The Petition Campaign GROWS as locations POP-UP across Alberta
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
190.87187
Summary
Pop up petition booths set up across the province to get people to sign the petition to get a referendum in the fall here in Alberta. In this episode, I visit three of them in the south of Calgary and talk to the canvassers setting them up.
Transcript
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Hi, it's John, and welcome to the channel. It is Saturday, February the 7th, 10 minutes
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before 10 o'clock, and I'm in my car. And what am I doing in my car today? Well, I thought
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I'd go out and visit some of the pop-up petition places here in the south part of Calgary.
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There's three that I know of are happening right now. Average people, they are canvassers,
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they're setting up tables, and they're signing up people for the petition for a referendum
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here in Alberta. This is happening everywhere across the province, so let's go check it
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out. Here I am at my first pop-up today for those people who live in Calgary. This is at
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McLeod Trail and Bannister Road. They're just setting up right now, hoping to have a great
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day. Now, maybe I shouldn't say this, but I think God is on the independent side. The weather
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is outstanding for the first week of February. It's about six degrees when I left my house.
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It's supposed to get up to 12 today. We've had warm weather through January and February
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in Calgary as people set up these pop-up petition places all around the province. It's kind of
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a challenge to do these things because, you know, there are rules when it comes to election
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Alberta. We'll try to get Jeevan Mangat, who's here today, who is responsible for this pop-up.
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And it's amazing because people are doing this everywhere. If you've ever watched my independence
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calendar on Sunday, you'll see the people that have cars that have flags on them, and they drive
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around, and they just set them up on public property, and they just do these events everywhere
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across the province to try to get people to sign the petition to get a referendum in the fall here
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in Alberta. So this is the first of three I'm going to today, and a great day here in Calgary,
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So I'm here with Jeevan Mangat, who is organizing this pop-up petition booth here today. Jeevan,
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I've spoken to you on the channel many times before, and these things are happening all across
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the province. I'm going to three. I've heard about more of them already just standing here today
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talking to some of the people who you've got working with you today. Is this a challenge doing
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this, or has it been great? I just said God's on independence side because of the weather.
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God is always on our side, right, for the independence movement. No, these are, the pop-ups are
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really good. The word spreads out very quickly because a lot of people are just driving around the
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city. They see a pop-up, they sign. Instead of waiting for somebody to come to their house
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or contacting them, this is a much expedient way of getting signatures.
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And they're happening everywhere across the province as well. It's kind of a challenge doing
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this. There are rules you have to follow with Elections Alberta. So a lot of these things are
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happening outside. Yes, and we have to follow the rules. And so we're in a public place, which we're
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allowed to do because this is a public petition. And, you know, the challenge, there's really no
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challenge because I phone up my canvassers and they're just willing to say, come out right away.
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They say, wait, what time do you need us? How many hours do you need us? They're so enthusiastic.
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And this is the, I would say, the generation of movement because once you have people participating
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at their volunteer time, you know, this is how movements are made. And I always say the two
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greatest assets people have, sorry, relinquish or the most two difficult assets to relinquish
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is time and money. So people are paying currency with their time here.
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Absolutely. How many, you said you're the people that you're dealing with. How many people do you
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figure you have as canvassers that are working with you?
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Well, we're going to have three this morning and then three later on this afternoon. So
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But overall, how many people are you dealing with?
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Right now in my writing, I've got about 35 canvassers and some are still waiting for their
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badges. So as soon as they get their badges, we'll be moving on. Yes.
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Jeevan, thanks so much. Good luck with this today.
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I'm at my second little pop-up petition place of the day. I've got Shanna over here with a single
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table. She says more people are coming out to sign up people throughout the day today. I'm at
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Fish Creek Boulevard here in the Southwest at Everbrook Drive. As a matter of fact, if you drive
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along Fish Creek Boulevard, you're going to see Alberta flags posted. So you'll know exactly where
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I am. But this is the kind of thing that's happening all over the province. Now, if you're
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somebody that's looking for a petition signing location, the best thing for you to do is go to
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stayfreealberta.com. Stayfreealberta.com. And you can get information on events that are coming up as
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well. But Shanna's out here today. She's expecting more people to come help out as we try to get people
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I'm at my third place today. I'm at the Sue Higgins Dog Walking Park. If I swing around here, you'll see a
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lot of traffic coming in and out of here. A huge parking area. And they've set up right here at the
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entrance to this. And it's so exciting to have all of these people, four or five people, signing people
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on the petition today. You know, it's really remarkable. It's sort of a grassroots movement
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that's going on here. My last stop when I was talking to Shanna over there, she says she goes around
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several times a week and just sets up and signs 10, 15 people at a time. I know we set kind of a goal of
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maybe over a million people on the petition. We've got till about May 2nd to do that. But we're seeing
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constant people coming out to these. And as I've been here today, I've seen people walk up and you
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can see people in behind me signing the petition right now. So if you're out and about, make sure
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you sign a petition. And again, go to stayfreealberta.com if you're looking for a petition
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location. They've got a great database there now that's easy to find all the different communities
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and places across the province of Alberta. So I've been to three places now. I said earlier,
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I was going to go to three, but I'm going to another one right after this. I'm going to go
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over to New Brighton in Southeast Calgary, not too far from where I live here in the city.
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So here I am at my fourth pop-up petition signing place here in Calgary, not too far from where I live
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here in the Southeast. This is the New Brighton Athletic Park. And they're here occasionally,
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mostly on the weekends. So if you're looking for a place to sign in Southeast Calgary,
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this is one of those places for sure. You know, what's amazing about this is you see
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a lot of organization involved. And then you see the average person that has gone to
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stayfreealberta.com. They've signed up, they've got their badge. They're now a canvasser.
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So now they're able to go out and set up a table anywhere around the province and sign people up for the
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petition. And certainly there have been some amazing lineups. It is Saturday morning here
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and everybody's commenting on how the weather has been amazing. I mean, this is early February
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in Calgary. And usually this time of the year, it's minus 30 degrees. And I'd say right now it's
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getting up into around 15 degrees Celsius right now. We're having a good time out here. Lots of
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people honking their horns out on the road with thumbs up as they drive by at this petition place
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here in Southeast Calgary at the new Brighton Athletic Park.
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Just taking a moment to talk to one of the canvassers here at the new Brighton Athletic Park.
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The last place I'm visiting today, we've got four places I'm at. And as I've said before,
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there are dozens of these happening all around the province. I'm here with Austin Westwood.
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Austin, we've kind of had a little back and forth through email and whatnot. And I'm wondering,
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why are you out here today? Why are you out on this beautiful, unbelievably beautiful Saturday
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morning taking down names for this petition? Yeah, well, I want a better future for my kids,
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two daughters. And just the way Canada is going right now, I don't see the Canada that I was proud
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to grow up in as a kid. Censorship, taxes, just cost a living. Like it's hard to buy groceries,
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hard to live. I was going to say, you know, what's the number one reason you would like to see an
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independent Alberta? We don't have any malice towards Canada whatsoever, but is it money? Is
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that the number one thing you think about? It's hard to get away from that, isn't it? It's hard to say.
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The money is definitely a huge, um, motivator, uh, economics. Uh, I think Alberta would be a much
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better place, you know, if all that money that goes to Ottawa could stay here. Um, and, but policy
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and is a, is a major thing too. Like I'm a Christian. So I look at the bills that the federal
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government's trying to pass, trying to make, you know, certain Bible scriptures illegal. I could go to
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jail for saying those things eventually. And, and that, that's just the way that Canada continues
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to seem to progress. So I, I'm proud as a Canadian, I'm glad I grew up here, but I don't see the same
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country that, that I grew up in. And you make reference to Mark Miller, the liberal who said
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that in a committee meeting, not too long ago, talking about scripture being hateful. And we're
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seeing these bills, Bill C2, Bill C9. There are a lot of, a lot of bills talking about freedom of
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speech and it's certain that you take away freedom of speech and you don't have much. Right. So
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I think there's a very, very valid reason there. And of course, then there's the money
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because, you know, we'd be one of the richest countries on the planet, if not the richest
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per capita, if we were to walk away. And, uh, how do you feel about it? Are you feeling good
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that we're going to get to where we want to be and get the vote eventually in a referendum
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and, and, and leave? I, I'm, I'm pretty confident it's going to happen. Uh, at least the vote, uh,
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still not sure how the, it'll end. I really hope it's the, the yes side. Um, but you know, uh,
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some positive words from Danielle Smith saying she will call a referendum later this fall. If
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it passes, the petition succeeds, um, with the momentum and all the crowds and everybody showing
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up, I'm pretty confident that's it's, it's already passed. I think I can't say officially
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cause I don't know, but, um, it sounds like it's, uh, already there. Okay. Well, Austin,
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thank you so much. Thanks for coming out and volunteering and talking to me. Absolutely. Thank you.
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It's been remarkable going around here today. If you're looking for a pop-up petition place,
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you can find them everywhere around the province. Again, go to stayfreealberta.com. If you're
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interested in being a canvasser, finding one of those places on the easily accessible database
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they've got there, or you can donate as well because we need some money as well to push this
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over the top so we can get a million people to sign this petition and, uh, gain our independence at a
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referendum in the fall. Thank you very much for watching. If you liked this video,
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please give it a thumbs up, subscribe to the channel, ring the bell for notifications.
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We are Alberta, child and free, forged by word and destiny.
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With hands that build, with hearts that care, our spirits strong beyond compare.