The Critical Compass Podcast - Alberta Farmer’s Call for Hope： Tanya Clemens Full Speech at the Oct 17 Rally

00:00:00.000 Thank you. Thank you for coming. Good afternoon Alberta. One year ago I stood right here on

00:00:10.740 these very steps and I looked out over one of the largest crowds I'd ever seen. I remember

00:00:17.280 that sea of blue Alberta flags everywhere and I remember something that surprised me. I wasn't

00:00:24.960 nervous. I was standing in front of thousands of people, which isn't exactly

00:00:30.840 where a green farmer from southern Alberta would expect to find herself, but

00:00:35.380 I had this overwhelming feeling that I was exactly where I was supposed to be

00:00:40.260 and that we were exactly on the path that we were supposed to be on. And when

00:00:50.680 When I look at all these Alberta flags, I feel something that I didn't feel before.

00:00:56.480 I feel hope.

00:00:58.920 And here we are one year later, bigger and better and loving harder on Alberta.

00:01:05.060 And some of you might recognize this flag.

00:01:08.320 John actually held it for me a year ago as well.

00:01:12.640 It's the one I proudly fly on my combine every harvest.

00:01:16.520 Thank you.

00:01:19.520 and every morning during harvest I walk across the field and I see that flag

00:01:28.100 waving above my machine and I see my family working together one running the

00:01:34.520 green cart one driving another combine one hauling a load in the semi and in

00:01:39.580 those quiet moments moments that's where I feel peace I'm not thinking about

00:01:44.920 Ottawa I'm not thinking about politics I'm thinking about the land the sky the

00:01:51.760 work before us and the people that I love and that's what freedom feels like

00:01:57.040 to me in my little corner of Alberta I love you too it's a feeling that I want

00:02:10.120 my children and grandchildren to know. But over the years I've watched decisions

00:02:15.740 made far away reach deeper into our farms, our businesses, our lives, and our

00:02:21.520 pocketbooks. Generations of Albertans have tried to do something about this.

00:02:28.300 Our story, Alberta's story, is one of hard work, heartbreak, and hope. When Alberta

00:02:38.080 entered Confederation in 1905, we didn't receive the same control over our crown

00:02:43.840 lands and natural resources that the other provinces did. It took another 25

00:02:49.260 years until 1930 for that to be transferred to Alberta. Think about that.

00:02:54.940 The people building this province, breaking the land, raising their families

00:03:00.500 and creating communities, spent the first quarter century of provincial life

00:03:05.680 without full control of over some of the resources beneath their feet and those

00:03:11.720 were not the last disagreements Albert I would have with Ottawa as a green

00:03:17.140 farmer I remember the battles surrounding the Canadian Wheat Board for

00:03:22.920 decades farmers in Western Canada were required to market their wheat and

00:03:28.000 barley through a compulsory single desk Western monopoly imposed only on our

00:03:35.660 grain farmers and then farmers who challenged those rules and had the

00:03:41.120 audacity to sell their very own grain across the border were arrested jailed

00:03:47.420 and even shackled then there was the National Energy Program of 1980 which

00:03:56.620 which broke homes and communities but Albertans kept trying to change things

00:04:03.460 If anything, we are a resilient people and determined and fiercely stubborn.

00:04:11.660 The Reform Party emerged with a message that resonated across Western Canada.

00:04:17.820 The West wants in.

00:04:19.740 And part of that vision was a Triple E Senate, which we are still asking for.

00:04:24.980 In 2001, the firewall letter proposed that Alberta exercise greater control over pensions, policing, and tax collection.

00:04:36.400 Does that sound familiar?

00:04:38.700 Because 25 years later, we're still asking for the same things.

00:04:46.040 Then came the Fair Deal panel asking for authority within Confederation.

00:04:51.240 It was basically a nothing burger.

00:04:53.940 And in 2021, Albertans went to the polls in a referendum on equalization, where nearly 62%

00:05:01.300 of us voted to remove it from the Constitution. And Ottawa's response was silence.

00:05:10.180 When I look back over all those years, what strikes me is how much effort Albertans were

00:05:14.900 put into trying to achieve more sovereignty within Confederation. And for a long time,

00:05:21.460 i believed we could find a way to make the confederation work better for alberta a sovereign

00:05:27.620 alberta within canada i wanted that to happen but as the years passed i became increasingly

00:05:34.580 frustrated that so many of the same questions were still unresolved and then i became involved

00:05:42.980 in the alberta sovereignty movement and for the first time i could see a different path forward

00:05:49.300 and my frustration turned to hope now many of you will remember former premier ralph klein

00:06:01.300 ralph had a way of understanding alberta politics and he was known for saying that

00:06:06.340 a politician needed to figure out which way the parade was headed and get out in front of it

00:06:13.780 well alberta i think we have built quite a parade

00:06:22.580 on october 19th we're going to be asked the most important question albertans have ever

00:06:28.020 been asked something that generations before us worked so hard for but never had the opportunity

00:06:34.500 to put the province wide vote what an honor for us and while independence itself is not on the ballot

00:06:42.820 that vote for option two is powerful. For generations, Albertans have gone to Ottawa

00:06:49.700 asking for change. We've elected new people, we've tried different approaches, and we've gone back

00:06:56.260 asking yet again. But what we've always been missing is a credible alternative, and that's

00:07:03.300 the leverage that option two gives us. For the first time, our provincial government would have

00:07:09.060 a democratic mandate to pursue a different path and a much stronger

00:07:13.980 position for which to negotiate. That strength is right there at our

00:07:20.940 fingertips and I'm just asking for Albertans to grasp it. I sure hope they

00:07:26.940 do. It has been the honor of my lifetime to work alongside Keith Wilson. He's

00:07:42.060 pretty great. Our whole team at Let Alberta Decide. The volunteers who have

00:07:53.880 dedicated so much of their lives these past months to this movement, and the

00:07:58.200 Albertans who have supported us and placed their trust in us. This is a

00:08:02.740 pretty extraordinary place for a farm girl to find herself. I am deeply humbled.

00:08:12.360 Thank you. I sometimes wonder what my great-grandparents would think if they

00:08:19.480 could see Alberta today. I think about those early settlers who arrived here,

00:08:27.280 looked out across this vast, cold, unforgiving land, and somehow still

00:08:33.160 thought it was worth building a life upon. They didn't know what Alberta would

00:08:38.440 become, they didn't know what their grandchildren and children would

00:08:42.580 experience, but they believed there was a future here, and they had the courage to

00:08:48.100 build it and now four generations later i'm standing on the steps of our ledge thinking about

00:08:54.420 what we're going to leave behind one of the most important things farming has taught me is about

00:09:00.500 stewardship when you inherit land that generations before you have worked so hard to build and care

00:09:06.820 for you understand that it isn't just yours you're responsible for looking after it making it better

00:09:14.900 where you can and leaving it in good hands for those who come after you.

00:09:20.260 And I feel that same sense of stewardship about our dear Alberta.

00:09:31.500 I've said before that I don't think history necessarily feels like history when you're

00:09:36.200 standing in the middle of it.

00:09:38.700 Most of us are simply living our lives, doing the work in front of us, raising our families

00:09:43.500 and making the best decisions we can with what we know.

00:09:47.040 I doubt the generations who built Alberta spent much time thinking about how history would remember them.

00:09:53.320 They were too busy building farms, communities, businesses, and lives.

00:09:59.460 And yet the choices they made became the Alberta we inherited.

00:10:04.140 And now we're the generation standing at a historical moment that will help determine what Alberta becomes next.

00:10:13.000 when our children and grandchildren look back on this moment i hope they see that we had courage

00:10:20.600 that when the future of alberta was placed into our hands we didn't settle for what we'd always

00:10:26.840 known simply because it was familiar we had the courage to believe that alberta could be more

00:10:34.120 and when history finally gave us the opportunity to choose we had the courage to act

00:10:42.040 And I'd just like to end with a quote that our premier often says at the end of her speeches,

00:10:55.060 but I'll adapt it slightly.

00:10:58.020 May Alberta be forever strong and truly free.

00:11:05.480 Thank you.

00:11:12.040 Thank you.

The Critical Compass Podcast - October 19, 2026

Alberta Farmer’s Call for Hope： Tanya Clemens Full Speech at the Oct 17 Rally

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