The Voices of Independence - I Am Alberta Rally (Oct 25th, 2025)
Episode Stats
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202.24825
Summary
On October 25th, 2025, I was the MC at the huge I Am Alberta Rally for Independence in Edmonton on the steps of the Alberta legislature. Prior to the event, I had a chance to wander around and talk to some people and some I knew about where they were from and why they want Alberta independence.
Transcript
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Hi, it's John and welcome to the channel. Thank you so much for being here.
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Saturday, October the 25th, 2025 is a day I will remember forever. I had a chance to be the MC at
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the huge I Am Alberta Rally for Independence in Edmonton on the steps of the Alberta legislature.
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It was just remarkable. It really was seeing all those flags waving out in the crowd while the
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event was happening. But prior to the event, I had a chance to wander around just to check things out
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and I had a chance to stop and talk to some people and some I knew, others I didn't, about where they
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were from and why they showed up on the steps of the legislature and why they want Alberta
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independence. And joining me now, I've got Kerry. Kerry, where are you from? Cold Lake. Cold Lake.
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How long did it take you to get here from Cold Lake? About three hours. It took three hours. So about
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same, well, a little bit shorter for me to come from Calgary. And you thought this was that important
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to come here today, did you? Yeah. Well, yes. It's very important. So you've been part of the
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independence movement for how long, you figure, Kerry? Since pretty much when Mitch started doing
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his road show. Mitch lives down the road from me and I'm like, I can get behind this. I know what
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he's doing. And I was talking to Mitch earlier this week. He told me he bought a new truck at the
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beginning of the year. He's got more than 60,000 kilometers on it now. Just driving around to towns
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around this province talking about independence. Amazing. This is the least I can do.
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Yeah. What do you want out of the independence movement? What do you think Alberta can gain?
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Yeah. Alberta can gain everything. I've worked my whole career in the heavy oil industry.
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Yeah. Thermal heavy oil and what the NDP government did to us, you know, 10 years ago and the local
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governments continued on with. It's just a shame that it's taken away from our, you know, my kids
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and my grandkids' future. So. I've got Suzanne here and Lauren. That's Suzanne and that's Lauren
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over there and they're married. They came here from High Prairie today. You drove for four hours
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to come to the legislature today. Why are you here? What's, what's the main reason for you
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being here today? Independence. Trying to save this province. How long have you lived in Alberta?
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All my life. All your life. And do you feel that Alberta has been paying too much into Canada for
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far too long, Lauren? Far too long. My whole life. Your whole life. I've lost it my whole life.
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Yeah. And what, what would you like to see happen over the next year or so? Do you think we can find
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and get independence within the next year or so? I hope so. I, I. Tell me what you think, Lauren.
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I, I really hope we can. I, I have a lot of faith in the Alberta people. Yep. And I think they should,
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I mean, it's in front of our face. Why can't we fix it? And Suzanne, do you think it's a growing
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movement right now? I think so. We're trying to make it a growing movement. Yeah. We talk to people
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about it all the time and we watch. Can I ask you something? I, I hear a hint of an accent. Are
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you from Quebec originally? Yes, I am. Oh, really? Were you part of the independence movement in Quebec
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at one time perhaps? No, I wasn't. I was already. Okay. Okay. Well, thanks very much. You go find a
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place to sit. I appreciate talking to you. Thanks for coming all the way from High Prairie. I do
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appreciate it. Thank you. Okay. Bye-bye. Thank you. So we're here. We are at the Alberta legislature once
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again. Last time I was here was May 3rd, emceeing an event just after the federal election. I'm here
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with Jeevan Mangat, who's the interim leader of the Wild Rose Independence Party, strong supporter
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of the Alberta Prosperity Project. Just before three o'clock, people are starting to roll in here,
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Jeevan. Good to see you again. What do you think? You think we're going to have a big crowd here today?
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Well, I'm certainly hoping, you know, we get around 10,000 people. We want a nice big crowd. As you
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remember from May 3rd, we had about 1,500 people, but we only had a couple of weeks to organize it.
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Yeah. I think it's going to be a big one. What do you think the message is going to be here today?
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I think we're going to hear things ramped up a little bit when it comes to the province and getting
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our referendum question on a ballot. Yeah. So today it's really important that everybody understand
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how important independence is because nothing will change in Canada. Nothing. Unless Alberta achieves
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independence, you have to remember since 1963, the Liberal Party has been in power except for two
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long-serving conservative prime ministers, Brian Mulroney and Stephen Harper. As the Liberal Party
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has been in power, nothing has been advanced in Canada. Alberta had to pay a heavy, heavy price.
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Listen, since the early 60s, there's numbers that kicked around, like $800 billion that
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left Alberta to subsidize the rest of Canada. And I would estimate it's close to a trillion
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because I never trust government figures. Yeah. So what does it mean to have one province
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productive and the rest of Canada non-productive? It's about time we made changes.
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Jeevan, thanks so much. Good to see you once again. I'm getting excited. I'm seeing more
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and more people show up here. And again, we've got more than an hour and I think we're going
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to see a large crowd here today. And all the best to you. Thanks for talking to me.
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Bruce, I think you're going to win the award for the person coming the farthest to this
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independence rally here in Edmonton today. Where'd you come from?
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I've come all the way from Victoria, BC to be here because I really believe in Alberta. I'm
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originally from Alberta. And I really believe that it's time for Alberta to stand up on their
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own two feet and move on. We've been lied to for way too damn long.
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If you feel that way, I'm wondering why you live in British Columbia for Christ's sake.
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Well, that's a bit of a long story. After my marriage ended, I decided to retire and just get
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away for a while. And now it's hard to come back, right? Because it's going to be cold here really.
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Yeah, I understand. Yeah, I understand. I wish I could move Alberta about 14 hours south myself.
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So what do you think we can accomplish with independence here in Alberta if we gain our
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I think we have an opportunity then to really reach our potential as a province.
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This province has had so many opportunities over the last several decades. And every time
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it seems as though we're ready to move forward, we're stymied by the federal government.
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They're overreaching their negative attitude towards oil and gas. They want our money.
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Let me ask you this. If we got the independence and things got better, would you make your escape
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away from David Eby and the NDP in British Columbia if you could?
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Oh, absolutely. My kids keep asking me to come home and I keep saying it soon. But here right
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they don't even know I'm here actually right now because I just flew in and I'm going to be gone tomorrow.
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Well, thanks for coming. Fantastic. All the way from Victoria, BC. Enjoy your day here.
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Joining me right now, I've got Ron Robertson, who is the head of the Independence Party here
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in Alberta. And Ron, it's good to talk to you. I know we've had some correspondence back and forth
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at times through LinkedIn and things like that. We'll have to have you on my channel real soon.
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I have a question for you. You're the head of the Independence Party. How does that jibe with
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the Alberta Prosperity Project? I just spoke with Jeevan Mangat from the Wildrose Independence Party.
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You know what? We want the same thing. I mean, what we would like to see created is a constitutional republic of Alberta.
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And the most important thing for our party is freedom for Albertans.
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And that's from what I see and what I know of the APP. That's exactly what they're promoting.
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You know, the first meeting I went to, Ron, was way back in 2019. I've lived in Alberta for about 14 years now.
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So about nine, you know, about six, seven years ago, I guess it was.
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And when I came out of the meeting and I started looking into the movement a little bit more,
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I found that there were a lot of different groups looking for independence.
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I'm glad to see that everybody seems to be on the same page.
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I think for the most part, I think everybody is on the same page.
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Where I've seen any kind of issue at all, just because there was some splintering within different parties.
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So people went off, formed their own party after leaving the party they were with.
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You know, that's been one of the things that I think has actually hurt the movement.
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And we are. We're getting closer to the goal, do you think?
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I think we're getting closer, I think, by the day.
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Ron, thanks so much. Thanks for talking to me. Enjoy the day.
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Thank you. You too. I look forward to the rest of the afternoon.
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Okay, so we've got a little bit of a family here and some young people.
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My name is Doug Robinson. I'm from St. Paul, Alberta.
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Riker, Madison, and Doug. Great names, by the way.
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I just wanted to say, Doug, what happened to you? You didn't get a name like this.
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You've got your children out, your kids out here today.
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How'd they get involved in the independence movement? They're getting involved here, are they?
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Yeah, I guess. I've been involved in the independence movement since the inception, whatever, four or five years ago.
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I basically started COVID scandemic times too, right?
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Which kind of catapulted my thoughts and my feelings, woke me up, I might say.
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Right. And one of the reasons you're here today, you mentioned to me just before I started rolling, was that you're interested in the gun issue.
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And you think you'll get more freedom when it comes to a free Alberta and an independent Alberta.
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The only reason why the government wants their guns is because what they're going to do to you after they get their guns.
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History just goes through. You can look at all the civilizations through history all around the world and what happens to mass populations after they take their guns away.
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Right. Madison, so you're here with your dad today, Riker as well. Are you just learning about the independence movement right now?
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Is it something you really want to see happen? Is there a reason why? Can you tell me?
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Money. Well, you know, that's an absolutely perfect answer, really.
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I mean, it's got a lot to do with money and how much money Alberta sends out to the rest of the country, right?
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And we can keep more of it and more of it for us and our families here in Alberta.
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Well, thanks for being here today. Thanks for chatting with me. Doug, Madison, Riker, enjoy your day and thanks for chatting.
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I think we need to bring everybody together here. So why don't we do it all together and yell it as loud as possible because we want this. Get your cameras going, folks. We want this to go viral.