John Bolton - Let Alberta Decide Rally in Edmonton

00:00:00.000 .

00:00:30.000 .

00:01:00.000 .

00:01:30.000 We'll be right back.

00:02:00.000 And free

00:02:01.120 A home and native land

00:02:04.740 Freedom, where are you?

00:02:09.460 Please don't turn your back 1.00

00:02:11.220 Many fucking eyes for you 1.00

00:02:16.160 I pray to God we never lose you 1.00

00:02:20.180 Freedom, where are you?

00:02:24.380 Please don't turn your back

00:02:26.220 Don't understand

00:02:27.220 Can't be far to die for you

00:02:31.180 I'm afraid of God we never lose you

00:02:35.180 Freedom, freedom, oh, freedom

00:02:40.000 Freedom

00:02:57.220 Thank you.

00:03:27.220 Thank you.

00:03:57.220 We'll be right back.

00:04:27.220 We'll be right back.

00:04:57.220 Thank you.

00:05:27.220 We'll be right back.

00:05:57.220 And I've been everywhere, man, from prairie air to mountain air, man.

00:06:19.220 I've seen the badlands there, man, of travel I've had my share, man.

00:06:24.640 I've been everywhere.

00:06:27.220 I've been to Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer, Leatherbridge, Medicine Hat,

00:06:32.600 Oldminster, Bampin High, Perry Ridge, Canmore, Cochrane, Milk River, Hinton,

00:06:36.300 Fort McLeod, and Fort McLeod, and Fort McLeod, and Old Cook, Toast,

00:06:39.320 there, Greek, East River, Slave Lake, Biggerville, and Bonneville, for goodness sake.

00:06:44.420 I've been everywhere, man. I've been everywhere, man.

00:06:48.580 Cross the Crow, this past, man. Climb the Rockies, man, man.

00:06:53.300 Run from Hellers, the new Blair, man.

00:06:55.800 I've been everywhere

00:06:57.800 I've been a settler, tabor, wet, ask you when

00:07:03.620 Camrose, Ponocan, Laclavichean, Sherwood, Parks, Bruce, Crow, Moorinville

00:07:08.000 Oh, it's a napkin, give me a thrill

00:07:10.020 Wainwright, Westlock, Grand Prairie, Cold Lake

00:07:12.580 Attabasca, Hilton, Sylvan, give or take

00:07:15.380 I've been everywhere, man

00:07:18.360 I've been everywhere, man

00:07:20.520 Cross the bow and bear, man

00:07:22.740 I breathe the can and ask it there, man

00:07:25.300 From heat to water to flare, man, I've been everywhere

00:07:29.720 I've been to Rocky Mountain House, Vermillion, Three Hills, Hannah, and Vermillion, yeah

00:07:37.480 Rose Ness, Carston, Pencher Creek, Barhead, Beaver Lodge, every week

00:07:41.800 Toadfield, Choshu, Wimby, St. Paul, Stratmore, Mirrors

00:07:45.380 I've seen it all, from Bill Kyle and Fyfe and Roll 0.97

00:07:50.980 To the coolies I call home

00:07:54.860 I've been everywhere man, I've been everywhere man 0.99

00:08:08.840 Seen the northern lights there man, felt shit upwinds there man 0.97

00:08:13.620 Of Alberta pride I'll share man, I've been everywhere 0.99

00:08:24.860 The ballads have been cast, the die is set

00:08:46.480 But Alberta ain't ready to kneel just yet

00:08:51.180 They chose their king, their power was met

00:08:55.680 But we don't enter to unwind

00:09:00.180 The ground gave us what we've earned

00:09:05.180 To burn in fire and fire

00:09:08.180 Now the ground, it shakes

00:09:12.080 The steel, it groans

00:09:14.160 And Alberta walks alone

00:09:17.840 We ride sovereign steel through fire through frost

00:09:23.600 We ain't the last where the life ain't lost

00:09:28.180 Alberta stands never on its knees

00:09:32.920 A nation born in the forge of the free

00:09:37.280 From the rigs to the rails

00:09:48.700 The crops to the code

00:09:50.980 We lit their streets

00:09:53.120 We bore their load

00:09:55.180 They laughed at pride 1.00

00:09:57.820 They mocked the West

00:09:59.740 But freedom don't die

00:10:02.200 It just waits for the test

00:10:04.340 The cowboys ride

00:10:07.060 The farmers rise, five million strong under open skies.

00:10:13.640 No leash, no lie, no foreign throne.

00:10:18.440 This land is steel and it stands alone.

00:10:24.700 We ride sovereign steel through fire, through frost.

00:10:30.460 We ain't the last with a line they lost.

00:10:34.420 Alberta stands never on its knees

00:10:39.180 A nation born in the forge of the free

00:10:43.400 You can't kill the mountain, can't drown the plane

00:11:06.100 Can't burn the spirit that won't be chained

00:11:10.680 He stares down east with a calloused hand and says

00:11:15.940 This time we draw the line in the land

00:11:20.640 We ride sovereign steel through fire through frost

00:11:29.220 We ain't the last where the line may lost

00:11:33.840 Alberta stands never on its knees

00:11:38.620 A nation born in the forge of the free

00:12:08.620 Well, it's midnight, damn right, we're wound up too tight

00:12:14.820 I got a fistful of whiskey, the bottle just hit me 1.00

00:12:22.380 Oh, that shit makes me, that shit crazy 1.00

00:12:29.140 We got no fear, no doubt, all in buzzer 1.00

00:12:38.620 We're coming back tonight, to take care of every night

00:12:42.620 Take care of everything we want, to get everything inside

00:12:46.180 We're gonna tell the world stops turning while we're burning in the ground

00:12:50.900 We're screaming like demons, swinging from the ceiling

00:13:01.780 I got a fistful of fifties, tequila just in me

00:13:09.360 Oh, we got no class, no taste, no shirt and shirt face

00:13:16.620 We got a line up, shot down, firing back, straight crowd

00:13:25.960 We're going off tonight, we keep playing every night

00:13:29.900 Take it into the world, take everything inside

00:13:33.480 And the world stops spreading while we're coming to the ground

00:13:37.920 There's ten questions on our future

00:13:59.260 There's a choice we have to make

00:14:01.080 Not a headline, not a slogan

00:14:03.100 There's too much here at stake

00:14:04.960 Read the words and know the meaning

00:14:06.740 Know the yes and know the no, don't let somebody else decide, you'll learn the facts before you go.

00:14:13.120 Nine times yes or no, one more option, choice to go.

00:14:20.000 Whatever side you stand upon, make sure you really know.

00:14:26.140 Let Alberta decide, let Alberta decide.

00:14:32.560 Read the questions, none of the choices

00:14:37.180 Then you choose your sight

00:14:39.140 From the mountains to the prairie sky

00:14:41.880 Let our bird decide

00:14:43.900 You're gonna hear a thousand voices

00:14:52.760 Telling you what you should believe

00:14:54.560 But before you mock your ballot

00:14:56.520 Know exactly what it means

00:14:58.320 A chance to speak

00:14:59.360 A chance to say

00:15:01.400 Hey, I know I'm here at Alberta today

00:15:05.800 Option two doesn't mean we leave that night

00:15:08.980 It means another vote before that night

00:15:13.620 Nine times yes or no

00:15:16.260 One more option, choice to go

00:15:20.180 Status quo, change and grow

00:15:23.660 Make sure you really know 1.00

00:15:26.840 Let Alberta decide 1.00

00:15:29.540 Let Alberta decide 0.99

00:15:31.320 Let Alberta decide 0.99

00:15:33.360 Let Alberta decide 1.00

00:15:35.340 Read the questions for the choices

00:15:38.040 Then you choose your sign

00:15:40.000 From the mountains to the prairie sky

00:15:42.660 Let Alberta decide

00:15:44.940 Nine yes or no's made your voice heard 0.86

00:15:50.980 Then number ten, understand every word

00:15:54.980 Whatever comes next, oh

00:15:56.460 Whatever the time, oh 0.97

00:15:58.500 Give it to Alberta, boys, let Alberta decide 0.99

00:16:03.900 Let Alberta decide

00:16:08.800 Let Alberta decide 0.99

00:16:12.500 Let Alberta decide 0.95

00:16:18.500 Leave the questions for the choices, then you choose your side 0.94

00:16:22.400 From the Rockies to the Prairie sky

00:16:24.900 From north to south, far and wide

00:16:30.900 Let our world decide

00:16:32.900 Let our world decide

00:16:36.900 Let our world decide

00:16:40.900 Let our world decide

00:16:48.900 Let our world decide

00:16:54.900 Sign said, 40 miles to Canada, my truck towed across Montana, A.M. Tyson sang a lonesome lullaby.

00:17:16.900 And so I cranked up the radio

00:17:22.920 Cause there's just a little more to go

00:17:27.100 Before I cross the border at that sweet grass sign

00:17:32.640 I'm out of word now

00:17:36.060 It's a piece of heaven that I found

00:17:39.780 Rockin' mountains and light fertile ground

00:17:43.640 Everything I need beneath that big blue sky

00:17:50.080 Cause you can't stand out of where I go

00:17:53.720 This place will always be my home

00:17:57.660 Yeah, I've been in front of my own for all my life

00:18:03.540 And I'll be in front of my own

00:18:08.960 Till I die

00:18:11.040 It's a crowd that's been passed down to me 1.00

00:18:17.920 Deer's coal mines, white-ass farmer's fields 0.96

00:18:21.960 Yeah, I've got independence in my veins 1.00

00:18:27.120 Maybe it's my damn home redneck roots 0.99

00:18:33.320 Over these dusty old alberts 1.00

00:18:36.780 But like the shit of the wind keeps coming 0.99

00:18:40.320 Back again 0.99

00:18:41.880 Ah, I'm out for the ground

00:18:45.800 This piece of hell I've had found 0.96

00:18:49.500 Rockin' diamonds and black fertile ground

00:18:53.360 Everything I need beneath that big blue sky

00:18:59.540 It doesn't matter where I go

00:19:03.360 The days will always be my hope

00:19:07.460 I've been in front of a man for all my life

00:19:13.180 And I'll be in front of a man until I die

00:19:20.520 Stop, turbulent yet I'm totally genetics

00:19:27.840 That's nothin' in the world

00:19:29.140 I hear.

00:19:31.100 Like

00:19:37.180 No way I go

00:19:38.280 This place will always be

00:19:40.860 My soul

00:19:42.060 Doesn't never be

00:19:43.540 Woo!

00:19:50.520 I was thinking how to start this thing today got some great speakers we want to keep you

00:20:05.100 know on schedule it's a little chillier than we expected but I think we're keeping each

00:20:09.840 other warm aren't we here today if you're down front here and you're standing at we've

00:20:20.360 got people in wheelchairs down here are kind of blocked out if you can kind of get down a little

00:20:25.040 bit so everybody can see that would be terrific i was thinking how to start this thing today

00:20:30.660 how many of you have already voted

00:20:32.720 what did you vote on question 10

00:20:40.500 can we all say that together

00:20:45.820 one more time option two good stuff good for you it's so good to have you here today

00:20:57.060 there are washrooms over here if you need them have a fun time today if you have any issues you

00:21:03.040 might see some people in some high-vis vests walking around uh just talk to them and again

00:21:08.720 have a good time today. So I want to start off a little bit by talking about

00:21:15.720 some special people today, okay? I want to talk about a couple I know. Now a lot of

00:21:23.880 you know I get up very early in the morning, really early in the morning. And

00:21:29.800 what I do first thing in the morning is I grab my phone. And the blue mug, you

00:21:35.280 betcha I do so I get up early in the morning and I'm laying in bed looking at

00:21:40.260 what's going on in the world and very often I'll get a text message and over

00:21:44.880 the last eight to nine weeks I get these text messages from these people this

00:21:50.040 couple and there's these pictures they would send me eight ten weeks ago of

00:21:54.900 signs they're putting up signs in the middle of the night they might have led

00:22:00.520 Alberta Decide signs, Jason Levine signs, Corey Morgan signs, Alberta Women for Independence

00:22:07.000 signs, Let's Talk Alberta signs.

00:22:09.540 They're putting up signs everywhere.

00:22:11.320 These people in the middle of the night.

00:22:13.100 And they're not unusual because this is happening across our province.

00:22:18.260 And about four weeks ago, I'd be laying in bed and I started getting different pictures.

00:22:23.620 And it was pictures of signs that had been painted with words and had been cut up with

00:22:29.220 chainsaws.

00:22:30.520 and earlier this week, yeah, earlier this week, it was 1.12 in the morning, and I got a text

00:22:39.660 message, and it says, this is what my morning has been like, and it was this couple who had

00:22:45.240 been out there putting up signs, but now they're out there fixing signs, and they sent me a picture

00:22:51.380 of a sign that was cut down to the ground that said, let Alberta decide, and then they sent me

00:22:56.720 another one and another one and then they sent me 10 pictures and at 4 30 in the morning they had

00:23:06.160 fixed all the signs they had shrink wrapped these signs so that when people put paint on them they

00:23:11.640 couldn't put those nasty words on there and these people are indicative of the wonderful people who

00:23:18.360 are doing great things in this province. Now, the people I'm talking about, I'd like them to come

00:23:29.960 out on stage right now. Mr. and Mrs. Albertan, you know them. I've got to know these people very well,

00:23:43.020 but they are symbols of the great volunteers in this movement ladies and gentlemen all of you

00:23:49.900 people here today are volunteers in this movement we're all part of the same family we are friends

00:23:57.900 we are together here today you know there's people across this province bill and jocelyn grant the

00:24:04.220 mr and mrs alberton of the north they're out there we've got sharon newlett paul and handle robin

00:24:11.820 Taylor from Cool Shit and Red Deer, who has been putting his own money into this, into this

00:24:17.840 movement. Wade Collins, my good friend from Sylvan Lake, up and down across this province,

00:24:24.640 delivering signs everywhere because they're part of this movement. I think of my friend, my friend

00:24:30.800 Lyle, Fort Vermillion, who drove 10 hours to my house to get signs to take them back up north.

00:24:38.960 i'm not kidding and then i think of john from united alberta flags who provided a lot of you

00:24:46.320 with flags today there's more over there if you want to get them he's colored this province in

00:24:50.880 blue ladies and gentlemen mr and mrs alberton we love them we love you thank you so much for what

00:24:58.800 you're doing hey i got a little bit of a news for you oh mr alberton's got something he wants to

00:25:05.360 tell us you go right ahead we uh got some news as many of you know i don't know a lot of you follow

00:25:11.120 us but uh we did track that guy down we had a little uh medium speed chase i tried dragging

00:25:23.920 my trailer around on a overpass and scuffed it up a little bit we managed to catch him in the act

00:25:31.440 well he was chopping one of our sign one of our signs in half they already know who he is you

00:25:39.840 know where he is charges are pending this man will pay yeah anything you want to say

00:25:49.760 yeah i just wanted to say the journey has been absolutely amazing we have heard sad stories

00:26:03.380 happy stories heartwarming heart-wrenching um the people we have met you have all touched

00:26:12.220 our hearts dearly we will never forget any of you and we love you yeah

00:26:21.900 so i'm gonna say it hey albert it's al and and mrs l and we're here we just want to thank all

00:26:31.500 you guys everybody like john just said every one of these people that are here today and many that

00:26:38.380 it couldn't make it you're all volunteers you guys all make this happen without you we've got

00:26:45.580 nothing and yeah and on b when we chose the name l burton it was because we wanted to represent

00:26:56.700 all people of alberta we wanted to be the general oh max is on my case

00:27:04.440 so anyway you guys are who we are representing we wanted to make sure that everybody know that

00:27:14.300 we're not here to be mr and mrs l mr and mrs l is all of you and on behalf of all of you

00:27:22.860 i want to turn this around and i want to thank all of you for what you do for us

00:27:30.280 Without you, we've got nothing.

00:27:32.660 Thank you.

00:27:38.320 Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Al.

00:27:40.180 Okay, we've got some wonderful speakers for you today.

00:27:42.700 I was talking to Adam just before we started this today,

00:27:46.780 and Adam Durges from the Army of Great Men has been a great help to Tanya and Keith and Let Alberta Decide.

00:27:55.000 One of those people you don't know very well but works behind the scenes.

00:27:58.700 He's going to start us off today.

00:28:00.400 Ladies and gentlemen, welcome Adam Durgis.

00:28:08.620 Okay, so you know how you only get a certain number of opportunities in life, right?

00:28:14.240 When am I going to get an opportunity to take a selfie with 10,000 beauties like this?

00:28:18.760 You going to help me?

00:28:20.200 All right.

00:28:27.320 Thanks for that.

00:28:28.120 that's going up on my wall for sure uh my sound okay too loud too soft good okay

00:28:35.960 all right this day's kind of fitting isn't it this weather watching the canada rallies and

00:28:44.440 they're all in their cushy barn and everything's all nice and cozy for them

00:28:50.360 we're fighting through a tornado to get here

00:28:53.240 just out of curiosity raise your hand if you thought about not coming today not coming no yeah

00:29:02.920 the other day i had a buddy of mine he was he was in line to vote and um he said yeah it's

00:29:12.340 two hour lineup and i said what are you gonna do he said i'm gonna wait two hours

00:29:17.000 because i've waited two years for this two hours is nothing

00:29:21.160 Thank you.

00:29:51.160 .

00:30:21.160 .

00:30:51.160 .

00:31:21.160 .

00:31:51.160 .

00:32:21.160 we just want permission to work hard

00:32:30.080 because for longer than i would care to remember albertans get mocked for wanting to work hard

00:32:43.180 albertas get mocked for wanting to develop our resources albertas get mocked for wanting to do

00:32:48.980 it our way because our way is different than the rest of Canada isn't it and that to me is what

00:32:57.120 this is truly all about our values are not in line with the rest of Canada anymore well wait a sec

00:33:03.060 just a sec shout out to my home province of Saskatchewan they're just like us

00:33:08.180 and and this isn't a shot I'm taking at the rest of Canada it's not their values are just different

00:33:17.780 than ours and every year that goes by the divide gets bigger and bigger doesn't it every year and

00:33:24.220 so the people that are afraid of oh what will happen if alberta leaves and i'm not mocking

00:33:28.560 them when i say that i'm not mocking their fear fear is a logical emotion it's okay to be afraid

00:33:34.900 but we're afraid of what happens if we keep going because every year that goes by that divide gets

00:33:41.940 bigger and bigger and bigger to the point where you know i already don't recognize the rest of

00:33:46.780 Canada, I'm worried about the day when I don't recognize it here. And that's why this stand is

00:33:52.360 so important. That's why what we're doing today is so important, because this is where we draw

00:33:58.000 the line in the sand, and we say, no, this is who we are, and we're going to stay this way.

00:34:04.020 This is who we are. There's two types of people in Canada, you guys. Those who view the last 12

00:34:14.940 years is progress and those who miss the good old days and i don't know about you but i miss the good

00:34:20.640 old days so for those people who are afraid that it's going to be too hard

00:34:30.920 i promise you you're right it is going to be hard but take the two out of it it's not too hard it's

00:34:39.400 just hard enough and we're going to be just fine because the resolve of the people in this province

00:34:44.280 is like nothing I've ever seen.

00:34:46.680 And just like those business owners I described

00:34:48.960 who start to treat it differently once it's theirs,

00:34:52.480 this place is going to be ours again.

00:34:57.880 We're going to work harder because it's ours.

00:35:00.640 We're going to get through it because it's ours. 0.94

00:35:03.360 We're going to bust our butts every day

00:35:05.740 to fight to put this place back where it's supposed to

00:35:08.580 because it's going to be ours again.

00:35:14.280 so my challenge to everybody here between now and monday is to get more brave and to tell people

00:35:21.360 they don't have to be afraid of what this is going to look like because it's ours and it's

00:35:25.880 going to be great and i would bet on the people of alberta all day every day so let's go

00:35:32.920 thanks for coming on you guys my name is adam durges i couldn't be more proud to be a part

00:35:45.960 of this day today be a part of this team thank you keith and tanya for bringing me along i love

00:35:52.180 you guys. Thank you. Thank you, Adam. The young ladies I'm bringing up next, I've had the chance

00:36:06.280 to be on their YouTube channel, and they are really smart. I mean, incredibly smart. If you've

00:36:15.120 ever watched them, they are right on top of all the latest news and whatnot, along with their

00:36:20.340 father mike and i want to bring them up right now i think they'll really convey a great message to

00:36:26.740 young people who wanted who could be part of this movement uh macy and madison holmes would you

00:36:32.580 please come over here please thank you again i'm short so here we are yes um john just said that

00:36:46.900 we have a message for the young people but it's the other way around we're up here because the

00:36:52.100 young people had a message for us and we've adopted the role of giving it to you guys we

00:36:57.140 are just the messenger and the other day i had a conversation with my best friend of almost 10

00:37:02.740 years and about four days and she she and her husband don't have time to come to rallies like

00:37:10.500 this they don't have time to listen to as many podcasts as my sister and my dad do and yet even

00:37:17.880 though I hadn't talked to her for a year I had no idea where she was at I called her up and she said

00:37:24.640 I can't afford a home with my husband and he had a job that he liked but now he's going to the rakes

00:37:32.040 because he needs to make more so I can move out of this tiny apartment that I've lived with my

00:37:38.100 parents in and actually make something for ourselves and one thing that i've realized

00:37:45.700 listening to the speeches of the canada strong and free conference is that when you're advocating for

00:37:55.220 the youth if you actually mean that you were advocating for the next generation you go where

00:38:02.260 the youth are i don't like social media but i knew me and macy's job was to learn what are

00:38:08.660 the youth thinking so we went on instagram that's where they are i took my duty seriously and these

00:38:16.340 people are saying they're advocating for the next generation but i know they're not 10 years ago the

00:38:23.700 average cpp was held up by 13 to 14 median age workers now all of that money is beholden onto

00:38:31.620 three to four of people my age so when it comes to actually advocating for the youth

00:38:40.100 where are the people 30 and under when you look at the energy industry in alberta

00:38:46.580 every time it declines we are hindered by federal regulations albertans die our mortality rate goes

00:38:55.940 up as our energy goes down. So if you are advocating for a federal government that hinders

00:39:03.220 your energy, you are actively hindering your next generation. There's no ifs, ands, or buts.

00:39:17.060 I think the message that we wanted to put forward as well is that this whole thing

00:39:21.460 started for our family with covid and i think that that was a story that we were hearing from

00:39:27.940 a lot of youth was just the damage that the federal government and even the provincial

00:39:34.820 government did to all canadians around our country and i think that it's important to even look at i

00:39:43.380 guess the campaigning that's going on right now you have pierre polivev mark carney jason kenny

00:39:50.660 rachel notley all of them coming together against this message

00:39:59.300 so so tell me we're doing something right when the establishment has no choice where they otherwise

00:40:06.420 try and divide and conquer they're coming together to make sure that they divide and conquer once

00:40:11.700 again and so i think that uni party exactly and what we were realizing is that there is no federal

00:40:21.860 solution for alberta and maddie and i only know what we know because we decided to listen to the

00:40:28.340 generations that are much smarter than us and know more and have done the work and have the experience

00:40:35.460 and we know that whether it's conservative under stephen harper

00:40:39.300 If we're talking about the current conservative here, he wasn't at the Ellison inquiry. Why not?

00:40:45.820 I think that the problem is, is that we are living in a moral system.

00:40:51.780 And I think that Albertans are moral people.

00:40:55.540 And as Adam was explaining, we are entrepreneurial and we are excellent.

00:41:02.500 whenever you have to achieve a new business or start in a trade it takes a lot of perseverance

00:41:10.300 and vigilance to get good at what it is that you're trying to accomplish and just because it's

00:41:15.640 hard doesn't mean that you give up and go to something else and I think that the vision that

00:41:20.740 me and Maddie have for the next generation even those that are in favor of this message is that

00:41:27.660 We have to pursue persistence and vigilance regardless of what the result of this referendum is going to be.

00:41:36.480 Maddie and I keep telling people that we must keep educating ourselves and then we must keep having the conversations.

00:41:42.540 Because even when the United States had their independence movement, it was trying to gain a more perfect union.

00:41:53.360 And I think that that's exactly what Alberta is trying to do and I think we can accomplish.

00:41:57.660 But we have to stay persistent and we know it's going to take a lot of hard work.

00:42:02.080 But I think that all of us are the excellence and the very solution to the problem that we've all been waiting for.

00:42:09.060 So, yeah.

00:42:12.920 The last thing I want to end with is when people, if you're going to advocate for Mark Carney, if you're going to advocate for.

00:42:22.880 some people we take our job seriously and we want to talk to all youth of all mindsets and so we did

00:42:31.780 we sat down with some people that identify as NDP more liberal and they said they're excited

00:42:38.200 about the partnership with Europe because it's they said they're excited because it's ending

00:42:49.080 the reliance on the united states and my issue my issue is the fact that they don't actually know

00:42:54.780 what we're getting into we're not trading wheat with europe if you go on the prime minister

00:43:00.100 governmental website we're literally trading missiles so we don't have investment in alberta

00:43:06.580 for a pipeline now it is subsidized by our people so where did the private sectors go oh that's okay

00:43:13.280 the military industrial complex for canada and europe and we're paying for that now literally

00:43:19.340 via tax dollars and then who are they going to send for the european wars people my age so if

00:43:26.540 you're advocating for a united canada understand it is a future war and you are condemning my

00:43:33.140 generation. That's that. Yeah, the last thing that I would say is that if you are not against the

00:43:45.840 whole anti-Trupp America military industrial complex, we're in the middle of building our

00:43:52.180 own right now, not Alberta, our federal government in Kearney. And so I think we really need to wrap

00:43:57.600 our heads around this and also so much money 43 billion for a pipeline if that doesn't sound like

00:44:04.400 a money laundering scheme i don't know what does so when we're talking about foreign interference

00:44:09.920 we have domestic interference right now and we need to be paying attention thank you everybody

00:44:17.600 Thank you.

00:44:18.360 Thank you.

00:44:23.660 I told you they were smart.

00:44:26.220 My goodness.

00:44:31.000 You know, the wind is kind of a drag, but I'll tell you, it makes those flags look beautiful standing on this stage.

00:44:38.140 It really does.

00:44:40.500 We're going to take a little bit of a break.

00:44:42.600 We're going to have our next speaker up in just a moment.

00:44:45.100 Would anybody like a T-shirt?

00:44:48.340 All right.

00:44:49.420 So we're going to shoot some T-shirts out there for a couple of minutes.

00:44:53.340 Hopefully this works out all right.

00:44:56.540 Jason Levine, Mr. Albertan, and that is my wife, Sheila.

00:45:00.900 There you go.

00:45:03.400 Don't shoot them.

00:45:04.320 Hi.

00:45:17.600 Let's try standing, Jason.

00:45:42.280 There you go, all right.

00:45:45.020 Okay, grab over.

00:45:46.060 You're beautiful, too.

00:46:16.060 Thank you.

00:46:46.060 Our next speaker. I met him back in early January, maybe late December last year. How many of you were canvassers? Wow. Yeah. You're used to weather like this and a lot colder, aren't you?

00:47:06.520 Yeah, I saw a lot of you at the side of the road. I admire you very much. You're welcome. It was in January. We were at a place called Queensland in Calgary. I was there with Dennis Kalma. Eva Chipiak was there. My friend Heather Field and Jivan Mangad arranged this big event. 400 people showed up on January the 10th.

00:47:31.480 And that was only a few days after people could sign up and sign the petition.

00:47:37.260 We had three people there that night signing people up.

00:47:41.000 And about an hour in, somebody whispered in my ear, there's 1,500 people in line outside.

00:47:47.780 And we went, what?

00:47:49.560 And that's when things went crazy.

00:47:51.420 Corey was there.

00:47:52.460 He was one of the speakers that night.

00:47:54.700 He's one of the third-party advertisers as well, Pathway to Independence.

00:47:59.480 You know him from the Western Standard, the Cory Morgan Show, a great, great voice for this movement.

00:48:06.860 Cory Morgan, ladies and gentlemen.

00:48:12.220 Oh, what a beautiful sea of blue.

00:48:16.240 Thank you so much for the honor of joining you today to make history.

00:48:21.400 And that is what we are doing.

00:48:24.280 We are moving in the right direction.

00:48:27.660 John was absolutely right.

00:48:29.120 I mean, I've been at this a long, long time, and it's been a slow but steady path to where

00:48:37.160 we are today.

00:48:39.000 And there's always hiccups, there's hurdles, there's turning points, there's ups, there's

00:48:44.400 downs.

00:48:44.880 But that night in South Calgary, seeing over a thousand people standing in the dark on

00:48:51.320 a January night to put their signature on a paper, I knew something very special was

00:48:56.300 happening this year.

00:48:59.120 and i was just astounded again as john pointed out i'm whining about the cold a little bit right

00:49:07.680 now but i'm remembering those people sitting at tables in winter winds getting signatures to

00:49:12.760 petition to get a referendum so albertans can finally say what they want and i am so grateful

00:49:22.220 and there were so many meetings i got to attend and speak at all over the province

00:49:28.480 dozens and dozens of them sometimes there'd be 20 people at one there'd be a couple hundred people

00:49:33.680 at the next one and it's good to see most of you all in one room for the first time so i appreciate

00:49:38.640 that and we have gotten more discourse more debate more examination of the federation and

00:49:49.840 where alberta stands in it in this last 10 months than we've seen in 20 years people have had to

00:49:55.920 think about it they've had to dwell on it and now they've had the chance to vote on it and we're

00:50:02.080 finally getting attention from ottawa not that i really wanted it but is their attentions usually

00:50:09.680 not that nice kind but here we've got oh king carney came out and blessed us with his presence

00:50:16.640 this week. But what was so symbolic? Okay, look, Carney showed he cares. He came out to the

00:50:27.260 hinterland. He came to see what's going on. And he gets to a meeting, and what does he do?

00:50:33.500 He tells us how to vote. Ten months of this discourse, and the only lesson that should

00:50:43.080 of got between his ears was that you should be listening rather than talking for a bloody change

00:50:48.920 and he didn't get it the lesson was lost the laurentian arrogance won't let that lesson get

00:51:00.040 through to them we're supposed to listen to them guess what we're not asking for permission

00:51:04.840 and we've built something they still don't understand they probably never will

00:51:15.260 it's a movement it's a culture it's not going away this is a wave in alberta that's going to

00:51:25.440 sustain we've got the vote coming on monday we'll see what happens we're moving the right way

00:51:33.200 if it's 10% of her it's 90% people keep asking me what are you gonna do the day

00:51:38.660 after I'll do the exact same thing I always have I'm gonna pursue Alberta's

00:51:43.080 independence and nothing less that's why we're here today that's what we'll do

00:51:51.560 next week that's what we'll do next month and we're gonna do it until we're

00:51:56.060 independent we've made an incredible stride we really have i see a few folks out there probably

00:52:05.900 gray enough to remember my alberta independence party effort 26 years ago and boy i learned some

00:52:13.180 good hard lessons there the late premier ralph klein showed me just how naive i was when we went

00:52:18.460 went to an election and I value those lessons but you know the appetite was

00:52:25.460 strong then but if we'd have had a referendum we probably only would have

00:52:29.960 got 10 or 15 percent support it takes time it takes work it takes growing a

00:52:35.740 movement to make something that lasts and it's here now it's been a journey

00:52:39.840 and we've got that basis and we've got to sustain it and foster it and make it

00:52:47.220 positive that's what i want to kind of end on is the positivity and what we've done and what we

00:52:54.740 still got to do there's going to be a lot of work adam said it excellently you know we get a lot of

00:52:59.860 people say it's going to be tough you got to do this and this yeah i know but alberto would never

00:53:03.940 wouldn't built if we were scared of hard work nothing good comes without hard work

00:53:10.660 but what we've also got to do is be civil this has been a really personal campaign

00:53:21.220 we've seen some of the the the ludicrous action sign vandalism the name calling the screaming

00:53:28.420 some of it's never going to go away but one of the things I just want to leave off on with this we

00:53:35.560 got to remember which is so important staying together as people even the ones we don't agree

00:53:42.760 with politically there were so many horrible things that happened over the coveted times so

00:53:47.960 many but one that i hated the most was seeing families splitting up friends splitting up

00:53:53.880 co-workers over something that was a policy issue if you've got somebody in your families

00:54:03.080 on the other side a friend don't lose the relationship over it talk sports or something

00:54:10.200 it's so important i just want to leave it at that because this has been so personal

00:54:14.040 we got to keep moving forward we got to keep things going positively we're going to build

00:54:20.600 a better alberta we're going to build an independent alberta we're going to build a

00:54:25.480 new independent nation that's going to be peaceful prosperous and will be a leading country in this

00:54:31.960 world for others to follow. So I don't think there's too many undecided people in this crowd

00:54:43.040 right now, but we still have a full day and a whole lot of people out there are going to cast

00:54:49.080 their ballot. So take it upon yourselves, guys. You've been working your butts off this long.

00:54:55.040 One more day. Get out there. Get at it. Find those undecided people. Show them where to go.

00:55:01.320 drag them in there get that vote in and let's be celebrating on well tuesday morning or whenever

00:55:08.360 the hell elections alberta gets around to count those votes so thank you one more time guys it's

00:55:16.720 been brilliant fantastic and it's just beautiful seeing you out there so uh let's make alberta

00:55:23.640 independent, guys. Thanks. Thank you, Corey. I just wanted to say right now, 4,000 people are

00:55:36.480 watching online. Yes. So there are probably some people who are watching who are undecided right

00:55:45.180 now. So listen, because you might learn something here today. We hope we can bring you over to our

00:55:51.000 side i do want to you know focus on somebody here just quickly we're talking about you know people

00:55:57.560 volunteering their time off the top of this day and if you've been out to any event over the last

00:56:04.280 oh i don't know 10 months or so you might find one guy that's there at so many events streaming

00:56:12.280 these events and we'd like to bring max out here max come on out here my friend

00:56:21.000 Thank you so much, Max, for all you've done.

00:56:27.200 We really appreciate it.

00:56:28.680 Awesome.

00:56:31.360 I hope you enjoy the stream, my autistic internet friends.

00:56:38.600 And I want to also thank all the volunteers that were doing the canvassing period.

00:56:45.200 I wasn't able to canvass for legal reasons,

00:56:49.080 but i want to thank you everybody who put their effort into this cumulative uh result and we're

00:56:57.260 going to see necklace next week thanks for coming thanks max thank you

00:57:01.460 i've met a lot of people in alberta uh i've made some good friends um describing the next person

00:57:13.060 who's coming up here to talk is kind of difficult he's a force of nature he's known for his rants

00:57:20.660 he's approaching i have to say he's approaching 200 000 subscribers on his youtube channel

00:57:31.060 and it's been a it's been a great joy to know him and ladies and gentlemen unacceptable fringe

00:57:43.060 Alberta, are you ready?

00:57:54.000 Hey, you've been presented a golden ticket to finally have your vote matter in Ottawa.

00:58:06.660 I heard most people out here already voted.

00:58:12.600 Well, let me tell you something, folks.

00:58:14.440 I voted this week as well, but I didn't vote for me.

00:58:19.100 I didn't vote for you.

00:58:22.200 I voted for the youth, the next generations. 0.96

00:58:29.900 This province is the best damn place in the world to live,

00:58:33.880 and we're going to make it better come Tuesday morning. 0.91

00:58:42.060 Now Mark Carney graced us with his presence

00:58:45.220 and he said he thinks we're bluffing.

00:58:50.760 I say he came to Alberta with a pair of twos

00:58:54.220 while Mark Carney, Alberta just went all in with a full house.

00:59:03.880 Let me ask you this, Alberta. 0.75

00:59:06.820 Do you want China?

00:59:11.260 Do you want an associate membership with the EU?

00:59:18.080 Do you want MOUs?

00:59:25.020 I think somebody better call Mark Carney and let him know that braised beef and luxury butter

00:59:31.580 is off the menu in Alberta.

00:59:38.000 And I don't know about the rest of you,

00:59:40.420 but my back is damn sore and tired

00:59:43.080 from carrying this country for so long

00:59:46.300 with nothing more to show for it

00:59:48.580 than a middle finger in the check.

00:59:55.280 You've all been tasked with casting your ballot.

00:59:58.260 Well, now I ask for one more favor.

01:00:01.580 call every albertan you know and get them to the polls this election this referendum will be lost

01:00:14.980 by those who choose to stay home we cannot afford for the government to weaponize our resources

01:00:23.520 to nationalize our oil and to turn alberta into something worse than it already is

01:00:30.280 We cannot give up the ground that we've made.

01:01:00.280 We'll make it short and sweet, but let me ask you, Alberta, again.

01:01:06.260 Are you ready?

01:01:09.420 Are you ready to send the message?

01:01:14.700 Are you ready to tell Ottawa that Alberta can do better?

01:01:21.040 Then let's go!

01:01:30.280 Music please. Anybody want a t-shirt?

01:02:00.280 do

01:02:30.280 That was a lot of fun.

01:02:54.880 our next speaker here this afternoon is somebody you don't see a lot of him he's usually in his

01:03:07.560 house working on a keyboard working on numbers working with the Alberta Transition Council

01:03:13.620 but I've got to know him quite well he's an incredibly brilliant man and a good friend of

01:03:21.360 mind now and you probably have seen him on occasion appearing at different events. He doesn't come out

01:03:27.560 and do this very often but I know he knows this is important today. Dennis Kalima, ladies and

01:03:33.480 gentlemen Alberta that shirt toss was the most exercise most of us got all week two days in two

01:03:57.300 days you get a question Albertans has waited for 50 years for every time we put our hand up we got

01:04:05.400 the same answer no well nobody's asking Ottawa this time you just heard the firebrands they

01:04:18.420 sent me out here to talk about arithmetic somebody had to do it now I'm the principal

01:04:25.740 author behind all those boring documents somebody had to do it for years they

01:04:41.760 told us lovely idea you have no plan you haven't done the homework so we did the

01:04:48.980 homework 21 domains border services a defense force pensions customs tax

01:04:59.100 collection every one of them described staffed costed published a thousand

01:05:06.920 pages published 12,000 paper pages of working material behind it they can't

01:05:13.640 say we don't have a plan anymore they've had it for a month they can't find a hole

01:05:28.920 now my favorite moment in all this there's a paragraph in the telecoms paper

01:05:35.000 it's stuffed full of acronyms jargon i read it four times i didn't have a clue what it meant

01:05:43.640 So I phoned the author, I said, what does this mean?

01:05:47.100 He said, everybody gets to keep their phone number.

01:05:53.260 And that's the plan, 400 pages of that,

01:05:57.820 not slogans, phone numbers, licenses, pension checks,

01:06:02.960 the boring things, the things that have to work every day.

01:06:09.260 And here's the part I'm proudest of.

01:06:11.840 We didn't make the plan to just look good.

01:06:14.660 We wrote it and then we tried to break it.

01:06:19.000 We assumed the head offices leave.

01:06:21.620 We assumed we take a full share of Canada's debt,

01:06:25.060 no credit for 50 years of pain.

01:06:28.420 We assumed the worst oil crash in industry,

01:06:32.380 the worst drop in household income,

01:06:34.880 the worst fall in spending, seven disasters,

01:06:38.420 and then we ran them all at the same time.

01:06:41.160 when piling on all seven disasters came somewhat negative we published it

01:06:56.440 you know they've never published the case where we win

01:07:03.640 and you know that worst case is still only about a quarter

01:07:08.760 of the deficits that alberta is running now

01:07:15.480 better yet the seven have never occurred all at the same time

01:07:21.320 they never wrote a transition plan they never costed a single dollar of it

01:07:26.440 but they sure the heck will tell you if you're going to fail how much that's going to cost

01:07:32.680 and that's the difference between a plan and a brochure

01:07:38.120 so there's just one number in this presentation just one 19 billion dollars

01:07:54.440 19 billion dollars that's how much more ottawa takes out of alberta than it spends back here

01:08:08.120 every year for 50 years and that number is not mine

01:08:16.120 it's in the report the calvary chamber of commerce paid paid for to fight us

01:08:22.680 independence doesn't create that money it just stops it from leading us

01:08:38.760 So what happens on day one? Almost nothing by design. Your license works, your pension arrives,

01:08:45.480 same day, same bank account. You all know someone who's nervous, tell them that.

01:08:51.480 Nothing you depend on stops working. But then, slowly, over time, as we grow in our independence,

01:09:01.400 income tax reduces can be cut in half

01:09:09.000 the province's death all 109 billion of it gone inside 10 years

01:09:18.200 and a heritage fund that finally does its job

01:09:24.520 ours is worth 32 billion norway started 20 years after us theirs is worth a trillion

01:09:30.600 they just kept on paying in and you know if we're worse at that in the north if we're worse at this 0.93

01:09:40.480 than the norwegians we'll just hire a few norwegians

01:09:44.100 so two days it's possible because he wrote down how

01:09:53.920 it's affordable on today's money even with seven disasters on top

01:10:00.600 It's workable because nothing you rely on breaks.

01:10:05.100 All of it's published, every figure, every method.

01:10:08.960 We spent a month asking them to argue with a number instead of just picking on us personally.

01:10:15.580 Not one of them landed a punch.

01:10:25.500 So, if you haven't already voted, make sure you vote on Monday.

01:10:30.600 and before the end of monday find one person who's still unsure tell them the people who

01:10:40.760 did the arithmetic are not afraid of the answer

01:10:44.200 Alberta can do this. 0.90

01:10:56.600 Alberta is ready.

01:10:58.680 Let's go get it.

01:11:05.900 Thank you, Dennis.

01:11:09.380 I think a lot of you have probably said the same thing.

01:11:13.060 You know, we've been waiting for the other side to give us one reason why we should stay.

01:11:19.100 I haven't heard any. Have you?

01:11:21.960 No. Our next speaker today, he just wants to talk.

01:11:30.480 He asked a lot of people on the other side.

01:11:33.240 I don't think they've wanted to talk to him because they haven't really got much to say.

01:11:38.540 and they've never given anybody a reason why Alberta should stay in the country.

01:11:43.440 But he's real serious about talking to people and getting out and passing along a message.

01:11:49.900 So serious, he bought a great big honking RV and wrapped it up in Alberta.

01:11:57.180 And you know him from Mirror.

01:12:01.500 Our good friend, Chris Scott, ladies and gentlemen.

01:12:06.300 Chris Scott.

01:12:08.540 Well, thank you very much.

01:12:19.060 I think everyone's convinced, so I'll see you next time.

01:12:23.900 Just kidding.

01:12:25.220 I've been told that I'm way too serious, so I figured I'd open with a joke.

01:12:29.260 But before I do that, I want to share with you something that happened when I arrived here.

01:12:34.220 Someone said to me, you know, Chris, we really admire that you can take this, you know, all of these issues and you can take these negative things and you can discuss them in a way and you can present them as positives.

01:12:46.500 You can take these negatives and turn them into positives.

01:12:49.660 Thank you very much.

01:12:50.580 And I said, nobody's ever called me a PCR test before.

01:12:58.300 I just came up with that.

01:12:59.860 so alberta is doing something really interesting we're talking about our self-determination

01:13:10.320 and as interesting as it is this isn't anything new do you know that people have been having

01:13:17.140 these conversations in their nations and regions and provinces for thousands of years

01:13:22.600 even since 1990 we see 38 new nations emerge across the globe 80 percent of those new nations

01:13:34.020 did so with a pen and paper there was no fighting there was well probably some angry

01:13:40.000 words a little bit maybe some families fighting but not like in the previous 500 or a thousand

01:13:45.780 years what were being offered through this period this referendum albeit a

01:13:52.600 fruit salad of questions referendum as my friend ben says what we're being offered is a tremendous

01:13:59.640 blessing and i want to make sure that each and every albertan understands that to be offered

01:14:06.840 the opportunity to self-determine in history has has more often than not required huge sacrifices

01:14:18.360 hundreds of thousands millions of lives lost pursuing the opportunity to answer a question

01:14:27.020 of self-determination and here we are with the opportunity to walk into a building heated with

01:14:35.460 our wonderful natural gas and we stand in a little booth and we just mark a paper and the result of

01:14:44.060 that is going to change the world one way or another. And I believe that Alberta, as Corey

01:14:51.460 has said, the sentiment for self-determination and for sovereignty is not going anywhere. It

01:14:57.860 hasn't gone anywhere really since 1905. Like this isn't a new conversation. It's just different now

01:15:06.440 because people are finally starting to talk about it. Now, when the question was asked earlier,

01:15:13.440 how many people have voted i didn't put up my hand i haven't voted do you know why

01:15:19.120 because i put out a challenge for those that tell me that the status quo is better for me

01:15:25.680 and my family and my children to make the case to me and change my mind

01:15:32.640 because it's not necessarily independence that i'm after i want a better future for alberta and

01:15:43.440 and if somebody can make the case to me how the status quo can give us that

01:15:51.280 maybe i would vote a different way on monday than i would vote today

01:15:56.860 the problem is

01:16:02.180 nobody very few people are willing to actually have the conversation

01:16:09.120 we took the trouble of attending a forever canadian event i we brought our bus we registered

01:16:18.640 we got our forever canadian lawn signs so that thomas lakasik had our contact information for

01:16:24.800 when he starts his new political party and i went to meet thomas and i shook his hand i thanked him

01:16:32.640 for his activism and then i said thomas there's some things that we need to talk about because

01:16:38.960 you're you're giving people the wrong information on these particular things one of them was

01:16:43.640 citizenship one of them was pensions and he argued with me for a while finally conceded that i was

01:16:49.380 right that once a canadian always a canadian forever canadian and then proceeded to tell me

01:16:55.540 that he would make sure that he stripped every alberton of their citizenship should we self-determine

01:17:01.720 he said to me there is no debate there's no conversation there's no discussion and i said

01:17:09.960 are you kidding me we're talking about sovereignty of self-determination seceding from confederation

01:17:16.760 becoming an independent state and you're telling me that you won't debate your position in public

01:17:22.780 what a shame that is what a shame so we've done with Let's Talk Alberta we've done something like

01:17:32.480 140 town halls since February 140 and in those town halls we specifically ask people if you

01:17:44.060 disagree with our personal opinions on Alberta sovereignty please join us and tell us why

01:17:51.440 have the conversation with us and the last few days i had the honor of debating a professor of

01:17:58.580 political sciences from the university or mount royal university in calgary and we debated a

01:18:04.060 couple of lawyers from red deer on these things in public and guess what after those debates even

01:18:11.440 people on their team came up to me and said wow we didn't know those things before i think we're

01:18:19.420 more aligned than I thought before. So what I'm finding when we're have, when we have the

01:18:27.460 conversation, people's minds are changing. The facts support my statement that Alberta

01:18:36.280 independence is necessary and inevitable. And so I'll put this challenge out again.

01:18:47.400 if you disagree with me talk to me about it try and change my mind advocate your position

01:18:55.140 in the public square instead of calling us dirty seppies or a small fringe minority or whatever

01:19:03.180 the opinions are valid the conversation is worth having especially if you consider what it costs

01:19:11.520 to be in a place where we can have those type of conversations and then vote on it after

01:19:17.340 does everybody understand what that means do you understand what we have to be offered the question

01:19:24.340 so when you leave here and you're talking to people about this who are undecided

01:19:32.940 i would lead with that i would make sure that they also know the significance of where we're

01:19:39.240 at in alberta what it costs and why it gives us a moral obligation to talk about these things

01:19:45.760 to make sure that we have the best outcome and in the meantime

01:19:50.940 I guess I would just say even apart from the referendum or Alberta sovereignty I think we

01:20:00.880 need to start talking to each other a lot more so let's talk Alberta

01:20:05.820 thank you Chris

01:20:13.980 as i said off the top today i've met so many nice people i think of all of you as friends i do

01:20:23.880 it's been a remarkable thing that's happened over the last 18 months or so to me um i i remember

01:20:31.720 when let alberta decide started up i remember when i talked to keith and he was picking our

01:20:38.100 next speaker is somebody to stand side by side with him with the let alberta decide and i thought

01:20:44.340 what a great choice she's just such a wonderful person not only that she invited me out a couple

01:20:49.520 of weeks ago to go for a combine ride on her farm and it was a great experience you know

01:20:57.720 it was the strangest thing when i moved out here from ontario 15 years ago i wanted to come out here

01:21:04.080 for the mountains and i love the mountains you don't see that in in eastern ontario you do see

01:21:11.380 a lot of fields but the fields in alberta they are way more beautiful than ontario it's just

01:21:19.040 stunning to be out there with my good friend from let alberta decide tanya clements

01:21:25.260 thank you thank you for coming good afternoon alberta

01:21:39.980 one year ago i stood right here on these very steps and i looked out over one of the largest

01:21:45.980 crowds i'd ever seen i remember that sea of blue alberta flags everywhere and i remember something

01:21:54.140 that surprised me i wasn't nervous i was standing in front of thousands of people

01:22:00.940 which isn't exactly where a green farmer from southern alberta would expect to find herself

01:22:06.620 but i had this overwhelming feeling that i was exactly where i was supposed to be

01:22:12.300 and that we were exactly on the path that we were supposed to be on

01:22:16.940 and when i look at all these alberta flags i feel something that i didn't feel before

01:22:27.900 i feel hope and here we are one year later bigger and better and loving harder on alberta

01:22:36.300 and some of you might recognize this flag john actually held it for me a year ago as well

01:22:42.460 it's the one I proudly fly on my combine every harvest and every morning during harvest I walk

01:22:56.740 across the field and I see that flag waving above my machine and I see my family working together

01:23:04.780 one running the green cart one driving another combine one hauling a load in the semi and in

01:23:11.100 those quiet moments moments that's where i feel peace i'm not thinking about ottawa i'm not

01:23:17.900 thinking about politics i'm thinking about the land the sky the work before us and the people

01:23:25.260 that i love and that's what freedom feels like to me in my little corner of alberta

01:23:31.500 i love you too it's a feeling that i want my children and grandchildren to know

01:23:44.220 but over the years i've watched decisions made far away reach deeper into our farms

01:23:50.540 our businesses our lives and our pocketbooks generations of albertans have tried to do

01:23:58.260 something about this our story alberta's story is one of hard work heartbreak and hope

01:24:08.900 when alberta entered confederation in 1905 we didn't receive the same control over our crown

01:24:15.460 lands and natural resources that the other provinces did it took another 25 years until

01:24:21.780 1930 for that to be transferred to alberta think about that the people building this province

01:24:29.540 breaking the land raising their families and creating communities spent their first quarter

01:24:35.540 century of provincial life without full control of over some of the resources beneath their feet

01:24:42.820 and those were not the last disagreements alberta would have with ottawa

01:24:46.900 As a grain farmer, I remember the battles surrounding the Canadian Wheat Board.

01:24:53.880 For decades, farmers in Western Canada were required to market their wheat and barley

01:24:59.900 through a compulsory, single-desk, Western monopoly imposed only on our grain farmers.

01:25:09.220 And then farmers who challenged those rules and had the audacity to sell their very own grain across the border

01:25:16.900 were arrested, jailed, and even shackled.

01:25:22.000 Then there was the National Energy Program of 1980,

01:25:26.420 which broke homes and communities.

01:25:32.260 But Albertans kept trying to change things.

01:25:35.220 If anything, we are a resilient people

01:25:38.780 and determined and fiercely stubborn.

01:25:43.300 The Reform Party emerged with a message

01:25:46.440 that resonated across western canada the west wants in and part of that vision was a triple e

01:25:53.400 senate which we are still asking for in 2001 the firewall letter proposed that alberta exercise

01:26:02.200 greater control over pensions policing and tax collection does that sound familiar

01:26:10.680 because 25 years later we're still asking for the same things

01:26:16.440 then came the fair deal panel asking for authority within confederation it was basically a nothing

01:26:24.400 burger and in 2021 albertans went to the polls in a referendum on equalization where nearly 62

01:26:32.280 percent of us voted to remove it from the constitution and ottawa's response was silence

01:26:39.380 when I look back over all those years what strikes me is how much effort Albertans were

01:26:46.460 put into trying to achieve more sovereignty within confederation and for a long time I

01:26:53.260 believed we could find a way to make the confederation work better for Alberta a

01:26:58.800 sovereign Alberta within Canada I wanted that to happen but as the years passed I became

01:27:05.220 increasingly frustrated that so many of the same questions were still unresolved and then i became

01:27:13.940 involved in the albertus sovereignty movement and for the first time i could see a different

01:27:19.620 path forward and my frustration turned to hope now many of you will remember former premier ralph

01:27:27.620 Kline. Ralph had a way of understanding Alberta politics and he was known for

01:27:37.380 saying that a politician needed to figure out which way the parade was

01:27:41.860 headed and get out in front of it. Well Alberta I think we have built quite a

01:27:47.840 parade on October 19th we're going to be asked the most important question

01:27:58.460 Albertans have ever been asked something that generations before us worked so

01:28:03.260 hard for but never had the opportunity to put the province-wide vote what an

01:28:09.260 honor for us and while independence itself is not on the ballot that vote

01:28:15.000 for option 2 is powerful for generations Albertans have gone to Ottawa asking for

01:28:21.960 change we've elected new people we've tried different approaches and we've

01:28:27.040 gone back asking yet again but what we've always been missing is a credible

01:28:32.860 alternative and that's the leverage that option 2 gives us for the first time our

01:28:39.300 provincial government would have a democratic mandate to pursue a

01:28:42.840 a different path and a much stronger position for which to negotiate that strength is right there

01:28:52.040 at our fingertips and i'm just asking for albertans to grasp it i sure hope they do

01:28:58.680 It has been the honor of my lifetime to work alongside Keith Wilson, he's pretty great.

01:29:21.000 Our whole team at Let Alberta Decide, the volunteers who have dedicated so much of their

01:29:26.840 lives these past months to this movement and the albertans who have supported us and placed their

01:29:32.200 trust in us this is a pretty extraordinary place for a farm girl to find herself i am deeply humbled

01:29:44.600 thank you i sometimes wonder what my great grandparents would think if they could see

01:29:51.320 alberta today i think about those early settlers who arrived here looked out across this vast

01:30:01.160 cold unforgiving land and somehow still thought it was worth building a life upon

01:30:08.440 they didn't know what alberta would become they didn't know what their grandchildren and children

01:30:13.880 would experience but they believed there was a future here and they had the courage to build it

01:30:20.840 and now four generations later i'm standing on the steps of our ledge thinking about what we're

01:30:26.520 going to leave behind one of the most important things farming has taught me is about stewardship

01:30:33.640 when you inherit land that generations before you have worked so hard to build and care for

01:30:39.160 you understand that it isn't just yours you're responsible for looking after it making it better

01:30:46.440 where you can and leaving it in good hands for those who come after you and I feel that same

01:30:52.920 sense of stewardship about our dear Alberta. I've said before that I don't think history

01:31:05.400 necessarily feels like history when you're standing in the middle of it. Most of us are

01:31:10.680 simply living our lives doing the work in front of us raising our families and making the best

01:31:15.960 decisions we can with what we know i doubt the generations who built alberta spent much time

01:31:22.120 thinking about how history would remember them they were too busy building farms communities

01:31:28.680 businesses and lives and yet the choices they made became the alberta we inherited

01:31:35.640 and now we're the generation standing at a historical moment that will help determine

01:31:41.560 what Alberta becomes next. When our children and grandchildren look back on this moment,

01:31:48.680 I hope they see that we had courage. That when the future of Alberta was placed into our hands,

01:31:56.280 we didn't settle for what we'd always known simply because it was familiar. We had the courage to

01:32:02.840 believe that Alberta could be more. And when history finally gave us the opportunity to choose,

01:32:09.160 we had the courage to act and I just like to end with a quote that our

01:32:24.140 premier often says at the end of her speeches but I'll adapt it slightly

01:32:28.680 May Alberta be forever strong and truly free.

01:32:36.640 Thank you.

01:32:46.440 Thank you, Tanya.

01:32:48.340 Thank you so much.

01:32:51.600 How many months has it been since Let Alberta Decide launched?

01:32:56.640 back when let alberta decide launched i was uh i felt honored that i was asked to go out and

01:33:04.780 emcee that event it was remarkable the news media showed up and uh it was amazing to see

01:33:12.360 keith and tanya standing around talking to all the people and the media that wanted to hear their

01:33:17.720 message and when keith asked me if i'd emcee i i thought you know keith's always looking good

01:33:24.340 he's a lawyer he's always got a suit on and a tie so I called him up and I said Keith I'm

01:33:32.400 going to buy a suit I'm going to look good at this event because I hadn't had to wear a suit

01:33:39.620 in a long long time so now when I go to events I say to my wife what should I wear she says

01:33:45.640 John just put on Keith's suit so how do I look what do you think

01:33:51.560 listen it has been my honor to get to know this man i admired him you know and he was at the

01:34:00.640 convoy in ottawa he's he's a great spokesperson for our movement and along with tanya it's been

01:34:12.120 great to get to know them our final speaker today from let alberta decide keith wilson

01:34:21.560 Thank you.

01:34:34.180 When I look out at this crowd, when I look at you Albertans that are here gathered today,

01:34:40.700 I see fighters.

01:34:43.020 I see fighters who are going to fight for the future of our children.

01:34:47.100 and who are going to fight for freedom for our kids in our communities

01:34:55.620 and who know that we have a legal pathway to unleash the third largest reserve of oil in

01:35:06.160 the world and the prosperity that it will bring for all of us our kids and our grandkids

01:35:12.780 and i also know that the ufc is going on in town today has anybody ever heard of the ufc

01:35:24.120 well guess what there's a another fighter here and i'd like to invite him up to the stage right now

01:35:33.840 sean strickland ufc champion

01:35:37.740 You guys are brothers and sisters to us.

01:35:53.400 We follow your politics.

01:35:56.120 The Freedom Convoy was an inspiration to every American.

01:36:01.760 The way your government treated you guys after exercising your right to protest and freedom

01:36:06.460 speech is wrong you contribute more than your fair share to this government and what do you get back

01:36:15.420 high taxes you don't get a voice in this government you get stepped on

01:36:23.740 we always like to hope we like to hope for change maybe next year they'll listen to us

01:36:30.220 maybe next year if we scream loud enough we will have a voice you guys don't have to hope anymore

01:36:39.340 you have a chance to change it and get your freedom back godspeed freedom new alberta

01:36:59.500 Freedom guys, freedom guys, freedom guys, freedom guys.

01:37:05.740 Bet you didn't see that coming.

01:37:12.200 Oh, by the way, I'm over here.

01:37:15.240 Yeah.

01:37:17.460 Thank you, Sean.

01:37:18.680 Thank you, Sean.

01:37:24.220 I want to thank all of you for being here.

01:37:26.740 I want to thank all of you across the province and I want to thank everybody from other places

01:37:33.180 you know we get well wishes and encouragement from people just not only not only from Alberta

01:37:42.920 but other provinces and even other countries I get messages from Australia England Germany

01:37:49.940 and elsewhere and they really see what we're doing and i want to thank you for standing up

01:37:59.380 for your kids and your grandkids because that's why i'm here

01:38:08.820 i know and you know that it makes no sense for laws that affect our economy 0.76

01:38:19.940 affect our freedoms be made in ottawa by politicians we can never elect because of the

01:38:29.300 the dysfunction of our current constitution it makes all the decisions in ottawa and in

01:38:36.580 in ontario and quebec we do not have fair democratic representation

01:38:42.500 And as a result, it allows Ottawa, when it serves its interests, to please the voters in Ontario and Quebec to treat us as a colony, exploit us, exploit our wealth, and that's equalization program.

01:39:04.640 But what we need to do today is celebrate our successes.

01:39:09.980 Think about this for a minute.

01:39:12.500 think about the hundreds of thousands of Albertans that now know that we actually have a legal

01:39:22.440 pathway to independence, a legal pathway to change our relationship with Ottawa, a pathway set out

01:39:31.160 by the Supreme Court of Canada in the 1998 succession case. And that's an achievement in

01:39:38.620 its own right. Because people used to say, well, you just can't do it. And now we've even gone

01:39:44.840 further. More and more Albertans see why it makes perfect sense. It makes perfect sense

01:39:52.900 for Alberta to change the constitutional relationship with Ottawa. So we elect our

01:39:59.360 politicians here, hold them accountable here. We can have a trade and mobility agreement with the

01:40:06.180 of the country we can help uplift the entire Canadian economy if we can set

01:40:12.900 ourselves free and achieve our economic potential regardless of what happens on

01:40:24.540 Monday we've already won we've already won because even those who do not support Alberta moving

01:40:39.660 towards independence acknowledge we have a legal pathway to it even those that don't that want to

01:40:49.260 stay in Canada acknowledge that there's fundamental grievances that are

01:40:55.400 legitimate and they must be addressed so what do we do next I get a real kick

01:41:09.360 out of these people like former premier jason kenney

01:41:22.400 it looks like two of you haven't made up your mind about him

01:41:28.080 uh when he says that if we don't get a majority vote on option two on question 10

01:41:37.680 on Monday we're supposed to end separatist and talk of separatism that's

01:41:49.120 not happening we are going to build on our successes build on our relationships

01:42:01.920 I pretty much, none of these people up here I knew a year or two ago, and now we're all like this.

01:42:15.060 We're going to get stronger.

01:42:17.680 We're going to get smarter.

01:42:19.920 We're going to get more clear.

01:42:21.900 why by every objective measure your kids, my kids, our grandkids will be better off

01:42:32.280 if Alberta becomes independent and free. Thank you very much.

01:42:37.820 look at this ladies and gentlemen the sun is shining on the alberta independence movement

01:42:54.000 it's a beautiful sight it really is all those flags blowing

01:42:59.620 we would like to thank you all for coming out here today i do want to

01:43:04.160 point out somebody that really needs some recognition here today. Michelle Plant.

01:43:11.120 We would like to thank Michelle for putting this together and working so hard behind the scenes.

01:43:18.120 She is an absolute joy, and we thank her so much for everything she does. Please, as you're leaving,

01:43:25.520 if you see some garbage, pick it up, put it in a trash bucket, leave this place cleaner than it

01:43:32.220 was when we got here in the first place. We appreciate you all coming out here. Speak to

01:43:37.940 somebody over the next couple of days. If you can't, if somebody can't get to the polls, take

01:43:42.620 them there. And what we're going to do with question 10 again. What was that one more time?

01:43:54.220 Thank you very much. Drive carefully, my friends.

01:44:02.220 well it's cold here guys well thank you very much for tuning in we'll see you on the next one

01:44:32.220 .

01:45:02.220 Thank you.

John Bolton - October 17, 2026

Let Alberta Decide Rally in Edmonton

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