PJ The Belt - March 08, 2026


Alberta Independence is SURGING AGAIN — Danielle Picks a Side


Episode Stats

Length

8 minutes

Words per Minute

186.46191

Word Count

1,538

Sentence Count

103

Misogynist Sentences

3


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

In this episode, I talk about the growing call for Alberta to separate from Canada and why I think Premier Daniel Smith will vote for Alberta Separatists in the upcoming referendum. I also talk about why I don't think Alberta should stay in Canada.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
00:00:00.000 As you can see behind me, there are hundreds of people lined up to sign a petition.
00:00:04.540 What's the question? Should Alberta separate from the rest of Canada?
00:00:08.600 You can see the line. Like the lines are there everywhere.
00:00:12.640 For every event, doesn't matter, small town, big city, medium city, the lines are there.
00:00:16.840 And the town halls continue to take place too.
00:00:19.520 Here's a tweet from Corey Morgan.
00:00:21.520 Packed house in Westlock tonight.
00:00:23.820 The independence movement isn't tiring in Alberta.
00:00:26.800 It's still growing.
00:00:28.020 This is Westlock. It's a small town, I believe, north of Edmonton.
00:00:32.400 You can see a packed house.
00:00:34.280 You can see hundreds of people packed into a town hall in small town Alberta coming out to support Alberta independence.
00:00:41.400 Alberta leaving Confederation. Listen.
00:00:44.780 Alberta didn't turn right.
00:00:47.240 Canada went left.
00:00:49.400 That's the issue.
00:00:51.000 And the alienation and the abuse.
00:00:53.120 I mean, the federal politicians, they actually think that they can do as they please and that no one will say anything.
00:01:01.560 Well, maybe that's true out in Quebec and Ontario. I'm not sure.
00:01:04.340 But here in Alberta, we're a different breed. We're a different culture.
00:01:08.000 We're not accustomed to sitting on our thumbs and twiddling them, you know.
00:01:13.200 We're accustomed to getting things done.
00:01:15.160 The question I have is, how much abuse can you put up with?
00:01:19.300 Why am I out here?
00:01:20.180 Yep.
00:01:20.540 To make Alberta great again.
00:01:22.000 Heck yeah.
00:01:23.220 And what makes Alberta great on day one of an independent Alberta?
00:01:27.740 What is the number one thing you want to see?
00:01:31.260 My money stay here in Alberta and sticking up for the things that I grew up in this province.
00:01:41.340 And 50 years ago, it was great.
00:01:44.860 Now, to me, it's just falling apart.
00:01:46.860 So equalization payments, basically keeping our money in Alberta as opposed to sending it to other provinces.
00:01:52.340 Yeah.
00:01:52.900 If we have any eggs over or left over.
00:01:55.940 Maybe then.
00:01:56.720 Maybe then.
00:01:57.260 We can help them out.
00:01:58.060 But help out our own people first.
00:01:59.720 So if we've got $26 billion going out east, we can put that back in the hospital schools, you know, for the future people, generations, stuff like that.
00:02:06.400 So that's going to be a major difference.
00:02:08.280 Not to mention, like, with our homeless stuff going on, like veterans on the streets, people that fought for the country.
00:02:13.100 Like, why are they on the streets?
00:02:14.740 And then we got other people getting handouts.
00:02:16.940 Like, it's tough, right?
00:02:17.880 But as soon as we can help ourselves and we can help everybody else, I think we can be better that way afterwards.
00:02:22.500 There's this very interesting article put out by the Calgary Sun that I wanted to share with you guys.
00:02:28.620 Title goes, Daniel Smith will vote for Alberta independence.
00:02:33.420 Most polled think so.
00:02:36.100 Alberta Premier Daniel Smith voting for Alberta independence.
00:02:39.520 Apparently, most of those in a poll believe so.
00:02:42.400 The nose count on Thursday will make some people sit up and take notice.
00:02:45.620 When Albertans were asked how Alberta Premier Daniel Smith would vote if Alberta independence is on the October 19th referendum ballot,
00:02:53.940 a majority of those counted figured Smith would vote with the separatists.
00:02:59.380 You read that right.
00:03:00.480 Those who think Smith would personally vote to separate from Canada are 53 percent.
00:03:05.860 Smith voting to stay in Canada, 29 percent.
00:03:09.360 Not sure, 18 percent.
00:03:11.140 So this poll is showing that a lot of people believe that Premier Smith actually supports Alberta independence.
00:03:18.740 I have mixed feelings when it comes to that.
00:03:21.720 Some days it seems that she's all in for independence or at least she's sympathetic to Alberta patriots.
00:03:28.020 But other times it seems that she may be slowing things down, adding extra difficulty or maybe even sabotaging things.
00:03:35.460 Just in closing, I wanted to talk to you about the issue of separation in your province or sovereignty.
00:03:41.060 A recent poll of Albertans by Abacus Data says that 53 percent of them believe that you would vote in favor of separatism.
00:03:48.660 Now, instead of asking you to comment on that poll, I wanted to know, in the event of a referendum on separation in your province,
00:03:55.900 would you lead the side that says to stay within Canada?
00:03:58.860 I'm already leading that side, and I'm doing it with my actions, by working constructively with the federal government,
00:04:06.020 by signing an MOU, by getting rid of the net zero power regs, the emissions cap,
00:04:09.840 by taking an approach that essentially undoes the damage of C-69 and various other things.
00:04:17.580 And that's what I think is the constructive way of addressing the real grievances of Alberta.
00:04:21.960 Albertans have real grievances.
00:04:24.060 Ignoring them is not going to make them go away.
00:04:26.200 Identifying them and addressing them, as the Prime Minister and I are doing,
00:04:29.580 is the way that we're going to give people hope that Canada can work again.
00:04:33.660 So I'm hoping that we're able to convince people, one by one,
00:04:37.540 that this is a genuine change of heart and this is a genuine change of direction.
00:04:41.460 We're getting back to the way the country was always meant to work.
00:04:44.140 So does that mean you're hoping that we don't get to a place where there is that question put to the people,
00:04:48.460 whether or not they want to stay in Canada?
00:04:50.940 I trust Albertans, and it'll be up to Albertans to decide that.
00:04:54.040 There's a petition campaign going on right now.
00:04:55.700 They've got two more months to collect signatures, and I don't want to prejudge it,
00:04:59.240 nor do I want to underestimate how seriously harmed Albertans are
00:05:03.740 and how disappointed they've been in the way they've been treated by the Canadian government.
00:05:08.560 So that's why I'm not demonizing anyone who is expressing legitimate grievances.
00:05:13.720 My view is to, my job is to identify them and to resolve them so that we can give people hope.
00:05:18.320 Now, the package of proposals that we have in the MOU is only one thing we have to address.
00:05:23.000 We've got to address issues that emerged because of out-of-control immigration policy at the federal level.
00:05:27.960 The gun grab is another area of grievance.
00:05:30.600 So, as I say, I'm glad that we're making some progress with the federal government in this area.
00:05:35.280 I think it's important, but there's still a lot more things that we have to do to address some of the legitimate concerns that Albertans have.
00:05:41.540 You've got some people who believe that she's totally in support of independence.
00:05:45.100 They say that if she didn't want us to have a referendum, we wouldn't have one.
00:05:49.720 And then you have the other side, people like Jeffrey Rath, who believe that she's just a federalist
00:05:54.760 and she's putting extra hurdles in the way, making it more difficult.
00:05:58.660 And the only reason that she's calling for a referendum and allowing things to happen
00:06:03.100 is because she's feeling the political pressure from her base because the majority of her base supports independence.
00:06:10.660 Again, I have mixed feelings.
00:06:12.760 Sometimes I believe she is for independence.
00:06:15.120 Other times I have to agree with Jeffrey that she's adding unnecessary hurdles to a situation that is already challenging to begin with.
00:06:23.020 In that same vein, here's a tweet from Professor Bruce Party, who is a vocal supporter for Alberta independence.
00:06:30.120 The tweet goes, the fix is in.
00:06:32.640 Danielle Smith's referendum might appear to open the door to Alberta independence.
00:06:36.720 It is more likely to slam the door shut.
00:06:39.940 What is referring to here is the fact that Premier Danielle Smith has announced a multitude of questions
00:06:45.300 that are supposed to be on the October 19th referendum ballot.
00:06:48.740 That will possibly make it even more complex for Albertans to know whether they're going to vote yes or no.
00:06:56.360 Some people argue that when you add multiple questions, you're making it unclear, which goes against the Clarity Act.
00:07:02.500 And that is how you would sabotage it if you don't want people knowing that you're against it,
00:07:06.700 but you're trying to take a backdoor way to sabotaging the independence movement.
00:07:10.960 Other people say that she's not trying to do that.
00:07:13.260 It is worth noting, though, that the Clarity Act indicates that the question has to be clear and simple.
00:07:20.140 And if you're trying to get independence when it comes to immigration, get independence when it comes to energy projects,
00:07:27.600 get independence in general, then the most important question to put on the ballot,
00:07:31.760 and probably the only one needed, is whether Alberta should become an independent country.
00:07:36.540 Because everything else falls under that.
00:07:39.120 If Alberta becomes an independent country, of course, it'll control its own immigration.
00:07:44.180 Of course, it'll work on its own energy projects.
00:07:47.200 And of course, it'll develop its own international trade agreements, right?
00:07:50.920 Do you think Danielle Smith is on the side of independence?
00:07:53.820 Or do you think she is actually sabotaging and making things more difficult than they need to be?
00:07:59.820 I want to hear your thoughts.
00:08:00.860 Leave them in the comments below.
00:08:01.760 Well, thank you for watching.
00:08:03.380 If you want to continue to get updates on this story and not media spin,
00:08:07.280 make sure to hit subscribe and hit the like button because this story is moving fast
00:08:12.080 and we're going to keep you informed all the way.