PJ The Belt - June 14, 2025


Alberta VOTES TO SEPARATE From Canada？ - Update! 51st State or Independence ｜ Referendum 2025

UPDATE： Canada BEGINS DISARMING Alberta Ahead of INDEPENDENCE REFERENDUM In 2025 Alberta INDEPENDENCE UPDATE! - Trump Made SHOCKING STATEMENT at G7 Press Conference

Episode Stats


Length

8 minutes

Words per minute

155.93

Word count

1,302

Sentence count

90

People

Also mentioned:
James Kent Jeff

Harmful content

Misogyny

1

sentences flagged

Hate speech

1

sentences flagged


Summary

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

Calgary, Alberta is a beautiful, picturesque city on the edge of the Rocky Mountains. It sits on the banks of the Bow River, overlooking the vast expanse of Alberta s vast prairies. It s a place of great beauty, great history, and great culture. And yet, it s also a place that many people don t want to call home.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.200 Its wealth is still on the hoof, though the buffalo herds have given way to what will be prime western beef.
00:00:09.780 The west here is still vivid with memories of other times.
00:00:14.800 The days before trails became highways, before campsites became cities like Calgary.
00:00:21.180 This dignified looking city, now a financial center, hasn't quite forgotten the roaring hoop-up days when it was the last frontier.
00:00:35.220 About as far west as you could go, without bumping into a mountain.
00:00:45.380 About 60 miles west of Calgary, the great barrier of the Rockies.
00:00:51.180 There are ways into it, of course.
00:00:53.780 To get to the resort town of Banff, the highway simply follows the valley of the Bow River.
00:01:07.780 This is a land of breathtaking grandeur.
00:01:10.800 Much of it has been set aside as national parks to remain in perpetuity pretty well as nature intended.
00:01:21.180 If you want to understand Alberta, you gotta understand the west.
00:01:35.300 This province was built by ranchers, oil men and homesteaders who tamed the land that most people today wouldn't dare settle.
00:01:42.440 We're talking rugged badlands, the rocky mountains and bitterly cold prairies.
00:01:49.000 The people who made a life out here didn't ask for handouts.
00:01:52.860 They worked the land, raised cattle and built towns with their own two hands.
00:01:57.460 Alberta's culture is different from the rest of Canada.
00:02:01.300 We've got rodeos, we've got the stampede, we've got cowboy hats and muddy boots.
00:02:07.400 And we have a strong sense that people should be free.
00:02:10.460 Free to work, free to farm, free to live without some government telling them how to raise their children or live their lives.
00:02:17.620 That's very different from eastern Canada, where they seem to love rules, red tape and being protected by the government. 0.98
00:02:26.920 That never sits right out here.
00:02:29.420 Albertans take pride in standing on our own two feet.
00:02:32.920 Always have.
00:02:34.260 And then the last issue that comes up a lot that people bring to us is statehood.
00:02:37.880 Whether or not we want to be the 51st state, Alberta.
00:02:40.460 The quick answer is at this stage, you got to get divorced before you start looking for a new wife.
00:02:45.040 And that's really how we have to tackle this.
00:02:47.160 We have to tackle this as one step at a time to do it properly and not muddy the water.
00:02:52.060 Now, does that mean there's no 51st state on the table?
00:02:54.140 That would be incorrect.
00:02:55.520 Somebody will make that decision in the future.
00:02:57.860 That will be the people.
00:02:59.120 There will be some sort of decision.
00:03:00.680 Because here's the steps, Kent.
00:03:02.120 If we decide to do yes and we get consent out of Ottawa for it, so the House of Commons votes yes, they can go ahead and secede,
00:03:09.340 we'd have to do a constitutional convention here in Alberta to define what our constitution will be.
00:03:14.100 Because we'll have to redefine that as a nation as opposed to within a nation.
00:03:18.440 And at that stage, that's where conversations like, are we going to be a republic or a commonwealth or something different would come up and be decided?
00:03:26.800 Not at this stage.
00:03:27.980 So when people bring up 51st state, I just have to remind them that if 51st state is where you want to be, we still have to do the divorce.
00:03:35.500 So the first step is to look at becoming independent from Canada, and then we answer the rest of the questions.
00:03:41.140 Much like a real divorce.
00:03:42.660 You don't try and figure out what school do the kids go to and who's going to get which car until the decision to divorce is done. 0.90
00:03:49.280 That's where you work out the last little details.
00:03:52.320 There's a good percentage of Albertans out there who support independence from Canada, but are also looking south, thinking Alberta might be better off as the 51st state, or maybe in some sort of partnership with the U.S.
00:04:08.180 And hey, I get it.
00:04:10.740 I personally agree that Alberta would be better off under the U.S. Constitution than staying in Canada.
00:04:16.920 But here's the catch.
00:04:18.760 Under Canadian law, you can't just jump right into statehood.
00:04:22.980 Alberta would first have to become independent from Canada.
00:04:26.520 That's the legal stepping stone.
00:04:28.320 So whether you want Alberta to stand on its own two feet as an independent country, or eventually link arms with the United States, either way,
00:04:38.180 it starts with separation from Canada.
00:04:40.820 Now, if the U.S. came out and declared in an official capacity that they support Alberta's right to self-determination, that'd be a huge deal.
00:04:51.080 A real game changer, honestly.
00:04:53.060 And we don't know how that would affect the minds of Albertans.
00:04:56.720 But first things first, Alberta has to become independent from Canada.
00:05:00.960 And to kind of expand on your question a bit, because this is what gets tackled quite a few times,
00:05:05.820 is if Alberta separates, do we become landlocked?
00:05:08.480 And then do we have a problem with getting our products to an international market?
00:05:13.060 The answer is no, because under United Nations treaties, and we have, I can't remember which section it is at this stage,
00:05:20.840 but once we become a nation, we actually have the United Nations laws that allow us to have tidal water access.
00:05:28.500 So all landlocked nations, not provinces and states, but landlocked nations actually get tidal water access.
00:05:34.900 So that would actually solve that problem, James.
00:05:36.780 We'd be able to get access to probably the BC coast, maybe the Northwest Territories over in Churchill possibly,
00:05:43.520 where we could actually bring a pipeline and get it there.
00:05:46.280 It would be quite the process, because we may have to go through some international court,
00:05:50.440 but it would be very odd to see Canada stand up against that when they supported other countries on exactly those issues,
00:05:57.520 Kosovo being one.
00:05:58.820 But there's several examples around the world where there's landlocked nations that get tidal water access
00:06:03.440 so they can bring their products to market.
00:06:05.460 So this is one of the reasons why, James, independence and separating from Canada is attractive.
00:06:10.940 We could end up getting that port somewhere if we go ahead and become a nation.
00:06:17.220 One of the favorite scare tactics used by the anti-independence crowd is that Alberta would be landlocked
00:06:23.140 and somehow doomed economically, which is like, give me a break.
00:06:27.200 You ever heard of Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, or even the Czech Republic?
00:06:32.680 They're all landlocked, all doing just fine.
00:06:36.480 Matter of fact, they're all successful, wealthy countries.
00:06:39.820 Plus, international law gives landlocked countries the right to access ports.
00:06:46.540 That's not up for debate.
00:06:48.260 It's internationally recognized.
00:06:50.780 An independent Alberta could negotiate port access, probably through British Columbia.
00:06:56.880 And if BC tried to play hardball, well, Alberta could respond in kind, economically and strategically.
00:07:04.700 And that's the thing, as an independent country, Alberta would be negotiating from a position
00:07:11.420 of strength, not begging from the back of the line as a province.
00:07:15.180 So, no, the whole landlocked argument, it's weak at best.
00:07:20.720 It really is more of a distraction tactic.
00:07:23.240 So, get informed and don't fall for it.
00:07:25.640 The average worker in Alberta makes $78,000 a year.
00:07:34.580 When you strip out all the taxes that that person pays, okay, and Jeff outlined them all,
00:07:40.800 when you strip them all out, you actually are left with $31,000 of actual purchasing power.
00:07:46.160 What we're proposing for that same individual would result in that same individual having $68,000 to $70,000 of actual purchasing power.
00:07:56.860 What does actual purchasing power mean?
00:07:58.840 It means that you're purchasing a product or a service for which there is no tax attached to it whatsoever.
00:08:08.260 That's what it means.
00:08:09.280 All right.
00:08:09.940 Thanks for watching.
00:08:11.080 Thank you for subscribing.
00:08:12.560 Special thanks to those of you who have donated to this project.
00:08:15.420 It is much appreciated and it helps me continue making videos.
00:08:19.140 See you on the next one.
00:08:20.560 Peace.