00:01:21.920You can learn more at albertas-choice.com.
00:01:26.780And at first I wasn't going to be on the telethon or I didn't know if I would have time to be
00:01:33.640on the telethon, although I had previously committed to be on the telethon.
00:01:38.620But I thought, you know what, maybe my time is best spent out in the world.
00:01:42.940So on July 18th, the albertas-choice.com sign crew, which was basically me, Tamara Leach, Ezra, and Lyndon, our CFO, hit the road across southern Alberta in the blazing scorching heat.
00:02:02.140We started the day early, roughly 8.30 in Okotoks, were there for two hours.
00:02:06.860Then we went to Lethbridge, we were there for another two hours, and from there we went
00:02:10.700to Medicine Hat, where temperatures reached approximately 38 degrees.
00:02:16.780But, wouldn't you know it, our schedule left me about a half an hour's worth of extra time
00:02:24.640when I was in Lethbridge to get from Lethbridge to Medicine Hat.
00:02:28.860I think the intention was so that I could grab lunch. But I decided to forego lunch, grabbed my friend Tamara Leach, and I thought, why not jump on the telethon from the sign handout location in Lethbridge?
00:02:44.640And just a little side note on that story, when we were in Lethbridge in the exact same parking lot at the exact same time, so same city, same time, same location, same activities, might I add, the Forever Canada people were there on the other side of the parking lot.
00:03:05.280of course they planned that to disrupt my sign drop-off didn't work but forever canada doing
00:03:15.180the exact same activities in the referendum campaign doesn't appear to be complying to the
00:03:22.280exact same rules that i am you see i can't take any money from outside the province i have to
00:03:30.640tell elections alberta bureaucrats my expenses and the money coming in
00:03:38.600forever canada doesn't appear to be doing that so two third-party advertisers in the referendum
00:03:45.300campaign two different sets of rules so that seems unfair doesn't it wherever you stand on
00:03:53.540the referendum and i know i disagree with many people with whom i normally agree on alberta
00:04:00.180independence there should be a level playing field right right and i refuse to be like the
00:04:06.020forever canada people one of whom came over and yelled at a nice uh lady in her golden years
00:04:12.660on our side of the parking lot that is until some able-bodied independence-minded men stepped in
00:04:19.600i refuse to make enemies of my friends over this issue we just disagree and that's okay
00:04:25.920in a free society. I don't think that people with whom I disagree are evil on this issue. I just
00:04:37.640think that they're wrong. Now, there are some evil people on the other side of this,
00:04:41.760but generally, I just think that they're wrong. And I think that's how things used to be. And I'm
00:04:49.460trying to keep that mindset. All that is to say, I thought I would show you
00:08:35.980And I just want to reiterate what Tamara is saying.
00:08:38.000So unlike what is being offered on the other side of this, very little arguments outside of nostalgia and name calling from the Forever Canada and the Federalist side, the people on the independent side, they're full of facts.
00:08:53.460They can tell you the number when you talk to them about equalization. They can tell you the number when you talk to them about the inequitable distribution of Senate seats.
00:09:05.420they come armed with the facts and the other side just comes with like i said nostalgia and insults
00:09:11.620it's well we love canada um i used to love it too i love what it used to be and you know they
00:09:19.860they call you names they shut down the argument in fact um we had i should tell you crazy thing
00:09:26.020we didn't plan it this way when we got here to our spot well the forever canada people were set
00:09:31.760up across the parking lot um and you know they kept to their side we kept to ours it's fine i
00:09:37.720don't want to fight with them i wanted i want to have our say at the ballot box but they did have
00:09:43.200somebody from their side get a little frisky and come over here and get a little aggressive with a0.84
00:09:48.640nice older lady but he shut his mouth real fast when the young fellas got involved um you know
00:09:55.580if your argument comes down to pointing your fingers in the face of a little old lady maybe
00:10:01.420you don't have an argument at all i mean and that's one of the things that i'm so proud about
00:10:07.260this side of the of the movement is is that you know people we are not the ones out there calling
00:10:11.580names or being disrespectful stealing signs stealing signs for example exactly you know
00:10:16.300uh like i said everyone's really happy happy and they're hopeful uh and they're respectful
00:10:21.420to to others and and what other people's points of view are yeah and sorry maybe we're monopolizing
00:10:27.740the show right now it's all good it's all good go ahead i'm very excited because this is a it's a
00:10:33.440it really fills your uh social battery up to meet with people all day you know we're in journalism
00:10:39.780so we get a lot of anger directed at us on social media but it's good to touch grass quite literally
00:10:46.600and be in the real world with real people and as tamir said the these people are hopeful they're
00:10:51.700not scared there is a substantial portion of the canadian population that is addicted to fear post
00:10:56.820covid and so that now that the covid fear has receded the fear of separation is their new
00:11:02.080addiction but you know when you talk to these people and i've sort of said it all day they're
00:11:06.560not scared they they really believe in albertans that there's nothing that we can't do when you
00:11:12.920look at the place that we were able to build in spite of the federal government in spite of the
00:11:18.340weather and the climate and all the challenges that faced this province since its inception
00:11:23.720we have built a wonderful beautiful place that we must protect as our own and it's a pioneering
00:11:29.940spirit we were pioneers and we're about to pioneer a new country our trailblazers yeah
00:11:36.240we got the people we got the talent we got the resources we got the experience we got the know
00:11:41.060enthusiasm that's right and positivity 50 percent
00:11:46.480exactly no tomorrow i wanted to ask you i think you were a part of we exit before people
00:11:52.840took you know western independence seriously i mean how how does it feel any different from
00:11:59.2602019 how does it feel right now oh man well there's definitely a lot more momentum and and i think
00:12:05.860maybe the maverick party was a little bit ahead of its time you know i've often thought what it
00:12:11.240would be like to have that to have something like that now as opposed to 2019 um but i i would say
00:12:18.220that the sentiment now is is much more increased. There's a lot more support behind Delray
00:12:25.220independence now for sure. And I think seeing those numbers on the petition normalized it for
00:12:30.880a lot of people. I think a lot of people believe in independence. Maybe they didn't put their name
00:12:34.880on the petition. But seeing that 301,000 of their fellow Albertans were willing to stick their name
00:12:40.740and address on a piece of paper to say, we deserve a chance. I think it really normalized the
00:12:46.280conversation it's not a fringe thing you know we know the majority of people within the ucp party
00:12:51.720itself support western independence we know that nearly 50 and this is from our albertas-choice.com
00:13:00.580uh official polling data and we hired main street to do it for us so we we thought we'd hire a sort
00:13:05.980of a left-leaning pollster so we knew exactly what we were dealing with we wanted to know the
00:13:10.700mountain we had to overcome but we got data that showed that like almost 50 percent of indigenous
00:13:17.160people support independence regardless of what their chiefs are saying so we know that this is
00:13:23.040a really mainstream movement regardless of the lies as a mainstream media and there are a few
00:13:31.080people in the middle and that's all it's going to take to get this over the finish line and i mean
00:13:35.460think every time uh prime minister Carney opens his mouth 10 new uh independent supporters yeah
00:13:40.740they're born they're born mr Carney oh yeah and i actually wanted to ask you
00:13:49.300Sheila about your your book you know for that you wrote on the blueprint i wanted to ask you
00:13:54.020because there was a referendum 1995 for Quebec and uh you know they they did the right kind
00:14:00.100of preparation do you think we are getting this this preparation right for ourselves right now
00:14:05.460You know, when I wrote the book, we weren't, you know, and that's the problem with writing books is they only show a snapshot of what's happening at that moment.
00:14:16.140And when I wrote the book and what I did with the book, it's called Independence Blueprint, What Alberta Can Learn from Quebec.
00:14:23.720At that time, we weren't doing any of the groundwork that Quebec was doing.
00:14:28.360we have the enthusiasm we have the grievances for sure but we hadn't done any of the public
00:14:36.260engagement the sitting down and answering the questions and and you know in Quebec they had
00:14:42.400this commission that went everywhere across the province and they had separate commissions for
00:14:47.000young people and senior citizens because they faced different issues and they really wanted
00:14:52.060to know what their objections would be what their fears were and they wanted to table a plan
00:14:59.040to address those because they knew project fear was coming for them and it did work at the end
00:15:05.440when when the independence was surging in Quebec that's when they the federalists just unleashed
00:15:14.060everything they had and it really put a stop to that the more groundwork we do in advance which
00:15:19.360i think keith wilson and his group are doing right now the more public engagement the more
00:15:24.660facts and education are out there the less that fear that we saw in quebec will be effective on
00:15:31.120albertans exactly yes i think keith wilson started a good transition council so i think we are getting
00:15:38.020more more more and more prepared for this entire event i also wanted to ask you know for for tamara
00:15:45.420I heard that there is something going on in terms of, you know, additional charity.
00:15:49.700I think you were there, you know, you got arrested multiple times with no bail.
00:15:55.360I wanted to ask you, do you think that, like, did it impact you to support Alberta independence?
00:16:01.960How did your overall sentiment towards the federal government is after all of this?
00:16:07.880And I heard that there are some things coming up soon in October.
00:16:11.240So I just wanted to get your perspective.
00:16:14.920Well, I think that Canada does not have a justice system. I think that Canada has a legal system. And what you're referring to is we have an appeals process coming up, Chris Barber and myself. As most people that are following these cases will know that Pat King had his acquittal on his intimidation charge overturned by the appellate court yesterday. And he's going back for resentencing within the next 60 days.
00:16:39.520So that's obviously very concerning for, for everybody else. And you know what, I love Canadians. Igor, I can't tell you enough how much support that Chris and I and so many others have gotten from Canadians. Canada, as it sits right now, not so much. I mean, it's not, it's definitely not the country that I grew up in. And it's, and it's very concerning.
00:17:02.940It's very concerning to me that we have three judges that wrote in a decision that the Freedom Convoy was an organized attack on Ottawa citizens.
00:17:12.140Yeah, that's very concerning to me, because that's that's liberal talking points, that those are not facts.
00:17:18.900And those are now written in a legal decision going forward.
00:17:21.900So I'm anticipating that our appeal will now be expedited because they were actually waiting on this decision.
00:17:28.360And and they're trying to do the same thing.
00:17:30.560they're trying to have myself and Chris Barber's intimidation acquittals overturned and have us
00:17:35.640serve more jail time oh my goodness this is and this is after I think it was already like five
00:17:41.900years how sorry that they did or it was already pretty long yeah my sentence will be served
00:17:49.020before this even gets to the appellate court most likely and my sentence will be served in January
00:17:54.280of 2027 so again then you know we're just going to start this whole process all over again
00:17:58.660this is some you know this is honestly you know scary for a lot of especially immigrants coming
00:18:04.380from those countries you know where democracy is not there so much so it's kind of scary even for
00:18:10.440me coming from eastern europe hearing that people get this kind of things going on here here in
00:18:16.120alberta it's almost feels like you know to me it almost feels like a made-up charge you know just
00:18:21.400to intimidate people from speaking up that's my personal perception of this you know it could be
00:18:26.200it could be a different thing from the legal perspective but that's how i see it you know
00:18:30.680from where i come from it's uh you know if you speak up your mind too much this kind of charges
00:18:35.580appear you know it's at least from my perspective i just spoke to a gentleman whose family immigrated
00:18:41.620here from china and he said the same thing like that his parents would just be absolutely
00:18:45.880appalled by what's going on here and i had to tell him the story about you know when we were
00:18:50.240at the freedom convoy if we were walking around canadians would obviously come up and they'd hug0.99
00:18:54.160and they'd cry on her shoulder and they would be very grateful but when the uh immigrants that1.00
00:19:00.320came from communist countries came up it was a completely different it was a desperate gratitude0.89
00:19:06.100tears of desperation from people that have watched this playbook and they're watching it happen in
00:19:10.900Canada in slow motion and a lot of our immigrant population that came from these communist countries
00:19:16.020have been trying to sound the alarm bells for quite a considerable amount of time um so it is0.98
00:19:21.900alarming to them and they know what they're talking about. And to just bring this all back
00:19:27.360to the whole idea of independence, these judges by and large are federally appointed by the Liberal
00:19:33.700Party. Some of them are Liberal donors. There's a requirement on the Supreme Court that they be
00:19:38.900francophone. All of that means that they are largely not from the West. So these judges do0.98
00:19:45.900not represent the values of the West. We are seeing light sentences or no sentences at all
00:19:53.080for career criminals, illegal migrants getting light sentences so that it doesn't jeopardize0.92
00:19:59.700their immigration. But then you see the book being thrown at people like Tamara Leach. And then when
00:20:04.620they lose, they try to get another kick at the can. And so I think what we're seeing in the justice
00:20:10.000system, which as Tamara points out, is simply just a legal system. It fuels Western independence
00:20:15.180Because we see that we do not want to be a part of a country that allows catch and release for people who harm children, people who harm our fellow Canadians.
00:20:26.040But then when you see what's happening to Tamara, you see that it is a political decision that we no longer want to be a part of.
00:20:35.020Exactly. And, you know, honestly, before we continue, I just want to remind everyone to go through the link and put your donations for your favorite TPA.
00:20:44.580third-party advertisers that you want to support
00:20:47.880exactly yes please don't don't forget that too because i think that's the only way to to fight
00:20:55.440tyranny at this point to get you know as many donations as possible to to have the vote to
00:21:01.500get us out because we have unlimited budget of traditional media i think we have i think uh
00:21:06.600was it was it you sure that you were saying about two-tier media system that we have or
00:21:11.580you know that we have and yeah i think the social media and that's what they're trying to close
00:21:18.720right now is the only way and we have to get out before before it's too late so make sure you
00:21:23.780donate i also wanted to ask you tomorrow how do you keep on going if you know that there's so many
00:21:28.640so much of stress is going to your family you know potential another charges or another thing
00:21:34.360that might come up we don't know how do you keep on going despite of all of those things because
00:21:38.700a lot of people would just they would walk around they would just give up by now they would say you
00:21:42.360know what i don't want to deal with this i'm too scared yeah igor i want to know that too yeah well
00:21:47.780honestly you just you just answered your own question i'm not afraid these people don't
00:21:52.520scare me and and people just need to understand there is nothing to fear i mean what can they
00:21:57.060take from me that that i really truly need you know they've put me on house arrest and the judge
00:22:01.680has um blocked my mobility rights but she doesn't give me my freedom my freedom comes from god
00:22:07.440and i think he's got my back um and i'm just really fortunate that i have an amazing family
00:22:12.640who supports what i do all right and uh good co-workers obviously the best co-workers in the
00:22:19.780entire world um and so you know chris barber and i talk at length about how blessed how truly but
00:22:25.900i feel like the luckiest woman in the world i've had support and this goes back to what i was
00:22:30.320saying about canadians you know canadians have really supported chris and i and everybody from
00:22:34.160the freedom convoy and we love we appreciate it and love them so much um and you know that i guess
00:22:41.160that's what keeps me going and they just don't scare me and uh and i'm just not good i'm not
00:22:48.040gonna let them break me you know they just they can't and and honestly that's one of the things
00:22:52.240they hate the most um and i've been speaking about this a little bit lately because there's
00:22:56.180quite a bit of backlash after i was at the u.s ambassadors there on the 4th of july and um you
00:23:01.780know a lot of people that don't like me are more upset that i'm not miserable sad broken and
00:23:07.560demoralized but that's really not in my nature so uh so yeah i feel really lucky and you know
00:23:14.000to be quite frank we're almost through this we've got about just over two months left of our house
00:23:18.440arrest and then we'll have a curfew for a few months and you know then this will be all over
00:23:22.260oh that's that's yeah oh that's that's that's the good part i yeah and i hope it's it's all
00:23:28.500going to be over i think i hope we you know i hope by october once we have our referendum you
00:23:33.740know we are going to move towards to more towards freedom because i think it's getting a little bit
00:23:38.120more you know heated up because recently i don't know if you've seen that news an edmonton person
00:23:43.160was walking around with the you know it was the flag alberta flag it was almost thrown under the
00:23:48.160car it's a you know it could have been a homicide if that person were to get run over by that car
00:23:54.460it's it's crazy things you know igor i did run into that man his name is don bonner i ran into
00:24:01.800him at keith wilson's pancake breakfast for uh let alberta decide uh last weekend in calgary
00:24:08.460and he also amazed me with his positive attitude he has very much the same positive attitude as
00:24:14.840tamara that yes maybe he could have flung me into traffic but thank god i didn't get run over and
00:24:20.080he's grateful for the driver with their quick reaction and you know he said it's not going to
00:24:25.680stop me they did that to stop me so if i stopped didn't they win and i think that's exactly the
00:24:32.220right attitude to have you know we we got to go out there we got to have the facts but we got to
00:24:37.240have the right attitude because this is not a level playing field the other side does not have
00:24:42.920to register as a third-party advertiser group the other side can push our people into traffic
00:24:47.740the other side can get aggressive we can't it's not fair but we have to know that we have to be
00:24:54.700on our best behavior and we have to we all have to be great ambassadors for the movement absolutely
00:24:59.740it's actually the more successful this becomes the more desperate the other side and vicious
00:25:05.740and vicious and so i just want to tell everyone to stay safe out there dial the heat down on a
00:25:11.480swivel yeah and just be aware of your surroundings and uh you know hopefully these these other guys
00:25:16.540smart enough of it exactly it's a you have to always yeah have to watch your back because
00:25:22.100some some i don't know why it is because sometimes i'm thinking it it's like a trump
00:25:27.000arrangement syndrome almost going on on the other side i don't know what's you know even though we
00:25:31.100don't have trump here but they get really aggressive without any reasonable explanation
00:25:36.360to it so always you you also be careful there when you're in public giving away your sides because
00:25:41.440some forever forever canada people who don't even have to declare this is the craziest part about
00:25:46.460it is that they don't have to declare the third-party advertiser where the funds is coming
00:25:51.380from is it even coming from alberta where it's all spanned it's crazy yeah we don't have any
00:25:57.900igor we oh yeah we have about two we have about two more minutes otherwise we're never going to
00:26:03.660make it to medicine hat so yeah i wanted to ask you what do you think about premier's uh you know
00:26:12.540what do you think about premier's question that she she rewarded it to you know it became a
00:26:18.520different question for october you know so yes leads to another referendum rather than
00:26:23.180is it a smart correction or just way to stall the movement how would you address it no actually for
00:26:30.800both of you yeah i think it was neither uh i think it was neither a smart correction or a means to
00:26:37.560to stall the movement i don't think she's out to stall the movement i think we can and i understand
00:26:43.400people's anger towards premier smith for sure i get it um but i think she was sort of left with
00:26:48.900no choice with the court decision that said that there wasn't adequate enough consultation with
00:26:54.980first nations groups she just and she was public she said i disagree with that that's right um
00:27:00.580she was vocal about that but to challenge that decision would have taken this beyond
00:27:06.360around October and so this is the only way to salvage an opportunity for Albertans to have
00:27:12.600their say but also to have their say down the road it amounts to adequate consultation I guess
00:27:19.500I don't like it I don't agree with the court the premier was clear that she doesn't agree with the
00:27:24.140court you know what consultation is one person one vote regardless of your ethnicity we're
00:27:31.000consulting everybody on the matter of a referendum i think she was stuck between a rock in a hard
00:27:37.380place and she split the baby and there's just no winner there yeah no i don't really have too much
00:27:42.860to add to that um remember premier smith wasn't didn't have an independence mandate when she was
00:27:47.360elected she never ran on that platform but um i do feel i agree with you like i think she is trying
00:27:52.780to mitigate both sides and yeah and uh make it hot make i think if everybody's unhappy she's
00:27:58.200probably she probably thinks she probably did the right thing and you have to remember she did not
00:28:03.340have to fix the referendum process Jason Kenney made it insurmountable to proceed with the
00:28:10.100referendum in this province she lowered the bar and made it a little bit more achievable and the
00:28:15.400independence movement did achieve that the activist courts and the activist chiefs got in the way and
00:28:21.920I think it was just an ugly situation and it wasn't made any better by that decision but I'm
00:28:27.400not sure what else she could have done oh yeah well yeah thank you so thank you so much ladies
00:28:33.420for for joining us on this live stream and and giving all this incredible information and and
00:28:38.920especially doing all the groundwork that you're doing by actually giving up the signs not only
00:28:43.140you know like most people on youtube like myself we just make videos but you guys actually do
00:28:47.480the actual work yeah yes the real jobs to get alberta independent exactly and also i want to
00:28:55.620remind everyone to go ahead and support the third party advertisers and that's the i think that's
00:29:02.060the only way for us to to get our independence because like you were saying they you know the
00:29:07.040forever canada crowd i don't even know whether i should call them forever canada people i just
00:29:11.120you know summarize it because it's almost like trump derangement syndrome on that side going on
00:29:15.640in that way they don't have to forever slavery yeah forever slavery i think that's actually
00:29:20.920way way better it's people who are being driven by fear a lot you know and they're having unlimited
00:29:30.160printing machine of money from what i'm seeing because if they don't declare where the money
00:29:33.940is coming from and could be coming from anywhere it actually doesn't really make sense if they're
00:29:39.140you know from my perspective they are companion their companion not for unity of canada their
00:29:44.300companion specifically against alberta independence igor they were literally in the same parking lot
00:29:50.400as us today with flags we had flags they had flags i have signs they had signs they had volunteers
00:29:59.280i got a volunteer they were doing exactly the same they were taking donations i'm taking donations
00:30:05.040doing exactly the same thing i was doing in the exact same city 50 feet that way and i've got
00:30:10.960to register as a third-party advertiser and declare everything and they don't make it make sense
00:30:15.280it's it's it it does make sense it's you know the biggest surprise i got for me is that my
00:30:21.500investigation by elections alberta got dismissed i didn't even know i was investigated for something
00:30:26.480i said on x i was like oh wow i'm not even registered a third party advertiser i didn't
00:30:32.460do anything you know it's like why are they investigating they just got a letter saying
00:30:36.460it's been dismissed i was like oh well i guess it's a good sign i can do you one better they
00:30:42.320investigated me for writing a book called stop not lee and i gave out lawn signs to promote the
00:30:47.380book and then elections alberta investigated me issued a 50 i think a 50 600 fine what and then
00:30:54.680when i said oh you you you concluded the investigation without even interviewing me
00:30:59.760they said oh we made a mistake now we want to interview you then then the fine got rescinded
00:31:05.060when i recorded my phone call with the investigator when it like my lawn signs literally said stop
00:31:11.260not we buy the book and they said that was a campaign but i was advertising anyway they came
00:31:17.140after me wow that's that that's that's crazy they they reduced the amount or they dropped
00:31:23.120that uh they dropped it all together once once i said you didn't even interview me and i'm about
00:31:28.860to lawyer up big time then they got rattled and then dropped the fine oh my goodness i guess
00:31:34.000that's their that's their biggest way of just intimidating people out of it you know it's yeah
00:31:39.140i'm sure they might be watching our live stream right now so we also have to be careful you know
00:31:45.140not to say something they could you know not to say something they could catch to it and say that
00:31:51.320you're saying something i'm not scared i'm not scared of elections alberta i fought them once
00:31:56.560in one come again no absolutely absolutely i think i was the sound on my on my headphone
00:32:02.960somehow but i can hear you a little bit okay yeah we can still hear you but igor i must tell you we
00:32:09.660have to wrap up we have to get to our next location i don't want the people waiting for me i have the
00:32:14.160signs sounds good sounds good that's amazing well you you may just have a wonderful journey and
00:32:20.580keep doing the great work we will let's get our referendum thank you for and your entire team for
00:32:29.600putting this together john we're talking about you thank you too and to everybody at home watching
00:32:35.340max also everybody at home watching everybody who's putting their hard-earned money behind
00:32:41.140whatever tpa you choose please choose mine um but whatever hard-earned money that you are giving we
00:32:46.420know how hard you work for that we know that there are other things that you can be spending your
00:32:50.320money on but we promise we're out here working hard giving up our weekends our evenings after
00:32:56.260We have real jobs to fight for Western independence.
00:32:59.340And we just appreciate everybody who's doing that, who's supporting all of us, whether it's Corey, Keith, us, anybody.