Independence Calendar (Episode #14) - March 8th, 2026
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Summary
In this episode of The Independents Calendar for March 8th, 2019, we hear from Mitch Sylvester and Jason Levine about how we should talk about the independence movement, and a disturbing incident that happened at a petition signing location.
Transcript
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Hi, it's John and welcome to the independence calendar for Sunday, March the 8th. This is
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episode number 14. I appreciate you being here. Thanks for clicking on this video. I want to
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start off by saying this may be a little bit shorter independence calendar this week. I had
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an event yesterday at the Auburn Bay Dog Walk Park. We're going to have some pictures of that
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coming up in just a few minutes, which was just incredible, but I'm incredibly tired too.
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It was about one o'clock this morning when I got up to edit some video and it's now 930.
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And so I'd like to keep this a little shorter today, but we'll get back to the regular length
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in an upcoming independence calendar. Of course, now that means I'm not going to get your submissions
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this week. Of course, you sent me lots of pictures, but not enough. I want more. JohnBoltonAB at gmail.com.
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Send me your pictures. Again, I love looking at your email. I try to read as many as possible. I
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cannot reply to everyone. And if I do, I might only say a few words because I get a lot of email.
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JohnBoltonAB at gmail.com. Also coming up on the calendar, I spoke with Jason Levine earlier this
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week from the Jason Levine Show. Jason has an interesting perspective on how we should talk
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about the independence movement. I'll have that for you. Also a disturbing incident I want to go over
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that should not be happening. We'll look at some of the places where you can go to sign the petition.
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Of course, you can always go to stayfreealberta.com and just check that out, but we'll look at that as
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well. But we're going to start off with Mitch Sylvester. It's a big week. Mitch with a really
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well-produced video coming out just the other night. And there could be some bumpy roads when it comes to
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the petition campaign coming up within the next month. I'm not going to tell you exactly what
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Mitch said. It's less than two minutes long if you haven't seen it. Here is Mitch Sylvester from
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Stay Free Alberta. April 7th through April 10th. That's when a group will be in court seeking an
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injunction against the independence question that is before Alberta. Let that sink in. They're asking
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the court to stop this question from moving forward. That is exactly why what we do right now matters so
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much. Between now and April 7th, we need to gather as many signatures as humanly possible.
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Not casually, not when it's convenient, full throttle. Because when the people show up in
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overwhelming numbers, when support is undeniable, when participation is massive, that matters. It
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sends a message that this isn't a fringe idea. This is Albertans demanding to be heard. There are
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people trying to discourage us. There are people hoping we lose momentum. There are people telling you
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this won't work. Don't buy it. Movements succeed when ordinary people refuse to quit. We cannot
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control what arguments get made in the courtroom. But we can control how strong this movement becomes
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before then. We can control how many signatures we collect. We can control how many conversations
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we have. We can control how visible and undeniable this effort becomes. If you're signed, get five
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more people to sign. If you've been collecting signatures, double your efforts. If you've been sitting on the
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sidelines, now's the time to step in. Knock doors. Call friends. Text family. Show up at events.
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Have the respectful conversations. Do it peacefully. Do it lawfully. Do it with confidence.
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April 7th is coming fast. Let's make sure that by the time that hearing begins, the message is clear.
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Albertans deserve the right to answer the independence question themselves. No intimidation. No delay
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tactics. Just democracy. Push every single day. Get the signatures. Let's go.
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When I was out on Saturday at the event I held here at the Auburn Bay Dog Walk Park, lots of talk about
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this. Lots of talk. And the urgency for people to sign the petition. We got about 200 to 300 signatures
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on Saturday. And I talked to some other people earlier this morning who said they got well over 100
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at one of the petition signing places they were at. So if you haven't signed, get out and sign
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immediately. There are lots of places which we'll show you in just a couple of minutes. Now,
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when I was out yesterday, it was all positive. I think there might have been one person that yelled
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something out of a window. In the seven hours I was out at a petition signing location, everything was so
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positive. Really remarkable. But we've seen some instances around the province of people acting up.
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And it is an offense to go out and interfere with a petition signing event like this. It's through
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Elections Alberta. And there can be some serious fines. And there could be jail time as well as fines.
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This one happened. And if you are somebody who's out at a petition signing location, this person handled it
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perfectly perfectly. Check this out. So I have a lady here. It's actually. There's a. There's a.
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There's a. There's a. There's a $25,000 fine for election interference. And this will be going to
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Elections Alberta. And you will be getting a call. And you will be getting fined. I already got your. I
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already got it. So keep it here. Keep it here. And you're going to get. You're going to get charged.
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Okay. So what. And again, well done to that canvasser for handling that perfectly. And I hope
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they catch this person and they prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. You cannot be
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interfering with a democratic process like this. You can't be doing it. And we didn't do this when
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the forever Canadian people were out there. We're peaceful. I don't know what their idea of peaceful
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is, but it's certainly not doing something like that. Now, if you're interested in signing the petition
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and Mitch Sylvester explained how urgent that really is, go to stayfreealberta.com. There's the
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button up here, where to sign. I'll get to that in just a moment. You can still become a canvasser.
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There's more than 6,000 in the province right now, or you can request to sign the petition. If you're
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somebody, I've had people contact me at johnboltonab at gmail.com saying, listen, I'm, I'm handicapped
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or I'm a shut in. I can't get out to sign. I really can't do that. If you click on that button
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at stayfreealberta.com, somebody will come to you. You can also donate as well. So we go to the where to
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the sign button. Let me click on that. Let's just take a second to load here. And then you can come
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down here. You'll have the upcoming events. They have a few of these posters you can check out. Peace
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River, Cold Lake, you've got Egermont, Bonneville, Stetler, all of these different ones. But if you go
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down here, you can search out by municipality. Let's put Airdrie in just for fun, see what happens.
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Let's go back to Airdrie. There we go. And then you can find the different places in Airdrie or any
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community across the province. And just a reminder, if you go down here, you'll come across
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some that have red printing on them. Let's see if we can find one right there. So you've got this one
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in Bonneville coming up on Saturday, March the 14th. There will be a speaker at any of these events.
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And there are a number of different speaker events. If you haven't been out to one, by all means do that.
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Now there are other things get sent to me at my email address. This is a permanent location at the
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Bottoms Up Pub. So you can check that out. Wednesdays 10am to 7pm. Fridays 3 to 7. We love
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the people in Scottsdale down in the United States doing this. Tuesday, March the 10th, 10am to 4.
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Rotary Park Scottsdale is having a signing location there. So make sure you bring along your
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identification. Prove that you're a Canadian and Alberta resident. Here's one right here. This is
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the one that I was just talking about. And then there's this. Check this out. This is amazing.
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March 8th to 12th. Okay. Then again, March 25th, April 25th. If you have a family within two hours
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of the metro area, Scottsdale, Arizona, message me. We'll get to you a drive up petition signature
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service. This is fantastic. You can visit these people on Facebook or Twitter. Freedom Seeker on
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Facebook, Frank underscore Buckshot on Twitter. And you can find out where you can have this done.
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I think that's pretty remarkable. Now, next thing I want to get to is I want to get to your submissions
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this week. Your pictures, johnboltonab at gmail.com. If you want to send a video or something to me,
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I would love to hear from you. I've also got some great pictures from the event I had at the Auburn Bay
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Dog Walk Park yesterday. Some fantastic photos taken by the guys that are doing the pictures for
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State for Alberta. Great photographers. So I hope you enjoy this and thanks for your submissions.
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We are Alberta, child and free. Forge my word and destiny.
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So here we go with the submissions this week. Keep them coming. I need more. Send me more pictures,
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no matter where you are when it comes to Alberta independence. It could be in Alberta.
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It could be in the United States. It could be worldwide at this point as the petition campaign
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continues to spread. Send me your pictures at johnboltonab at gmail.com. Send me your videos,
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anything you got. I want to see them. So let's take a look at the submissions this week. And
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included this week, I'm going to have some pictures of some of the events and activities I saw happening
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around Alberta when it comes to Facebook and a whole bunch of amazing pictures that were taken at
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the event at the Auburn Bay Dog Walk Park just on Saturday. The event that I held,
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not too far from where I'm sitting right now. So let's go to your submissions. We'll start off
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with Nadine who sent me this amazing snowy signing location. Thanks, Nadine, for doing that. Terry sent
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this picture from Scottsdale. Scottsdale, Arizona. We love you. Free to blossom. Thanks, Terry, for that.
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Wendo with an unbelievably cold pick and niscue. This is the thing. You know, I was out yesterday
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at a Saturday event and the temperature was about 14 degrees. People are sitting out there when it's
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minus 20. So thanks to Wenda for that remarkable picture. Abraham in Canmore. I've seen this one
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before. Abraham got back to me. I saw the picture again. This is absolutely beautiful. I wanted to show
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you this picture again of a signing location in Canmore. David and Sonia flag on their garage and
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porch. And they're going to be doing a signing in Palm Springs. So thanks to David and Sonia for
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this. Jeff at the Airdrie Library. I thought he heard word that it was a difficult place to be and
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there had been some problems with being there at the library. But Jeff and the folks sticking it out
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there. So thanks to Jeff for that picture. Karen signing up people in the bush near Red Deer. And
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Karen, yes, I have all the pictures that have been sent to me. I plan on doing a future video with
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all the pictures that have been sent here as submissions here on the Independence Calendar.
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Here's Cecile in Puerto Vallarta. And this is a really cool picture because the photo's got the
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reflection of the palm trees. Amazing. Thanks a lot for that, Cecile. Dennis from Jenner, Alberta.
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This shows how hard people are working in unlikely places across the province. Thanks, Dennis, for that
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picture. Teresa with this permanent location at Bottoms Up Pub. I'm going to show this when it comes to
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some of the events and activities happening. But I wanted to show you this one once again.
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Picture of a petition signing in Puerto Vallarta. Again, all these amazing petition signing locations
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that I searched out on Facebook. And it only took me a few minutes to get these. They're happening
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And these beautiful pictures taken by the guys who work with Stay Free Alberta. They're responsible for
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that video that Mitch Sylvester put out the other night. This is from the event at the Auburn Bay Dog
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Walk Park on Saturday. Thanks so much for taking these remarkable pictures.
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And thank you for sending your photos in. JohnBoltonAB at gmail.com. Keep them coming. And if you've got
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some videos, I'd like to see those and feature those as well.
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I can't tell you how much I enjoy getting your pictures and your submissions. So keep them coming
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to me. And a reminder again, I try to read as much email as possible. I can't reply to everyone.
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And when I do apply, I'm not trying to be short with you. I just don't have a lot of time when I
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have to go through 250 email. So thanks a lot. Keep the submissions coming. Middle of last week,
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I had an opportunity to talk to a new friend of mine, Jason Levine, who has the Jason Levine Show.
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You might want to follow Jason on YouTube and on Twitter or sorry, X. But I had a chance to talk
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to Jason who has an interesting perspective when it comes to talking about the independence movement.
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Many of us are talking about all the positive of the independence movement. And many of us are
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pointing out the problems with Canada. Jason has a place kind of in the middle. So here's a segment
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from that interview with Jason Levine. So do you think that the independence movement is progressing
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the way it should? You know, we're in the petition campaign right now. Hopefully, we'll be moving
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along to the referendum campaign real soon. And what do you think we need to accomplish in the
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signature campaign to maybe send a message before we even get to the stage where we'll be looking to
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vote on this? Yeah, so the petition collection stage that we're currently in right now, it's about
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getting all the people that are fed up and they want to have a vote. The next stage or phase is going
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to be to talk to the rest of Alberta. There's a few things that need to happen. They need to be
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reassured that it's not going to be 20 years of sorrow. A lot of people are saying stuff like that.
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It's going to take 20 years to kind of recover. I don't believe that's to be true.
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We also need to connect with the pensioners and understand that Alberta, regardless if it goes
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down the path of independence, needs to take its future and pension into its own hands and help
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people get the truth. There's a lot of misinformation, propaganda being pushed really hard. I had a group
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of people come up to me at one of my events and to let me know that in Drayton Valley, Thomas
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Sackick's team, I'm not sure if it was him specifically, but his team went to five different
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long-term care facilities and told them, you need to sign this or you're going to lose your pension.
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Those kind of fear-based propaganda that's going out there needs to be corrected, rectified, and we
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need to do a lot of work having more conversations with people and answering their questions before
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there will be any success at the ballot box. I still get emailed people asking me that question,
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do I get to keep my CPP, my OAS? I'm concerned about this. And again, proper information is
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important. I talked to Derek from Unacceptable Fringe last week. I had an email from somebody
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they were talking about how negativity, it moves the needle. I mean, you'll look at the Liberal Party,
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they won the election on April 28th based on fear of Donald Trump. I mean, that's a good reason why
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they, probably the number one reason why they got elected. I mean, Paulyev was leading by so much
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before we had that April 28th election. But do you think we need to not only focus on the positives
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of Alberta independence, but also point out the negatives of Canada? Or would that be,
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I don't know, maybe contrary to getting the correct message across? What do you think?
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Actually, I like where you're headed with that. And I'd actually take it one step further and talk
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about the negatives about independence as well. Because when you tackle those questions and those
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concerns and insecurities, and you say, you say things like, yeah, you know what, it's going to be
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painful. It's going to hurt. It's kind of like a birth. The mother and the baby goes through a bit of
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trauma. But we can't be afraid of what's to come. You don't need to have the entire path laid out for
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you. We don't need to know what the Constitution looks like. We don't need to know all the financials
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at this stage, because we don't have those answers. So when you focus on also the negatives,
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that's where you start to really connect with people. Talking about how rough Canada is, a lot of
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people get that already. But what they're afraid of is how rough will Alberta be if it separates from
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Canada. So we need to have open, frank conversations about the truth of that. It's going to be tough.
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There's going to be some sacrifices. There's going to be some challenges. We've got to create trade
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agreements. We're not to work with a neighbor who's pretty annoyed with us. That would be on either
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side of us. But I think if we actually address that honestly, and not to try and shy away from it,
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and try to hide from that, I think you actually will gain a lot more support, because you're being
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very honest about the negativities. I like that. I like that a lot. Thanks a lot to Jason for doing
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that. I look forward to actually meeting him in person in the very near future. Before I wrap
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things up, and again, this is kind of an abbreviated independence calendar this week, I wanted to take
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this opportunity to thank everybody again for the remarkable day we had on March 7th, just yesterday,
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Saturday, March 7th, at the Auburn Bay Dog Walk Park. So many great friends, so many wonderful people.
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We got hundreds of people signing the petition at this event with the bouncy castle, which got a lot
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of interest around the province, including from the people from the Forever Canadian campaign,
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Thomas LeCasic, not happy with the bouncy castle. And I'm really happy about that myself. But thank you
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for coming by. The second best thing behind the signatures was the fact that I got to shake a lot
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of hands yesterday. And I spent a significant amount of time talking to everybody. And I must
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have talked to 150 people yesterday myself. Again, thanks for being there yesterday and making it a
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wonderful day for everyone. I do appreciate it. Again, a short independence calendar this week. We'll
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get back to it in a big way next week. Keep your submissions coming. If you want to contact me,
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johnboltonab at gmail.com. And perhaps if I'm at another event in the very near future, I can get
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to shake your hand and meet you as well. Thanks for watching the independence calendar. I'll see you