PJ The Belt - May 09, 2026


They Just SHUT DOWN ＂Pro Alberta＂ Youtube Channels


Episode Stats


Length

11 minutes

Words per minute

187.87575

Word count

2,250

Sentence count

111


Summary

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

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
00:00:00.000 with this video it's pretty evident that their goal is to portray everyone on youtube who
00:00:15.120 is pro alberta independence every podcaster every citizen journalist as part of a group of
00:00:21.320 fake actors why don't you just join our country you become the 51st state people are seriously
00:00:27.380 underestimating how big this is. Watching these videos, you might think these Canadians want to
00:00:32.080 join the U.S. Western provinces moving towards a U.S. aligned path has left Canada stunned. But what
00:00:37.740 if I told you most of these people aren't even really Canadian? We follow the digital clues to
00:00:42.200 expose a web of hired actors and the people behind them. It starts with Bart Craning, another American
00:00:48.820 actor hired to be the face of a channel called David Fraser YT. For years, Alberta was told
00:00:54.240 Interesting, they didn't put Canadian David Frazier or Canadian Frazier.
00:00:58.300 They put just David Frazier and the guy's name ain't even David nor Frazier.
00:01:02.860 His name is Bart.
00:01:06.220 I feel so violated.
00:01:07.600 I think all of it's bulls**t.
00:01:09.800 Okay, so for anyone who doesn't know what's going on in Canada,
00:01:12.820 Alberta is a province that produces most of the country's crude oil,
00:01:15.880 millions of barrels a day.
00:01:17.100 This means Alberta pays a lot of money into the national budget,
00:01:19.800 creating tensions that have led some Albertans to want to break away.
00:01:22.840 Independence is a matter of survival for Albertans.
00:01:25.800 We have to get out from underneath Ottawa.
00:01:27.740 They only mentioned the money part of Alberta's grievances and Alberta's legitimate concerns,
00:01:31.880 which is the fact that Alberta sends more money to the rest of the country than it receives.
00:01:35.940 But it's not only that, it's the political unfairness that Alberta has faced since Confederation,
00:01:41.460 since it became a part of Confederation in 1905.
00:01:44.140 The fact that Alberta only has six senators with a population of 5 million people,
00:01:47.860 while provinces like New Brunswick, with a population of less than a million, have 10 senators.
00:01:53.400 The fact that Quebec gets guaranteed three Supreme Court justices,
00:01:57.140 while all of Western Canada, including Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, and the territories, only get two.
00:02:03.160 Let that sink in.
00:02:04.200 Well, they're only talking about the money there, but I digress.
00:02:06.940 Move forward as a country.
00:02:08.240 And the Trump administration likes the idea.
00:02:10.640 Alberta's a natural partner for the U.S.
00:02:13.160 Rumors that they may have a referendum on whether they want to stay in Canada or not.
00:02:17.860 So it's a real thing, and that might be why this sentiment is being exploited online.
00:02:22.160 A report from the Media Ecosystem Observatory highlighted what it calls
00:02:25.520 20 YouTube channels that contain frequent and obvious lies
00:02:29.580 and are designed to exploit political divisions.
00:02:31.880 We looked at 20 specific and authentic channels that are coordinated together,
00:02:35.720 and amongst them, they got 40 million views in the past 12 months.
00:02:39.680 The video network itself is very deceptive.
00:02:42.180 They use the same scripts, the same phrasing, the same titles.
00:02:45.080 This channel is built on freedom of expression.
00:02:47.860 All content is created for informational and educational purposes.
00:02:52.340 They just plainly fabricate statistics such as polls supporting separatism, annexation,
00:02:58.580 taking advantage of real grievances Albertans have to drive Klik's engagement to the channel.
00:03:03.940 But we wanted to find out who is actually behind these channels.
00:03:07.000 So we go down the rabbit hole and find the truth about some of these accounts.
00:03:11.380 Our first clue was the X accounts linked to these YouTube channels.
00:03:14.760 Two of them were created while connected to the Netherlands app store.
00:03:17.860 pretty far from Alberta.
00:03:19.100 We zero in on this account, The Canadian Politician.
00:03:22.020 Hello and welcome to The Canadian Politician,
00:03:24.180 your trusted source for sharp analysis
00:03:26.060 and updates on the latest developments
00:03:27.580 in Canadian politics.
00:03:29.380 These people often put Canadian before their name.
00:03:32.020 I've noticed that.
00:03:32.860 It's like, well, you know, I gotta sell it.
00:03:35.100 You gotta sell the fact that you're in Canada,
00:03:36.980 even though you're not.
00:03:38.020 We reverse image search and find James
00:03:39.900 is really Matt Berry, a Calgary-based media personality.
00:03:43.020 I was just kind of just applying it
00:03:44.180 for a bunch of different gigs.
00:03:45.420 The idea was that it was like $20 a video to start,
00:03:47.580 And then he was going to like monetize.
00:03:49.100 So what happened was this was an audition video.
00:03:50.820 But we never came to any actual agreement.
00:03:52.460 You're getting underpaid, man.
00:03:53.900 20 bucks per video?
00:03:56.080 Damn.
00:03:56.960 For actually like signed a contract.
00:03:59.460 What are you thinking when we reveal this to you?
00:04:01.920 My heart sank.
00:04:02.800 You must be talking about the wrong person.
00:04:04.600 This is not stuff I believe.
00:04:06.280 He shares a Google Doc with information about the job.
00:04:08.760 It's owned by someone who used an email address that includes the name Don Yerger.
00:04:12.820 Using DarkSide, a tool for searching databases leaked online.
00:04:15.940 We connect that email to social media accounts for a Don Jurgers in the Netherlands,
00:04:20.200 who works as a sports journalist.
00:04:21.800 So we call him.
00:04:23.920 Don?
00:04:24.780 Yes, with you. Am I speaking?
00:04:26.920 Yeah, my name is Eric Seto.
00:04:28.300 I'm a journalist at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
00:04:30.880 I just want to make sure we're the right person here.
00:04:32.960 You are the same person that has been contracting people to make YouTube videos.
00:04:37.180 Is that the right Don?
00:04:38.480 Yes.
00:04:39.180 Oh.
00:04:39.780 How do you get my number?
00:04:41.080 Oh, but it's gone online.
00:04:42.980 Okay.
00:04:43.280 Good job.
00:04:43.680 Sorry, and it's fine, I'm missing.
00:04:45.560 Oh, it's okay.
00:04:46.400 Well, listen, I want to just learn about the contracts with the YouTube channels and stuff
00:04:50.160 and just kind of get an understanding of how it works, if you have a second.
00:04:53.200 Yeah, let's just contact through another way because it's kind of weird that you're calling me out of the blue.
00:05:01.880 Why is it odd?
00:05:03.680 We contact Don again, and he denies any involvement, saying what he said on the phone was a misunderstanding.
00:05:08.600 But that's not the only connection we make to people in the Netherlands.
00:05:11.500 This is a channel called Canadian Hub, hosted by someone named Paul.
00:05:15.020 Hello there, my name is Paul, your reliable reporter for in-depth analysis and updates on the latest Canadian news.
00:05:21.280 We find his TikTok account and learn he's a voice actor.
00:05:24.140 Hey, I'm going live here in just a minute. Check it out.
00:05:26.580 Then we use the sign at the back of this video that says Rush Memorial Hospital and geolocate him to the U.S. in Indiana.
00:05:33.540 Can I ask you how much they would pay you for each video?
00:05:36.040 The first couple he paid me $60 for.
00:05:38.760 This guy made $30 per video. The other guy in Calgary made $20 a video, and that guy was in Canada, in Alberta, of all places, but he wasn't the owner of the channel, and he wasn't his voice. They were sending him scripts to read, and he was getting about, he was getting $20 per video to read a script.
00:05:55.360 Do any more things, because I don't want to be a part of that. I'm in Indiana. I don't know anything about Canadian politics.
00:06:01.740 Was there any indication that the people you were speaking to that were contracting you, were they Dutch?
00:06:06.460 That's very possible.
00:06:07.460 he sends us chats with someone who goes by Marijn Masseus on discord we match
00:06:12.520 that name and a profile photo to a man in the Netherlands named Marijn Masseus
00:06:16.280 he calls himself a digital creator we contact Marijn over email and he also
00:06:20.420 denies any involvement making money with videos that you don't have to appear in
00:06:23.900 using actors or AI and we find that two people behind these channels took the
00:06:27.740 same course hosted by Niels it starts with Bart Craning another American actor
00:06:32.060 hired to be the face of a channel called David Fraser YT for years Alberta was
00:06:36.800 told interesting they didn't put canadian david frazier or canadian frazier they put just david
00:06:42.000 frazier and the guy's name ain't even david nor frazier his name is bart let's see sit down stay
00:06:49.440 quiet and accept the system suddenly that same system is saying something very different now
00:06:54.720 they want to talk now they want negotiations we know he's the actor behind it because he reveals
00:06:59.680 it on his snapchat you guys go so buddy is a voice actor i mean an actor on camera obviously
00:07:08.080 and uh he's getting paid to read a script again uh and before that there were also they did another
00:07:14.320 report where there was um ai slop too they were using some of the so-called creators were using
00:07:20.480 ai to read the script at 74 years old the southern alberton supports separation saying it's the best
00:07:29.040 for the province's future i think for our younger generation and our grandkids i think it would be
00:07:34.240 a good thing joe trotz emphasizes that most supporters are calling for independence
00:07:39.120 not annexation but a new report identifies a network of about 20 youtube channels posing
00:07:44.480 as albertan voices some of the channels have actual like ai body and avatars performing the
00:07:50.160 content and some just have ai voiceover i want you to understand that even though this investigation
00:07:56.720 looks like something positive and it kind of is on the surface it also has another side to it
00:08:02.360 and we're going to talk about that in a moment you can see what youtube pays how many videos
00:08:07.780 do you think you've done with them so they sent me two more for tomorrow which would be episodes
00:08:11.480 232 and 233 so 230 videos you've done we put out video after video about separation why are nine
00:08:19.560 out of our 10 videos on the main page about canadian separation that was what i brought up
00:08:23.800 to them how many channels do you guys actually run that's when i texted you back they said we
00:08:28.840 are not a part of misinformation campaign at the moment we have 12 channels running 12 channels
00:08:33.920 running and they just keep sending him the scripts to read to this actor guy uh on david frazier
00:08:41.560 very very candid of him to be so honest because this might cost those people who hire him this
00:08:48.140 might cost them their channel
00:08:53.800 he wasn't really like he had no skin in the game like you can tell when someone's not
00:08:59.540 like they're this person is not in canada that like there's no live streams there's no cross
00:09:05.320 connection with other creators like myself where you see me live on the activities here in alberta
00:09:10.680 or you see me in a vehicle in alberta or you see me with other creators that are from alberta etc
00:09:15.700 etc you can tell there's just no skin in the game it's just a script being read right and this is
00:09:21.360 the dark side of this whole so-called investigation from the cbc because as always you can't expect
00:09:27.900 the cbc to do something out of the goodness of their heart they're always serving their pay
00:09:32.380 masters in the liberal government so they do this investigation where they went after some sloppy
00:09:37.360 so-called youtubers right who use the topic of alberta independence to spread misinformation
00:09:42.920 sometimes about the movement to make a quick dollar most of these people aren't even canadian
00:09:48.180 let alone albertan they're not in alberta they're not in canada but they use the topic to get the
00:09:53.940 views and so the cbc investigated them and found out the obvious these people are not in canada
00:10:00.080 a lot of them are paid actors working for people in the netherlands netherlands of all places up
00:10:05.020 to this point i see nothing wrong with the cbc looking into this and exposing it but the darker
00:10:09.960 angle and the not so positive part of this video is what they intentionally left out with this
00:10:15.280 video it's pretty evident that their goal is to portray everyone on youtube who is pro alberta
00:10:20.940 independence every podcaster every citizen journalist as part of a group of fake actors
00:10:27.320 and they didn't take 30 seconds to say hey not all youtube channels who cover the topic of alberta
00:10:32.900 sovereignty are part of this scam being ran out of the netherlands they didn't mention rebel news
00:10:38.520 They didn't mention people like John Bolton, myself, The Critical Compass, Igor, Unacceptable Fringe, and several other YouTubers and podcasters who are the real deal.
00:10:49.180 People who actually live in Alberta and are genuinely involved in the process.
00:10:53.380 And that was no coincidence.
00:10:54.880 Their goal was to paint us all with a broad brush so that new viewers believe that all of this is just a scam being run from the Netherlands.
00:11:03.780 And honestly, I don't think that was a mistake.
00:11:06.600 They meant to do that.
00:11:07.860 So again, this is why I say the mainstream media, government-paid media, is the enemy of the people. These people are literally paid to manipulate your opinion, to peddle government talking points and do the government's bidding.
00:11:22.600 Let me know in the comments, have you encountered these YouTube channels?
00:11:25.980 Have you seen them?
00:11:27.080 Were you aware of the fact that a lot of these people are paid actors?
00:11:30.820 Were you aware of the fact that they're not even in Canada?
00:11:33.240 They're not even Canadian, let alone Albertan.
00:11:35.420 They have no skin in the game.
00:11:37.180 They're just out there to make a quick buck.
00:11:39.100 But let me know what you think in the comments, and I'll see you in the next one.
00:11:41.640 This being PJ, peace.
00:11:43.100 I hear the train is coming.
00:11:47.440 It's rolling around the bed.
00:11:52.220 And I ain't seen the sunshine
00:11:56.560 I don't know where