00:00:00.000Hi, it's John and welcome to the channel. Wednesday, August the 5th. Great having you
00:00:07.200here with the Big Blue Mug of Coffee. I do appreciate you clicking on this video. And
00:00:11.560last night it was a great honor, a joy of mine to sit down with my friend Dennis Kalma
00:00:17.640and Maxime Bernier, the leader of the People's Party of Canada. Maxime in the province right
00:00:24.340now with Jason, who's touring around right now, talking about how Alberta can learn from
00:00:29.720the referendums in Quebec, in particular the one in 1995. Now, Maxime did talk a little bit about
00:00:36.580the People's Party of Canada, but generally stuck to the Alberta referendum with some interesting
00:00:41.620perspective on that as well. Here are the other events that are coming up. Red Deer tonight,
00:00:47.460Edmonton on Thursday night, Grand Prairie on the 7th. If you're interested, go to theleveneshow.com
00:00:53.340forward slash TPA hyphen events and you can get yourself some tickets. Well worth it and it was
00:00:58.980a lot of fun. Now, I was sitting on the panel, not that I'm an expert on the referendum, but I did
00:01:04.540live in Eastern Ontario at the time. And back in 1995, I attended the huge unity rally on the
00:01:10.640Friday before the big vote. So I had an interesting perspective, I think, on the referendum and maybe
00:01:16.560how we can learn from what happened back in 1995 here in Alberta. And we can certainly learn a
00:01:22.380little bit from Max, who has an interesting perspective. After the event, I spent a few
00:01:27.140minutes with Max, who was very, very excited about being in Calgary, being in Alberta, to talk about
00:01:33.520this. And this is what he had to say. And I'm here with Maxime Bernier, the leader of the People's
00:01:39.400Party of Canada at a Jason Levine event. Maxime, first off, really nice to meet you. Thank you so
00:01:46.420much for being here in Calgary. Well, you know, that was a fun evening. We had time to have a real
00:01:51.300discussion. And I'm very pleased also, for the first time, I'm doing an interview with you.
00:01:55.660Well, it's my pleasure to do one with you, for sure.
00:02:00.220Well, listen, I'm just wondering, what are you doing here in Alberta over a five-night stretch with Jason Levine in an August to a beautiful summertime?
00:02:08.360What would compel you to come out here to talk to people about the independence movement?
00:02:13.920Because it's very important for you in Alberta, but also for us outside Alberta.
00:02:18.980I want you to be successful. And I want people to understand that this vote that you will have October 19, it is not about the secession. It is about two options. The first one, remain a province. That means the status quo, you know, you will have to pay the equalization formula like it is right now.
00:02:41.880you want to control your immigration you won't be able to build pipelines you don't want that
00:02:47.080if you and i don't want that also i want alberta to be prosperous i want alberta to be prosperous
00:02:53.640you're the engine of this economy and you we need to do everything for you to be prosperous
00:03:00.280and the other option is to start the process to have a real referendum on the independence
00:03:06.360and i believe that that's the only way to send a strong message to ottawa because we need a radical
00:03:13.000decentralization in this country more autonomy for alberta quebec and ontario and all these
00:03:18.680provinces that's part of the platform of the people's party we need to it's the last chance
00:03:24.920for these politicians in ottawa to understand and the only way to understand you and to be respected
00:03:31.720is to vote to start the process you'll be respected in ottawa and if they don't want
00:03:36.680to negotiate with you the second option would be to be independent but that's not the discussion
00:03:41.960right now it's interesting because that gets lost a lot when we have discussions with people
00:03:46.520and we call them the forever canadian people they say but i'm worried i'm going to lose my
00:03:51.640my pension if i vote in october um and i vote for the option two on question 10. but that's
00:03:59.400know what this is about and and you made that very clear tonight we need to be more clear about that
00:04:03.640don't we moving forward yeah absolutely you know the coalition the conservative and liberal
00:04:09.880coalitions are working against you and they are lying to you because they're saying that you won't
00:04:16.200have your pension anymore if you vote for the second option to start the process it's not true
00:04:22.120you will give the power for your provincial government to have a real discussion about
00:04:28.520more autonomy for alberta and after that if there's no negotiation or there's no good offer
00:04:35.720yes you have the option to have one day a referendum on secession so i'm telling you
00:04:43.160the conservative and the liberals they're down to your friends they're not speaking for you
00:04:47.880they want to keep their power in ottawa and ottawa wants to tell you what to do or not to do
00:04:54.200like in the development of your own natural resources so be in control and you know send
00:04:59.880that message there's no risk over there i'm just wondering you you were here tonight and we were
00:05:05.960talking about the referendum in 95 in particular is there anything in anything you could take off
00:05:11.960the top of your head that we can learn from that that that that we can use moving forward to october
00:05:17.16019th to win yeah the referendum in 1995 was a real referendum on the secession it's very different
00:05:25.320than the referendum that you have right now the referendum that you have right now is is like the
00:05:30.520one that we had in 1980 the first referendum that was to have a negotiation with ottawa for more
00:05:37.640autonomy that's not the case but in the referendum in 1995 the federal said and the conservative the
00:05:44.920the Liberals, you know, vote to stay in Canada because, you know, yes, we understand that you're
00:05:51.120not happy. The federal government is spending money in provincial jurisdictions and the federal
00:05:57.060government is telling you what to do or not to do in health care, for example. We understand that.
00:06:03.240We will fix that. But what I can tell you, it's all the promises that the Fed did in 1995 to
00:06:10.380Quebec didn't follow that. It's worse. We have more interference in provincial jurisdiction
00:06:16.580right now than we had before that referendum. For example, now the federal government passed
00:06:23.460a legislation on daycare and daycare, pharmacare and dental care. It's all under provincial
00:06:30.640jurisdictions. All these legislations are unconstitutional. So that's the federal government.
00:06:36.660the federal government will listen to you if you use your power and if you telling them enough is
00:06:43.380enough and you have a chance to say that at this referendum in october 19th what do you say to
00:06:49.440people who think that well you know we just get rid of the liberals and the conservatives come in
00:06:55.200and we'll we'll get what we want with pure poly over the conservatives what do you say to them
00:06:59.420look at the past look at the you voted for steven opper i was part of that government with steven
00:07:05.820Harper. What is the legacy of Stephen Harper? Nothing. You know, the conservatives are taking
00:07:13.060your vote for granted. To be in power, to be in government for the conservatives, they need the
00:07:19.140support of Ontario and Quebec. They will do. And there's more seat in the GTA than in all Alberta.
00:07:25.640Yes. So the conservatives are doing everything to please these writings. And that's why you are mad.
00:07:31.420You are fed up with that, and you want that to change, but the Conservatives won't.
00:07:36.380So, Alper, what he was in government, actually is the one who increased the money in the equalization formula to please Quebec.
00:07:45.860He changed the formula to be more generous to Quebec to buy votes.
00:07:51.140That's a guy coming from Alberta, working against you, and Poliev now is elected here in Alberta, is your MP.
00:08:00.480but you know he won't speak about equalization he won't speak about immigration he won't speak
00:08:06.240about you know ending all these climate change regulation but he is not your friend let me uh
00:08:13.220let me end on this then you're the leader of the people's party of canada what's your plans moving
00:08:17.880forward you know we'll have candidates all across the country at the next election and if you're
00:08:23.120not independent before the next election. I want my goal personally, it's to run in Alberta
00:08:30.180and we'll have candidates in Alberta. And I believe that, you know, if you vote for the
00:08:35.600People's Party, it will be the only party that will bring your message out there in Ottawa,
00:08:41.120speaking about that in Parliament. And we believe that because what you want, it's the same that
00:08:48.040must be for other provinces and the only way to have a constitutional peace is to have a radical
00:08:53.500decentralization and so we'll fight for that will be your voice not our it's interesting i think you
00:08:59.240made a point here saying that you will be the bloc quebecois we can or you'll be like the bloc
00:09:04.340quebecois for quebec but you'll be the ppc and alberta for alberta will be interesting yeah will
00:09:10.880be the ppc alberta for alberta yes yeah you know we'll be the our candidates elected in alberta
00:09:17.680will follow our platform and what they're going to say it's the same we don't pender to alberta
00:09:23.800or to ontario we have a vision for this country we are the last hope for this country the last
00:09:29.900chance and our people elected in alberta will speak for our platform and our platform it's
00:09:35.560what you want. And if the liberals and the conservatives won't follow our policies, the
00:09:42.700next step is to be independent. That would be that for you. That would be that for Quebec.
00:09:48.040We cannot tolerate the federal government that is not respecting the constitution and enough is
00:09:53.640enough. But yes, our people will be elected in the next election will fight for you. And by doing
00:09:59.700that they will fight to keep this country, and if not, you'll be able to decide, and
00:10:07.100you'll have that chance to have a real referendum on the independence.