John Bolton - December 01, 2025


The INDEPENDENCE vote might have been TRIGGERED - Thanks Mr. Lukaszuk


Episode Stats

Length

8 minutes

Words per Minute

159.44576

Word Count

1,331

Sentence Count

89


Summary

It is quite possible that we have been notified of an independence referendum coming up in 2026. I have some questions for Chief Electoral Officer Gordon McClure regarding this and I have a question for Premier Rachel Notley.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Hi, it's John and welcome to the channel. It is 10 minutes before 4, Monday, December 1st.
00:00:08.460 Hope you're having a great Monday and a great start to your December as well. I've got my big
00:00:12.300 blue mug of coffee. I think it would be a stretch to suggest that the independence movement here
00:00:17.080 in Alberta was going to get a Christmas present, something before Christmas. But today it's quite
00:00:22.800 possible that we were notified of an independence vote coming up in 2026. And I got this article,
00:00:31.160 actually, I got an email from the Western Standard regarding this article right here.
00:00:35.340 Alberta Citizen Initiative Petition Passes Verification. Let me read just a little bit of
00:00:39.940 this for you. Elections Alberta has completed verification of the Alberta Forever Canada
00:00:45.180 Citizen Initiative Petition, confirming it has met all requirements under the Citizen Initiative Act.
00:00:50.620 Chief Electoral Officer Gordon McClure announced the petition, led by former Alberta Cabinet
00:00:55.160 Minister Thomas Lukasik, is successful. The petition, which asked Albertans whether the
00:00:59.640 province should remain in Canada, required 293,976 signatures or 10 percent of the electors
00:01:05.740 from the 2023 provincial election. They got 438,568. Under the Citizens Initiative Act, the Assembly
00:01:14.160 must consider the proposal and a committee may recommend a referendum, which would take place
00:01:19.260 on or before the next provincial election on October the 18th, 2027, if approved. Lukasik must return and
00:01:26.060 it goes on to discuss what Mr. Lukasik has to have done and how this process has gone. Now, his question
00:01:32.060 asks whether it says that you want to remain in Canada. Alberta wants to remain in Canada, while the
00:01:39.660 independence movement is saying Alberta becomes separate and wants to be outside of Canada. But as the
00:01:45.820 premier said regarding Mr. Lukasik's petition, there are implications. Mr. Lukasik's vote is a yes,
00:01:55.740 no question. It is a separatist referendum. He may be trying to characterize it differently,
00:02:01.020 but if you ask people if you want to remain in Alberta, yes or no, there are implications if people
00:02:06.460 answer no. It is a separatist referendum. There are implications if you answer no. The premier of Alberta.
00:02:14.620 So I hope some reporter or somebody who knows what's going on right now that has a microphone,
00:02:22.140 puts it in front of Premier Daniel Smith in the next day or so and asks her the question,
00:02:27.260 Mr. Lukasik and his Citizens Initiative has passed through this process and we're going to possibly have
00:02:35.260 a referendum on this. If there is a referendum and people vote no, meaning they don't want to stay in
00:02:41.980 Canada, does that mean Alberta leaves? I would like a clear answer on that one myself. I've asked a
00:02:47.580 number of people on this channel, a couple of which were lawyers, Jeff Rath here, and I asked Keith
00:02:53.340 Wilson, lawyer Keith Wilson on this channel about this, and this is what he had to say.
00:02:57.660 Jeff Rath. Whoever goes through that pathway, whether it's Lukasik and the Forever Canada
00:03:04.460 Crew or the Independence Group through Alberta Prosperity Project, at the end of the day, what
00:03:11.820 both of them do is cause the Premier and her Cabinet to say, all right, are we holding a referendum?
00:03:20.780 When are we holding it? And what is the question going to be? So Lukasik has effectively
00:03:27.260 shortened the process and expedited the process for there to be a province-wide referendum on
00:03:36.940 independence. Thank you very much, Thomas Lukasik. He did not think this through. It's quite remarkable.
00:03:42.780 Mr. Lukasik might have triggered a referendum for Alberta to leave the country. It is possible. I've been
00:03:52.700 all over this since the very beginning. I said way back when, months ago, that we ignore this at our
00:03:59.020 peril, but I also had many questions about this. I wrote to Gordon McClure, those of you who have been
00:04:04.860 to the channel for some time, Gordon McClure, the Chief Electoral Officer, I wrote to him and asked him
00:04:09.900 a number of questions that I wanted answered because I wanted to know how you could have a referendum
00:04:18.300 and the outcome is the same, regardless of how you vote, yes or no. Now, please ignore the fact that
00:04:23.020 I'm wearing a cowboy hat here. It was right before the stampede, but these are the questions I asked
00:04:28.380 of Chief Electoral Officer, Gordon McClure, months ago. Gordon McClure is the Chief Electoral Officer of
00:04:35.820 Alberta, from me, in Calgary. Subject, questions regarding the recent approval of Citizens Initiative
00:04:42.860 referendum. I'm writing to seek clarity regarding the recent approval of a Citizens Initiative for a
00:04:48.620 referendum on the question, Do you agree that Alberta should remain in Canada? I would appreciate
00:04:55.500 it if you could address the following questions concerning your approval of this initiative.
00:05:00.460 1. Assuming the response options for this question are yes or no, what would be the outcome if a majority of
00:05:07.820 Albertans vote no? 2. If the outcome remains the same regardless of how people vote, what is the
00:05:14.860 purpose of this referendum question? More importantly, why was it approved? 3. Should time, effort, and taxpayer
00:05:24.300 money be spent on a referendum that, regardless of the result, maintains the status quo? 4. If the purpose of
00:05:32.780 this referendum is purely partisan, to pressure the Premier into supporting the petition, which appears
00:05:38.940 to be the petitioner's intent, see linked below, is this an appropriate use of your office? Your mandate
00:05:46.060 states that Elections Alberta is an independent, non-partisan office of the Legislative Assembly
00:05:52.700 responsible for administering provincial elections, by-elections, and referenda, and here's the page from
00:05:58.620 their website that states exactly that. 5. Is a petition designed to influence or pressure a single
00:06:06.140 individual, the Premier, a responsible and non-partisan use of your time and taxpayer resources? Now, there
00:06:13.020 may be other questions, but it's really number two that concerns me. If the outcome remains the same
00:06:19.980 regardless of how people vote, what is the purpose of this referendum question? More importantly, why was
00:06:26.380 it approved? I believe Albertans deserve clear answers to these questions before this initiative
00:06:32.620 proceeds any further. Thank you for your time and attention to this matter. I put a link to the
00:06:36.460 story I showed you there, and I saw it. John R. Bolton, Calgary, Mackenzie Town. I did get an answer to my
00:06:43.020 questions from Gordon McClure, the Chief Electoral Officer, but it didn't answer my questions. It gave me the
00:06:48.220 runaround. They basically cut and paste a bunch of paragraphs from the Citizens Initiative Act. That's all
00:06:54.380 they did, so I didn't get the answers I wanted. But here's the thing. Mr. Lukasik's question is this,
00:07:01.980 quote, do you agree that Alberta should remain within Canada? Unquote. As I said back then, I'm saying
00:07:09.580 right now, if I vote no, meaning I don't want Alberta to remain in Canada, I want my vote to count. And if
00:07:19.180 enough people say no, Alberta leaves. As the Premier says to Mr. Lukasik, there are implications.
00:07:27.980 Mr. Lukasik's vote is a yes-no question. It is a separatist referendum. He may be trying to
00:07:35.260 characterize it differently. But if you ask people if you want to remain in Alberta, yes or no,
00:07:40.540 there are implications if people answer no. Mr. Lukasik no doubt will be all over Twitter and social
00:07:46.380 media. Likely news stories tonight saying how he's done a wonderful thing to keep Alberta within
00:07:50.860 Canada. He's probably standing in front of a mirror right now, combing his hair and putting on his
00:07:55.820 makeup. But he may have triggered an independence vote here. And all the people that signed his
00:08:01.660 petition were fooled into thinking it was about keeping Alberta in Canada. This could be a major
00:08:08.220 fail. It could be a huge win for the independence movement. See the grin on my face. Thanks for
00:08:13.420 watching. If you liked the video, please give me a thumbs up. Subscribe to the channel. Ring the bell
00:08:17.740 for notifications. I'll see you in the next one.