John Bolton - Thank You Alberta - Thank you My Friends

00:00:00.000 Hi there, it's John, and welcome to the channel. What is the date today? It is the 18th of October,

00:00:09.460 Sunday. A pleasure to have you here. My voice is shot this morning, and obviously,

00:00:14.920 I'm not at home. And let me just show you something. I mean, this is pitiful.

00:00:18.960 I mean, I'm terribly disappointed this morning. My big blue mug has been replaced by this,

00:00:23.880 this little thing and it's crazy they don't have a regular coffee machine in the hotel i'm staying

00:00:30.600 at here it's an espresso machine you know you get like less than a full mouthful of coffee i haven't

00:00:37.200 even tried it yet but the big blue mug has been replaced with this little dinky white mug this

00:00:42.980 morning but i'm in edmonton right now i'm unable to do a full video this morning i just got up

00:00:50.460 had a very long day yesterday here in Edmonton at the rally at the legislature with Let Alberta

00:00:57.740 Decide. And it was an outstanding day yesterday. I'll tell you, it started off very strange.

00:01:03.280 We were leaving Calgary. I got up yesterday morning and there was a wind warning in effect

00:01:07.740 in Calgary. And I thought, what a great thing to be leaving Calgary and going to Edmonton where

00:01:13.680 there was no wind warning in effect when I left Calgary. And our event yesterday was supposed to

00:01:20.180 start at three o'clock. So I came up here. I wore a suit yesterday. I put on my suit. I had my tie.

00:01:27.320 I'm walking out the door at two o'clock to just walk the short distance from the hotel I'm staying

00:01:32.040 at here at Edmonton over to the legislature. And Jason Levine and my wife said, where are you

00:01:36.640 going? I said, well, the rally starts in an hour. I want to get over there, say hi to some people.

00:01:41.560 And they said, oh, it's been postponed for an hour because of the wind. There was a wind warning in

00:01:46.840 effect here in Edmonton yesterday. And actually, we were sitting outside about one o'clock on a

00:01:53.380 Saturday afternoon and a dust devil started blowing around in the area we were here in

00:01:59.580 Edmonton, blowing dirt and everything. And what happened was this massive windstorm came through.

00:02:07.000 There was actually a tractor trailer on the highway coming up from Calgary that blew over

00:02:12.380 on the highway because of the wind. A number of the people who were coming here on buses were

00:02:17.540 delayed for a while because of this windstorm. So people were running for shelter down at the

00:02:23.760 legislature. I missed this whole thing because I was in here changing. So the event yesterday

00:02:28.380 didn't start until four o'clock. It was interesting because we were expecting a nice day.

00:02:34.060 I can't say it was terribly nice. The wind did subside. It was rather windy. If you see videos

00:02:40.360 of the event from the legislature. It looks beautiful. Those blue flags all just blowing

00:02:45.660 in the same direction. It looks magnificent. But we were held up for about an hour and it got a

00:02:51.860 little chillier than I expected. A lot of people were cold. Some people were down there in winter

00:02:57.200 coats. They prepared for that. I was wearing a suit by the end of the event, which was about an

00:03:02.760 hour and a half, around 5.30 yesterday. I was feeling a little bit chilly. But overall, it was

00:03:07.840 a fantastic event. Lots of people showed up and the sea of blue flags were outstanding. We'll have

00:03:12.760 more of that on the channel as I move forward. Obviously, I'm unable to do a full video today.

00:03:18.980 You know, I wrote a few things down in this little journal I've got here. My friends from North

00:03:23.700 Alberta Strong, which were one of the third-party advertisers here in the referendum, gave me this.

00:03:29.540 It says Zama City on it. Now, unfortunately, I can't show you the pictures because I don't have

00:03:34.640 the editing, and I haven't got my laptop here, but you might remember back during the petition

00:03:40.160 signing, there was a little building, a little house up in Zama City, which is in the far north

00:03:47.760 of Alberta. I think it was the farthest north that we had a petition signing place. They got

00:03:53.540 13 signatures in Zama City, but it says Zama City on it, so thanks so much for this. A little journal,

00:03:59.620 I jotted a few things down in it this morning I just wanted to talk about, but it was a wonderful

00:04:03.900 day yesterday. You know, the message generally from the speakers, Adam Durges, the home sisters,

00:04:10.820 Derek, unacceptable fringe, Corey Morgan, Chris Scott, Tanya and Keith, everybody yesterday,

00:04:16.840 you know, if you know somebody, excuse me, if you know somebody who hasn't voted, get them out to

00:04:22.760 vote, vote option two. This is an opportunity, folks, that we may never have again in this

00:04:28.100 province. But everybody was so upbeat and so optimistic about what's coming up on Monday.

00:04:35.620 We're really excited about that. I want to say hi to somebody who was missed yesterday.

00:04:41.940 Berger Proud Dad was supposed to speak yesterday, but for certain reasons he couldn't be there that

00:04:48.080 really are disgraceful. And if you want to talk to him about that, I'm not going to air out his

00:04:54.280 his situation in this video. But we missed you yesterday, Berta Proud Dad. We were thinking

00:04:59.740 about you. We wished you could have been there. And I know you wanted to be there as well. It was

00:05:04.940 an exuberant crowd. And I'd like to say personally to all the people that came up to say hi,

00:05:11.740 I say this every time I meet somebody that I'm just as glad to meet them as they are to meet me.

00:05:18.860 And I truly, I truly believe that.

00:05:22.620 I was so glad to meet so many people, shake so many hands yesterday.

00:05:27.260 And we started off, and I said to the organizers, and I said to everybody, I wanted to sort

00:05:33.800 of recognize the volunteers that have been part of this movement from the very beginning.

00:05:41.200 You know, some of these people who were there yesterday, and I think, I always think of

00:05:44.920 Corey Morgan.

00:05:45.460 There's people who have been thinking about independence longer than cory

00:05:48.440 But I think about cory because he wrote a book on this. He tried to do this about 20 years ago

00:05:53.580 He failed he'll tell you he failed miserably

00:05:55.860 But I think of people like him who have been out there for a long time and decades wanting alberta independence

00:06:01.820 And then I think about the people who have been working really hard on this

00:06:05.220 Particularly since the beginning of the year when the petition

00:06:08.120 Signing started up but people even before that myself my personal journey

00:06:12.760 for independence started back in 2019. It subsided for a while simply because there was no

00:06:19.320 organization. Organizations started to pop up in 2025, probably March, April, and then things

00:06:26.400 really started to take off. But there have been so many wonderful people out there working so hard

00:06:30.900 behind the scenes that I admire very much. So we started off yesterday talking about volunteers,

00:06:36.740 and I brought up Mr. and Mrs. Albertan on the stage, who are sort of symbols of those volunteers.

00:06:42.200 I told the story about how they were out in the middle of the night this past week and fixing up signs that had been destroyed by some goon in Calgary.

00:06:51.960 They told us yesterday that this person has been found.

00:06:56.680 Charges are pending.

00:06:58.680 Mr. Albertan and Mrs. Albertan saw this guy damaging signs and they are going to testify in court.

00:07:04.020 So we got this guy and everybody was really glad to hear that.

00:07:07.420 But we wanted to point out yesterday that the people in the audience yesterday were just as important as everybody on the stage.

00:07:14.040 People on the stage have been doing a great job.

00:07:16.540 But if it wasn't for the grassroots, and that grass is blue, like blue like those flags.

00:07:22.540 And so I was thinking yesterday, the grassroots that have really made this movement a wonderful thing, a successful thing, and really a joy and a pleasure to be part of.

00:07:32.160 So we started off the event yesterday talking about that.

00:07:35.260 The speakers were terrific.

00:07:37.420 It was interesting. I was standing on stage with Keith Wilson.

00:07:41.300 We'd heard this week that Sean Strickland, who is a champion UFC fighter, he's in Edmonton.

00:07:48.900 They had a fight yesterday that he was thinking about dropping by.

00:07:53.800 So Keith said to me, he said, hey, John, I just want to let you know that Sean Strickland might be coming by here.

00:08:00.360 And I think we should, if he comes here, acknowledge that he's in the crowd.

00:08:04.980 Well, we got to the very end, which was Keith doing the final speech.

00:08:10.500 And nobody had said anything about Sean Strickland, but about a minute or two into Keith's speech,

00:08:16.080 and you can watch the video.

00:08:17.240 Max was there, thanks to Max.

00:08:18.800 You can watch him on Freedom Calendar, watch the whole thing on the Freedom Calendar YouTube channel.

00:08:24.660 Keith says, we'd like to say hi to Sean Strickland, UFC fighter.

00:08:29.680 He came up, and I have to say his speech was terrific.

00:08:33.140 It was short. It was to the point. He's an American. He supports what we did here. He

00:08:38.560 supports what we're doing here. He gave us his best. I got a chance to shake his hand.

00:08:43.580 I want to thank Sean Strickland for dropping by. It was just a little cherry on the cake yesterday

00:08:49.120 or cherry on the sundae. And Keith's standing at the side saying, hey guys, I want you to remember

00:08:53.400 I'm up here too. I guess everybody was shaking Sean's hand, but it was really a terrific moment

00:08:59.740 yesterday. I really, really enjoyed it. You know, the thing that I like so much

00:09:06.140 about what we've been doing, well, first off, let me just say this. I was standing on the stage

00:09:14.580 looking out across this crowd and seeing those flags yesterday. And I looked across to my right

00:09:19.620 where everybody that was speaking yesterday was talking. And I thought, how did a guy who used to

00:09:27.420 be a radio announcer, a radio announcer in Ontario, end up standing on this stage. I felt

00:09:34.280 so honored to be there. Tanya Clemens sent me a nice message overnight, a text message saying that

00:09:42.240 she valued the friendship that we've been able to cultivate over the last little while. She's

00:09:47.260 such a wonderful person. And I said to her, I just can't believe that I was there and that I

00:09:55.480 was on that stage and that I was asked to be an MC. So I'm honored and I'm humbled that people

00:10:01.140 thought of me, that I could be there. Mom's getting a tear in my eye and it meant that so

00:10:06.100 much to me. But the thing that really, really came across was all the friends. And I mentioned that

00:10:12.800 all the people in the audience and all the people there and the 4,000 or so people that were watching

00:10:17.420 yesterday that couldn't be there and more that will watch that live stream. There's so many

00:10:24.380 friends. I think we've all become friends and so much closer because of this. Whatever happens on

00:10:30.060 Monday, and I do feel good about it, I feel that it will be a significant number of people voting

00:10:36.180 for option two. Whatever happens on Monday, there is a kinship here. There's a connection that we

00:10:43.080 all have together. And I think this movement is not going to end, certainly if we win on Monday,

00:10:50.760 or even if we don't win on Monday.

00:10:53.980 I think this movement will continue

00:10:55.960 and we'll have to start making plans for the next time.

00:10:58.780 I think an important thing here is,

00:11:01.920 and I don't want this to be a negative video,

00:11:06.820 I think the important thing here is

00:11:08.560 we have to make sure they don't stop us from doing this again.

00:11:12.980 Because I think that in the background over the last little while,

00:11:17.440 They've been trying to concoct a way to make sure this never happens again.

00:11:23.100 And we can't let that happen.

00:11:26.660 That's what I'm concerned about.

00:11:28.280 I really am.

00:11:28.880 I'm also concerned that people have been part of this movement such as myself.

00:11:32.760 I'm not worried about myself.

00:11:35.140 But people who have been out there and have been afraid.

00:11:37.940 You know, it's a sad situation when you've got people afraid of speaking out.

00:11:46.960 We saw this through the petition campaign.

00:11:49.440 I heard it many times from people who were canvassers.

00:11:52.860 John, I had people come up and say they'd love to sign the petition,

00:11:56.380 but they're afraid because somebody might find out.

00:11:59.260 They might lose their job.

00:12:00.440 They might be canceled in society.

00:12:02.360 We've heard the same thing through this latest part of the referendum campaign,

00:12:08.340 just being out there putting out signs.

00:12:10.520 They couldn't volunteer their time.

00:12:12.520 They were afraid.

00:12:13.200 I'm hoping those people that were afraid walked into the ballot box and put an X on option two.

00:12:20.220 That's the thing.

00:12:21.880 They had to be afraid, unfortunately, in public, but they didn't have to be afraid when they put an X on the ballot.

00:12:30.280 And those are the silent people out there, I think, that can help us win this thing.

00:12:37.100 That's what I feel.

00:12:38.960 There were a lot of those people out there who, when asked how they would vote on question 10, didn't tell the correct answer, or they wouldn't answer it.

00:12:50.720 But they were going into the ballot box to put an X on option 2 on question 10.

00:12:57.040 Great day. Great day in Edmonton.

00:12:59.620 I felt honored to be part of it.

00:13:01.440 It was a pleasure to meet all the people that were there.

00:13:04.740 Thank you so much for participating in this wonderful movement that we put together here.

00:13:12.440 And I'm looking forward to Monday.

00:13:15.120 And I think everybody's looking forward to a little bit of a break on Tuesday.

00:13:19.220 A lot of people over the last week have said, you know, we're tired.

00:13:22.780 But they weren't able to tire us out.

00:13:26.980 We became more bound and determined all the way along.

00:13:30.800 If you're out there and you're sitting on the fence right now,

00:13:33.360 this is not a binding vote on alberta leaving it's been said so many times but this is an

00:13:46.880 opportunity for you to send a message when i put my x on option two i was thinking

00:13:54.420 how this may never happen again but i also thought my opportunity to send to all the people

00:14:01.960 and the establishment that want to dictate how to live our lives,

00:14:06.160 this is my opportunity to send them a message.

00:14:08.860 I'm thinking about all the politicians.

00:14:10.840 I'm thinking about the political parties.

00:14:13.320 I'm thinking about Carney and the liberals, of course,

00:14:16.280 who have been a disaster for Alberta

00:14:21.140 and will continue to be a disaster for Alberta.

00:14:23.900 Mark Carney, the liberals, Ottawa.

00:14:26.200 Send them a message.

00:14:28.920 And all you have to do is put two little lines,

00:14:31.000 an X in a circle on a ballot if you haven't voted yet. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. A little

00:14:39.000 different video today, but a wonderful day in Edmonton. Now, I generally put an independence

00:14:45.940 calendar out at 11 o'clock on Sunday. That won't be happening today. Unfortunately, I won't be home

00:14:52.660 to do it. And the other thing that happened yesterday, I have a camera that went up. It was

00:14:59.240 it was done. So I started doing a video early in the morning and unfortunately my camera went down.

00:15:05.140 It was malfunctioning through the day. So I mostly got some pictures and some video from the stage.

00:15:09.860 So I'll try to do my very best to put together an independence calendar, possibly on Monday

00:15:14.720 morning, which will have this event in Edmonton on Saturday, the rally at the legislature as part

00:15:21.880 of it. Thank you so much for watching. I do appreciate it. If you like this video, please

00:15:25.900 give it a thumbs up. Subscribe to the channel. Ring the bell for notifications. And for goodness

00:15:30.340 sakes, if you haven't voted, vote option two on question 10 and get somebody else to go with you

00:15:37.940 to do the same thing. Thanks for watching. See you in the next one.

John Bolton - October 18, 2026

Thank You Alberta - Thank you My Friends

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