We Asked Albertans： Why SEPARATE From Canada？
Episode Stats
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163.53464
Summary
This weekend, thousands of people lined up in the streets of Edmonton, Alberta to sign the petition to separate from Canada and become an independent country of Alberta. Why is it so important to have a referendum on separating from Canada?
Transcript
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so this weekend i drove into edmonton alberta's capital the city that's supposed to be the most
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liberal in the province because i kept seeing the same thing online thousands of people lining up
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just to sign the alberta independence petition and i'll be honest i couldn't believe it for a second
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i was like really in edmonton i don't think so i thought it was all social media hype but the
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second i got there that idea died real fast the lines were massive the energy was undeniable and
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this were not paid activists this were everyday albertans so i didn't just watch i started asking
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questions and what you're about to hear are real conversations with alberta patriots
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explaining in their own words why they're ready to leave canada behind
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what brings you out here in a afternoon saturday afternoon in edmonton we just gotta separate
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we're just otherwise otherwise not a friend the divorce yes we need a divorce definitely yeah
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we just don't have a say even the elections i mean everything's decided before it even gets to us
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why are you here uh in support of alberta independence and what's the one thing first
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thing you'd like to see in a country of alberta alberta republic if you will national self-determination
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you put it put it very succinctly self-determination what what does that what does that look like
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on day one what do we do on day one we need to have a lot of conversations as albertans and and
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take it slow and and intel make intelligent changes as opposed to just out of the gate on day one doing
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anything radical just because i'm fed up with the government the federal right and smith is on the
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right track good for her and i support her all the way yeah and what's the number one thing you'd like
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to see in an independent alberta in an alberta republic if you will well i don't know just to be
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sovereign and uh be able to make our own decisions for what's good for us what brought you all here
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today why are you here an opportunity to be a part of trying to make some real change it was a busy
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weekend for a group of albertans trying to force a referendum on separating from canada hannah
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lapine is in this morning and hannah canvassers were out in full force yeah jefferson events were
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held in central and southern alberta including in edmonton and okotoks stay free alberta the group
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heading the petition has been hosting canvassing events across the province since elections alberta
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gave them the green light in early january they need 177 732 signatures by may 2nd in order to
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trigger a referendum vote by midday on saturday at least 500 albertans had shown up to a northeast
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edmonton park to sign their names a button needs to be strong and free from the chakos of the libra
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government we are tired we don't matter in this relationship and it has to stop i think we've
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had enough if you don't take this opportunity then you'll just go along with what the federal
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government you know you gotta you gotta like speak for yourself you know this is this is the power of
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the people our voices agreed yeah like what do we have if we don't have our voice this is what momentum
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actually looks like not a hashtag not a trend real people in real lines waiting hours just to put their
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name on paper hundreds thousands showing up not because someone told them to but because they're fed up
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you can feel it on the ground the energy is just different people are locked in focused motivated
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and even though the government paid media is trying to downplay it to no surprise they can't ignore it
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anymore the lines are too long the photos are too clear the momentum is just too real this is not
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going away this is only growing and every single day more albertans are stepping forward and saying
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enough it's time what were you guys here today to support uh the petition just change yeah positive
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change get heard you know see alberta you know maybe prosper a little better over the years we'll
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see hopefully yeah at least better for everybody make alberta better and then once alberta's better
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maybe we can help out after that but alberta's got to get better first before anything else and what
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would you like to see happen or what would you like to see be the first thing that a free alberta
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implements or creates like the first thing what what is the most important thing for you
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our healthcare system just like with the hospitals like the wait times the hospitals are absolutely
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insane so if we've got 26 billion dollars going out east if we could put that back in the hospital
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schools you know for the future people generation stuff like that that's gonna be a major difference
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not to mention like with our homeless stuff going on like veterans on the streets
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people have fought for the country like why are they on the streets and then we got
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other people getting handouts like it's tough right but as soon as we can help ourselves and
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we can help everybody else i think we can be better that way afterwards definitely try to get everybody
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working you know just just the economy just the economy why am i out here yeah to make alberta great
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again heck yeah and what makes alberta great on day one of an independent alberta what is the number one
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thing you want to see my money stay here in alberta and uh sticking up for the things that i grew up in
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this province and 50 years ago it was great now it's to me it's just falling apart so equalization
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payments basically keeping our money in alberta as opposed to sending it to other provinces yeah if we
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we have any x over or left over maybe then maybe then we can help them out but help out our own
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people first i think we need some freedom and to get away from this failing country that we're
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living in right now so i don't know i think he hit the nail on the head and
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kind of i agree too yeah yeah day one what would you like to see alberta do as an independent country
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to make you more free to give albertans more freedom uh taxes and not supporting the rest of
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canada taking care of alberta exactly first yeah eager to add their names to the list of signatures
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calling for a referendum on alberta independence i just wanted to get this done and i think more
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albertans need to come and get signed up for this too we need our freedom we need to be able to make our
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own decisions we're pretty excited about the fact that we're getting long lineups around the halls to
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sign um you know that's uh that's always wonderful we're not having to chase people around they're
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coming to us petition proponent mitch sylvester says stay free alberta wants to collect more than
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the 177 000 signatures it needs he says the goal is getting higher based on the support they're hearing
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our goal is to make this too big too dark so so you know what based on what's happening right now
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that's a definite possibility people here say the message resonates with them because of the
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relationship they say alberta has with the rest of canada they won't give us our pipelines they don't
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support oil they've never been on our side since the beginning no representation we have no
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representation in western canada if we separate more jobs will open up because the government likes to
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hold that stuff out it seems like we're getting robbed by the east so much that we got to stand up
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sylvester says his motivations began at the beginning of the covet 19 pandemic when his store
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was forced to close they shut my store down and canadian tire and walmart were open down the road i'm
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worried for our children's children if we don't do this when you see crowds like this showing up in a
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so-called liberal city like edmonton real people standing in line for two hours or more to put pen to paper
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and collectively say enough is enough you realize albertans are not playing games when it comes to
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independence they mean business and if the government and their puppets in the media think they can just
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ignore this they're doing it at their own peril thank you for watching if you support these videos
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subscribe and click the bell icon so you never miss an update from pj special thanks to each and every
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channel member for your support and for making these reports possible i'll see you in the next episode cheers