John Bolton - INDEPENDENCE in 2026! - HUGE Calgary Rally Details - With Mitch Sylvestre

00:00:00.000 Hi, it's John and welcome to the channel. Friday, December the 12th. Hope you're having a great

00:00:07.780 Friday and I hope you have a great weekend. We've got some terrific news for you right now. As you

00:00:11.900 can tell, we've got a guest. No stranger to the channel, Mitch Sylvester, CEO of the Alberta

00:00:17.660 Prosperity Project. Mitch, I tip the big blue mug to you and the Alberta Prosperity Project today.

00:00:23.320 What a day it was yesterday. We're moving forward here. They passed Bill 14 yesterday. We talked

00:00:30.600 about it a couple of weeks ago. You said before Christmas. It's long before Christmas. Tell us

00:00:35.320 what happened yesterday when you actually handed in the papers and we're moving along when it comes

00:00:41.040 to independence here. So what they did was they ratified Bill 14. So it is now law. So we were

00:00:48.280 waiting at Elections Alberta and we handed in our new question. Our new question is based exactly

00:00:53.160 on the question in the clarity. So I don't know. I don't have a copy of it right in front of me,

00:00:58.220 John. You might have it. I do. So let me read the last one. It's just tweaked a little bit here. It's

00:01:03.300 not a big difference. But the first question was, do you agree that the province of Alberta

00:01:07.800 shall become a sovereign country and cease to be a province of Canada? The one you handed in yesterday

00:01:13.800 from what I understand is, do you agree that Alberta shall cease to be a province in Canada and

00:01:18.600 become an independent state? So why the change? Were you concerned after the court case that

00:01:25.000 happened a couple of weeks ago that it wouldn't fit within the parameters of a correct question,

00:01:29.460 Mitch? Well, the question is exactly out of the Clarity Act. And by the way, it doesn't mean

00:01:35.560 become a state of the U.S. It absolutely does not mean that. A free state is equivalent to a free

00:01:42.740 country. Actually, it's less broad term than country. But that is exactly what's in the

00:01:49.480 Clarity Act. And that's why we use that question this time. So they're not going to be able to,

00:01:53.520 you know, actually hold that against us. It's word for word with what's in the Clarity Act.

00:01:58.680 And yesterday you had to really refile this because when Bill 14 passed, the previous time you filed

00:02:05.160 kind of became null and void. So that's why you were there yesterday, correct?

00:02:08.120 That's right. So we just refiled our question. You know, it doesn't change anything. It's going

00:02:12.760 to be a constitutional question. That's our goal, to open the Canadian Constitution if and when we

00:02:18.400 win the referendum. I want to congratulate you. I was thinking about this this morning. I was

00:02:24.180 thinking about this this morning. I've spoken to you a number of times. I've spoken to a number of

00:02:28.640 people in the independence movement here. I've been part of the independence movement, I think,

00:02:34.420 just a little bit more this year. Did you even think at the beginning of 2025, that by the end of

00:02:41.600 2025, you'd be in a position to start a petition?

00:02:47.200 It's actually been a really long journey. And I think that we could do that. I actually hoped we

00:02:54.280 could. I'm very excited that we are. There's no question about it. So you know what? The beauty of

00:03:00.820 this is, is that, you know, Danielle said right from the get go that if this is what the people

00:03:06.020 wanted, she was going to allow them to express their views. And she also said that if we vote

00:03:11.740 in favour of it, she's going to take the next steps. So you know what? Ball's in our court. And

00:03:17.300 you know, we can't ask for any more than that. You know what? We're going to see what Albertans

00:03:21.600 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

00:03:26.640 only path forward for Alberta, or I wouldn't be doing it. I don't think there's an alternative.

00:03:31.060 I really don't. I really don't see any alternative to what we're doing.

00:03:34.520 I want to stay positive here. I do. Because it's such a positive thing. But just yesterday,

00:03:40.160 we had another conservative walk across the aisle in federal politics. I don't know whether you want

00:03:44.600 to wade into this. Just say no, if you don't want to talk about it. But, you know, I said on the

00:03:49.380 channel yesterday that if another one walks across the aisle, we'll have a majority liberal

00:03:53.120 government in Ottawa again, be another four to five years maybe of government of the Liberals

00:03:57.780 there. And this might push some more people towards the independent side. Do you even want

00:04:01.260 to comment on that?

00:04:02.800 Well, just imagine, just imagine what's happened in the last 10 years and they have a majority 1.00

00:04:06.060 government. Like, I just, I just, I just don't understand that. To me, it's absolutely

00:04:11.400 incomprehensible. But I mean, if, if they continue to do what they're doing, it makes it easier

00:04:17.620 for us. Yeah. There's absolutely no question about it. I mean, I really don't understand

00:04:23.400 their attitude towards Alberta. What has Alberta ever done to deserve what we're getting? And

00:04:29.440 I don't think it's, it's a matter of, of anything else. I mean, they're absolutely gave us no

00:04:34.280 concessions, absolutely gave us no idea. And then they, they voted down the fact that they

00:04:39.100 would even go through with the MOU by voting down the pipeline last week. So, I mean, so,

00:04:46.180 so the, the, the MOU is basically nothing because we're going to start increasing carbon tax by

00:04:52.800 in April, uh, sixfold apparently. And, uh, we're not, they, they, they voted a pipeline

00:04:58.560 now. So what's the point of increasing the carbon tax?

00:05:02.440 You know, I talked earlier this morning about back on May 3rd, I was at the Alberta legislature.

00:05:06.840 We had an independence rally then it was so exciting. October 25th was amazing. Absolutely

00:05:12.340 incredible to be part of that was exciting. So many nice people. I don't want to belabor this

00:05:17.580 point. These are good people we're dealing with here. We're not the, uh, crazies that a specific

00:05:23.280 other politician in this province, um, put into the national post early this week. These are good

00:05:28.640 people who want good things for their family and a better future. And I think, you know, I was talking

00:05:33.020 to Corey Morgan, he says, let's be more positive about the independence movement. Let's talk more

00:05:37.720 positively about how much better we'll be in this country. And I think that's a good way to go moving

00:05:42.480 forward.

00:05:43.660 Well, yeah, absolutely. But I mean, if they want to call us names, I can't imagine associating myself

00:05:48.600 with that group in Ottawa. I mean, I mean, really what, what more can you say about that?

00:05:54.400 What does that imply? I mean, I don't want to get into a contest, a name calling contest,

00:05:59.620 but oh my God, if you're guilty by association, um, you could, I would have a hard time describing

00:06:05.720 what that group of people actually is in public. Right. Right. So let me ask you, where do we go

00:06:10.560 from here? Obviously, um, how long do we wait now that you put this question, this new question to

00:06:16.000 them? How long do you think we'll wait for this? Because we're waiting, we're waiting for the justice

00:06:20.660 minister to make a decision on this. Is that how it works now?

00:06:24.180 That's how it works. And you know, it's going to be 30 days. Uh, so, so we're, we're not stopping.

00:06:29.400 I mean, we've got, we've got events all week next week. I've got four events next week.

00:06:33.480 We're going to continue to gather names. We're going to continue to prepare. That's what we've

00:06:37.720 been doing from the beginning. We're going, we're well over the threshold that we're going to need

00:06:41.740 to get this, uh, to get this referendum. So if they allow our question, we're going to have a vote.

00:06:46.960 So, you know, and that's all there is to it. Our goal is to get half a million or more, uh, pledges.

00:06:54.760 So if we get half a million or more pledges, you know, even a million would be great.

00:06:58.560 I don't know if that's possible. We'll, we'll soon see. I actually know it's possible,

00:07:02.680 but you know, that in the, in the dead of winter, when it's 40 below, that might be a little bit

00:07:06.260 more challenging than what we'd like. But, but, but the thing is, is that, uh, you know,

00:07:10.620 we're going to aim for that. I really believe that we're well-organized as a matter of fact,

00:07:14.200 I know we're well-organized. Uh, we, we're going to have lots of canvassers. We're going to have

00:07:18.180 lots of people doing the work. We're going to have tens of thousands of Albertans out there

00:07:22.660 working for us. And we have an awesome group of people and, uh, you know what? Our, our leaders

00:07:27.940 are fantastic. Everybody's committed to the cause and everybody's doing it for free.

00:07:33.220 I wrote down here on a note on my computer, um, it's winter cold outside. So it will be a

00:07:38.720 challenge to get people. You can't go out to events and activities and baseball games or,

00:07:42.780 you know, the Calgary stampede or anything like that when it's warm. So it will be a bit of a

00:07:46.880 challenge there, but I want to mention something. You said something to me this morning,

00:07:51.160 there'd been talk about having another rally. It was a great thing in October.

00:07:55.980 And I guess there's another one coming up in January. Um, can you tell us about that?

00:08:01.980 Well, on January 26th, we've rented the BMO 7, the BMO. So what we're going to do is we're going

00:08:07.280 to have 6,000 chairs in there and we want to fill them. So we're going to have an event in Calgary.

00:08:12.220 We're planning other big events. Um, this is not going to be equivalent to the rally we had in

00:08:16.720 Edmonton. It's going to be inside, of course, because it's going to be in January,

00:08:20.460 but, uh, it's going to be a big event for Calgary, uh, for a big event for it. It'll be our biggest,

00:08:25.840 you know, planned event like that. What that is in indoor event. And that's just going to be the

00:08:30.980 first one. We've got several others planned that are going to be fairly exciting. Uh, we're, we're

00:08:35.540 now going to go into campaign mode in, in reality is what we're doing here, uh, because we understand

00:08:41.380 that we're going to have 120 days to collect our signatures, another 30 days to process. And then

00:08:45.940 however long the writ period is. So we're going to start campaign, campaigning like Monday, like

00:08:52.140 really. So we're, we're on, we're on the road and we're talking to people and we're going to get

00:08:56.380 people to talk to people. And away we go, see if we can get this over the finish line. I believe we

00:09:00.940 can. I actually really, really believe we can win.

00:09:03.100 And you, um, and you realize it's just January the 26th. You can get 6,000 signatures that day.

00:09:08.600 Right. And we're going to set up signature tables if that's the deal. Actually, you know what? We're

00:09:14.120 kind of going to look at that date based on what's going on right now as kind of the real kickoff to

00:09:18.560 this, uh, to this whole project that we're going to try and make that a really big deal. And you know

00:09:23.280 what? I'm excited to do it. I'm, I'm really pumped about it.

00:09:25.820 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

00:09:30.680 the petition. We get the signatures and then when do you expect we might have this vote on the

00:09:38.080 referendum, um, you're looking at, you're looking at the fall. Yeah, I believe it. We'll have it in

00:09:44.560 the fall. Okay. All right. Very exciting stuff. Again, congratulations. Um, thank you. Well,

00:09:49.680 you know what, once we get permission to start collecting signatures and even, even if we don't

00:09:55.280 get permission from, to collect signatures this way, we're going to go on road, get signatures anyway,

00:10:01.040 another way. So, so one way or the other, we're, we're going to get going.

00:10:05.440 Okay. You don't think there's a chance they'll say no.

00:10:08.080 Oh, I absolutely think there's every chance they're going to say no.

00:10:12.640 I absolutely believe that they're all absolutely believe that they're going to look for every

00:10:17.160 excuse not to allow this to happen. Even after, even after bringing in bill 14, you know, we got

00:10:22.820 the, we had the court case last week, which wasn't, it didn't work out the way we thought it would work

00:10:27.480 out. Um, even after they did that, you're still thinking there could be a chance where Mickey

00:10:32.160 Amory is the person in charge here could say, no, you can't go to a referendum with this question.

00:10:37.920 Well, I definitely think there's a chance I would, uh, you know, I'll be really happy when they say,

00:10:42.400 you know what, uh, we approve this and, uh, away you go. Let's start collecting signatures. We're

00:10:47.200 absolutely gearing for that. And we're anticipating that, but you asked me if I would be surprised and

00:10:53.360 I, the definite answer is no, I would not be surprised. Okay. Okay. And then, um, if they did

00:10:59.680 say no, what would be the next step down the road or you're not even looking there? I'm thinking you're,

00:11:03.840 you're trying to, Oh, I am absolutely looking there. Yeah. And I absolutely have a plan and

00:11:08.240 I'll share it to you when it happens. Okay. Well, we'll go any farther than that. I know,

00:11:12.080 I know that you kind of got a bit, a bit of a day off, I think. Yeah. I'm home today. It's,

00:11:17.520 it's a balmy minus 40 here in Bonneville. Um, so yeah, it's good. I, you know, the,

00:11:24.160 the best part about that is I don't have to go outside and do anything. Uh, so, you know,

00:11:27.760 it's kind of a day off. Good for you. Cause I know it's going to get busy ahead. Let me just

00:11:32.320 ask you one more question before you go. We were talking before we started up the zoom call. You

00:11:36.800 really got involved in this about three years ago and you got heavily into this. Um, it's obviously

00:11:43.280 working out quite well for you. You must be really pleased. And in particular, you've got to give a

00:11:47.040 lot of credit to all the people who've been working behind the scenes. Oh, a hundred percent.

00:11:50.400 Yeah. You can't, you can't do this by yourself. Uh, at, at the level that we're at right now,

00:11:54.720 there's absolutely no way we've got, we've got layers and layers of volunteers that are,

00:11:59.120 that are supremely helpful. Like there's no way we could do it without them. Uh, and you know what,

00:12:04.720 we've got a lot of committed people here that really believe in Alberta independence.

00:12:08.960 And, uh, as a consequence to that, I really believe that that buoys the whole movement

00:12:13.120 and our volunteers are the lifeblood of what we do. There's no question about it.

00:12:17.040 And if you want to help go to the website, there's information there for you. There's

00:12:21.120 information on events. They're going to ramp that up as well, albertaprosperity.com or

00:12:25.840 albertaprosperityproject.com. You'll get to the website either way, and you can be part of it.

00:12:30.000 You can still sign up and pledge that you're going to sign the petition, which is coming up

00:12:34.880 in January. Well, Mitch, it's always a pleasure. Thank you very much for giving me your time today,

00:12:41.200 taking my calls. I appreciate it a lot. And again, congratulations. Uh, we look forward to

00:12:45.440 getting out there, uh, in January, the 26th for a big rally at the BMO center here in Calgary.

00:12:50.000 I'm glad it's in Calgary. Mitch don't have to go up to Edmonton again. That's exciting.

00:12:54.320 And, uh, we'll see everybody there. And, um, if you want to take part again,

00:12:58.000 go to the website and volunteer because we're moving towards Alberta independence.

00:13:02.560 Thank you so much. Well, John, I'm just going to say one last thing. We're, we're in, uh,

00:13:06.080 Medicine Hat, uh, area next week, Medicine Hat, Lethbridge, Tabor, uh, on Monday, Tuesday,

00:13:11.200 Wednesday. And then I have an event here in Bonneville, uh, on the 19th, uh, at the C2 center.

00:13:17.280 Okay. And by the way, have a Merry Christmas. Yeah. Same to you, John. And everybody,

00:13:22.320 thanks so much. Mitch Sylvester, CEO of the Alberta Prosperity Project. If you liked the video,

00:13:27.440 give it a thumbs up, subscribe to the channel, ring the bell for notifications. I will see you

00:13:32.160 in the next one.

John Bolton - December 12, 2025

INDEPENDENCE in 2026! - HUGE Calgary Rally Details - With Mitch Sylvestre

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