The Critical Compass Podcast - December 04, 2025


Standing Ovation & Mic Cut： Jeff Rath Calls for Free Alberta at UCP AGM 2025 + Full Interview

A Standing Ovation for a Free and Independent Alberta： Inside the 2025 UCP AGM Keith Wilson on How Bill 14 FREES Alberta Independence from Endless Lawfare

Episode Stats


Length

5 minutes

Words per minute

166.65

Word count

894

Sentence count

52

People

Guests:
Jeff Rath
Also mentioned:
Mark Carney Danielle Smith Trump

Harmful content

Misogyny

4

sentences flagged

Hate speech

1

sentences flagged


Summary

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

A referendum on Alberta's independence from Canada has been on everyone's mind lately. On this episode of the podcast, we talk to Jeff Rath, co-founder of the Alberta Prosperity Project, about why a referendum should be held on the matter.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 After that so-called MOU was signed yesterday, the ink wasn't dry on the paper, and Mark
00:00:08.000 Carney went out and gleefully announced a 600% increase to the industrial carbon tax
00:00:15.000 in Alberta.
00:00:17.000 My question for the room is, how many of all of us favor a free and independent Alberta?
00:00:30.000 Thank you!
00:01:00.000 All right, we're here with Mr. Jeff Rath, co-founder, lead counsel of the Alberta Prosperity Project.
00:01:21.400 Mr. Rath, you are quite a popular man today.
00:01:24.180 Yeah, it was an interesting night last night.
00:01:25.800 We had the opportunity to prove to Danielle Smith and her cabinet that their base is about 85% to 90% in favor of Alberta independence.
00:01:34.380 So hopefully, although I didn't hear it today because Danielle did get booed on the issue,
00:01:38.700 I was hoping that we would hear the end of this nonsense about a strong Alberta within a united Canada.
00:01:43.840 It's just time to move on and get Alberta the hell out of Canada. 0.98
00:01:47.180 Yeah, were you as surprised as everyone else was to have your mic cut off yesterday in the middle of your question?
00:01:53.120 Well, not really.
00:01:54.700 I mean, I think the only way that Danielle or any of her cabinet ministers can win a debate on Alberta independence is if they cut off our mic, right?
00:02:02.880 You know, the math and the economics of Alberta leaving Canada are so strong.
00:02:08.760 There is not a valid argument for keeping Alberta within Canada.
00:02:12.100 And you notice that in all of her remarks today that, you know, that Danielle didn't have a single good reason for Alberta staying in Canada
00:02:20.100 other than we need to work with our fellow Canadians who've been screwing us for years, right? 1.00
00:02:25.400 So, you know, I'm, you know, I was really disappointed in her speech today and I don't think she got the message last night.
00:02:31.320 That's for sure.
00:02:31.820 Yeah, I was going to ask you, do you feel like there's any sort of gamesmanship happening here with where she's trying to maybe play both sides? 0.98
00:02:38.500 Or what is your feeling on her personal opinion on the matter?
00:02:41.620 Maybe not her public one.
00:02:43.300 Well, you know, I don't even know what to say to that.
00:02:45.660 I mean, she's been talking out of both sides of her mouth for so long, it's hard to say what side she's on, right?
00:02:50.120 So, you know, one day she's Wild Rose. 0.99
00:02:51.740 The next day she's PC.
00:02:53.280 Now she's UCP.
00:02:54.800 You know, if the Alberta UCP goes firmly in favour of independence, is she going to cross the floor back to the progressive Conservatives?
00:03:03.200 Who knows?
00:03:03.720 Like, you never know what side she's on from day to day.
00:03:06.260 So does the response that you saw from your question yesterday and the response online, does that give you more hope for the future of a successful referendum?
00:03:14.120 Well, I mean, we had a huge rally out front of the Alberta legislature and Danielle was hiding in her office and couldn't come out and speak to us, right?
00:03:20.600 So, you know, when you have, you know, 15,000 to 20,000 people show up on the steps of the ledge and then when you have, you know, an almost unanimous room stand up and applaud for independence at a UCP AGM, you know, Danielle's not getting the message.
00:03:35.340 Like, we don't want any more Mark Carney in Alberta.
00:03:38.440 We don't want any more photo ops where, you know, after Mark Carney signs a document, the ink that isn't dry on, he goes out and gleefully announces a 600% increase in federal industrial carbon tax.
00:03:51.780 I mean, the Financial Post has put the cost of that MOU that Danielle's so proud of at $6 to $10 a barrel of added production costs.
00:04:01.260 That'll kill the Alberta oil patch. 1.00
00:04:03.120 They say it's going to create new investment.
00:04:04.660 How is adding $6 to $10 a barrel to production costs of some of the most expensive oil in the world going to add to increased economic activity in Alberta?
00:04:15.540 Why would anybody come to Alberta with a 600% increase in carbon tax looming when they can go drill in Texas or drill in lands that have just been opened up by President Trump in Alaska?
00:04:25.180 I mean, these people are delusional if they think that that MOU they signed yesterday is good for the Alberta oil patch.
00:04:30.660 Last question, Jeff. Does the APP have any upcoming events that you want people to know about?
00:04:35.440 You know what? I've kind of lost track because we've been very focused on getting a board of directors elected at this meeting.
00:04:40.260 I guess we'll regroup on Monday.
00:04:41.620 But every week, I mean, we've got events somewhere in the province.
00:04:44.460 So go to albertaprosperityproject.com.
00:04:47.460 Check out how you can get involved, how you can volunteer, how you can join APP,
00:04:50.880 how you can pre-register to sign a referendum, to vote in a referendum or provide a signature on a petition to have a referendum on the question,
00:05:01.460 do you agree that Alberta shall become a sovereign country and cease to be a province in Canada?
00:05:06.100 Because that's the only issue we need to be discussing today.
00:05:09.000 Thank you, sir. I really appreciate what you're doing.
00:05:10.440 My pleasure. Thank you very much for talking to me.
00:05:12.200 You bet.
00:05:12.840 Cheers.
00:05:13.160 Thanks.
00:05:13.380 Cheers.
00:05:13.440 Cheers.
00:05:13.520 Cheers.
00:05:13.940 Cheers.
00:05:14.440 Cheers.
00:05:14.940 Cheers.
00:05:15.940 Cheers.
00:05:16.940 Cheers.
00:05:17.940 Cheers.
00:05:18.940 Cheers.
00:05:20.880 Cheers.