00:01:18.740I'm a native Albertan, and that's correct.
00:01:22.020I am a cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon,
00:01:23.740And I directed that program and the cardiovascular intensive care unit for the majority of my 32 years in practice.
00:01:34.040And during that time, I also served on the finance committee of the progressive conservative governments since the Getty era.
00:01:44.580and being a fiscal conservative and being very concerned about what has happened to Alberta
00:01:53.660over the many decades and being concerned about what happened during COVID,
00:02:00.260the trucker convoy and the way the WEF and the World Health Organization are controlling our
00:02:06.440federal government and the march to socialism and Marxism has concerned me a lot. And so
00:02:13.040So I was one of the founders of the Alberta Prosperity Society, which is a registered non-profit, non-partisan educational society.
00:02:24.280We have a board of directors. I chair that board of directors, and the board governs the Alberta Prosperity Project.
00:02:31.860And so it was our board that hired Mitch Sylvester as the CEO.
00:02:37.740And so our mission, of course, from an educational point of view, is to educate the public on the rationale and the merits of Alberta sovereignty and how to make that happen.
00:02:49.860So that's that's pretty much pretty much it.
00:02:54.280All right. Well, Dr. Modri, I personally consider you a successful Albertan.
00:02:59.740albertan clearly you worked hard and and built a great career in a very difficult field such as
00:03:07.260health care what here's my question what motivates a guy like you to wake up every day and dedicate
00:03:15.280the time and effort to the cause of alberta independence like visiting dozens and dozens
00:03:21.240of small towns and cities all over alberta what moves you moves you personally well that's that's
00:03:28.700really good question and i can answer it this way you know when i was in practice as a
00:03:34.700cardiovascular thoracic surgeon critical care specialist and transplant surgeon i could help
00:03:40.060one person at a time and over the years i had the honor and the trust of over 7 000 patients
00:03:52.540including around 700 transplant recipients and i thought to myself well you know i can help one
00:04:01.260person at a time but through the educational process of the alberta prosperity project
00:04:08.060i believe we can help millions of people in terms of their life their livelihood
00:04:17.420their freedom their prosperity and so it's really motivating to me to be able to
00:04:25.980take my background my educational background my practical background my political background
00:04:32.860and champion it into something that can serve not just the population of alberta because we truly
00:04:41.900believe that if we save alberta from marxism and communism and you know create a future of
00:04:52.060individual freedom and prosperity that that will spread around the world and can benefit
00:05:00.060other regions in canada but there are freedom-loving people that live in other countries
00:05:05.260as well and i think they are looking to us and we know that because of the feedback we
00:05:10.460we are receiving that they're looking to us to be successful and helping to bring about a sovereign
00:05:16.860alberta and so i see this as a much higher calling although it was a high calling as far as i was
00:05:24.700concerned during my active career as a cardiac surgeon as well but this is at a different level
00:05:30.060because this helps many more people absolutely absolutely the cost for freedom absolutely
00:05:37.740important. Now, Dr. Modri, you obviously come from a healthcare background. And one of the
00:05:44.260things that many people sitting on the fence on the Alberta independence front, something they
00:05:50.080often wonder is what will healthcare look like in an independent Alberta? Let's imagine we've
00:05:58.040won a referendum. It's been a couple of years after we have a constitution. In your opinion,
00:06:03.600what would an ideal health care system look like in an independent Alberta?
00:06:09.060Will people lose their health care like the NDP will have us believe?
00:06:13.820No, I think the way to look at health care is this way.
00:06:18.620Ask yourself the question, are you pleased with the health care system the way it is?
00:06:24.320And almost nobody will answer the question in the affirmative.
00:06:28.980And it means that the majority of people are not pleased with the health care system.
00:06:35.340So to understand what it can be, you need to understand where we're at right now.
00:06:43.400Now, if you consider in 1995, this helps to get, you know, to frame the answer to your question.
00:06:51.440If you consider that in 1995, the population was 3.8 million people in Alberta, and there were 5,000 employees for Alberta Health.
00:07:02.200Well, today, there's 5 million people, only 1.2 million more.
00:07:07.300And I think your listeners and viewers would be surprised to know that there are presently 130,000 employees.
00:07:15.460So it's gone from 5,000 to 130,000 employees for Alberta Health Services.
00:07:20.580And the population is only increased by 1.2 million. So you have to ask yourself the question, is that number of people justified, recognizing as an example, that there are nine levels of management, recognizing, for example, that of the province's $75 billion budget, $26 billion goes to health care.
00:07:45.060And given the reality that the healthcare system functions in the lowest quartile of quality at the highest quartile of cost based on international metrics and analysis, then you have to say to yourself, there must be a better way of doing things.
00:08:08.480And you have to ask yourself the question, if there's 130,000 employees, nine levels of management, could there be fraud, waste and abuse in the health care system?
00:08:19.360And I would submit to you from an analysis that I did for the provincial government a number of years ago that there is.
00:08:27.460And it's very difficult to get out from under this because of the view that many people have that health care is a sacred cow, that you can't touch health care.
00:08:42.740And so the question is, is what can you do to fix it?
00:08:46.340OK, so, well, for one thing, what you can do to fix it is you need to get out from under the constraints of the Canada Health Act, which inhibit creative solutions to health care.
00:09:01.980And so let's examine for a moment and recognize that our Canadian health care system is one of the very few in the world that ostensibly restricts consumers and that is patients and suppliers, that's health care providers, from coming together outside of Medicare.
00:09:26.260Now, there are exceptions and we're seeing, you know, greater and greater implementation of private health care services.
00:09:38.220But if you really want to fix the system and you believe that competition breeds better services at lower cost and greater efficiency, then we have an obligation on behalf of the public to look at alternatives.
00:09:59.220alternatives. So now notwithstanding what I just said about the healthcare system functioning in
00:10:06.160the lowest quartile of quality at the highest quartile of cost, we also need to look at other
00:10:11.900metrics such as medical errors. Medical errors is the third, it's either the third or the fourth
00:10:21.240most common cause of death. So these are serious issues that, again, because of the constraints
00:10:30.100of the Canada Health Act, it makes it exceedingly difficult to resolve these issues. But if I were
00:10:36.520to suggest to you that the problems in the healthcare system occur at every level,
00:10:42.140they occur at the government level, they occur at the administrative level,
00:10:45.680They occur at the physician level, the nursing level, the technologists that provide services, and patients themselves.
00:10:56.840And you can analyze all of these specific areas and say, well, where is inefficiency and where is waste occurring?
00:11:07.080And that was the essence of a report that I drafted.
00:11:10.760It was entitled Medicare is Killing Us, Re-Engineering the Canadian Health Care System, which was the background document for Don Mazinkowski's health report.
00:11:21.080You'll remember that Don Mazinkowski was a very prominent federal member of parliament.
00:11:27.080And then when he retired, Ralph Klein asked him if he would do a health report.
00:11:31.940And I wrote the background document for that.
00:11:34.140At that time, Mr. Mazinkowski told me that he said, what you have defined in the evidence that you've provided was brilliant, but it's too much for the public to take in at this time.
00:11:47.480So, you know, if we really want to fix the system, we really have to consider Medicare to be provided for those people who are born with problems for which they will never be able to be self-sufficient and they will need assistance for their entire life.
00:12:14.940And then there's another group of Medicare individuals or Medicare candidates, if you will.
00:12:22.620And these are people that are compromised by life circumstances.
00:12:26.800And they may not be able to ever recover from that.
00:12:33.280And they need to be looked after by Medicare as well.
00:12:36.520and then there's that group kind of in between where life circumstances create a problem for
00:12:45.200them and they need a hand up but not a handout forever get them back into functioning society
00:12:55.180so that's the medicare category and then there's another group of individuals that
00:13:02.180also need health care, but have the capacity to pay for it to an extent, all right? So you could
00:13:10.860consider as an example, a Medicare patient, and say for want of, just to make this simple,
00:13:18.080say a Blue Cross patient, okay? And each of them need the same service, okay? Say a Medicare
00:13:25.120patient and a Blue Cross patient. The Blue Cross patient maybe pays a premium once a year
00:13:35.120for their health care to Blue Cross. The Medicare patient doesn't pay anything unless
00:13:43.180they had been working for a period of time and some of their taxation has gone to Medicare.
00:13:49.920now at this point i need to just digress for a moment because if to put this in economic
00:13:57.040perspective as well is that in a sovereign alberta when you are completely out from under
00:14:03.920all federal regulation and all federal taxes and eventually out of provincial taxes then instead
00:14:11.840of keeping roughly 50 percent of your income you're you're keeping 90 to 92 or 94 of your income
00:14:21.360you're in a very different situation and you are able to afford two or three or four thousand
00:14:27.360dollars a year for coverage okay so that's how everybody gets looked after and whether you're
00:14:35.920somebody on the medicare side or you're somebody on the private health care side neither of you
00:14:42.400are paying taxes all right neither of you now let's go back to the medicare patient and the
00:14:50.880the blue cross patient okay they both need the same service they both access that care instantly
00:15:00.000because they need it okay so there's no more waiting list you've solved that problem there's
00:15:04.800no more waiting list um so everybody gets timely health care and that's one of the major problems
00:15:10.640is accessibility so each each group gets the same timely health care all right now one of
00:15:19.520the arguments against this kind of a system is that that um it has been stated that the better
00:15:29.520physicians and nurses, et cetera, will work on the private side. That's not the way it would happen.
00:15:36.220That's not the way we envision it. The way we would envision it is whether you are a patient
00:15:42.060on the Medicare side, or you're a patient on the Blue Cross or the private healthcare side,
00:15:48.040your physician gets paid exactly at the same rate. So there's no incentive to work on one side
00:15:56.680or the other but in the beginning the efficiency on the private side will demonstrate and helps
00:16:04.840to demonstrate the inefficiency on the medicare side and if i were to give you a simple example
00:16:11.960if a surgeon can do three hernias in the morning on the medicare side
00:16:15.880they can do six on the private side okay and that again is because of the way you set the system up
00:16:23.480Similarly, if you compare, if you look at the way healthcare operates now, and you consider booking surgical cases, and nursing shift change occurs at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, but you're not able to start a two-hour case until 2 o'clock, which would go to 4 o'clock.
00:16:50.160but shift change has result results in a significant reduction of the nursing staff
00:16:56.280so traditionally and frequently what happens is the case is canceled okay and so the case is
00:17:03.320canceled but the staff for an hour are getting paid between three and four right but they're
00:17:10.200not doing anything between three or four okay so so i mean this is just a simple example i could go
00:17:16.900through a litany of the examples of the problem at at all of the different at all of the different
00:17:23.620levels but in my opinion what we are after is the highest quality best accessibility and that means
00:17:33.700instant accessibility at the best cost and we can provide that service we know how to do it
00:17:42.660and so let's take an example of the nursing strike right now as not at the nursing well yes let's
00:17:49.860let's well we've got the we've got the uh we just had the teachers we just had the teachers yeah
00:17:55.140let's look at let's look at nursing for for a second because the teachers would benefit as well
00:18:01.140um so let's say the nurses want a 30 increase in in in their wage okay over a period of uh
00:18:10.980four years just as an example well do you realize that they would have in a sovereign alberta they
00:18:17.780would instantly have a 30 to 40 percent increase in their salary simply by virtue of the fact that
00:18:24.740they're they're keeping 90 of their income as opposed to um you know roughly 50 55 of their
00:18:32.100income so it's it's a massive benefit to everybody uh union members of every strike whether it's
00:18:42.500nursing the nurses in a nursing union or educators in the teaching profession or the trades that are
00:18:50.580involved with unions everybody benefits as a consequence of getting out from under federal
00:18:56.500regulation taxation and you know it should be a no-brainer for everybody absolutely so what i
00:19:05.640gather from what you said there is that let the private sector to a certain extent help uh help
00:19:13.660provide quicker access because one of the biggest problems we have in canada and alberta is no
00:19:19.160exception to that is the fact that waiting times are killing people people are dying waiting
00:19:25.640And then there's a lot of waste, fraud, and abuse evidently in the system, which could also be, would reduce, in an independent Alberta, the cost would be reduced greatly while providing better service for those who need it.
00:19:43.460Now, you know, here's just another very simple example to deal with the accessibility issue.
00:19:50.060You know, McDonald's can run 24-7, right?
00:19:53.680so why can't our hospital systems run 24 7 fully staffed okay they easily could be and you know
00:20:02.100nursing staff and surgical staff can maybe do a month on the night shift and a month on the
00:20:08.740on the day shift or however however people's lives can be oriented around that the the thing is is
00:20:16.400that you really have to think about health care delivery different from the models that have
00:20:25.120failed us over the decades. And what we're seeing is, you know, Band-Aid solutions coming here and
00:20:34.040there where, you know, you've got some surgical centers operating, you've got some private,
00:20:38.780you know, the dermatologists, for example, can work privately, the plastic surgeons, you know,
00:20:44.620There's certain ways in which health care delivery is being effected through the private side now.
00:20:55.100But if you take a comprehensive approach to this along the lines that I'm just talking about, but you have to get out from under the Canada Health Act, and you have to be willing to say and admit the system isn't working as efficiently as it could.
00:21:12.920let's do something different that we know can work because people you know have different
00:21:21.000providers of health care have different expectations some people like to work really
00:21:27.500hard and quickly other people like to have a more relaxed pace and we can we can respect that and
00:21:34.980and and they can be compensated you know appropriately and if you want to work at a
00:21:41.200relaxed pace and you're getting just for argument's sake you know a hundred dollars for a service
00:21:46.720well on the private side you're still getting a hundred dollars for a service it's just that you
00:21:52.320know a more efficient run private side can run many more services in the same amount of time
00:22:00.720but that's human nature as well and we need to take human nature into account and and human
00:22:07.600willingness to work into account and recognize that some people are okay working 30 hours a week
00:22:14.520other people you know are happy working 40 hours a week and then you got a lot of people that you
00:22:20.900know really want to work and they're they love what they're doing and their life is centered
00:22:25.660around their job they get satisfaction and they don't mind working 60 or 80 hours a week that's
00:22:30.620what they like to do and i know that because that's the way i worked you know so yeah there
00:22:36.760are people just different people um some like to work 80 90 hours others couldn't imagine doing
00:22:43.400half that yeah okay so we're gonna pivot a little bit uh still regarding alberta independence and
00:22:50.680what that entails but we're gonna talk about our brothers and sisters east of us in saskatchewan
00:22:57.880i believe people in saskatchewan are just as frustrated with the rest of canada as alberta
00:23:03.960And many of them support Alberta independence and even want Saskatchewan and Alberta to form some sort of coalition.
00:23:10.820I've heard things having to do with the historical fact that Alberta and Saskatchewan were supposed to form Buffalo and all that, but that's on the historic side.
00:23:19.380Do you have any information on the sovereignty movement happening in the province of Saskatchewan?
00:23:25.500Anything you'd like to share with us regarding the people over there?
00:23:30.180Well, we've had a couple of meetings in Saskatchewan.
00:23:33.180In other words, the Alberta Prosperity Project has been invited to speak in Swift Current and recently in Regina.
00:23:42.940Mitch was in Regina. I was, along with Chris Scott and Roger Hodkinson, were in Swift Current a couple of years ago.
00:23:51.500So there is a movement in Regina that I think is quite strong in favor of Saskatchewan sovereignty.
00:24:00.120So the reality, though, is that each province that wants to pursue sovereignty has to do it on their own right now.
00:24:12.560This is the way the Clarity Act works and consequent to a successful referendum in Saskatchewan.
00:24:19.120Saskatchewan can become a sovereign country, similarly in Alberta.
00:24:23.280And then subsequently, PJ, Saskatchewan and Alberta could then merge under an agreement that that's something that they would want to do.
00:24:35.420And I think this is important for your listeners to understand, is that when Alberta and Saskatchewan joined Canada on September 1, 1905, they were simply annexed.
00:24:46.220The people of Alberta and Saskatchewan were not asked if they wanted to join Eastern Canada and be subjugated and dominated and exploited and our self-determination inhibited for the next 120 years.
00:25:03.520And I think it's important to understand that we never had a choice then, but we have a choice now.
00:25:13.420And that choice for us is do we pursue a path that we've been on already, which can only get worse because taxes, for example, are only going to go up.
00:25:27.620And if Mr. Carney has his way, restrictions will become even greater.
00:25:32.680And so we have this unique opportunity to get out from under the oppression that we've been experiencing, that Saskatchewan's been experiencing.
00:25:43.420that other regions have been experiencing, including Quebec, as an example.
00:25:48.980And so I think the words of Preston Manning a few months back when he said,
00:25:55.820Mr. Carney very likely will be the last prime minister of Canada, I believe that that is true.
00:26:01.840That is, yeah, Preston Manning, when he said that, all of Canada had to listen,
00:26:08.020Because obviously, someone with that political legitimacy saying something like that, and it's very possibly true.
00:26:15.400I don't believe Canada has been in a more, at least in recent memory, recent history, in a more divided situation,
00:26:23.900while at the same time being in a very precarious financial position on the world stage.
00:26:31.900Speaking about the Liberal Prime Minister of Canada, Mark Carney, after 10 years of Justin Trudeau and his disastrous policies, particularly for Western Canada, Alberta, to be more specific, what do you make of Carney and do you have any trust in him, any hope that he will try to reconcile the differences between Western Canada and the Laurentian elite?
00:26:59.940And what do you make of our premier, Daniel Smith, giving him what seems by many people to be cutting him too much slack?
00:27:11.640Well, to begin with, Mr. Carney is well-educated.
00:27:16.540He's had a very prominent career as a bureaucrat.
00:27:21.760He is fundamentally a bureaucrat, and I'm not sure that he has the leadership skills to bring together the various regions of the country.
00:27:33.620Now, under Mr. Trudeau and also under Mr. Carney, they have the perspective that all Canadians think the same, are the same.
00:27:42.960It's kind of like they want all Canadians to go into a blender and come out homogenized and think the same, etc.
00:27:51.760But the reality is that that really isn't the case. Every region in this country is different geographically. It has different natural resources, and all of the regions have slightly different cultures as well, notwithstanding that the values and principles for Western civilization being Judeo-Christian values and principles,
00:28:18.280which were foundational to civil society and the rule of law, and our individual, God-given
00:28:23.100individual freedoms and rights, that is something that is embraced very strongly in the West,
00:28:29.940particularly Saskatchewan, Alberta Central, and Northern BC, but other pockets in the country as
00:28:35.200well. But in many other regions, it's a collectivist society, meaning the democracy that
00:28:44.000functions is the tyranny of the majority over the minority, which is what we see with section one
00:28:51.980of the Canadian Bill of Rights. So I think it's important for your listeners to understand as
00:29:06.620well that if you protect individual rights, you will protect societal rights, but the reverse
00:29:12.140doesn't occur. So Mr. Carney's perspective, then, is that he believes that he is justified
00:29:22.240in doing what he wants to do that can adversely affect individual regions of this country for
00:29:32.000the benefit of other regions. Okay, and this is part of the problem that's creating the angst,
00:29:37.560particularly out here in the west more more than that though his perspective which aligns with the
00:29:46.840world economic forum and the whole climate change narrative is such that he believes that in order
00:29:54.280to control the climate there must be individual restrictions on individual freedoms and on
00:30:01.800businesses that align with oil and gas industry and agriculture as well as financial institutions
00:30:07.480that finance those. And he doesn't promise, as he says in his book, he doesn't promise that life
00:30:16.120will be better for ordinary people. In fact, temporarily worse, fewer choices, less travel,
00:30:23.260less meat, more inconvenience, and more poverty. Well, if these are his values, these are not the
00:30:31.720values that the majority of Canadians, and certainly the majority of those of us in the West,
00:30:38.440wish to embrace so we need to understand what's already happened and what is continuing to happen
00:30:47.800and although i saw recently he wasn't intending to implement a digital id but this is part of
00:30:57.560the world economic forum recommendations of which like i say he's a prominent member
00:31:01.880And the implementation of a digital ID will track everybody, no matter where they are. And the implementation of a programmable digital currency will then enable the provincial government to control very easily your access to your account if you are not compliant with environmental, social, and governance metrics.
00:31:25.460which is exactly what's going on in China and which is underway in the United Kingdom right
00:31:32.260now as well. So we're seeing this model play out. And this doesn't align with the kind of
00:31:40.180individual freedoms and rights that we want. Now, you brought up Premier Smith. And just rephrase
00:31:50.060what you were saying about premier smith uh before i answer because i've got something i want to say
00:31:55.660about where she's at as well yeah i was just wondering what what what's your take on the
00:32:01.260fact that she seems to be cutting him more slack than she should yeah well um i'm going to answer
00:32:08.300the question this way um everybody knows that after mr carney was elected she met with mr
00:32:15.740Carney and she made nine demands and she said publicly that if these nine demands are not met
00:32:20.940that will be a threat to national unity and then with the Alberta next panel there are eight
00:32:28.460constitutional changes that have been like I say put on the table for consideration
00:32:37.020as well but the reality is is that it's very unlikely that any of those demands will be met
00:32:44.700and the constitutional changes that are requested are very unlikely as well to be met because
00:32:54.540the four hurdles to change the constitution make it virtually impossible and there have
00:32:59.340been two attempts to change the constitution before one was Meech Lake and the other were
00:33:04.620Charlottetown and they both failed and so so where the premier is at right now is she's
00:33:11.340The six months is up, but she has given Mr. Carney another two months in order to come up with something that can meet the concerns of Albertans.
00:33:23.260But even if it was a pipeline, so for example, Keystone. Keystone was approved and was going forward from the Canadian side, but it was blocked when Biden became the President of the United States.
00:33:39.620So if Mr. Carney comes up and says, well, we're going to encourage that Keystone go ahead, that's not really much.
00:33:51.460And even if it generates an additional $20 billion a year of net profit, well, half of that's still going to go to Ottawa when all of it could stay in Alberta if Alberta was a sovereign country.
00:34:04.500But let me say this about the premier.
00:34:06.420The premier finds herself in a difficult situation. But what she is doing, and I think she's doing it very well, she has to do two things that I think are critical.
00:34:22.060One is she has to demonstrate to the public that she can govern, and I think her and her team are demonstrating that they can govern very clearly.
00:34:31.320And second, that they need to demonstrate to the public that we can't actually ever get a fair deal with the federal government,
00:34:41.340that we can't get out from under being subjugated and dominated
00:34:51.560and then our self-determination inhibited
00:34:53.640because that is what the federal government has been doing to us.
00:34:57.060And when she can come to the public and say,
00:35:00.220look, we can't get anything done with this federal government.
00:35:05.120And then I think she can say very legitimately,
00:35:08.760And I think she wants to have a referendum on sovereignty in the spring. And I think that will occur. And I think she will have more than enough ammunition to come to the public and state exactly what we've been educating the public about.
00:35:25.800And where I'm pleased in terms of where we are at right now with the Alberta Prosperity Project is that we know we have well over a million supporters of Alberta sovereignty now. And so I think there's a very high probability that a referendum on sovereignty will be successful.
00:35:45.960oh yes and i actually made a video i believe a couple of weeks ago in regards to what you
00:35:53.740mentioned there's something that you touched on there that i i think there's there's a lot of
00:35:58.480merit in that is that she could possibly be putting together and making her case like look
00:36:04.420i'm trying to work with this government in good faith so that those albertans who are sitting in
00:36:10.260on the fence and they're kind of in the middle like not knowing like okay i'm not happy with
00:36:14.640the direction canada's taking but i'm also not all the way on the on the independence uh train
00:36:20.620yet that they see like she's been trying like she gave them six months then she gave them another
00:36:25.360two months to give us anything and they won't give us even one of the nine or even one or two
00:36:30.800of the nine demands that she put on the table that's how much they care about alberta kind of
00:36:36.880thing and then that way she possibly is helping the the cause for alberta independence in my
00:36:42.800opinion she factually is whether in she intends to or not she's helping the case by showing them
00:36:48.780like look the laurentian elite are not listening the the liberal government is just not listening
00:36:54.600to alberta they don't care now i wanted to touch on um on constitutional changes you did mention
00:37:02.860that in canada people have tried twice and it's failed and how difficult it is for constitutional
00:37:10.840changes to actually take place in Canadian Confederation. So I know that the Alberta
00:37:17.440Prosperity Project published a document on what Alberta's finances would look like called
00:37:22.580the value of freedom. And it's a great document. It shows just how much better off economically
00:37:29.720Alberta would be. It's ridiculous how much better off Albertans would be. But what few people know
00:37:36.460is that the APP will also be publishing what you guys call a draft interim constitution document
00:37:43.180and have it open for discussion. Could you tell us a little bit more about this very important
00:37:49.280document? Sure, I can. So the proposed interim constitution, we've been working on this for
00:37:57.960many months now. And we've taken into account many suggestions from very smart people and other
00:38:05.940constitutional lawyers. And most recently, from Bruce Party as well, who's a constitutional lawyer
00:38:13.220from Queens, a professor of law, very bright gentleman. And he's also drafted a constitution
00:38:22.080for Alberta as well. So we're in the final throes of melding some of his concepts into
00:38:30.720our document. But as it stands right now, the proposed, and when we say interim constitution,
00:38:39.480why we use that term is because that's exactly what it is. Subsequent to a referendum on Alberta
00:38:47.900sovereignty, there would be a constitutional conference, and this document would come forward
00:38:52.780simply as a basis for discussion, okay, at a constitutional conference. And you would have
00:38:58.560all of the interested parties present at the constitutional conference and then it would
00:39:07.120once you had a final draft that would go out to the public for further public input and and then
00:39:16.880a final vote as to what the nature of the constitution would be but here are some of
00:39:23.040things that i can tell you is that it's based on the u.s constitution and it proposes for alberta
00:39:32.400constitutional republic in which the constitution is the highest authority other than the authority
00:39:43.200being the supremacy of god the point being that in that constitution it it is going to
00:39:50.720um like i said be based on the supremacy of god but judeo-christian principles and values that
00:39:57.760were like i said earlier foundational to the development of western civilization
00:40:03.040the rule of law civil society and your individual freedoms and rights so from that constitution
00:40:12.160comes the way the structure of government would operate,
00:40:17.640and it would be much smaller government, many fewer departments, for one thing.
00:40:27.880There would be a House of Representatives.
00:40:30.780There would be a Senate, and there would be a judiciary.
00:40:33.920And the Senate, and I think this is important,
00:40:38.060would be regions throughout the province.
00:40:40.760So, for example, there could be, just for argument's sake, 80 regions in the province. And each region gets two senators. So Edmonton would get two senators. Calgary would get two senators.
00:40:56.620So you see the point is that the way a proper Senate should operate is there you have regional representation.
00:41:05.920The House of Representatives on the other side of the coin, that's representation by population.
00:41:11.600And then there's the executive course, where there would be either a president or a prime minister.
00:42:52.100So when you have a quarterly audit of the money that is allocated
00:43:00.400to those areas and it's shared publicly, it's very much more difficult
00:43:07.500for there to be fraud, waste, and abuse, if not almost impossible.
00:43:12.300So I think the final thing is that for certain major issues,
00:43:18.480for example let's say we're out of we're not paying federal taxes anymore that's gone
00:43:25.080and we've just gotten rid of provincial taxes but some major new effort is felt to be of the
00:43:34.460alberta national interest and we need a one percent tax in order to finance that okay just
00:43:42.200for argument's sake that would have to go to a referendum and a vote by the public okay so so
00:43:49.320again there would be um far more direct democracy this way as well so i think then when you
00:43:58.200contemplate the way this would exist this new constitution it's really rather brilliant to
00:44:05.320think about starting from scratch with the purpose of providing a government
00:44:11.800that is truly governing for the people and that the people control the
00:44:16.120government through robust recall and robust accountability that I think the
00:44:25.240public would have very little concern about the fidelity of the way the
00:44:31.000government operates. And at present, hardly anybody trusts the way the government operates
00:44:37.140at just about every level. And finally, I want to say one other thing is that from a constitutional
00:44:42.620perspective, this would have to be decided at the level of the constitutional conference.
00:44:47.640But we would recommend that Alberta begin, at least, as a constitutional republic with ties
00:44:56.960to the commonwealth and i want to make a distinction here when you have a tie to the
00:45:01.600commonwealth it doesn't mean that you're under the monarchy so for example there are 76 commonwealth
00:45:08.640countries and 36 are constitutional republics with no ties to the monarchy so in other words
00:45:17.520it in in in canada the monarchy is the highest form of of authority and because and we call it
00:45:28.720a constitutional monarchy but in a new alberta we would recommend um that alberta be a constitutional
00:45:37.760republic no ties to the monarchy but ties to the commonwealth and why that's relevant is because
00:45:45.360ties to the commonwealth mean it facilitates trade it facilitates information sharing it
00:45:55.360facilitates military cooperation and perhaps other things as well and the final point is is that for
00:46:06.080the people who are in the middle and are feeling an attachment to canada just remember that that
00:46:13.760that for those people they would still have an attachment to the commonwealth and that may help
00:46:20.000for some to know that at least emotionally there's a tie to the commonwealth but it would be pragmatic
00:46:26.640it would be a pragmatic and an emotional tie to the commonwealth something that actually benefits
00:46:32.080albertans uh like you said trade basically finding a workable compromise of like okay well we're not
00:46:39.200we're still part of the commonwealth it's just we actually govern ourselves for a change this time
00:46:45.280so you mentioned that the draft constitution is mostly based on the united states but i've also
00:46:54.240heard you on the united states constitution but i've also heard you previously mentioned that
00:46:59.440the amendments wouldn't be necessary because those changes obviously that they had to amend
00:47:04.400would come from the very beginning, would be incorporated, the good things, and would also
00:47:09.280improve by taking some direct democracy from the Swiss model, from Switzerland, right?
00:47:16.440That's correct. That's why I brought up the issue of the direct democracy. I didn't reference it
00:47:20.500in relation to the Swiss system, but that's exactly correct. Yeah.
00:47:24.920Good, good. So now that we're talking about constitutional rights, Dr. Modri, anyone who's
00:47:30.780watched this podcast knows that we're big supporters of GON ownership here and many in
00:47:35.860the audience, particularly in Alberta, have asked what GON ownership would look like in an
00:47:42.740independent Alberta. What's the APP's proposal for that in that constitutional document? What
00:47:49.100does that look like? Property rights in general too. Well, you know, to frame the answer to that
00:47:55.580question in canada right now we don't really have uh property rights in the in the way in which
00:48:02.140people think that we do um and an example of that is uh you know if you don't pay your taxes
00:48:10.860uh then you find out you know who actually owns your property we're seeing property rights being
00:48:17.340uh trampled on right now uh with respect to um what may occur with the ostrich farm
00:48:27.020we're seeing property rights being rest asunder in richmond in terms of that recent court case
00:48:36.380which i understand the bc government is is appealing and so so the issue of property
00:48:42.780rights is really, really very important. Insofar as firearms are concerned, firearms are property.
00:48:52.040And for people who have purchased firearms legally, whether they're restricted firearms or
00:49:03.020unrestricted firearms, they purchase them legally, they use them lawfully for hunting or competition
00:49:11.480or target shooting and target shooting competitions.
00:49:16.900And there's no reason – well, the other reason why people collect firearms
00:49:23.860is they're as historic pieces as well.
00:49:30.820They're gun collectors, as an example.
00:49:33.840And so – but, you know, as well, there is the issue of being able
00:49:40.220to protect yourself. Protecting yourself if you're out hunting should be no different than
00:49:45.780protecting against a grizzly attack, you know, if that's your last, you know, bastion of
00:49:51.920protection. And it should be no different from thugs entering your home with the intent of
00:50:02.140robbing or killing you. So the ability to protect yourself, I think, is critical. And so
00:50:09.860the Alberta Prosperity Project absolutely supports legal firearm ownership. And I think that,
00:50:22.220you know, well, we've seen the pushback. The pushback has been, you know, phenomenal all
00:50:30.420across the country. Even Quebecers have recently come out in favor of legal firearm ownership.
00:50:38.560And so I think the reality that the federal government has pushed back the deadline for gun confiscation for another year tells you something, that they're receiving enormous pressure, not only from the public, but from police forces as well who say it won't do any good.
00:51:03.100It doesn't solve the problem because crime occurs as a result of illegal firearm acquisition by criminals.
00:51:14.000And it's not by legal gun owners that crime occurs.
00:51:18.460And so, you know, we have this current circumstance.
00:51:23.640But the answer to your question, PJ, is very simple.
00:51:26.640We absolutely support the legal use of firearms for all of the reasons that legal firearms are used.
00:51:36.500Good, good. I think, and I don't know if you can shed some light on this, I might have to have Mitch on for that one,
00:51:45.700Because I think I overheard him speaking about a potential or that he's proposing a potential Alberta firearms license, like obviously made in Alberta, issued in Alberta firearms license that does away with the need to get the RCMP to approve it.
00:52:06.840The Alberta authorities would be the ones approving said firearms license.
00:52:11.800Well, PJ, you're touching on two different circumstances.
00:52:17.080The circumstances you're touching on right now contemplates Alberta continuing to be stifled within Canada by the federal government.
00:52:26.540Outside of Canada, Alberta as a sovereign country obviously would have its own firearms license and controls, etc.
00:52:39.920But you're quite correct. The provincial government has looked at an Alberta licensure, and because firearms are property, Section 91 of the Constitution, it's either 91 or 92, I've forgotten myself, would permit the provincial government, because Sections 91, 92 are provincial control of property.
00:53:03.960And so it does make sense to develop an Alberta firearms license that would be relevant in that time period when we're still a province within Canada until such time as Alberta becomes a sovereign country.
00:53:21.980And then that Alberta license would still carry on as in a sovereign Alberta.
00:53:27.460Good, good. And speaking of a sovereign Alberta, if I remember correctly, you were a part of that delegation which visited Washington, D.C. to discuss matters related to Alberta independence with Trump officials.
00:53:43.820Could you recap for us what kind of support could an independent Alberta expect from our allies south of the border?
00:53:53.060Sure. And let me frame the answer this way. You'll remember when Mr. Trump and the Republicans won, and shortly after, he said he was looking for continental-wide security and energy security.
00:54:13.260Well, Alberta can help achieve those objectives, but it can do so much more as well.
00:54:21.840So as a result of that, we theorized that the U.S. administration would be strongly supportive of Alberta sovereignty.
00:54:33.860And as a result of that theory, we decided that it would be worthwhile testing.
00:54:41.620And so we made arrangements to meet with the U.S. administration at a very, very high level within the administration.
00:54:51.800And that first meeting was on April the 22nd of this year.
00:54:58.960And we were prepared for that meeting, having developed a document entitled Benefits of Alberta Sovereignty to the United States and to Alberta Citizens.
00:55:11.620And that was partly the basis for the discussion that we had there, but we were delighted to hear as we were entering the conference room the comment from the U.S. administration that the U.S. administration is highly supportive of Alberta becoming a sovereign country
00:55:38.520and recognizes that Alberta joining the U.S. as the 51st state is not in the cards, okay?
00:55:46.640So that was important for us to understand.
00:55:49.460And then we talked about the process or the rationale for them not being interested in Alberta joining the United States
00:56:02.400And just for your viewers, it's worthwhile sharing with you that why would we want to, as Alberta citizens, with next to zero to zero taxation, want to jump from the CRA to the IRS?
00:56:23.460So it wouldn't make any sense to do that.
00:56:30.420Second is, you know, the U.S. cannot even entertain a region becoming part of the United States as a 51st state unless it is already a sovereign country.
00:56:44.480And Alberta isn't yet a sovereign country.
00:56:47.700So we would have to have a second referendum where the people of Alberta voted in favor of joining the United States.
00:56:55.180And then it's very unlikely that the Congress would accept Alberta joining the United States because you need a two-thirds majority in the Senate and a two-thirds majority in the House of Representatives in order to achieve that objective of the Congress agreeing that Alberta shall become the 51st state.
00:57:19.580And the reason why it won't happen is because the Democrats would then want Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico also to become a state.
00:57:33.600And the Republicans will never agree with that because they're both Democratic states.
00:57:38.140And it's unlikely that the Democrats would agree with Alberta joining because Alberta would very likely be a Republican.
00:57:45.760So the odds of joining are almost zero, certainly in our lifetime and maybe in the next generation or two or longer.
00:57:56.380So the conversation was mostly, well, about Alberta independence and how Alberta becoming independent would help increase energy security in North America, particularly for the United States as well as Alberta.
00:58:13.640Yeah, well, there's a couple of other things. I mean, we talked about the reality of virtually eliminating trade barriers. It would basically be a free trade region across the U.S. border, which would benefit both sides enormously.
00:58:30.100We talked about, you know, moving to a U.S. currency because we trade oil and gas in the U.S. currency now.
00:58:36.900So that would be a benefit to everybody here in Alberta as well.
00:58:42.160And then we also talked about, and because I've shared this publicly, we put on the table, we didn't get a response,
00:58:49.100but we did put on the table the whole idea of, you know,
00:58:53.780would the U.S. be willing to convert for Alberta citizens one Canadian dollar to one U.S. dollar at
00:59:01.100par? And while we never got a response, it's on the table. Because remember, this was a
00:59:07.720preliminary meeting and it wasn't a meeting where you really, you know, hammer out exactly what's
00:59:12.980going to happen. But that takes me to the next meeting that we had, which was on September the
00:59:19.06029th. And that meeting was for two hours. And there were more individuals that were present
00:59:27.500from the U.S. administration. And this doesn't get to be much higher in the echelons of power
00:59:33.500because one of the individuals there is the chief of staff of one of the most
00:59:38.860powerful cabinet members of Mr. Trump's cabinet. And that meeting fundamentally confirmed
00:59:51.080everything that we talked about before. This is the second meeting, right?
00:59:56.380This was the second meeting. And we rehashed some of those things. And we talked about some
01:00:05.540things that we were asked not to share. But one of the things that I didn't mention as well is that
01:00:15.840the U.S. administration, subsequent to a successful referendum on Alberta sovereignty, will
01:00:21.720acknowledge Alberta sovereignty. And that's internationally important because it provides
01:00:29.280political and legal legitimacy to Alberta's declaration of sovereignty or declaration of
01:00:36.280independence. And that's the biggest thing here. It's once Albertans vote for independence,
01:00:44.740the most powerful nation next door, just south of the border, saying we recognize your sovereignty
01:00:51.220makes all the difference in the world. It doesn't matter whether Canada at that point disagrees,
01:00:57.940We're entering negotiations, if we do enter them, with an ace.
01:01:04.640We're entering with a very big advantage that Alberta at that point is a de facto country.
01:01:12.720China never recognized Taiwan sovereignty being separate from China.
01:01:19.780They still don't recognize them to this day.
01:01:22.060But the fact that they have international recognition from other nation states makes them a de facto country.
01:01:29.720Well, that's true. And, you know, the most recent example of that was Kosovo in February 2008.
01:01:39.040Kosovo had had a referendum and then declared its independence unilaterally from Serbia.
01:01:44.720And one month later, in March of 2008, Japan and Canada were the first two countries to acknowledge Kosovo's newfound sovereignty.
01:01:56.440And I think it would be rather hypocritical, don't you, PJ, if Canada, the rest of Canada, didn't acknowledge Alberta's sovereignty subsequent to a successful referendum on sovereignty.
01:02:09.120And by the way, Quebec, when we met with Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, the leader of the Parti Quebecois, towards the end of September, he also said when he becomes premier next year and they have a referendum on sovereignty, that they will acknowledge Alberta's sovereignty subsequent to a referendum as well.
01:02:35.460Oh, yeah. That's another thing that people are not paying a ton of attention to, because I think at this point in time, at least in Canada and internationally even, Alberta is, disturbably so, getting most of the attention when it comes to the sovereignty topic.
01:02:51.440But Quebec has been moving, and I mean, they've been doing this for decades and decades. Their sovereignty movement is well more advanced than ours when it comes to institutionalization of it.
01:03:01.380I'm fairly certain that the governing party at the National Assembly, I can't speak French, at their National Assembly, they unveiled their own constitution, didn't they? Are you aware of that?
01:03:16.840Well, I think this is interesting to think about. When King Charles was here for the opening of
01:03:27.160parliament in the spring, the entire Quebec legislature, so all the parties in Quebec
01:03:36.600that formed the Quebec legislature in a unanimous vote voted to end the relationship with the
01:03:42.360monarchy. And Mr. Plamondin's Parti Quebecois, which has won the last three by-elections and
01:03:51.140is leading massively in the polls right now, is very likely to become the governing party in
01:03:59.160Quebec. And he said to us at that meeting towards the end of September, that when he becomes premier,
01:04:05.780he will remove the lieutenant governor as well. So if you think about Quebec, they never signed
01:04:12.160the Constitution Act 1982. They have already jettisoned the monarchy, and they're going to
01:04:22.360get rid of the lieutenant governor. Ostensibly, they're already a sovereign country. And section
01:04:28.560155 of the Supreme Court analysis of the Quebec secession reference would conceivably give them
01:04:35.280the right to declare their sovereignty unilaterally and without a referendum and and um so they're
01:04:45.040right now um preparing a constitution for quebec okay and that constitution for quebec
01:04:54.160basically will get them out from under federal control of just about anything so at that point
01:05:01.280Do you see where you see where I think I'm going with this?
01:05:03.720This is my understanding of the Constitution that they are going to be putting forth in the near future.
01:05:11.460I don't believe it's released yet, but it's coming up.
01:05:15.100And so and that's the implication of it.
01:05:19.700And like you said, the party Quebecois, which is the party that Paul St. Pierre is leading, they're way ahead in the polls.
01:05:28.540They are expected to sweep their election, and they've won the previous by-elections that they've had.
01:05:36.780So things are about to get very interesting in North America, particularly in Quebec and Alberta, as referendums are imminent.
01:05:45.560Yeah. And of course, the federal party, which is the Bloc Quebecois, which only exists in Quebec, will be working hand in glove with the Parti Quebecois to bring about a successful referendum if they actually want to actually go ahead with the referendum.
01:06:05.000Because can you imagine what would Ottawa do if they just declared their independence unilaterally? I don't think they could do very much. But the implications already are interesting for us here in Alberta, because if Quebec is no longer part of a constitutional monarchy, because they've gotten rid of the monarchy, then why are they getting $14 billion of equalization payments?
01:06:31.040And we give $14 billion to the equalization formula, you see.
01:06:37.740But Mr. Plomondon said something very important that I think your listeners need to understand.
01:06:43.740And that is that the reason they want Quebec to become a sovereign country is because they want to preserve their language, their culture, and they want to get out from under federal political corruption.
01:06:56.640And Mr. Plamondon said very clearly that those that $15 billion that Quebec receives is used to corrupt the political system.
01:07:10.680And we don't need that $14 billion because when we're out from under all federal regulation and taxation, our fiscal capacity surplus will exceed that $14 billion.
01:07:22.540dollars so we'll have more money available to us in a sovereign quebec when the federal government
01:07:29.100isn't controlling us anymore so i thought that was very interesting wow well dr modri i
01:07:37.100this has been an amazing conversation i am and i'm gonna throw this in there i am uh i've said
01:07:43.740on this channel a couple of times now at least that i don't believe canada survives as a country
01:07:51.580I think we're going to be looking at the balkanization, and I take no pleasure in saying this, but I think we're witnessing the balkanization of Canada in real time.
01:08:01.860Regional differences are becoming more pronounced, not only culturally with Quebec, which obviously culturally, but financially, as in Quebec seems to be moving forward very firmly and very quickly.
01:08:18.020So Canada is looking a lot like Yugoslavia before it fell apart.
01:08:24.860But I'm going to play devil's advocate, if you'll allow me here, for five minutes.
01:08:29.600I'm going to talk about some of the things that people on the other side that don't support independence would say and that they comment, you know, the trolls comment every day on each and every one of my videos.
01:08:44.920PJ, before you do, let me make one comment.
01:08:47.380One of the things that we agreed to in our meeting with Paul St-Pierre Plamondon was this.
01:08:53.280He said, you know what, if we were out from under any federal control, we would probably work very harmoniously together, respecting our differences.
01:09:05.080But where trade makes sense, where other things make sense, we would probably work very harmoniously together.
01:09:14.420So even though there may be balkanization, the reality is that we may actually have a more functional structure in terms of relationships with other regions.
01:09:54.000Alberta cannot separate because the land and resources belong to the crown,
01:10:00.100and therefore they belong to the federal government.
01:10:03.340Yeah, well, the fact of the matter is that's not true at all.
01:10:08.740We have crown lands in Alberta. 60% of Alberta is crown lands. 81% of that 60% is controlled by the provincial government. 19% is controlled by the federal government. As a consequence, in a successful referendum for sovereignty, Alberta will take control of that 19% of crown lands as well.
01:10:32.340And why I know this is because there will be negotiations. There's a 1.3, soon to be $1.4 trillion debt, if Carney gets his way, because he's predicting $100 billion deficit. And so there will be negotiations on the debt. There'll be negotiations on the $400 billion that the federal government owes Alberta with respect to the Alberta pension plan.
01:10:59.740and there will be negotiations on the military basis.
01:11:04.580So at the end of the day, that person is dead wrong.
01:11:10.040And there's, remember, the Supreme Court has already said this,
01:11:15.240and this is Section 154 of the Supreme Court analysis.
01:11:56.540All right. Well, there you go. And that's also international law. That is international law.
01:12:02.980It's also international law. Yeah. And then the same goes for the resources, because the resources belong to the provinces, right?
01:12:11.100The resources belong to the provinces and they will still remain within the provinces.
01:12:15.840Right. Right. OK, so here I'm coming with another one. I'm going to put on my union boss.
01:12:22.300not not one of the unions because there's a lot of common sense people on union members i mean
01:12:26.380one of the union bosses the ones who benefit from the chaos right and i'm gonna say um alberta would
01:12:34.060fail as an independent country because it is landlocked okay um okay well i'm gonna answer
01:12:41.660the landlocked question and i'm also gonna i wanna carry on an answer an investment question okay so
01:12:49.580right now canada is landlocked alberta as a sovereign country still doesn't have an ocean
01:12:56.620at its border right but the difference between the two is we're policy locked we're policy
01:13:03.820locked by the federal government because the federal government negotiates trades and the
01:13:09.260federal government um is is in a situation along with adjacent provinces to control what happens
01:13:17.580in alberta so so to a very large extent when alberta becomes a sovereign country okay now
01:13:26.860you can look at well the united nations convention on the law of the sea articles 124 and 125 require
01:13:36.780that countries that do not have access to tide water must have access to tide water transit
01:13:44.940through other countries that are already that have an ocean border and so so there you have
01:13:54.380international law united nations convention on the law of the sea states that very clearly
01:14:01.100that's number one number two um within canada we don't have any ability to push back against
01:14:11.660these things such as bill c48 the tanker ban we we can't push back against these things
01:14:18.300as a sovereign country we can now say that we have negotiating power we have clout we have the
01:14:28.700ability for example if we're really if we're dealing with an intransigent british columbia
01:14:35.180or an intransigent manitoba ontario or whatever then we can say well look if you don't work with
01:14:44.620us on these things we will block trade going east and west across our border okay or will highly
01:14:53.900tariff goods and services going across our border or we will block air flights going through going
01:15:03.020over alberta so alberta has far more clout this way as a sovereign country it wouldn't make sense
01:15:12.380for the rest of the country to embargo alberta we quite strongly feel as though
01:15:18.780saner minds will prevail and everybody will recognize the economic benefit of working
01:15:26.860collaboratively and collegially with the sovereign alberta and it's very likely that saskatchewan
01:15:32.620is going to be right there with us anyhow so that makes sense and then the final point i would say is
01:15:38.460is even now 90 of our trade goes south and when we have a free trade arrangement with the u.s
01:15:45.100there will be even more trade that goes south but the landlocked the landlocked argument
01:15:53.180doesn't hold water at all and i want to make one other point and that is in relation to investment
01:15:59.340some people have said that um alberta is a sovereign country uh in business will flee alberta
01:16:08.060investment will dry up people won't invest in alberta because of uncertainty
01:16:14.300well let's examine the record the record is is that look at what happened when the federal
01:16:21.580government blocked investment in alberta as a result of the national energy policy
01:16:27.260and as a result of equalization and other confiscatory tax policies and regulatory
01:16:34.560costs, we've lost over a trillion dollars of planned investment in Alberta. The Premier has
01:16:41.140pointed out, as well as the Canadian Taxpayer Federation, that just in the last 10 years,
01:16:46.520we've lost over $500 billion of planned investment in Alberta because the investors
01:16:54.980couldn't see a business case. And they couldn't see a business case. Why? Because of federal
01:17:01.280regulation and taxation. And just since Mr. Carney has been elected, we've lost another
01:17:08.240$89 billion of planned investment in Alberta because of federal regulation and taxation.
01:17:15.060And then when you look at economic growth of all industrialized countries in the world,
01:17:21.840economic growth per GDP we're dead last dead last 1.4 percent economic growth in 10 years
01:17:31.500that is absolutely abysmal and it is only because of federal regulation and taxation
01:17:37.520so the argument that some people would use that investment would dry up it's already dried up
01:17:43.880And the contrary argument, though, is that investors will always go to the least regulated and least taxed regions in order to run their businesses and generate a profit so that they can even grow their businesses and provide at a competitive advantage pricing that makes sense for consumers.
01:18:10.520So this Alberta becoming a sovereign country will be a magnet for investment.
01:18:16.880Capitalism. Capitalism. That's the way to go.
01:18:20.320But you touched on something that's important. This is why socialists, socialists hate capitalism.
01:18:28.080OK. And and and so this is part of the cultural difference in Canada, Ontario,
01:18:35.940Quebec, and, you know, some areas in the Maritimes are very socialistic in their thinking.
01:18:41.440Southwest BC is very socialistic in its thinking.
01:18:44.840Manitoba is somewhat very socialistic in its thinking.
01:18:48.120But the rest is very capitalistic in its thinking.
01:18:52.400And so this is why we have this dichotomy.
01:18:55.500And, you know, we have to just recognize we can't continue trying to put a square peg in a round hole.
01:19:01.820The same thing isn't going to work for everybody.
01:19:04.520Oh, yeah. Okay, and then one more for you, Dr. Madrina, I appreciate you being here with us. One more, one more, one of those comments here that I get all the time. One more of those. So, okay, that all sounds great, but Albertans are going to lose their passports. You don't get to remain Canadian. It's not going to happen. You don't get to have your cake and eat it too. You lose your passport, okay?