nd, or maybe a few weeks later when Elections
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Alberta validates the number of petition signatures. But that's the point, you know.
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Discussing with the Premier previously, I've said to her, I said, I think we have over a million
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supporters already. Her comment was, show me the numbers. And I said, happy to win. And so the win is
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after we've completed this petition process. And she has said publicly she will respect the result
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of a referendum. And if she respects the results of a referendum, that means she has to subsequently
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take the lead to achieve sovereignty for Alberta subsequent to that successful referendum,
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period. And that's where we are. So she'll have to do that, I believe, to be credible with her base.
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It's exciting. I know you've been very busy. I've been at events where you've been speaking.
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I know you've been to this right from the beginning. You're one of those people.
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You're an original one who's been working hard and going out around the province. I know that you're
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you're very busy as well. And I just expect the numbers to grow over the next little while.
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Again, I think something really crazy happened when I was out on Saturday night and we're inside about
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50 minutes, 60 minutes into the event. And somebody walked in and said, there's 2000 people outside.
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And we were like, you're kidding me. And all they wanted to do was, it was just, and we're like,
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you're kidding. And I went out before the event and the line was growing faster than I could walk along it.
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Yeah, it's just something going on here. And I can feel it here in Panama. I can, Dr. Modry. I can feel it.
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Well, you know, just to share something really sort of amusing and uplifting is,
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I have a friend in Columbia. He used to live in Calgary. And when we were working
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together with the Alberta Prosperity Society, the Alberta Prosperity Project,
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he created a lot of material for us. And he was recently back visiting family here. And I think
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he's got family in Wainwright, actually. So I had an opportunity to meet him. But he sent me a note
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yesterday, absolutely thrilled to see what has happened. And I think he's very proud that he was,
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you know, part of growing this movement, because there have been thousands of people who have
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contributed. And every person who comes to these events right now is an ambassador for Alberta
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Sovereignty. And they know that they have an obligation to share the information and the
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enthusiasm with their friends, family, colleagues as well. And so this is how this grassroots movement
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is growing. And I'm so excited to be part of it, of course.
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We're happy to have you. We're so glad that you are part of this. From Columbia to Panama to Alberta,
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around the world, this is growing. StayFreeAlberta.com is the website. I remember what
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Mitch said back on October 25th, the legislature. Just give a bit of your time. You know, if everybody
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involved here gave an hour, it's just an hour, we'd have more than a million hours of volunteer work.
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Go out and sign the petition. You'll feel better. And, you know, I, again, I said back in 2019,
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I went up to my very first meeting when it came, it was called Wexit back then. I got a hat then,
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I remember there were people were so excited about this and a lot of questions were being answered.
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And I felt a small part of it then. It kind of waned for a few years as things kind of got
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hectic here in the province. And over the last year, I've just been so proud to be part of this
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as well and just have a little part in it. And everybody who signs a signature will feel the
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same way. So we hope people will go out. Now you're going to be out obviously at a lot of events
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coming up and there are dozens. We've got that big one coming up on the 26th, what I'm excited
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about at the BMO center in Calgary that might just blow the roof off this thing. If we get 6,500
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people sitting there at the BMO center. Yeah. Who knows? I mean, I mean, it, um,
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golly, you know, I'm some people, even 10,000 people showing up, you know, and so we'll see,
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you know, how, uh, how, how it all works out. But right now there's tremendous building enthusiasm.
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It's growing like wildfire. Yeah, it is. I feel like I feel being away from my province,
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my home, my country, I feel like I'm missing out on something, but I'm glad that you could,
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you could talk to me today so I could be part of it again. I'll put this video up on Friday morning,
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which will be January the 16th. I appreciate it so much. It's always good to talk to you. Hope to see
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you real soon. Probably on January 26th, I'm going to be home just a few days before that. And we'll see
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you then Dr. Modry. Thanks so much. John, enjoy the rest of your holiday with your wife and family.
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Fantastic to chat with you. Take care, buddy. Thank you, Dr. Dennis Modry. And if you liked the
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video, please give it a thumbs up, subscribe to the channel, ring the bell for notifications,
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stay free, alberta.com, go over there, volunteer, become somebody who signs up people for the petition,
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donate, you're going to need some money for that as well to help out this cause. We'll see you in the next one.