The Critical Compass Podcast - September 18, 2025


A Path to Freedom and Prosperity | Dr. Dennis Modry on Alberta Independence


Episode Stats

Length

1 hour and 6 minutes

Words per Minute

146.22763

Word Count

9,776

Sentence Count

463

Misogynist Sentences

11

Hate Speech Sentences

4


Summary

Dr. Dennis Modry is the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Alberta Prosperity Society and a cardiothoracic surgeon who started the Alberta's first heart and lung transplantation program. He is a native of Camrose, Alberta and was with us to talk about Alberta's independence from the federal government.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 more and more people are realizing you just can't get there by doing the same thing over and over
00:00:06.140 again and expecting a different result. And the funny thing about all of this is when you get
00:00:11.380 politicians, provincial politicians, new provincial politicians in government, they think they're
00:00:16.340 smarter than the former politicians and that they can do something that the former politicians
00:00:20.880 couldn't do. And it just goes on and on and on. And finally, you know, you get to a point where
00:00:26.780 you get some people that have a backbone, either from the public or in government,
00:00:33.460 that are willing to stand up to the status quo and demand something different.
00:00:37.860 Hi, everyone. Welcome back to The Critical Compass. I'm Mike and this is my co-host James. And we are
00:01:00.340 very happy to be joined today by Dr. Dennis Modry. He is the chair of the board of directors of the
00:01:05.660 Alberta Prosperity Society. He is a cardiothoracic surgeon, very credentialed, very awarded
00:01:13.040 surgeon, started the Alberta's first, I believe, heart and lung transplantation program. He's a
00:01:22.200 native of Camrose, the Rose City. And he's with us today to talk about Alberta independence and all
00:01:29.700 its various forms. So thank you, sir, for joining us. We really appreciate it.
00:01:33.000 Well, thank you very much, Mike and James, for the invitation. Happy to be here.
00:01:38.780 I know. Yeah, it's great to have you on. I'm just wondering, just a big question to start us off.
00:01:45.220 If you're going to give Canada as a country a bill of health, how is it doing right now?
00:01:52.320 Well, I think I can say with a great deal of confidence that we're not doing very well.
00:01:58.260 As you know, our debt has doubled in the last 10 years as a result of, you know, many federal
00:02:10.740 policies and taxation that have restricted or inhibited investment into the country, not just
00:02:18.940 into Alberta, but certainly if you take Canada from another perspective, when you look at economic
00:02:25.540 growth of all industrialized countries in the world, we're showing if dead last. So I think from a
00:02:32.760 health perspective, economically, we're in big trouble. On top of that, I mean, if you really want
00:02:40.520 to get to the health issue on the other side of the coin, physical, personal health, we have a
00:02:48.540 serious problem with our health system. And it's manifest in the wait times that people have to
00:02:57.880 endure in order to access care of, you know, many sorts, not just surgical care, but even just to
00:03:07.440 see a family physician, etc. But this all has to do with, if you look at the individual health of
00:03:14.320 individuals, you have to look at what's driving the problem. You know, we live in a system in which,
00:03:21.540 you know, we require somebody else to make decisions about our health. So you could ask a
00:03:29.620 question, you could ask a question this way, or look at it this way from a health point of view,
00:03:34.600 where does an individual's responsibility for his or her health and in society's responsibility
00:03:41.100 for that person's health begin? And we live in a society where we want someone else to look after
00:03:48.940 us and someone else to pay for it. So we've lost responsibility and accountability for our health.
00:03:56.480 And this is one of the major reasons why we have a serious health problem, which is why take the
00:04:02.480 provincial government in Alberta, you know, one third of the budget goes to health care, which is
00:04:08.260 crazy, you know, so and, and yet we have long waiting lists, you know, so, but any case, the state
00:04:16.040 of the union, as it were, if you're asking me the question about health, I've given you two in
00:04:23.220 relation to how unhealthy we are economically and physically, we could get into the legal end of
00:04:31.380 things too, or, or a judicial system as well, which is another, another area of unhealth.
00:04:40.260 So there's a few comorbidities.
00:04:42.160 Yeah, there are a number of comorbidities in Canada. Yeah, exactly.
00:04:46.420 So Dr. Modri, you've been involved in, in the idea of, of Alberta gaining more independence from
00:04:54.360 Ottawa for many decades now. What in your time being involved with this general topic, what
00:05:01.260 have you, I'm curious about your, what you've seen in the general public view of you and people
00:05:09.000 like you who are advocating for things like this, has, has the public's perception of it changed over
00:05:13.500 the decades? Well, I think what happens or what has happened, uh, as I look back over Alberta and
00:05:22.020 Saskatchewan's history over 120 years, we've seen the, um, concept of Alberta sovereignty or Alberta
00:05:30.980 independence wax and wane, depending on how much we feel subjugated, dominated, or exploited by the
00:05:39.280 federal government. Um, and you know, we've made some gains and we've had many losses, uh, over the,
00:05:46.680 over the years. And, you know, I think what we're seeing now is a final, uh, recognition by many
00:05:57.000 people in the public that something just isn't right. And we've, they recognize that the system
00:06:04.140 hasn't been able to be repaired. The problems within the system haven't been able to be prepared
00:06:11.160 through negotiations. Um, people are starting to recognize that the, that the, um, federal government
00:06:20.040 really operates for the benefit of the East and not so much for the West, except that the, the East wants
00:06:28.440 to continue to exploit us. And I think, you know, as a result of individuals and families feeling the
00:06:36.300 economic pinch, um, you know, they're not happy about this. And this is, this is something that
00:06:43.200 has occurred internationally around the world. This is why societies break up, um, and countries break
00:06:51.640 up, uh, primarily because of economics, but not just economics, it's cultural as well. And so, you know,
00:06:59.680 I think one of the big things that has really occurred, and we don't talk about it very much,
00:07:05.080 but you go back to 1960, for example, and 58% of people aged 30 or younger were able to, uh, purchase a
00:07:16.000 house. Um, and, um, now it's 12%. So, so there's an example right there, and we're seeing a hollow,
00:07:25.560 hollowing out of the middle class as a result of the necessity of, um, couples, uh, not having kids
00:07:34.320 because they both have to work or if they have to have, or if they do have kids, then who's looking
00:07:39.700 after them? It's becoming the state. So the state's taking more and more control away from families
00:07:45.600 as well. And this is creating angst. And, and I mean, there are so many issues that can be addressed,
00:07:52.080 you know, that qualify for, um, Albertans being frustrated with the, uh, federal, provincial
00:08:02.440 governance structure and are looking for something different. They're looking for more freedom and
00:08:07.880 more prosperity. And how do they get there? And, uh, you know, to succinctly answer your question,
00:08:15.680 what more and more people are realizing, you just can't get there by doing the same thing over and
00:08:21.500 over again and expecting a different result. And the funny thing about all of this is when you get
00:08:27.040 politicians, provincial politicians, new provincial politicians and government, they think they're
00:08:32.000 smarter than the former politicians and that they can do something that the former politicians couldn't
00:08:36.980 do. But the reality is, is they're just as naive as the, you know, uh, former politicians. And it just
00:08:46.500 goes on and on and on. And finally, you know, you get to a point where you get some people that have a
00:08:52.540 backbone, um, either from the public or in government that are willing to stand up to the
00:09:00.820 status quo and demand something different. And we're in that circumstance now where we have many
00:09:07.980 people in the public that are willing to stand up for individual freedoms and rights and long for
00:09:14.720 prosperity and are planning for it in a different, in a different model. And you're seeing, you know,
00:09:21.380 certain politicians standing up alongside of those individuals. Um, although they have to be careful
00:09:28.460 politically, um, where they stand, but nevertheless, they too are frustrated with Alberta's relationship
00:09:35.360 with the, with the federal government. And I dare say as well, that these feelings are not unique to
00:09:44.220 Alberta. Um, these feelings exist elsewhere, particularly in Saskatchewan and central and northern BC.
00:09:51.160 And certainly in Quebec, and you've seen the rise of the Parti Quebecois, uh, in the polls. I mean,
00:09:58.540 you know, they're poised this year, later this year to win a significant, uh, um, well, to win the
00:10:07.680 election by a significant plurality, I would, I would think based on the polling anyhow. So, so, you know,
00:10:15.420 many regions of the country are unhappy with the federal provincial governance structure, but it can't change.
00:10:21.160 It can't change unless something dramatic happens and something dramatic will happen and we're making it happen.
00:10:29.480 Yes, sir, you are. And sorry, James, I'm going to go back to back questions because I just, I, I'm going to forget
00:10:33.560 if I don't ask. Um, you're, the comment that you made, Dr. Modri, um, about, uh, politicians needing to be
00:10:40.580 careful, so to speak. Um, that leads me to, to wonder your opinion. We've asked a few guests this, um,
00:10:47.320 who kind of know, know her. Um, but your read on, on Danielle Smith, uh, do you, do you get the
00:10:55.380 feeling that she's, um, opinion seems to be a little bit split on this, but do you get the
00:11:01.180 feeling that she would be, uh, a help or an impediment to an independent Alberta should the,
00:11:07.860 uh, referendum go, uh, the independence way?
00:11:10.860 Well, let, let's put it this way. If the petition, uh, once the petition is completed and the
00:11:17.540 government, the provincial government now is obligated to hold the referendum, I think, um,
00:11:24.920 you know, she will be looking at what the polling looks like prior to the referendum. She's going to
00:11:31.360 be looking at that. I rather think that she's going to take a very, um, centrist position, um,
00:11:40.200 on what she wants to see happen. She said publicly, of course, she wants Alberta to remain in Canada,
00:11:48.320 but with far more control of its, of its wealth and affairs. Um, you know, when you ask her the
00:11:55.940 question, well, how do you feel about the possibility of becoming the president or the prime
00:12:01.760 minister of the sovereign country of Alberta? She giggles and, um, and, uh, doesn't really answer
00:12:08.920 that question, you know, so, so it's, it's, it's hard to really peg, you know, where, where she's at,
00:12:16.140 but let's look at something factual. Okay. She's made nine demands of Mr. Carney, all relation in
00:12:23.300 relation to oil and gas, uh, except for a single use plastics. She's also made eight constitutional
00:12:31.480 requests through the Alberta next panel. Well, let's see what Mr. Carney does. Um, she's given him
00:12:40.540 six months. She said publicly, we'll give him six months. Um, and otherwise it's a threat to national
00:12:48.160 unity. Those are her words. It's a threat, be a threat to national unity. Um, she has, uh, stated
00:12:56.400 publicly that she's meeting with Mr. Carney and I don't know if it was yesterday or today, um, that
00:13:04.260 she's getting a tremendous amount of information from the Alberta next panel in support of Alberta
00:13:12.600 sovereignty. So she's using this, I think as leverage as well to speak with Mr. Carney that if you don't do
00:13:20.760 these things, you know, there's very likely going to be a referendum, um, in support of Alberta
00:13:27.180 becoming a sovereign country. And, you know, I don't know what the outcome of the most recent
00:13:34.960 discussion with Mr. Carney is, but if let's look at something that we all know, she's very bright,
00:13:45.360 she's very articulate and she's excellent at getting a message across. So she would be a tremendous
00:13:52.620 asset to the Alberta sovereignty movement. If she acknowledged all of the potential benefits
00:14:00.100 to the public of Alberta becoming a sovereign country and help to assuage any of the concerns
00:14:06.240 that are out there. Now, you know, she has demonstrated tremendously strong rhetoric, uh, publicly.
00:14:15.360 In terms of dealing with the, um, with the federal encroachment on provincial constitutional
00:14:23.240 authority, she's been very strong on that, which is why she came up with those nine demands
00:14:29.040 and the eight requests through the Alberta next panel. Um, but how has she actually dealt with
00:14:35.660 these things? Uh, she's launched, launched, or her government has launched some 16 or 18 lawsuits
00:14:42.680 against the federal government on issues pertaining to oil and gas, uh, on issues pertaining to, uh,
00:14:51.760 property rights, um, on issues pertaining to, um, censorship, um, and issues pertaining to agriculture.
00:15:03.160 So is this really the way we're going to solve problems with the federal government? It doesn't work
00:15:10.880 because we see the way in which the Supreme Court, uh, responds. They tend to support, um,
00:15:18.840 any of these federal provincial litigations in favor of the East. If the East at will at all be
00:15:26.500 compromised as a result of Alberta getting control of, of its own affairs. But on top of that, what
00:15:33.900 concerns me as well is she had an opportunity right from the get-go when she became premier
00:15:40.560 to take control of five things, provincial policing, immigration, employment insurance,
00:15:47.600 provincial tax collection, and, uh, did I say immigration? Immigration as well.
00:15:52.880 So, um, so those five areas didn't require a referendum. They only required the courage
00:16:00.720 to say to Ottawa, we're taking control of these five areas and she could have done that. Um, now it
00:16:09.640 looks like she wants to put them on a ballot, a referendum ballot, uh, to see how people respond.
00:16:16.800 But real leadership, you know, is, you know, doing the right thing for the people of Alberta.
00:16:22.880 And doing the right thing for the people of Alberta would have been to take control of those five
00:16:27.520 areas because it, at least it would have been a start to gaining control of our own affairs.
00:16:35.440 And rather than having the federal government, um, you know, look after them for us, we're,
00:16:41.680 we're old enough now, um, to be able to, in other words, we've grown up, Alberta's grown up.
00:16:48.320 It can look after its own affairs. It doesn't need the federal government interfering anymore.
00:16:53.760 Oh man. Yeah. So it seems like underpinning all this. So with Alberta's relationship with the
00:17:01.280 federal government, we're still within a Canada that is underpinned by, you've got a fiat currency,
00:17:08.640 you've got a welfare state, you've got high immigration, and these interplay in a way that
00:17:16.320 essentially makes everything more difficult underneath it. So if we need to, to support the
00:17:23.920 services that we have, if we need to create new debt and devalue the currency,
00:17:30.400 like devalue the results of the labor of pretty much every individual, you need to print more and
00:17:38.480 more and more or import more and more cheap labor to try to support, um, to try to support that
00:17:45.920 welfare backbone. And so with immigration, both being, it falls under the jurisdiction of both federal and
00:17:54.640 provincial. That is something that could have been addressed a little bit more, like more strict
00:18:01.040 just on the provincial level, but that's still, we're still existing within that federal system.
00:18:06.800 Like provinces are not subordinate to the federal government, but we're in a confederation where
00:18:15.760 the federal government's very much still acting as a parent to the provinces. And I think we've seen
00:18:22.560 Daniel Smith push back on that, help educate more about like what is actually under the provincial
00:18:29.200 control. So there's some good things happening that way, but it seems like Alberta independence gives a
00:18:35.280 good opportunity to address this fundamental layer because without addressing the money, without
00:18:42.080 addressing, um, kind of this, these basic laws of supply and demand, um, when it comes to people
00:18:49.440 housing, what we need to provide for services and what we're able to provide, um, without addressing
00:18:57.120 that layer, I don't know if Canada is going to last. So it feels like Alberta is in a unique, unique
00:19:03.520 position to restructure some of these things. It's almost like this is our best shot to, to actually
00:19:10.880 make some change. Yeah, I, I agree. It is, it is our best shot and you know, Alberta becoming a sovereign
00:19:19.600 country, there's absolutely no question that there's international recognition for what's happening in
00:19:27.200 Alberta right now. This is important to understand because, um, elsewhere in Canada, and I've touched
00:19:33.840 on this already, but also internationally in Western civilization, people are looking at what's happening
00:19:40.960 in Alberta. They see Alberta as a beacon of, of hope, a beacon of light, a beacon of the pathway to get out from
00:19:52.320 under the globalist crush that's limiting our freedoms and our prosperities. And as a result of that,
00:19:59.760 if you take Canada, Alberta becoming a sovereign country, very likely Saskatchewan's going to come
00:20:04.480 along with us. Other regions may, may do the same thing, but what it forces then is everybody is going
00:20:11.920 to have to say to themselves, well, what next? What do we do now? Okay. And I mean, in a very simple way,
00:20:21.520 think about this as revenue and expenditure. Okay. The revenue side is just about shot. Okay. Other
00:20:31.120 than continuing to tax people even more and more, the expenditure side is never addressed. It's never
00:20:39.360 been addressed. And as you know, Mr. Trudeau has nearly doubled the bureaucracy during his 10 years,
00:20:48.640 along with doubling the debt. So let's look at, you know, what will happen to the rest of Canada.
00:20:55.520 Well, the Canadian dollar will drop in value for one thing. The AAA bond rating that Canada has now,
00:21:03.840 I think it still has a AAA bond rating, but it might be, it might be AAB. I'm not sure.
00:21:10.160 That's probably going to drop as well. And it's going to force the federal government and whatever
00:21:18.160 components in Canada that are still involved with the federal government to dramatically reduce their
00:21:23.920 expenditures. And they're going to have to get their house in order as well, because a lot of what we're
00:21:29.280 talking about is getting our own house in order. So we'll get our house in order here in Alberta
00:21:35.680 by becoming a sovereign country. It will force the rest of Canada to do the same thing.
00:21:42.160 And it will create opportunities rather than, you know, the fear mongering that occurs as a result of,
00:21:49.600 you know, people who want to sustain the status quo. It will create tremendous new opportunities
00:21:57.120 for people because in general, a lot of people have inner individualism to themselves. They need
00:22:04.400 to make something happen. They need to be able to make a living. So they'll figure it out.
00:22:11.040 And I think there's a tremendous opportunity to not just save Alberta and Saskatchewan,
00:22:18.960 but to save the rest of the country from the globalist World Economic Forum agenda
00:22:26.640 that wants to control every aspect of our life. And, you know, we've seen a tremendous pushback
00:22:33.440 already occur in the United States with the control of immigration. Quebec has been ahead of us,
00:22:40.320 the head of Alberta and other regions in the country, because they do control
00:22:45.360 immigration in Quebec, you know. So, and we're, of course, we're not against immigration,
00:22:53.840 but we are against uncontrolled immigration. And, you know, the temporary worker
00:23:00.080 program has to be addressed and those temporary work visas have to be addressed.
00:23:06.960 There are five million of them, apparently, where the visas are expiring. What's going to happen to
00:23:12.880 these individuals? Well, I guess, as you are aware, there is the possibility that they can
00:23:21.680 apply for refugee status, which may give them, as a family, a lot of money, much more than
00:23:29.920 people get in their pensions or vets get, etc. And so,
00:23:32.800 I think, you know, the opportunities that we have to get out from under economic oppression,
00:23:43.920 I look at it this way. I think of sovereignty as not just in its simplistic form of self-governance,
00:23:53.920 but really freedom from external influence, freedom from persecution. And what we've been
00:24:01.120 experiencing over the years is persecution in many ways. It's political, economic, cultural, religious,
00:24:09.520 regulatory persecution. And we want out from under that. We want more control
00:24:16.640 of our life and our affairs for the benefit of ourselves and our families. It's really kind of that
00:24:23.840 simple. But it's simple to say it's a little harder to get there because so many people don't even realize
00:24:33.680 how they are being subjugated, dominated, and exploited and how their self-determination is being
00:24:40.000 inhibited under the weight of the federal government regulatory environment that we are forced to live
00:24:51.600 under. And at least Daniel Smith and the UCP seems to have recognized and are finally standing up for it.
00:25:01.680 But how far will they go is a matter to be seen. And we're trying to give them the opportunity,
00:25:08.720 the provincial government, it doesn't matter which provincial government, we in the Alberta Prosperity
00:25:13.200 Project, they're trying to give them the opportunity to get ahead of this movement.
00:25:20.880 And in some ways they are, and in other ways they're not. And so it's hard to know which
00:25:25.760 way the premier is going to go eventually. I can tell you this though, if the polling,
00:25:32.640 if conventional polling by Angus Reid and some of these others were showing a 52, 55 percent
00:25:39.440 polling in favor of Alberta sovereignty right now, she'd be all over that. The UCP government would be
00:25:44.960 all over that. But right now that polling is more in the order of 40 to 45 percent.
00:25:50.560 Um, but, um, but I think the polling is inaccurate anyhow, for a number of different reasons. But
00:25:57.680 anyhow, let me answer your questions before I drone on.
00:26:01.920 Well, you know, it's funny because I, something you said just, just, uh, brought up something that
00:26:06.880 we talked about on a recent episode where, you know, you mentioned how people like us and people,
00:26:11.520 you know, involved heavily in this, uh, in this discussion do sort of have this inherent kind of,
00:26:16.720 um, push towards, you know, wanting to self-determine and wanting more control over,
00:26:22.400 you know, various aspects of our lives that we're not allowed to have under, uh, you know,
00:26:26.800 what, what many view to be a very, an overreaching, oppressive, uh, federal governance structure.
00:26:32.880 Um, having James and I went to in the same week, uh, a few weeks ago, we went to the APP event in
00:26:39.520 North Edmonton there. And then we went to the, um, the Alberta next panel a couple of days later at,
00:26:45.040 uh, on, on the West side of the city. And, uh, the, the contrast between those two groups of
00:26:50.960 people was stark, you know, there, there were a lot of people at the Alberta next panel who were,
00:26:56.560 um, you know, it did seem to be independence minded, but what we did notice is that the people
00:27:01.840 who were, uh, so eager to be in lines and to shout their points. And I mean, you've probably seen
00:27:07.920 or been to these panels. Um, there seems to be a type of person who actually views the idea of being
00:27:14.640 given more control over various aspects of their life and their, their, uh, the power they can
00:27:19.920 exert over their, their governance. They view that as a threat actually. And they view that as something
00:27:24.640 being taken away from them rather than something given to them. Um, for that type of person,
00:27:30.160 just as a quick example, uh, in the, in the Alberta next panel question about, um, should, uh,
00:27:36.480 should we consider an Alberta pension plan, uh, if it can be constructed in such a way to give
00:27:43.760 the same as or better benefits to its members? And people would shout, no. And they would,
00:27:49.120 you know, they'd go up to the mic and they'd, you know, they'd, it's, they weren't even listening to
00:27:53.200 the question. It's just the notion of putting something into taking something out of a liberal
00:27:59.280 government's hands and putting it into a conservative government's hands is very threatening to
00:28:04.000 them regardless of whatever benefits might be gained through it. Do you have any idea of how to,
00:28:10.720 how do you start with a person like that? Well, that's a, that's a, that's a very good question.
00:28:16.960 Um, I think we all have to recognize that, um,
00:28:24.560 people will sometimes become so ideologically, um,
00:28:29.120 um, propagandized that there's not, there's nothing that's going to change their mind.
00:28:36.560 I mean, if you take, um, you know, real true Marxists or communists, they believe in central
00:28:45.280 government, central control, um, central control of the means of production and distribution and
00:28:53.600 they're after, um, equity and equality. Um, but it's not equality of effort. It's equality of outcome
00:29:04.160 that they're after. And, and so anything that's a threat to the collective, as it were, um, such as
00:29:14.320 individuals, um, um, you know, rising up, uh, is, is, is a, is a threat to their, is a threat to their
00:29:23.920 thinking. Um, a lot of these people, um, rely on handouts. I mean, they, they, they, they want something
00:29:33.920 for nothing. Uh, they, they, they truly do believe that, you know, if you spend, uh, 10 years, um,
00:29:44.880 after high school learning, um, multiple trades or higher education to become some sort of professional
00:29:54.400 or, or so that, that, um, your compensation for all of that time and effort and education,
00:30:02.560 um, should be compensated at the same rate as someone who doesn't even graduate from high school.
00:30:10.160 Uh, so, so it's very difficult to, to, uh, to be able to engage with people like that. Um, fortunately,
00:30:22.880 there's a lot of people that do, um, understand that effort should be rewarded. Um,
00:30:32.080 and they may have, you know, very good, um, altruistic reasons for having a socialist sort
00:30:41.280 of mentality, a liberal socialist, uh, mentality. They want to help other people. They don't want
00:30:47.280 anybody to be impoverished or homeless. Um, um, and, and that's, and, and that's a good thing,
00:30:56.000 but what is the best way to get there for everybody? Yeah. And, and this then becomes,
00:31:03.040 well, a discussion of, well, what are the models of government that will work best in, in this fashion?
00:31:08.720 And, and, you know, if, if I were to, to describe it, um, from a democracy perspective,
00:31:19.440 um, you'll remember what Churchill once said, he said, democracy is the worst form of government,
00:31:24.000 except for everything else. Yeah. You know, but if you, if you, if you go back to Alexander
00:31:29.200 Teitler, the Scottish nobleman, he, um, and this is in the 1800s, um, he, he once said, democracy, um,
00:31:38.880 um, um, um, cannot survive in its current form because once the public understands that it can
00:31:47.440 vote itself largest from the public treasury, it will always vote for the government that provides
00:31:53.680 the most. Okay. But then, um, and that kind of helps to explain where we are right now. And he was
00:32:03.920 right, you know, um, and so people that want, um, more and more from government with less and less
00:32:12.640 effort, uh, tend to vote socialist vote for the NDP, for example. Um, but a very important point about
00:32:23.440 why democracy fails is section one of the, of the constitution. So as you know, section,
00:32:33.920 one gives the government the right to abridge your individual freedoms and rights, ostensibly for
00:32:39.520 the benefit of the public at large. But here's the point. And we saw this in action with COVID,
00:32:46.240 right? Um, and true to even acknowledge that he's going to breach section one of the constitution.
00:32:54.480 I'll make this very clear. This is not my statement, but this is a statement from a very bright
00:32:59.760 now deceased businessman who I knew very well. He said, if you look after individual rights,
00:33:05.760 you will look after societal rights, but the reverse does not occur. Okay. So if you want to
00:33:12.480 really fix democracy, get rid of section one of the constitution. Okay. And then you've got individual
00:33:18.640 rights respected because otherwise you have the tyranny of the majority over the minority
00:33:24.240 in a democracy. Okay. But if you look after individual rights and those individual rights
00:33:30.800 are codified, um, meaning that, um, you know, you can't go out and kill somebody, you can't rob people,
00:33:40.160 you can't rape people, you can't do bad things. In other words, okay. Otherwise the law steps in. Okay. Um,
00:33:48.720 that is where your, you know, rights are, um, abridged, you know, like, um, my fist coming at your nose
00:34:00.160 has to stop before it hits your nose. Right. Um, otherwise I've interfered with your rights. Okay.
00:34:08.000 My right to hit you is interfered by, um, by the law. And so it shouldn't happen. So, so in a case,
00:34:17.360 that's a little, you know, it's my thinking about democracy and as, um, as a sovereign Alberta,
00:34:24.000 you know, we are working on a constitution that brings into line individual freedoms and rights.
00:34:31.360 Interim constitution that we're proposing is based on the U S constitution, but there's a number of
00:34:37.680 amendments to the U S constitution. So that means, you know, they had to fix some things along the way.
00:34:43.120 What we're proposing is a constitution that's based loosely based on the U S constitution,
00:34:47.680 but it has even more checks and balances and it has more public, uh, input through, um,
00:34:54.240 sort of along the Swiss line where certain things that the government, um, can't do, for example,
00:35:02.240 is to impose something that the public might not want. And in order to discern whether the public
00:35:07.840 wants it, you have to hold a referendum on it. Um, and so that's, uh, that's one way to deal with
00:35:14.560 these, with these sorts of things. And so I think you'll be really excited to see, uh, what we're
00:35:19.680 proposing in the new constitution, which is like I say, it's been, it's been run through constitutional
00:35:25.440 lawyers and business people and professionals, et cetera, et cetera. And it hasn't been released yet
00:35:30.080 because we're still tweaking it. And, but we expect that it'll be released by the end of September.
00:35:35.120 And this would be the basis for a full constitutional conference. Um, it would take place after Alberta
00:35:42.240 declares its sovereignty immediately following a successful referendum.
00:35:46.080 Yeah. So a lot of those that are skeptical of independence, uh, on the left, more pragmatic
00:35:53.200 in the sense of like, well, they don't trust the UCP. If they are worried about a government
00:35:58.000 overstepping their bounds and reaching into people's lives and, and acting in a way that is corrupt,
00:36:04.800 then technically wouldn't they want more checks and balances?
00:36:08.560 Exactly.
00:36:09.760 Like a limited government is limited in its ability to become corrupt or into, to interfere
00:36:17.680 with people's lives. So this is a unique opportunity to weave in a better foundation through,
00:36:25.760 like through a robust constitution.
00:36:28.160 Well, exactly. You know, and here's just one example from the constitution,
00:36:33.280 the proposed constitution. You have a, you have the people above a constitution and then you have
00:36:39.040 the various branches, but we have a new branch and which is above all of them. And that is a branch
00:36:45.760 that oversees the executive branch, the judiciary, the Senate. And its sole mandate is to ensure that
00:36:55.120 each branch of government does not deviate at all from the constitution. Okay. So there can't be
00:37:02.320 anything and that's its sole responsibility. And there are four arms that look at that, that oversee
00:37:09.440 those four branches of government. Then on top of that, from an economic point of view,
00:37:15.680 what we're proposing as well is that each department that operates, whether it's be education or healthcare
00:37:23.360 or military, every three months, there's an audit released to the public. So when you are audited
00:37:30.960 every three months, you have very little opportunity to divest funds in a way in which they shouldn't be
00:37:40.640 divested. You see what I'm saying? So checks and balances, right? And then for any new spending
00:37:49.440 bills or something that may be substantive, you'd have to have a referendum on that or a plebiscite,
00:37:56.080 either or. Referendums are binding, plebiscites are not necessarily binding. So referendum would be
00:38:01.280 preferable. So you see what I'm saying here is that for the individual who's concerned
00:38:10.320 about corruption in government, what we've attempted to do is virtually eliminate it
00:38:18.080 in this fashion. And I think it should be picked up by and supported by the Alberta electorate
00:38:29.920 from the constitutional conference. Now it doesn't mean to say, once we release the interim constitution
00:38:37.440 for the public, just like the value of freedom document, open for public discussion. So we expect
00:38:44.080 they're going to be, you know, constitutional lawyers on one side of the equation, constitutional
00:38:50.080 lawyers on the other side of the equation, you know, arguing about, you know, various points and
00:38:56.560 and we're going to, you know, it's just the way it is, you know, and, but this is what we want. We want
00:39:01.040 public discussion. And we're not saying that everything is going to be absolutely perfect.
00:39:06.640 Just like the value of freedom document has been open for public discussion, we're making some
00:39:10.560 tweaks to that before its second version is released. So by the same token, the same thing will happen with
00:39:17.280 our proposed interim constitution. And these, these sorts of things will help the public understand
00:39:24.000 what the potential is for a sovereign country and just how much more freedom and potential
00:39:30.480 prosperity there is. There was an interesting, um, uh, review by Martin Armstrong from Armstrong
00:39:36.960 Economics, who, uh, who, um, predicts various things around the world using economic analysis and,
00:39:44.640 and understanding exactly what goes on. So these, these are, he doesn't, he doesn't base his,
00:39:49.600 um, results on, um, a theory. He actually analyzes what's going on and then figures out,
00:39:56.320 well, why did this happen? How did this happen? Um, and, um, and one of the, one of the interesting
00:40:04.560 things that, um, he's, uh, come up with, I'd sort of forgotten my train of thought on this, but, uh,
00:40:12.240 one of them is that, um, beginning with the end in sight here right now, he's predicted that
00:40:17.600 Alberta will become a sovereign country. And, um, I just saw that, uh, just the other day. I thought
00:40:23.520 it was, I thought it was pretty interesting, but it was something about economics, um, that, um,
00:40:31.040 that he said that I thought was really quite interesting. Um, but it's, it'll come to me.
00:40:38.480 I can't, I can't remember what it was. I'm getting older. Actually, no, I just had a Joe Biden moment.
00:40:44.800 That's all. We can circle back to that. That's no problem. Yeah. Um, you know, that's, that's really
00:40:50.640 cool to hear actually, uh, in your point about, you know, the, what the, what a new Alberta
00:40:55.000 constitution could look like, because we've talked about this on the show before, you know, um,
00:40:59.460 specifically this became, you know, very clear as you recall through COVID that, um, you know,
00:41:05.160 people are, uh, people tend to be in favor of, uh, governments overstepping their authority when that
00:41:11.980 government is, is in agreement with their personal beliefs, but then they don't think about the flip
00:41:16.740 side of that coin where, well, if my government ever gets voted out and replaced with somebody else,
00:41:21.940 maybe I wouldn't want them to be, uh, in, in possession of the same powers that I'm happy to
00:41:27.240 give to this government. So what, what you say is, is, is really encouraging because yeah, what,
00:41:32.640 you know, we, we lean, you know, pretty libertarian in this respect where, you know, in order to avoid
00:41:37.800 any of that in the future, let's just limit severely the ability of any government to overstep
00:41:43.000 its authority. Exactly. Exactly. Now I did remember what Martin, uh, Armstrong did say. Um,
00:41:50.220 and it kind of adds to this point here is that, um, one of the most convincing, um, arguments in favor
00:42:00.360 of Alberta sovereignty is the ability to eliminate personal income tax. And he's made that point,
00:42:06.800 um, that that's all Alberta needs to do. Eliminate personal income tax, have a 15% corporate
00:42:14.100 income tax that's, um, constitutionally, um, constitutional is constitutionalized at 15%. It never
00:42:24.160 can be changed. That's, that's the maximum. It can never go on. It's 23% right now, but 15% say,
00:42:29.560 and, um, and, um, that will assure a win. Okay. So, um, you know, before I saw this, uh, this article,
00:42:41.800 um, by Martin Armstrong, um, you know, we, we, we have this in our value of freedom document already,
00:42:50.100 the elimination of personal income tax. Um, and, um, and I think, I think, you know, if you have,
00:42:57.800 and you guys know this, I mean, but if you have more money to purchase the goods and services that
00:43:03.100 you want, that's beneficial for you as an individual, but it's also beneficial for your
00:43:08.420 family. You can travel more, you can, uh, purchase better items. You can, um, plan for your future,
00:43:17.080 uh, retirement, uh, retirement, that sort of thing better. Um, because you're now completely out from
00:43:26.200 under all federal income tax, all federal regulation, and now you don't even pay provincial
00:43:33.940 income tax. I mean, what can be better than that? You know, from an economic point of view for the
00:43:40.380 individual. And you'll remember from the APP event that you attended, um, you take an average,
00:43:47.880 um, Albertan or an Albertan making a hundred thousand dollars a year paying, uh, what we know
00:43:55.860 is $48,000 a year in taxes. That's all taxes in. Well, now all of a sudden you're out from under that
00:44:03.600 completely. Okay. And you've got a, um, there's a corporate tax, but you don't pay the corporate tax
00:44:10.960 at all. And, um, you might just have a property tax left, but over time, we might be able to get rid
00:44:18.780 of property tax as well. So, uh, so these are the, the outcome is just so astronomically brilliant
00:44:27.860 for Albertans that, um, if you don't, if you don't like that, if you don't like having more money,
00:44:34.520 um, and the ability to purchase goods that are even less costly, then by all means, you have
00:44:41.220 every right to move to a region where you can pay more taxes and pay more money and get less
00:44:46.760 quality, uh, product and less service. And, you know, there it is, just move there and, and be happy
00:44:54.400 in your socialism. You know, it's so funny you say that because one comment that really stuck out to
00:45:00.980 us, we talked about it after from the Alberta next panel was, and, and this is pretty close to word
00:45:07.040 for word, Dr. Modry. Uh, there was a woman at the mic who said, I'm okay paying more taxes if it means
00:45:14.840 that a firefighter in new Brunswick is better able to do their job. And I just couldn't, I was so struck
00:45:20.720 by that. I was like, that's that, I mean, I sort of what you said earlier, I understand the,
00:45:27.000 the general idea of what, you know, yeah, no one is in favor of people dying in fires. You know,
00:45:32.300 we want firefighters to fire departments to be funded, but the idea that it should somehow be
00:45:38.220 Alberta's responsibility to fund new Brunswick's new Brun, new Brunswick's fire department is just
00:45:45.460 so far away from how my head works personally that I just, I can't quite rationalize. I don't know,
00:45:51.700 maybe I'm asking you the same question twice, but like, what do we do about people like this,
00:45:55.680 doctor? Please. Yeah. I mean, I mean, it's, it's really kind of, um, it's, it's thinking that
00:46:04.580 isn't part of the mainstream. I'll put it that way. I mean, is she also okay or would she also be okay?
00:46:10.600 Um, because Trudeau has spent $11 billion financing gender studies and other countries
00:46:18.100 around the world. Is she okay with that as well? Probably. I'd say probably. You'd have to stress
00:46:23.320 test some of these ideas of like, well, like how much, how much has been wasted? And if she,
00:46:31.320 before like adding new taxes or like, are you really happy with your taxes? You're complaining
00:46:36.680 about the cost of living, you're complaining about like everything's so expensive or you don't have
00:46:42.040 enough money for these bills or food's getting really tough to actually afford the quality groceries
00:46:47.560 that you want. And you're okay with your taxes going up and you're okay with sending money overseas.
00:46:53.380 Like which one, which one is it? Like, can you have all these things you're going to, at some point,
00:47:00.320 you're going to run into basic physical laws and you'll have to reevaluate some of these things?
00:47:08.240 Well, it's, it's, it's, it's like the, um, analogy and healthcare, um, people become ill and they want
00:47:16.160 someone else to fix them and they want someone else to pay for it. So it's the same thing with this
00:47:22.400 lady's thinking. Uh, you know, she wants, um, uh, someone else to, uh, you know, pay for her inability
00:47:33.520 right now, uh, to purchase what it is she wants because, you know, she can't. So she wants it provided
00:47:39.440 in some other way. And so this gets to the, back to the point that I made earlier is that the, the
00:47:48.400 Marxist communist end of society, uh, they, they very much, uh, want to see, um, equal outcomes,
00:48:01.280 regardless of effort. And so, you know, I guess if everybody lived in a, uh, a three room shack,
00:48:12.000 uh, that would make that kind of person happy, you know? Um, yeah, I, I, I, you know, humanity
00:48:22.160 isn't built this way. Humanity is built. Um, I mean, we are as, uh, we are individuals to begin with,
00:48:29.120 and, uh, we all have our own talents. Um, if you, you've seen me, you know, that one of my talents
00:48:37.280 would never be a professional basketball player, for example, you know? And, um, and so we, we all
00:48:44.880 have our own native abilities and for society to function well, everybody needs to do something
00:48:53.440 to their level of ability. Uh, now that is not to say that we ignore, um, people who are born
00:49:02.240 compromised, um, or who become compromised by life circumstances. Those people definitely need
00:49:08.960 to be looked after. So this is where you have to have social programs that, uh, will look after these
00:49:15.520 kinds of individuals and, uh, in a way in which they have dignity and a quality of life as best possible.
00:49:23.920 Um, but for everybody else, you know, um, uh, you know, we, we wouldn't have evolved this way as a
00:49:32.720 society if everybody, um, was compelled the same way, you know? Um, and because human ingenuity and
00:49:44.720 creativity, uh, is individual, it's not collective. Okay. Now you can get bright people together that
00:49:52.560 can synergize their minds and their efforts, um, and, and, and skills to create, but those,
00:50:03.760 but those traits are individualistic, you know? And, uh, you can get a bunch of people with the same
00:50:10.800 skills working together to build a bridge, but guess what? You've got engineers, you've got
00:50:16.400 architects, you've got cement guys, you got steel guys, you, you got, you know, uh, people that
00:50:22.640 understand the subsoil and, and that sort of thing. They're all working together, but they have
00:50:26.480 different skills, right? Different interests. Collectivism doesn't allow that. It pigeonholes
00:50:33.920 everybody. And it, it, it makes you not want to do things, um, because you don't know what to do.
00:50:40.320 All you can, all you're thinking about is surviving then, and you don't have the means to,
00:50:47.760 to move on, um, and to be really productive and creative. If you think about it, everything that
00:50:55.040 people do in society, to a very large extent, benefits society, right? I always like to take
00:51:01.760 business as probably the number one most giving activity in society. Do you know why I say that?
00:51:11.440 Because business provides a product or a service that the public needs, but it has to provide that
00:51:19.760 product or a service at a competitive advantage to other companies that provide that same product
00:51:27.760 or service. And if they don't provide it at a competitive advantage, they go out of business,
00:51:34.240 right? This benefits the public because it keeps prices low. It's one of the essences of capitalism.
00:51:42.080 As long as capital, capitalism isn't controlled and you don't have monopolies or you don't have,
00:51:49.600 um, you know, companies getting together and price fixing.
00:51:54.080 So this is where regulations become relevant sort of thing. But, um, but I always, I always think about
00:52:01.920 business, you know, people complain about business being greedy. I think business is the most giving
00:52:06.880 thing out there. These are entrepreneurs that put their life and their economics on the line to create
00:52:15.520 something that the public needs or wants, or it can use, or will sustain the public. I don't get it.
00:52:22.880 Why, you know, the socialists, the Marxists complain about, about business as being greedy. Yeah,
00:52:30.080 sure. Some are, and some have been cut out, but you know, maybe that has to do more with, um,
00:52:38.960 the types of businesses that take advantage of the effects of a fiat currency and money printing.
00:52:46.480 I feel like the criticisms, like everybody loves when you can get a good quality product at a cheap
00:52:53.520 price and it's like easy to use and they love all those benefits of capitalism. But I think the
00:53:00.400 criticisms are misplaced at the, at the mechanisms of capitalism. They, there are,
00:53:08.320 they're more concerned about like, well, what enables the greed, like what enables corruption
00:53:15.040 of companies, um, of corporations. And that would be taking advantage of their, they, they are
00:53:24.320 benefiting from the effects of inflation through assets, through, um, pretty much they are getting
00:53:32.960 wealthier because our currency is being devalued and their wealth is increasing because of the assets
00:53:39.440 they hold rather than the money that like, if somebody is poor, they don't have a lot of store
00:53:45.840 value. And so their thousand dollars is only worth nine, like $900 the next year, if you're into that
00:53:57.120 kind of into that state of inflation. So, um, these things distort what people can act like. It's
00:54:05.440 harder to navigate, um, and make good decisions. So you're left being more dependent on a government
00:54:13.520 when price signals are distorted, when you can't afford things. So these are solutions ultimately
00:54:20.160 enabled by governments, which can only be solved by more government in these terms, like it, it begs
00:54:27.920 for a government solution. And I feel like it's very compelling for a lot of these people. And it takes
00:54:34.560 a bit of a lot of discussions to undo some of these ideas and yeah, I'm clever. Well, you're
00:54:42.320 unpacking this, you're, you're, you're, you're really hit the nail on the head on this one. You
00:54:46.080 know, I mean, if, if you were to look at, you know, what are one of the biggest economic problems
00:54:51.760 that, that we have, it's probably central bank control, uh, and the way the bank, the whole banking
00:54:56.960 system operates and the way inflation has been created as a consequence of printing trillions and
00:55:02.640 trillions of dollars of different currencies around the world. Um, and, uh, yeah, you know, so
00:55:12.560 we've, we've all seen it. Uh, inflation has eroded our purchasing power dramatically. Um, but that then,
00:55:20.640 you know, brings us back to Alberta sovereignty. So, and think about currency for a moment.
00:55:26.960 So you'll remember, um, when the U S dollar was backed by gold, right? That, that was when the U S
00:55:35.840 currency was not personally, but yes. Yeah. Well, I, yeah, yeah. Like, likewise, uh, I was alive then,
00:55:44.080 but I wasn't thinking about currency at that time. Um, but, uh, but if you think about, if you think about
00:55:51.040 it from the perspective of the U S dollar backed by gold, it was the strongest currency in the world
00:55:56.160 and it's losing its, um, well, ever since it, um, Nixon removed the gold, moved the currency from
00:56:04.080 the gold standard, it's been, it's been losing its strength over time. Um, but it's made, it's been,
00:56:10.960 it's been able to sort of maintain it because the U S has been so tremendously productive right now. It has
00:56:16.880 a $30 trillion GDP. Um, and you take the other fourth, four largest countries in the world and
00:56:24.960 their GDP is, is 32 trillion. I just saw that the other day. So, so, um, what I'm getting at here
00:56:33.760 is imagine Alberta as a sovereign country. Okay. And we move, uh, from a Canadian currency to on an
00:56:42.960 interim basis to a U S currency with the intention over time to develop our own currency backed by
00:56:49.600 our natural resources, um, which is massive. Um, and it has the potential and economists and
00:56:57.840 bankers have told us the same thing who have contributed to the value of freedom document,
00:57:03.200 um, that, that, that a, uh, an Alberta currency, which could be in Alberta, Saskatchewan,
00:57:09.200 central BC, uh, Yukon, Northwest territory, none of it currency as it were, um, could become the
00:57:17.840 strongest currency of the world, if it, in the world, if it was actually backed by something that,
00:57:22.480 that doesn't, it doesn't change materially, like the price of gold goes up, right? So that,
00:57:28.240 that would have strengthened the U S dollar even more. So, but the same amount of gold, like a house,
00:57:34.240 you could buy a house for a certain amount of gold a hundred years ago. Yeah. And it's roughly a
00:57:40.720 similar amount of gold now. So there is some persistence over time of, yeah, of the value of
00:57:46.560 that. But you're thinking about like something like a petrodollar kind of thing. Well, no, not just,
00:57:50.480 not just a petrodollar. I mean, we could, we could back the Canadian current and Alberta currency,
00:57:56.720 uh, uh, by oil, um, by, uh, coal. We have some of the best and massive amounts of coking coal in the
00:58:06.640 world. Um, we could back it by, uh, forestry, um, other minerals, um, water, agriculture. I mean,
00:58:18.480 there are all sorts of things that, that, that, that could back it. And these commodities do change in
00:58:25.040 value. There's no question about it, but in general, they gradually go up rather than down.
00:58:29.680 So, so it, it, it helps, um, uh, keep control of inflation in, in, in, in essence, it actually
00:58:38.560 stops it to a very large extent. And it can only inflation can then only grow at the rate that, uh,
00:58:46.160 all of these commodities together grow in value. Right. But then everybody else is benefiting anyhow.
00:58:52.400 So you don't lose your purchasing power. So, uh, I think, I think, uh, you know, people have asked us
00:58:59.200 about, um, Alberta becoming a sovereign country and about developing our own currency. And I think
00:59:05.360 it's, it's something that should be done, but it's a step that we'd have to take. Um, could we go from
00:59:13.040 a Canadian currency right to an Alberta currency? I'm not sure about that. Um, we've sort of worked out
00:59:20.240 the numbers and believe that from our discussions with the U S administration, or at least our
00:59:26.080 preliminary discussions, we'd be looking at, um, moving to a U S currency because oil and gas is
00:59:32.720 traded in U S dollars right now, anyhow. Right. So, so we'd, we'd move in that direction. And then
00:59:38.080 from there, see how things go and then make a decision about moving to, uh, another currency.
00:59:43.280 And, you know, something very interesting to think about that, you know, what if Alberta,
00:59:47.120 Saskatchewan and some other regions in the West, uh, became a sovereign country and we
00:59:53.760 developed our own, uh, currency going from a U S currency to our own currency with maybe the U S
00:59:59.840 would want to do the same thing, you know, and, and go back to backing their currency with something,
01:00:05.440 you know, um, like gold. So who knows? I don't know.
01:00:09.440 It would certainly be in their best interest, I think.
01:00:11.040 Well, it's just, it's, it's, it's, you know, I mean, intellectually, it's worthwhile thinking
01:00:17.120 about these things because they're, they're possible, but you need to go through the, the
01:00:22.800 analysis as to the wisdom of doing these things. Okay. So the value of freedom document, there's a
01:00:28.240 lot of wisdom in that because there's been a lot of thinking about, um, how to, you know, what,
01:00:34.320 what would happen, uh, economically to Alberta going from a province to becoming a sovereign country.
01:00:41.120 And that wisdom comes from a lot of very great, uh, people, like I said, economists, accountants,
01:00:46.880 actuaries, professionals, business people.
01:00:52.880 Well, Dr. Modry, we've, we've had you for about an hour now, so we want to respect your time, but I,
01:00:57.600 I want to maybe end on, on one question. Um, we, when we saw you a few weeks ago at the, uh,
01:01:04.480 the APP town hall, we, um, we asked you about your, your general, your general feeling about the
01:01:11.680 state of what a, the likelihood of a successful referendum is. And you were, you were feeling
01:01:18.000 fairly confident based on, uh, polling metrics, uh, related to the similar referendum a few years
01:01:24.480 ago on equalization. Uh, has anything changed in the last few weeks? Are you, are you still feeling
01:01:29.680 positive about it? Has, has anything, has the wind shifted at all? Or are we still, uh, do you believe,
01:01:35.120 uh, we're still on track for a successful referendum? Yeah, no, I, I, I do believe that we're on track
01:01:41.200 for a successful referendum. I don't think that, um, Mr. Carney is going to be able to offer or is able to
01:01:50.240 offer Alberta anything near what Albertans want, nor will he be able to offer anything near what the
01:01:58.800 premier has asked for, or the Alberta next panel has put forward. And so, um, under those,
01:02:06.880 under those circumstances, I think we're just moving closer and closer, um, to, uh, achieving the
01:02:15.680 result that we're after, which is a, which is a successful referendum. And to be honest, um,
01:02:22.160 you know, and we talked about this at that APP meeting, uh, is, is polling really accurate.
01:02:28.480 And, uh, there've been some recent articles that have come out that suggest that people are not
01:02:34.240 responding to the, to, to certain questions, for example, questions on sovereignty. And like I said,
01:02:41.440 at the APP meeting, um, you know, who predicted the outcome of the U S election, the polling certainly
01:02:49.760 didn't, neither did the exit polling. It was only when the votes were counted that people,
01:02:55.760 that the U S public really, really understood what had happened. And that is the public recognized
01:03:02.800 something dramatic needed to happen to change the direction of the, of the United States.
01:03:08.720 Well, I think exactly the same thing is happening in Alberta. And, uh, regardless of what the polling
01:03:15.520 shows, I think we're closer to a plurality or we already have a plurality and we will only know that
01:03:22.160 when we have the definitive referendum. And, and what are the effects of another six months? Like
01:03:27.920 a polling, it's skewed, but it's also just a sample in time. And if you look at the momentum,
01:03:34.880 yeah, we're having more and more conversations. Well, James, that that's a really good question.
01:03:39.440 What's going to happen in the next few months? Well, um, there's going to be a lot more education
01:03:44.240 out there. There's going to be a lot more people that are engaged in the discussion on Alberta
01:03:48.560 sovereignty. And it's going to occur, uh, as a consequence of Mr. Lukasik's question, uh, which
01:03:55.200 has stimulated more discussion. It's going to, uh, there's going to be more discussion, you know,
01:04:00.320 when our question is approved or modified and we go ahead and then we're actually into an actual
01:04:06.400 petition. Um, and, um, and I think the, the timing actually assists us. So we already have exceeded the
01:04:17.760 threshold, um, for the, uh, to achieve a successful petition to obligate the provincial government.
01:04:25.600 Um, we just need the approval to proceed to collect the signatures, 177,000 that we need.
01:04:34.160 And, um, and then we're, then we're off to the races and it's going to be, it's going to be,
01:04:39.280 there's going to be so much media coverage, uh, on this from local media, national media and
01:04:45.520 international media. It's going to be, it's going to be quite the spectacle.
01:04:49.200 Well, I hope that we can, uh, we can, we can have you back on to discuss all the things that
01:04:56.560 you and the APP and maybe us by extension did to, uh, to, to further a, uh, the successful
01:05:02.960 referendum. So Dr. Modri, thank you so much for your time, sir. We really appreciate this. Um,
01:05:08.080 do you, um, do you have any, any links you want to share? You want us to put in the notes where
01:05:12.160 people can find you specifically? Well, I don't, I, you know, um, I, I don't know,
01:05:18.320 I've given hundreds of presentations and, and, um, podcast interviews, et cetera, et cetera. No,
01:05:24.640 my suggestion would be, uh, for people that want to learn more about the rationale and merits of
01:05:31.200 Alberta sovereignty, go to our website, albertaprosperityproject.com. Um, there's a lot of
01:05:36.880 really good information there. And, um, you know, what is a value to understand is that there isn't
01:05:45.600 anything that we've, that we have on the website that hasn't been vetted and checked, um, for which
01:05:53.520 there is, um, evident, evidential support for everything that we've said. So, and this is one
01:06:00.560 of the reasons why I might say the other side doesn't want to debate us because they, they can't,
01:06:07.840 they can't use any evidence to, to support what they're saying, um, in opposition to what we have
01:06:16.800 already outlined. So, but in any case, um, I hope at some point we have an opportunity to debate,
01:06:23.440 uh, individuals that feel differently and, uh, we welcome that opportunity.
01:06:29.760 That's the sign of a strong position and we appreciate that. So thank you again, sir.
01:06:33.760 And, uh, and we'll hopefully see you at an event here soon. Very good. All right. Cheers. Thanks a lot.