INDEPENDENCE in 2026! - HUGE Calgary Rally Details - With Mitch Sylvestre
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Summary
Mitch Sylvester, CEO of the Alberta Prosperity Project, joins us to talk about the recent Supreme Court of Canada ruling allowing Alberta to hold a referendum on whether or not to become an independent state. We also discuss the impact of the Supreme Court ruling and what it means for the future of the independence movement.
Transcript
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Hi, it's John and welcome to the channel. Friday, December the 12th. Hope you're having a great
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Friday and I hope you have a great weekend. We've got some terrific news for you right now. As you
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can tell, we've got a guest. No stranger to the channel, Mitch Sylvester, CEO of the Alberta
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Prosperity Project. Mitch, I tip the big blue mug to you and the Alberta Prosperity Project today.
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What a day it was yesterday. We're moving forward here. They passed Bill 14 yesterday. We talked
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about it a couple of weeks ago. You said before Christmas. It's long before Christmas. Tell us
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what happened yesterday when you actually handed in the papers and we're moving along when it comes
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to independence here. So what they did was they ratified Bill 14. So it is now law. So we were
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waiting at Elections Alberta and we handed in our new question. Our new question is based exactly
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on the question in the clarity. So I don't know. I don't have a copy of it right in front of me,
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John. You might have it. I do. So let me read the last one. It's just tweaked a little bit here. It's
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not a big difference. But the first question was, do you agree that the province of Alberta
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shall become a sovereign country and cease to be a province of Canada? The one you handed in yesterday
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from what I understand is, do you agree that Alberta shall cease to be a province in Canada and
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become an independent state? So why the change? Were you concerned after the court case that
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happened a couple of weeks ago that it wouldn't fit within the parameters of a correct question,
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Mitch? Well, the question is exactly out of the Clarity Act. And by the way, it doesn't mean
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become a state of the U.S. It absolutely does not mean that. A free state is equivalent to a free
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country. Actually, it's less broad term than country. But that is exactly what's in the
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Clarity Act. And that's why we use that question this time. So they're not going to be able to,
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you know, actually hold that against us. It's word for word with what's in the Clarity Act.
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And yesterday you had to really refile this because when Bill 14 passed, the previous time you filed
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kind of became null and void. So that's why you were there yesterday, correct?
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That's right. So we just refiled our question. You know, it doesn't change anything. It's going
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to be a constitutional question. That's our goal, to open the Canadian Constitution if and when we
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win the referendum. I want to congratulate you. I was thinking about this this morning. I was
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thinking about this this morning. I've spoken to you a number of times. I've spoken to a number of
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people in the independence movement here. I've been part of the independence movement, I think,
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just a little bit more this year. Did you even think at the beginning of 2025, that by the end of
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2025, you'd be in a position to start a petition?
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It's actually been a really long journey. And I think that we could do that. I actually hoped we
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could. I'm very excited that we are. There's no question about it. So you know what? The beauty of
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this is, is that, you know, Danielle said right from the get go that if this is what the people
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wanted, she was going to allow them to express their views. And she also said that if we vote
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in favour of it, she's going to take the next steps. So you know what? Ball's in our court. And
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you know, we can't ask for any more than that. You know what? We're going to see what Albertans
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think. We're going to put out what I think is a very strong case. As a matter of fact, I think it's the
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only path forward for Alberta, or I wouldn't be doing it. I don't think there's an alternative.
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I really don't. I really don't see any alternative to what we're doing.
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I want to stay positive here. I do. Because it's such a positive thing. But just yesterday,
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we had another conservative walk across the aisle in federal politics. I don't know whether you want
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to wade into this. Just say no, if you don't want to talk about it. But, you know, I said on the
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channel yesterday that if another one walks across the aisle, we'll have a majority liberal
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government in Ottawa again, be another four to five years maybe of government of the Liberals
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there. And this might push some more people towards the independent side. Do you even want
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Well, just imagine, just imagine what's happened in the last 10 years and they have a majority
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government. Like, I just, I just, I just don't understand that. To me, it's absolutely
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incomprehensible. But I mean, if, if they continue to do what they're doing, it makes it easier
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for us. Yeah. There's absolutely no question about it. I mean, I really don't understand
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their attitude towards Alberta. What has Alberta ever done to deserve what we're getting? And
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I don't think it's, it's a matter of, of anything else. I mean, they're absolutely gave us no
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concessions, absolutely gave us no idea. And then they, they voted down the fact that they
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would even go through with the MOU by voting down the pipeline last week. So, I mean, so,
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so the, the, the MOU is basically nothing because we're going to start increasing carbon tax by
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in April, uh, sixfold apparently. And, uh, we're not, they, they, they voted a pipeline
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now. So what's the point of increasing the carbon tax?
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You know, I talked earlier this morning about back on May 3rd, I was at the Alberta legislature.
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We had an independence rally then it was so exciting. October 25th was amazing. Absolutely
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incredible to be part of that was exciting. So many nice people. I don't want to belabor this
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point. These are good people we're dealing with here. We're not the, uh, crazies that a specific
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other politician in this province, um, put into the national post early this week. These are good
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people who want good things for their family and a better future. And I think, you know, I was talking
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to Corey Morgan, he says, let's be more positive about the independence movement. Let's talk more
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positively about how much better we'll be in this country. And I think that's a good way to go moving
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Well, yeah, absolutely. But I mean, if they want to call us names, I can't imagine associating myself
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with that group in Ottawa. I mean, I mean, really what, what more can you say about that?
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What does that imply? I mean, I don't want to get into a contest, a name calling contest,
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but oh my God, if you're guilty by association, um, you could, I would have a hard time describing
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what that group of people actually is in public. Right. Right. So let me ask you, where do we go
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from here? Obviously, um, how long do we wait now that you put this question, this new question to
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them? How long do you think we'll wait for this? Because we're waiting, we're waiting for the justice
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minister to make a decision on this. Is that how it works now?
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That's how it works. And you know, it's going to be 30 days. Uh, so, so we're, we're not stopping.
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I mean, we've got, we've got events all week next week. I've got four events next week.
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We're going to continue to gather names. We're going to continue to prepare. That's what we've
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been doing from the beginning. We're going, we're well over the threshold that we're going to need
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to get this, uh, to get this referendum. So if they allow our question, we're going to have a vote.
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So, you know, and that's all there is to it. Our goal is to get half a million or more, uh, pledges.
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So if we get half a million or more pledges, you know, even a million would be great.
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I don't know if that's possible. We'll, we'll soon see. I actually know it's possible,
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but you know, that in the, in the dead of winter, when it's 40 below, that might be a little bit
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more challenging than what we'd like. But, but, but the thing is, is that, uh, you know,
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we're going to aim for that. I really believe that we're well-organized as a matter of fact,
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I know we're well-organized. Uh, we, we're going to have lots of canvassers. We're going to have
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lots of people doing the work. We're going to have tens of thousands of Albertans out there
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working for us. And we have an awesome group of people and, uh, you know what? Our, our leaders
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are fantastic. Everybody's committed to the cause and everybody's doing it for free.
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I wrote down here on a note on my computer, um, it's winter cold outside. So it will be a
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challenge to get people. You can't go out to events and activities and baseball games or,
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you know, the Calgary stampede or anything like that when it's warm. So it will be a bit of a
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challenge there, but I want to mention something. You said something to me this morning,
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there'd been talk about having another rally. It was a great thing in October.
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And I guess there's another one coming up in January. Um, can you tell us about that?
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Well, on January 26th, we've rented the BMO 7, the BMO. So what we're going to do is we're going
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to have 6,000 chairs in there and we want to fill them. So we're going to have an event in Calgary.
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We're planning other big events. Um, this is not going to be equivalent to the rally we had in
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Edmonton. It's going to be inside, of course, because it's going to be in January,
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but, uh, it's going to be a big event for Calgary, uh, for a big event for it. It'll be our biggest,
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you know, planned event like that. What that is in indoor event. And that's just going to be the
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first one. We've got several others planned that are going to be fairly exciting. Uh, we're, we're
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now going to go into campaign mode in, in reality is what we're doing here, uh, because we understand
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that we're going to have 120 days to collect our signatures, another 30 days to process. And then
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however long the writ period is. So we're going to start campaign, campaigning like Monday, like
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really. So we're, we're on, we're on the road and we're talking to people and we're going to get
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people to talk to people. And away we go, see if we can get this over the finish line. I believe we
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can. I actually really, really believe we can win.
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And you, um, and you realize it's just January the 26th. You can get 6,000 signatures that day.
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Right. And we're going to set up signature tables if that's the deal. Actually, you know what? We're
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kind of going to look at that date based on what's going on right now as kind of the real kickoff to
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this, uh, to this whole project that we're going to try and make that a really big deal. And you know
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what? I'm excited to do it. I'm, I'm really pumped about it.
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So we've got a couple of steps to go here. We find out that we can move to the next spot where it's
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the petition. We get the signatures and then when do you expect we might have this vote on the
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referendum, um, you're looking at, you're looking at the fall. Yeah, I believe it. We'll have it in
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the fall. Okay. All right. Very exciting stuff. Again, congratulations. Um, thank you. Well,
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you know what, once we get permission to start collecting signatures and even, even if we don't
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get permission from, to collect signatures this way, we're going to go on road, get signatures anyway,
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another way. So, so one way or the other, we're, we're going to get going.
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Okay. You don't think there's a chance they'll say no.
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Oh, I absolutely think there's every chance they're going to say no.
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I absolutely believe that they're all absolutely believe that they're going to look for every
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excuse not to allow this to happen. Even after, even after bringing in bill 14, you know, we got
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the, we had the court case last week, which wasn't, it didn't work out the way we thought it would work
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out. Um, even after they did that, you're still thinking there could be a chance where Mickey
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Amory is the person in charge here could say, no, you can't go to a referendum with this question.
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Well, I definitely think there's a chance I would, uh, you know, I'll be really happy when they say,
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you know what, uh, we approve this and, uh, away you go. Let's start collecting signatures. We're
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absolutely gearing for that. And we're anticipating that, but you asked me if I would be surprised and
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I, the definite answer is no, I would not be surprised. Okay. Okay. And then, um, if they did
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say no, what would be the next step down the road or you're not even looking there? I'm thinking you're,
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you're trying to, Oh, I am absolutely looking there. Yeah. And I absolutely have a plan and
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I'll share it to you when it happens. Okay. Well, we'll go any farther than that. I know,
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I know that you kind of got a bit, a bit of a day off, I think. Yeah. I'm home today. It's,
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it's a balmy minus 40 here in Bonneville. Um, so yeah, it's good. I, you know, the,
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the best part about that is I don't have to go outside and do anything. Uh, so, you know,
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it's kind of a day off. Good for you. Cause I know it's going to get busy ahead. Let me just
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ask you one more question before you go. We were talking before we started up the zoom call. You
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really got involved in this about three years ago and you got heavily into this. Um, it's obviously
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working out quite well for you. You must be really pleased. And in particular, you've got to give a
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lot of credit to all the people who've been working behind the scenes. Oh, a hundred percent.
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Yeah. You can't, you can't do this by yourself. Uh, at, at the level that we're at right now,
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there's absolutely no way we've got, we've got layers and layers of volunteers that are,
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that are supremely helpful. Like there's no way we could do it without them. Uh, and you know what,
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we've got a lot of committed people here that really believe in Alberta independence.
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And, uh, as a consequence to that, I really believe that that buoys the whole movement
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and our volunteers are the lifeblood of what we do. There's no question about it.
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And if you want to help go to the website, there's information there for you. There's
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information on events. They're going to ramp that up as well, albertaprosperity.com or
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albertaprosperityproject.com. You'll get to the website either way, and you can be part of it.
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You can still sign up and pledge that you're going to sign the petition, which is coming up
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in January. Well, Mitch, it's always a pleasure. Thank you very much for giving me your time today,
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taking my calls. I appreciate it a lot. And again, congratulations. Uh, we look forward to
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getting out there, uh, in January, the 26th for a big rally at the BMO center here in Calgary.
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I'm glad it's in Calgary. Mitch don't have to go up to Edmonton again. That's exciting.
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And, uh, we'll see everybody there. And, um, if you want to take part again,
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go to the website and volunteer because we're moving towards Alberta independence.
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Thank you so much. Well, John, I'm just going to say one last thing. We're, we're in, uh,
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Medicine Hat, uh, area next week, Medicine Hat, Lethbridge, Tabor, uh, on Monday, Tuesday,
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Wednesday. And then I have an event here in Bonneville, uh, on the 19th, uh, at the C2 center.
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Okay. And by the way, have a Merry Christmas. Yeah. Same to you, John. And everybody,
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thanks so much. Mitch Sylvester, CEO of the Alberta Prosperity Project. If you liked the video,
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give it a thumbs up, subscribe to the channel, ring the bell for notifications. I will see you