John Bolton - August 03, 2026


Is Foreign Interference Funding Forever Canadian? - I Wrote CSIS


Episode Stats


Length

10 minutes

Words per minute

155.59

Word count

1,562

Sentence count

111


Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
00:00:00.000 I'm concerned about foreign interference and the integrity of the upcoming vote on October 19th.
00:00:06.300 So I wrote CSIS about it. Hold on, folks. You're going to love this.
00:00:14.600 Hi, it's John and welcome to the channel 528 a.m. Monday, August the 3rd. I hope you're having a
00:00:19.780 great start to your Monday, a great long weekend as well. I tip the big blue mug of coffee to you
00:00:24.140 today. I'm sorry I'm getting late, but folks, this one's going to be worth it. There's going
00:00:30.260 to be a substantial amount of reading in just a moment, but stick it out to the end because
00:00:34.640 this one is going to be worth it. I'm excited about this. I really am. So to say that people
00:00:43.000 were incensed and upset when this tweet went out on July the 2nd would be an understatement.
00:00:48.820 We have specific rules we have to play by here in Alberta when it comes to the referendum.
00:00:54.900 Third-party advertisers must abide by these rules.
00:00:58.720 Mr. Lukasik in this tweet is heading up Forever Canadian, a third-party advertiser.
00:01:05.240 And this tweet really made people mad.
00:01:07.980 This person, Greg Marshall, I don't live in Alberta.
00:01:11.320 Can I make a financial contribution without accusations of interference?
00:01:15.320 Thomas Lukasik says yes on our website.
00:01:18.300 Well, we know that the rules don't allow that here in the province of Alberta.
00:01:22.340 As a matter of fact, if you go to the Forever Canadian website, there are no limits on donation amounts.
00:01:26.880 Every contribution makes a difference, folks.
00:01:29.220 There are limits on donation amounts when it comes to the referendum in the fall.
00:01:34.080 But Mr. Lekazic hasn't had to provide any information regarding donations.
00:01:39.860 We'll get to that in just a moment.
00:01:42.240 Now, there have been some legal briefs.
00:01:44.560 I don't know how to explain it.
00:01:46.140 I'm not a lawyer.
00:01:47.620 Let Alberta Decide. Keith Wilson apparently has put a legal document together regarding Mr. Lukasik and his campaign.
00:01:55.260 I believe Rebel News has done the same thing. I believe I saw Sheila Gunn-Reed do a report on this to try to see what's going on here
00:02:02.400 because it doesn't seem like the rules are being applied the same to both sides here.
00:02:06.640 I think a lot of people agree with that. Many people are still commenting on this online, but nothing's being done about it.
00:02:13.700 I'm doing something about it today, and you know who gave me the inspiration for this?
00:02:18.500 The leader of the NDP in Alberta, Nahed Nenshi.
00:02:23.600 Now, people are hammering Mr. Nenshi about what he's done here.
00:02:27.080 You can go to his tweet and read the documents here.
00:02:29.420 I'm not going to read them to you.
00:02:30.580 I don't want this video to go on very long, but stay tuned.
00:02:34.020 I'm going to read a document I'm sending out as soon as I'm done doing this video.
00:02:38.640 I agree with Mr. Nenshi here.
00:02:40.840 It's the only thing I agree with Nahed Nenshi with.
00:02:43.620 There's a very real risk of foreign interference in Danielle Smith's referendum this fall.
00:02:50.480 I wrote to CSIS earlier this year and just received the reply. I'm happy they're taking
00:02:56.080 it seriously, and I encourage anyone with evidence of foreign interference to contact them.
00:03:02.600 Okay. This gave me an idea. I agree with Mr. Nenshi, so I wrote CSIS. Listen, we can go to
00:03:12.540 elections, Alberta, all we want. Gordon McClure, the chief electoral officer, has made a ruling
00:03:17.340 on Mr. Lukasik. Apparently he's not campaigning, but folks, there is a possibility of foreign
00:03:22.240 interference here. So I'm writing CSIS, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. Here
00:03:27.700 is the document. I'm bringing it up full screen. Now, I'd just like to say I did use AI on this,
00:03:32.920 but I can assure you, I did all of the investigation into this, all the links,
00:03:40.000 the quotes, everything in this is my work. It took me more than an hour and a half to do this
00:03:44.340 this morning. That's why I'm late putting up this video, but I am not a lawyer. So I needed a bit
00:03:50.900 of help, but I think you're going to like this. So stick to the end folks. August 3rd, 2026,
00:03:57.780 Canadian security intelligence service subject request of investigation into potential foreign
00:04:03.460 interference risks relating to the Alberta referendum, October 19th, 2026, dear sir or
00:04:09.400 Madam. I'm writing to request that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, CSIS, review what
00:04:16.220 I believe to be a potential foreign interference vulnerability relating to the Alberta referendum
00:04:21.040 scheduled for October 19, 2026. My concern is not based on evidence that foreign interference has
00:04:27.920 already occurred, but rather on what I believe is a significant gap in financial transparency that
00:04:33.680 could permit such interference without public scrutiny. According to Election Alberta's
00:04:39.040 publication, Keeping Alberta's Elections Secure, the agency states, quote,
00:04:44.420 a secure election includes safeguards to protect against fraud, interference, and deliberate
00:04:49.920 attempts to misinform voters, unquote. The publication also states, quote, Elections Alberta
00:04:56.020 works with other electoral management bodies, law enforcement agencies, provincial and national
00:05:01.200 security agencies and cyber security agencies to detect, identify, and address foreign interference
00:05:07.520 activities to keep our elections safe and secure, unquote. These statements recognize that protecting
00:05:14.020 Alberta's democratic processes from foreign interference is an important public interest.
00:05:20.240 My concern relates to the activities of the Forever Canadian Citizens Initiative Society,
00:05:25.000 a registered third-party advertiser whose primary contact is Mr. Thomas Lukasik.
00:05:29.960 On July 2, 2026, an individual named Greg Marshall posted the following question on X.
00:05:37.200 I don't live in Alberta. Can I make a financial contribution without accusations of interference?
00:05:42.900 Mr. Lukasik publicly replied, yes, on our website.
00:05:48.080 This exchange appears to indicate that financial contributions from outside Alberta were being accepted through the organization's website.
00:05:55.280 Following public complaints to Elections Alberta alleging that this practice violated Alberta's election financing rules, Elections Alberta issued an interpretation bulletin on July 8, 2026.
00:06:08.080 In that bulletin, Elections Alberta concluded that the Forever Canadian Citizens Initiative Society did not at that time promote, oppose, support or encourage selection of one option over the other and therefore did not fall within the statutory definition of referendum advertising.
00:06:25.280 As a consequence of that interpretation, the organization has not, to my knowledge,
00:06:30.020 been required to publicly disclose its donors, the amounts donated, or the country of origin
00:06:35.500 of those donations. It is this lack of transparency that concerns me.
00:06:41.400 Without public disclosure of donors and their jurisdictions, Albertans have no practical way
00:06:47.080 of determining whether funding connected to referendum-related advocacy originates solely
00:06:52.760 from Canadians or whether funds may be flowing from foreign individuals, organizations, or
00:06:58.100 entities. Whether or not any foreign funding has actually occurred, the absence of disclosure
00:07:03.720 creates what I believe to be a potential vulnerability that could be exploited by
00:07:08.540 hostile foreign actors seeking to influence an issue of significant constitutional, national,
00:07:14.480 and international importance. The October 19th referendum is unlike any ordinary policy question.
00:07:21.040 Its outcome could have profound consequences for Alberta, for Canada as a whole, and for Canada's international relationships.
00:07:30.240 Given those implications, I respectfully submit that any potential avenue for undisclosed foreign influence deserves careful examination.
00:07:38.200 I therefore respectfully request that CSIS review this matter to determine whether the current circumstances present a foreign interference risk requiring investigation or coordination with the approval appropriate provincial and federal authorities.
00:07:54.500 I also respectfully request that, if appropriate and within the scope of your mandate, you recommend that all financial contributions received by the Forever Canadian Citizens Initiative Society that relate to referendum activities be disclosed, in accordance with Alberta election law to Elections Alberta, including the identity of donors, the amount of each contribution, and the country of origin or jurisdiction of each donor.
00:08:20.380 so that Albertans and Canadians can have confidence that the democratic process is
00:08:25.600 protected from improper foreign influence. I appreciate that CSIS cannot comment publicly
00:08:31.780 on operational matters or ongoing investigations. Nevertheless, given the proximity of the October
00:08:37.500 19th referendum, I respectfully ask that this matter receive prompt consideration.
00:08:42.980 Thank you for your attention to this important issue and for your continued work in protecting
00:08:47.640 Canada's national security and democratic institutions. Respectfully, John Bolton, Calgary,
00:08:53.040 Alberta, Canada. Now, folks, I haven't commented a lot on Thomas Lukasik. I don't want to give him
00:09:01.680 any satisfaction of us going after him. He smiles every time we comment publicly about this, but I
00:09:08.640 do have concerns about this. Who knows if China is giving money to his organization and how much
00:09:15.480 to influence this. And for you forever Canadian people, I wonder how much American money is coming
00:09:21.340 in here as well to influence your country. You seem to be terribly concerned about that usually,
00:09:26.920 shouldn't you be concerned now? So I'm going to be sending this letter out with my address,
00:09:30.820 my phone number, everything on here. And I will be contacting them over the next couple of months
00:09:36.460 to ensure that this matter is being considered because we're running out of time. But listen,
00:09:43.100 folks. We can go to Elections Alberta all we want. They're turning a blind eye to what we're
00:09:48.540 concerned about here. I'm going to the top. This does concern me. Thank you to Nahed Nenshi for
00:09:54.560 this idea this morning. If you like this video, give it a thumbs up, subscribe to the channel,
00:09:59.100 ring the bell for notifications. I'll see you in the next one.