The BIG blue mug meets the Unacceptable Fringe - Carney, Poilievre, Smith, Alberta independence +
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Summary
Derek Smith is a seven-time bestselling author, full-time father, and YouTube creator. He talks about Canadian politics, Alberta politics, as well as the independence movement here in Alberta, and has a very keen political mind. As far as I m concerned, one of the best at what he does on a regular basis, on a daily basis.
Transcript
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Hi, it's John and welcome to the channel. It is Friday, July the 18th. I hope you're having a
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great start to your Friday. I've got my big blue mug of coffee, which disappears. Isn't that cool?
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Disappears when I bring it on screen. Hope you're having a great start to your Friday today. And I
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am recording this on Thursday. I don't ask any guests I have on my channel to get up real early
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in the morning to record video. So it is Thursday when I'm doing this and I've, I've made it quite
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clear. I'm very, very appreciative of what, of what a lot of independent media do on YouTube.
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The people who consider themselves YouTube and are having dialogue and discussion about Canadian
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politics that aren't part of the legacy media. I appreciate what they do. I wish I could have done
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it when I was a broadcaster, when I started in the mid eighties. And certainly I would be doing that
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full-time as opposed to being on a radio station. I certainly could reach a lot more people and
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probably make a lot more money doing it. And I watch a lot of people on here who have different
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points of view. And one of the ones I watch on a regular basis is a fellow Albertan. I think he
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lived in Calgary at one time. I believe he lives just west of Edmonton these days. He talks about
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Canadian politics, Alberta politics. He talks about municipal politics as well. He talks about the
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independence movement here in Alberta and has a very keen political mind. As far as I'm concerned,
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one of the best at what he does on a regular basis, on a daily basis. He's a seven time best
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selling author. He's a full-time father, a YouTube creator. His name is Derek Smith, but you know him
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as the unacceptable fringe. I guess I'm joining the fringe today, Derek. Thank you for joining me on
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the channel. I appreciate you being here today. Thanks John for having me on the channel. It's good to be
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here. Well, it is really a pleasure. And I believe you live west of Edmonton now. Is that correct?
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I think you've mentioned, is it Spruce Grove you live in? Yeah, my wife and I, we've known each
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other since high school. We actually grew up together in Calgary. I lived there for 30 years,
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but we needed to expand our family and Spruce Grove, smaller town life just seemed to be the
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place for us. So we headed up north, northwest, I guess you could say. Yeah, well, you know, I introduced
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you as a seven time bestselling author, full-time father and YouTube creator. It's a lot of hats
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to have. I mean, certainly the full-time father thing, but I'm a great admirer of you and of what
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you do on YouTube. I'm really amazed at the independent creators these days. It's just amazing
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to me. Let me just tell you something. There's a little bit of, this is remarkable to think. I was
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in radio broadcasting, Derek, for 35 years. And in March, I had more people watch me on YouTube
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than would have watched me or heard me in 35 years on the radio. By a long shot. It's funny you say
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that. By a long shot. It seems to be the soapbox platform these days for those who want to get their
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voice heard if they're consistent, if they've got the right formula. It's, it's social media is really
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an amazing tool that, you know, 20 years ago, if people wanted to start out and be seen or be heard,
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um, it couldn't happen. You know, it's how, how would you get the word out aside from a friend of
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a friend of a friend? Um, social media has bloomed into, uh, almost a juggernaut that just overtook
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media that overtook television that like the, the reason you see all these streaming services now,
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the reason you see, um, radios struggling to find sponsors to continue their typical broadcast
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format is that people have moved on to another medium and this seems to be it. I, I often get
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asked, you know, why don't you go to this platform? Why don't you do that? I would say, well, those
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things are all fine and dandy, but this is where the eyeballs seem to be these days. So this is where
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we make our stake. You know, I, um, I certainly, if, you know, I started in the mid eighties, um,
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in radio broadcasting. And if I were starting today, I, I would not be in legacy media. I,
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I look at Jasmine Lane. I think she made her, um, her story quite public, but she lost her job and
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radio was devastated. And now she's doing far better just doing YouTube. So good for her.
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The other people I follow as well, like Moose on the Loose. I'm just stunned at how amazing
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people like yourself. And, and they're, they're just doing incredible things. I just can't believe
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the amount of information I get. Now I, I wanted to talk to you about this later. I want to get to
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federal politics. I want to get to provincial politics. We're talking about pure poly a little
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bit, Mark Carney and whatnot, but we did start off this way. I've heard you say in your channel that
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you're concerned about censorship. You're concerned about your voice being silenced. Are you still
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feeling that way? And are you, are you waiting for the ax to fall with the Carney government?
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You know, it's not just my voice. I'm concerned about everybody's voice falling. Essentially.
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When you look at the censorship laws that Mark Carney is pushing forward, it's not just YouTube. It's,
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uh, the way that it's constructed and you can always tell when liberals are lying because they're
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moving their mouths or typically any politician for that matter. Um, they, they constantly use the
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words that, Oh, this isn't what you think it is, or it's not going to be used the way that people
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are saying it's going to be used. Um, it's drawn up in a way that states, well, we don't want online
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hate. We don't want people, uh, being berated online or harassed. And I do agree that social
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media is a bit of the wild west when it comes to what they put up with. And again, I see kids go
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through it, especially my kids. Um, you see what adolescents go through on social media. And I agree
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that that end of, um, abuse shouldn't be tolerated. God only knows go into anybody's YouTube comment
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section. I'm sure you'll see plenty of abuse, but, but what the government essentially has lined up is
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ways to say you can't criticize the government via the rules that we're bringing in. And I think that
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free speech goes so far. Um, and a lot of people have a misunderstanding of what free speech means.
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Can you attack and berate somebody? No, but you should have a voice to criticize those that you're
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giving a mandate to those that are in power. I think, you know, I think I'm kind of an absolutist
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this way, other than, than calling for violence against somebody, you should be able to say anything
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because I think that speech is a great way to, um, to expose people. I mean, people, people, people
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who are hateful, you don't want them hiding like cockroaches in the dark. You'd rather them speak out
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front. And then you, you speak and then you know where they are and you can find them speaking the
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truth. There's nothing wrong with that. But as long as you're not calling for violence, I often say
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that, you know, liberals, you can't spell liberal without L I and E, but they cloak up their censorship
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and we're protecting children. And then if you vote against it, you're not for protecting children,
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but they're hiding the other stuff in behind. If you say something or somebody perceives, you might
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say something in the future. It's that Orwellian. Now, if you say something, somebody thinks you might
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say something in the future, you can end up going to jail for God's sakes or having an ankle bracelet
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or, you know, or getting fined. It's just stuns me that that's where we are in this country now.
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Well, it's funny you mentioned it like that because one of the things I meant to bring up in, in my last
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point was, you know, when you look at what you mentioned with YouTube, the internet, how people are
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able to gain a platform these days, I think a lot of this stems from situations like the Freedom Convoy.
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They, you see a grassroots movement that, you know, got together through online, uh, methods,
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uh, became the size that it was. And then all of a sudden they get to Ottawa and the government
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that called them a small fringe minority on the way up thinking this is nothing saw the line of
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trucks pour in and just how effective, uh, social media can be, especially when it came to crowdfunding,
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when it came to raising, uh, the millions of dollars that are now sitting in escrow.
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So, um, I think what the government is doing now is saying, okay, people are able to, uh,
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band together. They're able to form underneath social media. So we need to get a cap on that.
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Uh, so that again, if you speak out about the government, well, we'll freeze your bank accounts.
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We'll lock you down. Uh, we can send you to jail. We can shut you up. We don't want pressure from
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those who disagree with us. And that essentially in any country is where I'd have any problem, not just in
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Canada. Yeah. The, uh, the misinformation that the government talks so much, uh, it continues to spread
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out there. I saw somebody this morning talking about Polyev who just gets hammered on X in social
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media these days. I don't know why the left hates him so much, but saying pure Polyev supported the
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convoy that wanted to overthrow the government of Canada. And this is the kind, the kind of stuff you
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hear all the time. Um, and, and regarding the, regarding the convoy, I mean, it's just a lot
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of people who wanted their rights, um, that are written down in the charter of rights and freedoms,
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uh, to, to just go to work during COVID. That's what it was really about. And it was one of the
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most amazing things that went worldwide in the country, but the government had to shut up these
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people and it all could have ended if, if Trudeau would have just spoken to Tamara Leach and sat down
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with her and it would have ended, but they now use it against the right. Right. Nobody spoke to them
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is the problem. Right. So that's, and that shows you that anytime the government wants to say, well,
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it was an attack on Ottawa, you know, you had all these trucks on the government's front lawn. Uh, all
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you had to do was go outside and hear what your citizens had to say. They would have left. And, and
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again, uh, shame on the government. I mean, it all falls back to them and that's what people should be
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focusing on is not, well, we agree or disagree with the beliefs of the convoy. The question
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is you still haven't answered it or addressed it. Why didn't you sit down with those who were willing
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to talk with you? Never let a good crisis go to waste. Right. And that's never, they've been using
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it ever since. And we're, and, and of course the lawfare against the people involved continues to this
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day. You know, when it comes to Pierre Paul, if you get the unhinged hatred for him online, because it
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is unbelievable now that he's running in, um, here in Alberta in a by-election, not too long
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from now, do you, do you get why they hate him so much? You know, uh, I will say that after the
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election, there was almost like this falling out. And I think it started with juggernauts,
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like the pleb who were following Pierre around the country, um, really getting people hyped and
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saying, look, we've got it. It's coming, uh, new, new leadership. Um, I think there, that it
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wasn't really necessarily on Polyev. I think that people just felt hope was gone. You know,
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people thought this is going to be a change of government. Um, he had such momentum that I think
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it was the blowback of reality that, Hey, are we ever going to have a change of government? Are we
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ever going to be in control? I think that when you look at Albertans right now that pushed the blowback
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on Pierre, it's because they're frustrated. A lot of Albertans didn't want to talk about things like
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independence, but now they're hosting those topics simply because they feel trapped. They feel that,
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look, a small percentage of the, or a small portion of land in the country decides who's in power.
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Quebec has their boot on our neck when it comes to transfer payments, when it comes to
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how we're treated. Um, so, so they're asking Pierre and, and I've asked the question to much
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scrutiny, even if you were to become prime minister at this point, when we see what's happening
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with Alberta independence, when we look at the value of freedom, when we look at everything else,
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what deal could we possibly get from the federal government that would be better than Alberta
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independence? And they've opened the doors to that. Um, I will scrutinize that Pierre did play
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it a little safe. I feel personally, um, that, you know, one thing a lot of people tend to bring up is
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that he had a massive lead over Justin Trudeau. Um, and, and he focused during the federal election on
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Donald Trump rather than immigration, rather than major issues that Canadians were concerned about.
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And I do understand in the same light before, you know, anybody in your audience wants to get upset.
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Um, the problem is again, our federal elections, it's the, the vote, the per capita vote. It's we need
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electoral reform. The votes in Alberta have no stake in the game. Pierre has to balance his platform
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on Torontonians on Southern Ontario voters on Quebec. And as long as he has to focus his campaigns
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around that, you're going to see these quote unquote, woke issues be at the center of every
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election until the liberal government decides, here's the new hot topic. We're going to pivot.
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Do you, do you think he's going to win his riding? I, I think he'll win. It's a very, um,
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safe conservative riding. Do you think he'll survive a leadership, uh, review, which is coming
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up in January? Do you think he can gain enough votes to win an election in the future? I think
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it was bad timing. I mean, it's just awful timing for him. I mean, if you look at the beginning of
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January, uh, this was a super majority conservative government and it just went poof like a fart in the
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wind. I think, um, I think he will win. Uh, I, I don't see any reason why not. Um, again,
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it is a strong conservative writing. However, uh, what shocks me and again, to the disdain of people
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that kind of just died out on the flame of Pierre after the election is just how quickly that writing
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has said, uh, they're not happy with what Damien Keurig did. And again, I'm hearing a lot of it
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because I'm close to that writing. Um, and there's a lot of locals talking about it and, and it's, um,
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people that I know that live in that writing have said, I just feel that, you know, with Damien
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Keurig, we had representation. We had somebody whose office I could call. And if I had
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problems, they'd pick up the phone. Once Pierre gets elected, he goes back to Ottawa and it's the
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same situation as Carlton, where maybe he doesn't put boots on the ground in a while and we don't
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hear from him. Where's our representation and our writing. So there are people with valid concerns.
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Um, but at the same time, I think the support for Pierre is still quite strong. It is a very
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conservative focused writing that I think Pierre will probably end up around 60% of the vote.
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Uh, that's my prediction, but even if they get 60% of the vote for his party, I would take
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that as a fail. I would take that as a wake up call because again, you're running in Alberta
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of all places. If you can't get 70, 80, 85% of the vote, take it as a fail and really start
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to analyze. Okay. So it's not just Carlton. It's not just Ontario and, you know, writing,
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switching, uh, with more, you know, government workers in it. People are generally upset.
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What do we have to do moving forward to gain the trust back of Canadians to get
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more support from those who have turned away? Um, again, his people are really smart. I think that
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they've got this, but, um, and I've often said, I think Pierre's still the best person for the job.
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So I hope it all goes through, but I always say it's never over until election day. So we'll see
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what happens. I've said he could be the greatest prime minister that never was our prime minister
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that never happened. Absolutely. I met him. I know, I know you've met him many times. I'm sure
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I met him for the first time. Um, Guy Lauzon, he was the, um, MP for Stormont Dundas and Glengarry,
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which covered Cornwall, Ontario and Eastern Ontario. He passed away recently, Guy. Uh,
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Eric Duncan replaced him, um, and is an MP right now, conservative. And, um, Guy was in town
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to do a speech, I think at the chamber of commerce at the time. And it was a few years after, um,
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Pauliev was elected for the first time because Guy was elected for the first time around the same time
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as Pauliev, I think 2004, right around there. And he introduced me to Pauliev and said, John,
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I'd like to introduce you to a future prime minister of the country. And I thought for sure
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it was going to happen in this election and hasn't happened. Then again, he could be one of the
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greatest comebacks in history. Do you think that the liberal voters who are so invested in Mark
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Carney at this point are going to catch on to what's going on or are they just so brainwashed into
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this, this elbows up thing that we've been hearing about for months? I don't even think it's just that
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crowd. I think it's a bigger problem. I think that you have Titans in business, you have those of
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influence. Um, they don't like Pierre's platform of cutting government spending. Um, you think about
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defunding the CBC, all the things Pierre was talking about was bad for shareholders in, in some
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degree. Um, so I think that, you know, I agree he could be the greatest prime minister that never
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was. And it's funny because, you know, when he reached out to me recently to talk about, you know,
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support that was given during the federal election, um, what his plans are for the future.
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You know, I told him on the phone, I said, I don't see Mark Carney as the prime minister of Canada.
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I said, you're my prime minister, whether you're in that office or not, you know, I, I voted for you.
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Uh, I think that you've still got what it takes and now's the time to really look at what needs to
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be done to get into that seat. Now, albeit, you know, like you said, the liberal voters tend to
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really control what happens in our elections. So I, I, I, I really don't envy Pierre one bit to try
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and have to analyze and figure out how do I win them over, um, to the point where we can actually
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get into office. But, uh, I mean, your guess is as good as mine. That's why, again, I, I stay
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clearly away from that argument because if, if I were Pierre and they said, what are we going to do?
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Well, I, I, I've thought about him quite a bit. I, I went to, um, Spruce Meadows when he was, um,
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when he's running for the leadership. I saw him, I saw him when he was in town just prior to the
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election. I went out to the airport to see that, which was just astounding. And then he lost.
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And I was thinking, what is this guy thinking? I mean, you've got to have, pardon the expression,
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but balls of steel to walk out in front of the media and have to stare down the media after you got
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beaten when you were expected to win just five months ago, just, and a huge win just five months
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Well, and I think that was the disappointment of people was that you saw such a gain, but
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what a lot of people tend to forget with that gain is that was a gain under Justin Trudeau.
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Uh, people looked at Mark Carney coming in and for liberals, that was enough. Uh, if you watch
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Rebel News' coverage when they went through Nepean and were talking to a number of people, uh, about
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what was going on and the articles coming out saying that Mark Carney's folks and the liberals
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had already strategized to use Donald Trump as the, uh, the talking points of the election
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in advance, they had a clear strategy. A lot of people in Ontario and across Canada have
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what's referred to as Trump derangement syndrome. It's an easy win if you can keep people focused
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on the bad guy. And what I often say is that, uh, the American president really doesn't have
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a lot of influence as to what happens in Canada. What people should have focused on was policy,
00:19:00.260
policy, policy. And instead we got wrapped into American politics for a month and it cost
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So what about Mark Carney? What, what do you expect from him? I, I mean, I've been saying
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since the beginning of the year, and I knew about him years ago, certainly he was announced,
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I think about last September as an economic advisor sort of for, for Trudeau at that point,
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but he'd been around for about five years at that point. I knew his, his background with
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the bank of England, bank of Canada, of course, and things like that. I knew he was a net zero
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guy and I still haven't, I, I think he's there, the net zero guy, but I don't think that's really
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been unleashed on the Canadian public as much as we've thought he's keeping EV mandates.
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He's keeping, uh, carbon taxes on industrial. Um, he's still about net zero. What do you expect
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from him? I don't think he's for pipelines either. And I don't think it's going to be
00:19:54.700
Well, it's never going to be good for Alberta. In fact, what I think is that when you look
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at the deficit, Mark Carney has been entertaining.
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Yeah. So one thing that I've entertained on my channel is you look at the only province
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that's posted a surplus this year is Alberta. Uh, that worries me when you think back to the
00:20:11.320
eighties in the national energy program, that we could see something similar, um, coming to Alberta
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where, you know, Hey, we got to make up those deficits. Let's just tax, uh, oil and gas a little
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bit further. The problem with that is that it's only going to push independence further at that
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point. I think another national energy program would cripple, um, the thought of staying a part
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of Canada. But that being said, what I would expect from Mark Carney is exactly what he outlines
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in his book values. Uh, if, uh, anybody hasn't read it yet, I would highly recommend going to
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check it out. Don't buy it. Go to a library. Uh, no sense in giving Mark any more money.
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Uh, but, but, um, you know, I go back always to the, uh, warning, uh, issued on Donald Trump's
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inauguration day by former PM Liz trust who said, you know, he bankrupted the bank of England.
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He's going to do the same thing in Canada. Uh, this is the pattern with Mark Carney to
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quote Kevin O'Leary, uh, follow the money. Anytime you look at the policies that Mark
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Carney is putting in place, when you look at his conflicts of interest, when you look
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at the typical liberal behavior of padding the pockets of friends, Mark Carney sat in an
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interview several months before the election and said that while he was advising Trudeau pro
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bono, uh, he understands that the advisements he gives pushes profits for shareholders and
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policy pushes profits. This is what you're going to see moving forward is Mark Carney
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looking at how do we get rich and then get out. It's, it's anybody who thinks Mark
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Carney's here to help Canadians is completely off base. Uh, they need to follow the money
00:21:43.140
again, like you mentioned earlier, David Moose on the loose. He has done an unbelievable
00:21:47.840
job following Mark's investments. The graph and chart he's got is just astounding.
00:21:54.400
And, and it's like the spider's web of, of connections, even to, um, Jared Kushner, um,
00:22:00.820
Donald Trump's son-in-law, Donald Trump himself. It's just remarkable. And again,
00:22:05.580
what's funny is you see David doing that and he doesn't get the budget of the CBC or any
00:22:11.440
of those investigated journalists. So, so when you hear about the millions of dollars going
00:22:15.080
out to the CBC, that should be a definite red flag for anybody to say, well, this guy can
00:22:19.780
do it on a shoestring budget. How come we're paying millions of dollars for the CBC to
00:22:23.460
give us propaganda? I watch on a daily basis and you're probably one of them. Um, people
00:22:28.620
who get more hits and more views than the CBC. And the CBC was already gloating that they
00:22:35.520
took down real talk politics over that just after the election that, oh, they got more
00:22:39.600
views than us. So let's, you know, send a nice little email to YouTube or Google and
00:22:43.860
see what they can do to have that removed. Um, now, whether that had the influence or not
00:22:48.460
is not for me to say, but the fact that their article came out to be gloating, uh,
00:22:55.780
I think, you know, the CBC thing, I remember when he was here, um, I think he
00:23:00.580
said it at Spruce Meadows. He certainly said it when he was at the airport, defund the CBC.
00:23:05.220
I think that hurt. I, I don't like that. They're actually even funding the, the legacy media,
00:23:11.000
the, the, I guess, not the public media, the private media. I mean, I used to work in it and
00:23:14.740
you, you can't have credibility if the government is paying you and the only way you keep your
00:23:19.680
jobs. I just, I just, I hate that. I just hate it. And again, people on YouTube are doing better
00:23:25.540
than CBC and doing better work as well. And I, again, Moose on the Loose is, is pretty
00:23:30.300
remarkable. And Jasmine Lane and yourself as well. So we've got no deal when it comes to
00:23:37.920
Donald Trump. Um, did I, I, I did a video this morning and I don't think Carney ever expected
00:23:44.060
to get a deal with Donald Trump. How are you feeling about that right now? There's the tariffs
00:23:47.900
are still in, although I said an article today, I think it popped up on the national post for a few
00:23:51.320
minutes that talks might be back on again. I don't know. Well, the, if the talks are back on,
00:23:56.560
it's because Donald knows what he's getting. And, and that's the thing that a lot of people
00:24:00.140
need to look at when, when watching Carney and Trump, um, whether you look at Moose's
00:24:04.700
connections to Trump and Kushner and everything else, it's completely irrelevant. Um, what,
00:24:09.700
what you have to look at and what I've noticed after, you know, 20 plus years of working in the
00:24:13.760
business field and sitting in negotiations with larger companies is just, you, you, you read
00:24:19.240
Donald Trump's art of the deal. And this is exactly where Mark Carney and Justin Trudeau, as
00:24:24.180
well as other liberal delegates have failed when it comes to sitting at the table with Donald
00:24:28.300
Trump, they've shown their cards. They've always folded. Um, it goes back as far as Trudeau going
00:24:33.860
to Mar-a-Lago and Trump asking what would happen if we cut ties with Canada, um, in terms of the
00:24:38.860
spend, the, the finances that we give in Trudeau says, well, we'd fold. You just put your cards on
00:24:43.480
the table to say, we have nothing to negotiate with. Uh, he goes back and sends Jolie and, uh,
00:24:48.660
others down to deal with Donald Trump. And they start saying, well, look, we want to talk about,
00:24:52.680
you know, dairy cartels. We want to talk about, um, lumber and we want to talk about other,
00:24:57.720
um, you know, industries that we can benefit with Canada. And Trump already knows they don't have
00:25:02.740
any power at the table. Mark Carney goes down there and he says, well, we're going to bring
00:25:06.420
in the digital services tax. We're going to bring in all these other things. Trump says more sweeping
00:25:10.620
tariffs. Uh, Trump or Carney folds. Yeah. As soon as Carney folds, well, then Trump knows all I have to do
00:25:17.040
is threaten tariffs and I get what I want. So if negotiations are back on, it just means more bad
00:25:22.780
news for Canada. I say what Mark Carney should do at this point, if I were Mark Carney, and of course,
00:25:28.420
um, not that it's good is take the tariffs, find a way to get around them in terms of, uh, rebuilding
00:25:33.900
Canada's wealth and stop negotiating. Every time he goes to the table, it's just showing Donald,
00:25:40.840
we'll come right back and you can keep abusing us as long as you want to.
00:25:44.220
Well, let me ask you about that. Uh, let's, let's pivot over to Alberta now. Uh, Daniel Smith,
00:25:48.680
certainly, I guess it was early December, probably around December 10th when Trudeau sat down with
00:25:53.700
the premiers, except for Daniel Smith. I believe she was in, she was in Washington at the time.
00:25:58.540
I think right around that time, um, trying to be diplomatic, um, get some tariffs dropped. I believe
00:26:03.500
she got tariffs dropped on oil down to 10% as opposed to 25%. I can't recall if that's still in place,
00:26:09.060
but perhaps, um, Daniel Smith, what do you make of her right now? Certainly she's made it easier for
00:26:13.920
the independence movement with this vote. I think she's well liked in the province. I think she's
00:26:18.360
the toughest, um, politician in the whole country. Um, where do you think she stands on this? She's
00:26:24.140
made demands of Mark Carney, nine different things, including bill C 69, the pipelines law C 48, the
00:26:29.480
tanker ban. How do you think she plays into this? Are we going to get a pipeline because Danielle Smith
00:26:35.340
is demanding it, or is this a power play by her? There's a lot there. Maybe you can unpack it.
00:26:39.360
Um, I think if we're going to get a pipeline, it's going to be strictly to benefit the government.
00:26:43.500
Again, nothing is to benefit Albertans. Um, when I refer back to what I say about, you know,
00:26:48.180
my fears of a possible national energy program 2.0, I think that's the only way we would see
00:26:53.660
a pipeline coming into Alberta. Um, the, the problem with Danielle's demands and somebody brought it up
00:26:59.440
at the Alberta next panel, uh, in red deer, um, was that until Danielle puts her feet in the ground
00:27:07.460
against Ottawa and says enough is enough. Um, she doesn't necessarily have to stoke the flames of
00:27:13.720
independence, but she has to state a very clear threat that Alberta can leave that, that enough
00:27:21.760
is enough that her constituents have had enough, not necessarily her. She's willing to negotiate.
00:27:26.960
Um, you're never going to have a premier who's going to outright flip and say, okay, independence all
00:27:32.180
the way, unless she's given that mandate. And she's stated very frankly, that if a citizen led initiative
00:27:37.360
pushes for independence, she will back what her constituents ask. Um, which I give her a lot
00:27:42.660
of credit for. I do think Danielle is the greatest premier that this province has had since Ralph
00:27:47.840
Klein. I think that she's doing tremendous strides in terms of representation. Again,
00:27:53.260
anybody who wants to argue, oh, Danielle's a fed, she's not helping us. I always say,
00:27:57.300
she's a traitor. Tell me another premier that works as hard as she does. And that's willing to
00:28:02.320
actually stand up for what her citizens need. I think she's doing a tremendous job. She's always got my
00:28:07.200
vote for as long as she continues on the path that she is. Um, I, I think that, um, you know,
00:28:14.240
she cares about Albertans and it's the same feeling I get with Pierre Polyev and I've spoken to both of
00:28:19.120
them personally. And I, I, they're good people when they're off camera and they generally care about,
00:28:26.160
um, who they represent. And, and I think that, uh, when you have somebody like Danielle faced with the
00:28:32.500
decisions that she has to make, um, of course she wants diplomacy. Of course she wants, you know,
00:28:37.800
Canada to remain Canada who doesn't, none of us want to leave. Um, and I've often argued that when you talk
00:28:44.560
about independence, people aren't spitting on a flag. They're not leaving Canada. They're leaving their
00:28:49.180
federal government. They're leaving the abuse. Uh, how, how long are we supposed to take it for? I think Danielle poses the
00:28:56.100
same kind of initiative when she says, look, I'm going to continue to negotiate for a fair and free
00:29:01.360
Canada, but if we don't get it, there's other options on the table. Um, I commend her for that.
00:29:07.040
And I do agree with her being in the United States trying to negotiate deals because it's not about the
00:29:12.540
drama. It's not about Trump versus Carney or any of that. It's about what's going to hurt people's
00:29:18.420
bottom dollar and whether tariffs come in or not, tariffs don't just hurt Canadians. They're going to hurt
00:29:22.760
American jobs as well. So Danielle, of course, taking the diplomacy route, I commend her for
00:29:27.380
that. I think she's doing a fantastic job. Are Albertans pissed off enough to vote for
00:29:32.000
independence? Are there enough of them? I think so. I, well, so I think what it's really going to
00:29:39.060
come down to is, uh, nostalgia for some people. Again, I think a lot of people hold on to what
00:29:45.400
Canada used to be. I call it patriotism. I've met patriotism. It's a hard thing to fight against,
00:29:50.680
Derek. Patriotism. I'm a Canadian. I have that identity. I wrap myself in the flag.
00:29:55.420
I mean, I used to have it as well. I got a tattoo that's got a maple leaf on it.
00:29:59.620
I'm going to get it covered with the Alberta flag. Now I've changed my mind, but patriotism
00:30:03.740
is hard to fight against, isn't it? It's, it's, it's funny because, you know, I was actually
00:30:08.980
speaking with a neighbor about it the other day because they found out who I am and, and asked
00:30:13.100
about my, my views. And, um, I said, look, what it, what it boils down to for me and what I think
00:30:18.420
it's going to boil down to for a lot of Albertans that are still on the fence. Um, and this is one
00:30:22.540
of the reasons I'm glad that the value of freedom was, was published. Um, people started saying,
00:30:26.880
well, what do we gain? What do we, uh, yeah, there it is there. It's here, but it's getting
00:30:32.080
hidden. It's there, but it's getting blocked out. Anyway, it's an amazing, incredible document and
00:30:38.000
it's very, very good, uh, in terms of the figures and how accurate it is. Um, I think for a lot of
00:30:44.420
Albertans, when they start to see what they have to gain, it's not a matter of patriotism anymore.
00:30:48.660
It's a matter of what's the best future for other generations. What, uh, the question I often ask
00:30:55.540
with three kids in my house is when are they ever going to be able to afford a home? When are they
00:30:59.720
ever going to be able to, uh, get a good well-paying job that they're not competing with, uh, millions of
00:31:06.120
migrants coming over to work for less? It's, it's, we need a fair shake and the federal government
00:31:13.040
doesn't want to give it to us. If we have an out as much as I don't want to take that out,
00:31:18.400
I think it's the best thing in terms of prosperity and it's going to come down to
00:31:23.760
patriotism versus prosperity. I think in the long run, um, for anybody who's struggling to pay their
00:31:29.680
rent, buy a home, pay their mortgage, uh, put food on the table, pay high utility bills. I think those
00:31:35.760
things are going to have a huge effect on how someone thinks going to a vote. I think that
00:31:43.120
you're going to have those who qualify to vote, who've maybe only been in Alberta or been in Canada
00:31:47.200
for so long that they have a love for a country that gave them a new opportunity, um, that you may
00:31:52.960
see people pull back. Um, again, I always say it's down to voting day, election day. I think there's a
00:32:00.640
strong enough push and you can see that at the APP meetings. You can see that now at the Alberta Next
00:32:06.320
panels, uh, Red Deer was packed to the brim. Yeah. Uh, as soon as, as soon as Jeff Rath spoke up,
00:32:11.840
people were applauding. Uh, the guy who said, we got to go to Ottawa and tell them enough is enough.
00:32:16.080
People were astoundingly applauding on that one. Watch your video this morning. I watched it. Yeah,
00:32:20.880
absolutely. It's amazing, isn't it? I think you've got a lot of support that, you know, I, 10 years ago,
00:32:26.720
if you talked about Alberta leaving, you might get one or two people going, yeah, yeah, it might be a
00:32:31.120
good idea. Whereas nowadays I hear it everywhere. I haven't heard a single person tell me they want
00:32:38.000
to stay. Uh, again, I'm in a more conservative area, so I would expect to hear that. Uh, again,
00:32:43.840
APP event in Spruce Grove was packed as well, but, um, I think what it's going to come down to is the
00:32:50.240
municipalities. I think what APP should be doing and other organizations that are pushing independence is
00:32:55.920
focus on meetings within those municipalities to show the numbers, show the benefits. Um, if they
00:33:04.240
want an independence vote, you're going to have to win over, I would think somewhere to a hundred
00:33:09.280
thousand to a quarter of a million votes between the two cities. Um, for Edmonton, your guess is as
00:33:14.720
good as mine because they typically vote with the unions and with, um, with the government. Um, however,
00:33:21.760
you know, some of the unions are now touting, Hey, this could be beneficial based on funding
00:33:26.320
options. Uh, so again, everything's up in the air until we see more of these panels, until we see
00:33:31.760
more people, uh, getting vocal. I do think that the focus needs to be on municipalities though, if we
00:33:36.560
want to get that vote. You mentioned prosperity, you know, people ask me why, why I want Alberta
00:33:42.320
independence. I say, I would like to, I think we get disrespected in Alberta. I think it's, I think it's a
00:33:47.200
racket now. I think we're just bank account for them. And I'm sick and tired of Alberta having to
00:33:52.640
get down on its knees to beg the liberal party and Mark Carney and the people in the East for its
00:33:58.480
prosperity. It drives me crazy. Uh, I think Daniel Smith has said maybe $120 billion in lost investment.
00:34:05.520
That doesn't include the revenue we could have got out of the ground. You can imagine how much more
00:34:09.680
money we would have had if all that investment would have happened. I'm, I'm running a bit short on
00:34:14.240
time here. Cause I've got to upgrade my zoom and it's telling me I've got about four minutes left
00:34:18.240
right now. Um, let me just ask you, how long have you been doing the YouTube thing? And, um,
00:34:24.560
you know, you, you're a full-time dad. Are you doing this full-time right now?
00:34:28.880
Yeah. So YouTube, um, ultimately what happened is, is my wife was in the oil and gas sector.
00:34:34.800
Um, YouTube was a hobby for me. It was just a way to stay relevant in between books.
00:34:39.520
Yeah. And, um, as it grew, uh, it became where my interest lied and I enjoy doing YouTube. Um,
00:34:48.240
the cost of daycare is out of control. So I stayed home while my wife was working because
00:34:53.200
I'd be essentially working just to give my money to a daycare with three kids. Um,
00:34:57.200
so YouTube is my full-time job. And a lot of people think I say it's my job because I like the
00:35:02.400
money. It's just, no, it's the situation we're in right now. And, um, if it pays me anything,
00:35:07.360
that's, that's my job. So, um, unfortunately when we moved, my wife was offered a transfer
00:35:12.880
and then it was denied when we moved. So now YouTube literally is my full-time job until she
00:35:18.000
finds something else. But, um, but I enjoy it. And I've been doing it for roughly two and a half
00:35:23.040
years and I love every minute of it. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. And you do,
00:35:26.880
you're very successful doing it. You know, I kind of kicked off my YouTube channel in December.
00:35:31.040
Uh, it was incredible way through the election. I picked up people. I started at 400 people
00:35:36.320
and I've got close to 35,000. I I'm pretty pleased with it. I maybe shoot a video a day,
00:35:40.560
have a lot of time, a lot of fun doing it. I don't do this full-time at all,
00:35:44.400
make a little bit of money doing it as well, but you're really good at what you do.
00:35:48.240
I want to talk again. I have so many other things I'd like to chat with you about. I hope we can do
00:35:52.960
it again. I hope this can be a series because I'd like to talk to sure like Moose on the Loose,
00:35:57.120
um, Jasmine Lane, get you on the air on a more regular basis because I love chatting with people
00:36:01.440
here. I think people enjoy it as well. And, uh, we appreciate what you do as a YouTuber,
00:36:06.960
as a full-time father and a seven-time bestselling author. We'll put some links in the description
00:36:11.200
so people can find all that for you as well. Your social media. Thank you so much for this today.
00:36:16.880
It was a great pleasure for me. Uh, pleasure's all mine. Thank you for having me on. I like the work
00:36:21.840
you do too, John, keep it up and, uh, we'll talk again soon. Thank you. And I'd like to thank you for
00:36:26.640
watching. If you liked this video, please give it a thumbs up, subscribe to the channel, ring the bell
00:36:30.960
for notifications, and I'll see you in the next one. There is a big blue mug there somewhere.