John Bolton - April 17, 2026


Mitch Sylvestre & Stay Free Alberta NEED YOUR HELP (Donate NOW)

Topics
donation for petition campaign climate change plans
Hosted by
John Bolton
Mentioned
Mitch Sylvester John Stay Free Alberta Zane Novak Justin Trudeau Jeff Thomas Lukasik Danielle Smith Carson Jerema Corey Morgan Chris Scott Mark Carney Ben Crane Lethbridge
Why Alberta INDEPENDENCE will WIN -Grass Roots vs Lukaszuk's Asstroturf We Need To Do BETTER - Hearsay Is NOT The Truth

Episode Stats


Length

12 minutes

Words per minute

210.2

Word count

2,729

Sentence count

170

Harmful content

Misogyny

1

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Stay Free Alberta is in the final push to collect enough signatures to get their referendum question on the ballot. We need to raise $35,000 to make it to the goal of 50,000 signatures by the end of the day! Don't miss it!

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Topics generated with Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct.
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00.000 Hi, it's John and welcome to the channel 1131 a.m. Friday, April 17th. Hoping to get this
00:00:08.980 up maybe later today, perhaps on Saturday morning, but this is an important message,
00:00:13.960 kind of an urgent message as well, I think, as we get to the end of the petition signing
00:00:18.820 campaign with Stay Free Alberta. Just a few days left, really, and then we move into the
00:00:23.360 next process of getting our referendum question and getting Alberta independence. As you can
00:00:28.060 see no stranger to the channel Mitch Sylvester who makes himself available so often and Mitch I do
00:00:33.600 appreciate it I tell people that people just absolutely admire you thank you very much for
00:00:39.080 what you're doing thank you well thank you and all of them uh too without it without all that help
00:00:45.020 you know you can't stress it too much I mean we just discussed that before we started this it's
00:00:49.520 just incredible how much support we have and uh you know what I'm very thankful for all of it yeah
00:00:54.020 Yeah. And I'm thankful to be a little part of this as well. I went on X first thing this morning,
00:00:58.280 Stay Free Alberta popped up. First thing, there was a message there, a letter from Stay Free
00:01:03.180 Alberta saying, hey, folks, we are in our final push to collect more signatures. But you're asking
00:01:08.040 people to make a donation right now to Stay Free Alberta as we get to the end of this petition
00:01:13.460 campaign. And I thought it was important to maybe get you on and maybe urge people to do that, but
00:01:18.520 get the reasons why you think this is important right now.
00:01:21.180 Well, it's important for us to get to, you know, to the end of our budget cycle.
00:01:25.740 We're, you know, probably $40,000, $50,000 short there.
00:01:30.240 And, you know, we've got two weeks to go.
00:01:32.140 And generally our donations have been covering everything up from here to there.
00:01:35.780 So it's very important for us to be able to get to that.
00:01:39.820 We have to raise the money and we will.
00:01:42.000 And you know what?
00:01:42.800 We're going into a money raising phase for the next phase as well, you know, through Alberta Prosperity.
00:01:50.180 Prosperity Project as well, but right now we need the money in Stay Free Alberta, and then
00:01:55.520 we're going to move into the next phase with Alberta Prosperity Project. And it's going to
00:02:00.080 be a big deal. I mean, we're going to be asking, you know, we discussed this the other day, we had
00:02:04.080 a meeting on Steps Forward, and it came up that they think that the federal government and the
00:02:09.320 provincial government are going to spend somewhere in a $20, $30 million range against fighting this,
00:02:14.140 you know this movement that we have going so you know what if we got you know money from all of us
00:02:20.840 uh a little bit of money from everybody that would make it you know many hands make light work
00:02:25.080 and that would really help out you know i mean anything will help out i was just wondering we're
00:02:30.480 we're stay free alberta right now if you're to give money i know i've asked you this before the
00:02:35.300 money that has been donated and i've donated money it's been spent you've been using this money for
00:02:39.660 events and activities big four events these things don't these things don't come cheap it's important
00:02:44.300 to have that money what happens to the money if you have any left over or do you expect any to be
00:02:48.260 left over and to go into the next campaign i think we've got it all covered right now i think it'll
00:02:53.500 all be gone what happens to it it goes back to elections alberta to a charity okay okay good
00:02:59.880 stuff so you'll see and you're capped basically in what you can spend in this in this part of this
00:03:04.680 campaign which is the petition campaign we're about 35 or 40 000 short of what we can spend
00:03:10.520 okay well let's make that money up so the way to do that go to stayfreealberta.com it's simple
00:03:15.320 there's a button donate and just hit that button and make a donation and just do that right now
00:03:20.520 and that'd be terrific it's a small little bit you know Mitch you have so many people saying
00:03:24.360 that they'd like to help out a little bit but they can't get out they may be shut-ins they have
00:03:28.600 a physical disability how can i help how can i help this is the way to do it right that is
00:03:34.040 absolutely huge help you know what we're going to be looking for the ways to help moving forward too
00:03:39.320 because with our big group it's easy for the professional campaigners to come in and say you
00:03:43.640 know what kind of step out of the road guys we're going to take care of this for you but i think we
00:03:48.840 have a tremendous resource and we have a great group of people and i think they all want to help
00:03:52.680 right to the very end and we're going to try and make sure that everybody has a job i have a couple
00:03:56.920 of more questions regarding how we move forward here but you brought it up you're talking we're
00:04:00.920 We're talking about people here.
00:04:02.340 I did a video yesterday, this grassroots movement we've got going on and talking about Thomas
00:04:08.280 Lukasik, who was out at the Canadian Club with his chandeliers and white tablecloths
00:04:12.800 and no doubt an entrance fee to get in.
00:04:14.840 I was out in Delbrin the other night.
00:04:16.280 Everybody got in for free.
00:04:17.540 Chris Scott, Zane Novak, Ben Crane were speaking there.
00:04:21.980 Corey Morgan showed up, 300 people on a pretty bad night with weather.
00:04:26.180 And Zane Novak was on the stage.
00:04:28.060 I mentioned this before we went on and I said, I wanted to tell you something.
00:04:32.800 So Zane goes up and he did the regular question that you've probably been asking and gets asked
00:04:37.240 at all the different meetings, how many people are at their first independence meeting? And
00:04:41.980 Mitch, I was standing at the back of the room and a third of the people in the room put their hands
00:04:46.740 up. And there was a gasp and everybody applauded. And I interviewed Zane after Mitch. And I said,
00:04:55.160 you asked this question. He said, I had to rewrite my speech in my head because this doesn't happen.
00:05:01.040 And this was two nights after the liberals got the majority. Are you, are you hearing this,
00:05:05.020 seeing this kind of thing? Well, let me share with you. Okay, good. I was in Lethbridge on
00:05:10.560 Tuesday night and there was about 250-ish people in the room. Same question, more than half of the
00:05:20.220 room awesome and you know what we get we we got we got a lot of that traditionally it's generally
00:05:27.540 30 to 40 percent of the room that's new but that night there you know what it could have been half
00:05:32.120 or more uh it was you know it literally shocked me because i've been i've done enough events that i
00:05:37.880 could see that this is that particular room had so many new people in it that it was uh actually
00:05:43.620 surprising and it was great so that means that the volunteers are bringing new people and it also
00:05:48.200 means that people are paying attention and maybe they're not happy with the first unelected Canadian
00:05:53.160 majority. Yes, yes. The thing I've noticed, I've spoken to some canvassers and, you know, they're
00:05:59.040 getting a little weary. It's been going on a while. They'll be happy when this is over. But
00:06:03.600 what I've noticed as well is the enthusiasm hasn't dropped. These people are in it to win it.
00:06:08.500 So I think we can carry that enthusiasm over to this next process, which will be the question
00:06:13.940 and actually getting the yes vote in October.
00:06:17.640 Oh, yeah.
00:06:18.220 We're going to carry it over.
00:06:19.600 We've got jobs to do.
00:06:21.380 We're going to continue with events.
00:06:23.640 We're going to do all manner of stuff that we do.
00:06:26.260 That's who we are.
00:06:27.000 That's how we got this here.
00:06:29.320 So we'll continue down that path,
00:06:30.800 and we'll get our people to bring people to the events.
00:06:33.160 We're going to get them to sign up more people to get out to vote.
00:06:37.440 We're going to get them to help us raise money.
00:06:39.360 They could actually host fundraisers. 0.95
00:06:41.040 We'll help them hold house meetings.
00:06:43.400 Whatever it's going to take for us to win, we're going to do our very best to get that done.
00:06:47.540 I get a couple of fundraising ideas I'm excited about.
00:06:50.380 So I wanted to ask you, I was on the Zoom call last Saturday night.
00:06:54.620 Of course, we came off that court case.
00:06:56.960 People were concerned about it.
00:06:58.180 I think people are less concerned now.
00:07:00.000 We're moving forward with this.
00:07:01.660 What was your message to them, just kind of in a nutshell, so people who didn't see that understand what's going on?
00:07:08.460 Well, what happened was we were challenged basically on our ability to actually have a petition and actually put the question forward.
00:07:18.080 And so, you know, they stayed at the, they're going to deliberate on that.
00:07:23.740 But, you know, John, I knew a month ago that we were not going to win this court case.
00:07:27.540 Jeff did a great job.
00:07:29.080 You know, we reacted to it like we weren't going to win it.
00:07:32.620 We were prepared to submit all of our signatures before the court date, actually, and we would have had lots of signatures plus a buffer to submit to them.
00:07:44.020 I actually thought that, you know what, in my own opinion, and I made this public, I didn't think that we were going to win that court case regardless of the argument that we had.
00:07:54.580 So, you know what, we're ready to move forward.
00:07:57.060 Now, our biggest concern is around our signatures and presenting them to where we've got to present them and make sure that they're preserved and make sure that they don't, you know, say that, you know, our signatures were collected illegally based on the ruling that they're going to make, you know, moving forward.
00:08:13.000 People seem concerned, very concerned about those signatures.
00:08:16.860 It's like they're holding on to them, you know, because they're concerned about elections in Alberta.
00:08:22.360 You plan on counting them prior to giving them over, do you?
00:08:25.420 Oh, we're going to.
00:08:27.060 know what uh jeff and i are discussing uh what a legal path and we're going to bring it up with
00:08:32.260 elections alberta we're going to bring it up with the government we're going to make sure that all
00:08:36.420 of our signatures are in a place um that you know a safe place that they can be delivered to the
00:08:41.380 people that are going to do the work and uh that you know what we'll put them somewhere you know
00:08:47.060 we're going to talk to elections alberta and government on what our path is our legal path
00:08:50.660 moving forward even if i have to take them from here and put them in uh care of somebody else
00:08:56.420 like, you know, in Jeff's office or safe over there or someplace, you know, that they're bound to have them.
00:09:02.800 But we should still be sure.
00:09:04.780 We're going to find out from them what's going to be required for us to make sure that everything is safe and sound.
00:09:10.920 You want a single question ballot on this, don't you?
00:09:14.440 I think you said that on Saturday night.
00:09:15.720 Yeah, 100%.
00:09:16.760 Yeah, yeah.
00:09:17.840 This question is a constitutional question.
00:09:20.660 It needs to be a standalone question.
00:09:22.520 Yeah, absolutely.
00:09:23.760 It absolutely does.
00:09:25.020 Anything else you're asking people to do right now?
00:09:27.780 Well, you know what?
00:09:28.320 I just would like them to continue getting signatures.
00:09:30.780 Let's finish that off.
00:09:32.420 You know, kudos to everybody.
00:09:34.060 It was a lot of work and a lot of bad weather.
00:09:36.660 And we actually got it done.
00:09:38.000 And we're going to submit a real good amount of signatures.
00:09:42.040 I don't know how many yet.
00:09:43.200 So the last two weeks are going to be telling.
00:09:45.400 I expect the last week to be a big week.
00:09:47.520 So you know what?
00:09:49.020 We've got goals.
00:09:49.940 And I think we'll reach them.
00:09:51.480 And you know what?
00:09:52.320 Away we go.
00:09:53.140 Just one more thing.
00:09:54.180 In the letter you sent out regarding donations, again, StayFreeAlberta.com, click on Donate, help out all you can.
00:10:01.280 Near the bottom, it says, we have lived in artificial scarcity caused by Ottawa for too long.
00:10:06.400 An independent Alberta is an abundant Alberta.
00:10:09.140 Did you read the article in the National Post today?
00:10:11.600 It was headlining there for a while.
00:10:14.220 Carson Jerema, how Justin Trudeau cost Canada $1 trillion.
00:10:19.280 dollars and it goes on about their climate change plans keeping natural resources in the ground
00:10:25.320 and how canada has to do something uh did you read the article and i know you're aware of this
00:10:30.460 i read the headline uh it's all i read but you know i'm not surprised we've been living it
00:10:34.840 like i mean i'm an oil country and i totally understand what's been going on as far as all
00:10:40.500 that's concerned just imagine how much a trillion dollars would do for alberta or what the
00:10:45.820 investments would do for us, or had a trillion dollars leave Canada based on that kind of stuff.
00:10:51.300 You cannot do that unless you try, John.
00:10:53.440 Yeah.
00:10:53.960 Yeah.
00:10:54.140 I did the math this morning.
00:10:55.540 That's $25,000 for every person in this country.
00:10:58.660 $25,000.
00:11:00.600 And I did a video that went up two hours ago saying, Justin Trudeau, Mark Carney, and the
00:11:05.580 Liberals, they should be in jail.
00:11:06.860 This is generational theft, and a lot of it from Alberta as well.
00:11:11.840 I know Danielle Smith has spoken about it before.
00:11:14.440 And this is the message we're getting out there.
00:11:16.340 And people are hearing it, Mitch.
00:11:17.660 More and more people are coming out to these meetings.
00:11:19.600 And we hope people will sign the petition and get on board.
00:11:22.040 Get off the fence, eh?
00:11:23.040 I think we need to sell that to people.
00:11:24.940 Well, we've got a lot of short messages to tell them.
00:11:26.980 But I think everybody's going to understand that if we can do this, and we can do this, we can.
00:11:32.400 I'm just going to emphasize that.
00:11:33.380 We can do this.
00:11:35.140 Everybody's going to be better off in a big way.
00:11:37.780 I know you're at home right now.
00:11:39.100 You're at your shop there.
00:11:40.220 It's your sports store.
00:11:41.060 Where are you next so people can come and see you?
00:11:42.780 We encourage people to go out to an event, and particularly those people who have never been to one before.
00:11:47.640 Actually, John, I'm not booked for anything.
00:11:50.620 I just stopped.
00:11:51.580 I did 60 events in February and March.
00:11:55.620 Yeah.
00:11:55.920 And so then I just did a couple of three, four in April up to now.
00:12:00.400 So now we're taking next steps.
00:12:02.600 We're organizing for the next go-round here.
00:12:04.680 Good stuff.
00:12:05.220 Well, to that I say.
00:12:06.320 We're going to have lots of events happening.
00:12:07.780 To that I say, Mitch, take a break.
00:12:09.800 Good.
00:12:10.300 Have a bit of a break.
00:12:12.360 We know you're very busy, and I always appreciate you being here on the channel.
00:12:15.800 Anything else you'd like to say before we leave?
00:12:18.080 No, I'd just like to thank you for having me on and helping out as much as you do.
00:12:22.240 Thanks, John, and thanks to all of you out there that are doing all the work.
00:12:25.540 You know, that's what I say to everybody.
00:12:26.980 Everybody comes up and they thank me, and I say, I just do a little bit, and if you do a little bit, and we all do a little bit, it becomes a big thing.
00:12:34.600 And that's what we're part of.
00:12:35.600 Mitch, thanks so much.
00:12:36.400 Always a pleasure to see you.
00:12:38.000 Thank you, John.
00:12:38.620 Take care.
00:12:38.900 Mitch Sylvester from Stay Free Alberta. Once again, go to stayfreealberta.com and hit
00:12:44.620 donate. We're almost towards the end of this petition campaign, and let's get that $50,000
00:12:50.820 that Mitch was talking about. Thanks very much for watching. If you like the video,
00:12:54.120 give it a thumbs up, subscribe to the channel, ring the bell for notifications. I'll see you
00:12:57.900 in the next one.