The Critical Compass Podcast - Tanya Clemens ｜ Independence Really is the ONLY Choice for Alberta

00:00:00.000 I don't even understand what they're saying when they say things like that, because I do. I love Canada. I've loved it the whole time I've been brought up to, you know, look at that flag and sing the anthem and what it stood for and all those ideals. And I just it's not there anymore.

00:00:16.840 and it's sad and heartbreaking that it has been broken and tossed away by the system of government

00:00:25.100 we have and those that we've elected. But what is hopeful is that maybe we don't know how to save

00:00:30.860 all of Canada right now or to correct all those wrongs, but we can save Alberta. And Alberta is

00:00:36.460 my favorite piece of Canada. I'm Albertan and Canadian, but Alberta, I know that we can save

00:00:42.840 there's a path that we can do that and what if we can save alberta and then show the rest of

00:00:47.640 canada that you can get out from underneath this too welcome back to the critical compass i'm james

00:01:10.120 This is Mike, and today we're joined by Tanya Clemmings.

00:01:14.320 She is a farmer, teacher, mother,

00:01:17.920 and an outspoken advocate for Alberta independence.

00:01:21.560 You may have seen her in one of the events that she's been traveling around

00:01:25.660 Alberta, and you might also have recognized her from our recent speech of hers

00:01:31.080 that we published a few weeks ago.

00:01:33.320 So thank you, Tanya.

00:01:35.120 It's great to have you on the show.

00:01:36.980 Yeah, thank you very much for having me.

00:01:38.320 I appreciate it.

00:01:40.120 Uh, Tanya, as somebody who's been kind of at the ground floor of this movement for, for a while now, and, and, and certainly in this latest iteration, um, you know, you've been putting in the miles and doing the talks and, well, I guess what, what would you say is your overall feeling about what our odds going into October are?

00:02:00.060 I know it's sort of hard to predict that.

00:02:01.340 I always like to ask our guests to make predictions though.

00:02:04.120 Well, I feel really optimistic about it because I think that this is becoming so big that there are so many Albertans behind it that our voice is very strong and very loud.

00:02:13.460 And I anticipate that there will be all kinds of terrible things coming our way and court litigations and cancel culture.

00:02:21.820 And I don't even know fully what to expect, but there'll be a lot thrown at us because nobody wants Alberta, the cash cow of the country, to be able to leave.

00:02:32.240 And even on a world stage, I don't know if, you know, there's some powers that wouldn't enjoy that. But at the same time, we're also becoming this light and beacon for prosperity and freedom. And if we can do this, I think there's going to be a lot of people in the world watching and we'll have the hope that they too can get this done as well.

00:02:50.880 So I feel very hopeful about it because I think that we do have some really big numbers. And the only part that's missing is just the continued education. Because when you see the numbers of like the economic data for what a prosperous Alberta could look like when we become a sovereign, it's pretty hard to ignore that.

00:03:11.720 And then there's the whole freedom side of it that we've been fighting, like I said, since 1905 to carve out things and that we just can't change constitutionally. But when you look at that too, that it's hard to deny the merits of the sovereign Alberta. I think it's pretty compelling to people once they actually learn about it.

00:03:28.220 but it's also creating the space for that civil conversation to happen because people are very

00:03:32.780 scared and we were talking about this in our meeting last night how to discuss with people

00:03:38.060 who are opposed to it and if they're adamantly opposed then maybe that's just a conversation

00:03:42.380 that you know you're not going to win them over they're set in their minds they've made it up and

00:03:45.820 that's fair enough they're entitled to do that but the ones that are like fairly hesitant i think

00:03:50.620 often comes from a place of fear because it's scary to form a new nation it's scary to have

00:03:56.620 things change to leave something that's familiar and even though the certainty of what's happening

00:04:01.260 in canada is quite scary forging a new path is also scary so platforms like this where you can

00:04:08.300 come on and discuss and have some civil discourse around it is going to be huge for the rest of the

00:04:13.900 phase leading up to the referendum essentially when you have all these events you have these

00:04:18.300 podcasts you have these discussions we're almost creating a paper trail of we're true like we're

00:04:27.180 proving ourselves against the allegations that it's like a hate-based movement it's a lashing out and

00:04:33.580 whatever accusations are thrown at us now we have examples that say otherwise and people can find

00:04:41.260 out from themselves so uh that's why the live streams are hugely important max at freedom

00:04:47.180 calendar is uh doing an amazing job documenting almost every single event he's out there he's

00:04:55.260 driving across a machine an absolute machine yeah um so that's creating a record uh what we're doing

00:05:03.900 we're filming some of the speeches we're trying to like present them as well if people can stumble

00:05:09.900 upon them then that's another entryway people can go to these town halls they can go to a community

00:05:15.660 center they can see these events so there's lots of ways to engage um and the next best part is

00:05:22.460 that there are different speakers with with a different story all with their unique way that

00:05:30.860 they came to alberta independence it's one thing i liked about your speech is you started off saying

00:05:35.980 that you're not a politician you're not a lawyer um and on stage you were very much speaking from

00:05:42.380 the heart thinking about well this is what you want you want a better future for your children

00:05:49.260 and then you were reflecting backwards on the history of alberta and how we got here so that's

00:05:54.860 good that's going to speak to a lot of people that might not maybe they don't want to listen

00:06:00.700 to somebody who sounds more like a politician or more technical on the legal standpoint um and it's

00:06:08.860 going to take all types of personalities over the next um half year leading up to the referendum

00:06:16.380 so what group of people like where's the biggest need for communication that that's what i was

00:06:23.100 trying to that's what i was more curious on uh i think that like we really need to get into the

00:06:30.140 cities is uh where a lot of conversations haven't happened yet uh lots of the tours have been doing

00:06:37.020 like small town Alberta and going around to more rural centers. We've been into all the major

00:06:42.220 centers like Red Tear, Lethbridge, Calgary and Edmonton, but the population is just so huge

00:06:46.940 there that we just need to have more and more events to make sure that the conversations are

00:06:50.940 starting to happen. I think it's also interesting the way that it's been approached so far by

00:06:56.940 having these conversations with all the smaller towns that you've kind of created this whole

00:07:01.100 network of people that understand the principles of a sovereign Alberta are excited about it

00:07:06.300 And then the best way to educate and encourage people

00:07:10.500 is to have those one on one conversations or conversations in small groups.

00:07:14.300 It's almost like you've created this whole army of people that are

00:07:17.840 are armed with the education and the tools to have these conversations.

00:07:20.940 And now they're going forth and talking to their family members

00:07:23.460 and their friends and their networks of people.

00:07:25.260 And and those conversations are happening.

00:07:27.760 And it is great, like you said, that there's so many speakers

00:07:31.060 on so many different tours and there's going to be more and more

00:07:34.400 coming up all the time that feel confident now that you can go talk in public about this.

00:07:39.680 And there'll be somebody that resonates with everybody in Alberta, I think.

00:07:44.960 Not every speaker is going to resonate with everyone, but there's going to be some speakers

00:07:48.720 that resonate and people feel comfortable, you know, going after a meeting and having

00:07:52.540 a one-on-one conversation with them or participating in the Q&As and getting their questions answered.

00:07:58.660 Yeah. When we, when we interviewed Kathy Flett, that was a, that was a point that we were really, um, excited about is that, yeah, there just are specifically with, uh, having women like you and Kathy and, and, and others, you know, active in the movement.

00:08:14.580 Um, not everyone specifically, uh, women feel as comfortable like speaking in public or, or talking about, you know, politically charged ideas as, you know, big oaf men like us that, you know, are just itching to, you know, yell our opinion to whoever will listen.

00:08:31.160 Right.

00:08:31.400 So that's, that's very good that you guys are, are, are doing this and you're giving other women permission to talk about these things.

00:08:37.460 um i wonder i kind of this is kind of a two-part i wonder if you could kind of give

00:08:42.720 our viewers a little bit of a background as to how you found yourself uh in this movement in

00:08:49.160 the position that you're in uh doing the things that you're doing and and maybe before that if

00:08:54.120 you could i don't know if you can but if there was a point that you can kind of point to that

00:08:59.720 was maybe the like the last straw or the or the final thing that kind of made you um feel that

00:09:06.780 this is a thing that you need to be doing with your time yeah I can for sure I think that like

00:09:13.600 being a farmer and kind of where we live I think that we tend to just naturally be a little bit

00:09:18.660 more libertarian by nature because we're used to like being a little bit removed from like the

00:09:23.460 larger group of society and I guess the way that I was raised by my family too was just like good

00:09:28.920 work ethic and some grit and we like to just do our work out here and be left alone like the less

00:09:35.540 we have to do with the government is kind of the better we just want to do our own things grow the

00:09:39.860 food and do our jobs so i think having kind of a libertarian heart has kind of led me on this

00:09:45.260 journey to start with but of course during covid that was a turning point for for many albertans

00:09:53.240 and for me it was the part where i wasn't allowed to ask a question i just wanted to be able to ask

00:09:58.960 questions and have some answers given to me and it felt like i was being persecuted for

00:10:03.140 desire to ask a question. And then I watched the Freedom Convoy come together, which to me was

00:10:09.480 the greatest freedom movement I could imagine in history. And all I wanted was to get to Ottawa

00:10:17.520 and to have one of the people that we elected to represent us listen to them. And he couldn't come

00:10:24.820 out on the steps to listen to them. So now we're at a point where we can't ask questions and we're

00:10:28.540 not going to be listened to. So I went to Alberta Prosperity events. I think it was actually like

00:10:34.920 before they were even fully Alberta Prosperity Society and just decided to volunteer there

00:10:40.260 because I was looking for groups of people that maybe had the same frustrations and mindset as

00:10:46.020 I did. And I volunteered at my first one. And I remember the speakers that night were Dr. Dennis

00:10:51.320 Moradry, who I'd never heard speak before live. And he outlined this path to Alberta sovereignty

00:10:58.300 and that there was a clear path and it was a legal path. And I had never even heard of this

00:11:03.220 before. So I started doing some research into that. And the other person that spoke that night

00:11:09.040 too was Tarek Elnega. I don't know if you've heard of him, but he's big on independence and freedom

00:11:14.340 and just a really, really cool guy. And that was the first time I'd ever met him as well and heard

00:11:18.700 his story about coming to Canada and what he believed Canada was and then finding out that

00:11:24.400 that ideal of Canada was maybe lost. But Alberta still had those ideals and he was fighting for

00:11:29.860 that. So that was kind of my turning point was when I think when I heard Dr. Modry speak and

00:11:36.360 realized, hey, there actually could be a way out of this. And if there's a way out of this,

00:11:40.740 that I can leave something better for my kids, for future Albertans. If we can end like this

00:11:46.580 120 years of struggling for sovereignty within Canada, maybe we can do something really amazing

00:11:52.020 without Canada and get all of those ideals that we believe Canada was back into place.

00:11:58.160 Yeah. Dennis will have that effect on people. Dr. Modri certainly has a way about him, doesn't he?

00:12:04.560 Yeah. He's just so smart too. Smart and calm and always willing to discuss. I pick his brain a lot.

00:12:11.620 it is interesting to hear where people are on their journey um and i think you went going

00:12:23.520 you went into those meetings and you went into listening to dennis modry lay out this path

00:12:29.040 and you already had some concerns and grievances of canada and i've noticed that i think a lot

00:12:38.460 of people are still under the illusion that Canada works, that Canada is somehow fair,

00:12:44.740 that power should be centralized in some kind of way. So even a conversation about Alberta

00:12:51.220 independence, you have to, it's a little bit of a like mentally taxing exercise because now you

00:12:59.600 have to talk about, well, there's like an economic side, there's a cultural side to this discussion.

00:13:05.620 And there's elements of, well, the history of Canada and what our confederation is supposed to be.

00:13:13.480 And a lot of people still think of provinces as children to the federal government.

00:13:19.560 They don't really look at our federation as equal footing with sovereignty in their own jurisdiction.

00:13:26.560 jurisdiction. So that's even a fundamental misconception that I would say a good chunk

00:13:33.500 of voters in the referendum, if they don't even understand some of these either historical

00:13:39.380 pillars or some of these fundamental concepts, that's a hurdle within itself. So I think that's

00:13:48.480 where the education piece is really important. Yeah. And we were talking about actually the

00:13:55.040 other night at our event too about some of those exact same things. And I think someone was asking

00:13:58.880 a question about, excuse me, the equalization referendum in 2021. So that was only five years

00:14:06.240 ago that we had that. And 62% of Albertans voted in favor of ending equalization, which is great

00:14:12.120 because we're all on the same page, you know, the majority wins and absolutely nothing happens.

00:14:17.580 And people don't really seem to question why they just kind of, we voted yes for it. Oh,

00:14:22.160 equalization will never happen, I guess, and they just let it go by. But you need to ask questions

00:14:27.680 of why can it happen? Why is the system working this way? And what is it doing that? And I learned

00:14:32.780 that from listening to like Dr. Modri speak again, and then doing some research on it, that to be

00:14:37.340 able to open the constitution, Albertans will need four hurdles to be cleared. And the first one is

00:14:42.920 that you have to get seven out of 10 provinces in agreement, representing more than 50% of the

00:14:47.540 population. Well, Quebec and Ontario, they've got 60% of the population between them. So you need

00:14:52.820 one of them on board for sure. And if you happen to do that, then the next step is you need a

00:14:57.760 majority vote in the House of Commons, which does not look very favorable for us. And then you need

00:15:03.240 a majority vote in the Senate, which is absolutely impossible for Alberta to achieve. And then the

00:15:08.620 fourth hurdle to clear is that Quebec basically has a de facto veto vote on it. So anything that

00:15:14.380 we actually don't like in the Constitution, there is a reason why it has never been changed,

00:15:18.920 because we can't open it to make that change. So the system's actually working exactly the way

00:15:24.080 that it was supposed to. It's just very frustrating to Albertans when we don't want it to work that

00:15:28.480 way. Yeah, and we bring this up when objections like that come up from people who are very

00:15:36.180 opposed to independence, and they, you know, they'll quote some obscure subsection of a clause

00:15:42.200 of a whatever. And it's like, you understand that, you know, by even proposing that as a reason why

00:15:48.360 we can't express our political and social will, by even saying that you're giving more fuel to

00:15:55.380 the argument about why exactly we need to escape this silly program.

00:16:00.220 Right. And countries all over the world have separated and formed new nations with no process

00:16:05.900 or anything. In Canada, we actually have a legal pathway, which we have been following. But if it

00:16:11.520 comes down to it too like the will of albertans will win out if they choose independence we will

00:16:17.700 be independent we're following the legal pathway that's set out because it's unusual that a country

00:16:22.320 even would have that it is very unusual and and uh i think this is i quoted this to somebody the

00:16:28.620 other day i think it was jfk actually who said um those who make something like those who make

00:16:34.340 peaceful peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable something like this

00:16:41.980 and it's a great quote and it's and it's something that like i don't know how much

00:16:46.520 like how clearer everyone in the movement could be about how like we're literally just following

00:16:52.720 the law this is like the wording on the referendum question i didn't like it personally i thought that

00:16:58.980 it shouldn't even have the word state in it because it's a little bit yeah you know scary

00:17:02.620 sounding to people who don't don't know but you know um mitch explained like he took they took

00:17:07.780 that wording directly from the clarity act so it's it couldn't even it couldn't be more clear

00:17:12.300 that we're trying to do this in the most canadian way possible to to put it you know some other way

00:17:19.280 but yeah it's it's crazy how like it's almost like they want to elicit uh they want to like

00:17:27.420 prove their straw men of us real it just sort of feels like right yeah even with um the injunction

00:17:34.740 right now it just feels like well there's this legal pathway but not everyone is following this

00:17:40.780 legal pathway because there is definitely a time that you can challenge the constitutionality of

00:17:46.540 this independence process but it's not now we're just we're just asking permission to be able to

00:17:52.120 ask a question of albertans so that albertans can weigh in on it i just i do not understand for the

00:17:56.940 life of me, how we could be having an injunction and being told that this is unconstitutional at

00:18:02.820 this point. If we passed the referendum vote, yes, and we were doing something hateful or

00:18:11.480 disregarding treaties or something, then yeah, that's when the courts would step in and say,

00:18:15.840 no, no, you can't go about it this way. There has to be protection of the Constitution and

00:18:20.840 certain things under that. But right now, it just seems so early. We're trying to do things legal

00:18:26.180 and the legal system doesn't feel like they are, I guess.

00:18:30.380 Frustrating.

00:18:32.020 So the hurdle is going to come from

00:18:34.920 with a lot of the people who believe in Canada.

00:18:42.040 I feel like this sense of nationalism has,

00:18:46.540 they treat the independence question as a,

00:18:50.220 like it's an evil,

00:18:52.260 it's a, like only a hateful,

00:18:54.660 like morally deficient person would want to throw away something so good so i i don't think they

00:19:04.120 believe that the question should even be able to be asked because it's already a moral failing

00:19:10.440 so how do you how do you speak like how do you address that or how do you convince

00:19:16.000 somebody otherwise i don't even understand what they're saying when they say things like that

00:19:22.220 because I love Canada.

00:19:24.500 I've loved it the whole time.

00:19:25.960 I've been brought up to look at that flag

00:19:29.340 and sing the anthem and what it stood for

00:19:31.400 and all those ideals.

00:19:32.860 And it's not there anymore.

00:19:35.500 And it's sad and heartbreaking

00:19:37.200 that it has been broken and tossed away

00:19:41.500 by the system of government we have

00:19:44.820 and those that we've elected.

00:19:46.600 But what is hopeful is that

00:19:48.400 maybe we don't know how to save

00:19:50.080 all of Canada right now

00:19:51.580 or to correct all those wrongs, but we can save Alberta.

00:19:55.000 And Alberta is my favorite piece of Canada.

00:19:57.400 I'm Albertan and Canadian, but Alberta, I know that we can save

00:20:02.040 and there's a path that we can do that.

00:20:03.860 And what if we can save Alberta and then show the rest of Canada

00:20:07.240 that you can get out from underneath this too,

00:20:09.820 and you can be independent and still protect those values

00:20:13.340 and what made you Canadian to start with and what you believed it was.

00:20:16.440 Like the people that fought in actual wars for our freedom

00:20:21.300 I believe that they would want us to continue to try to be free, not to just succumb and submit.

00:20:31.600 Yeah. Yeah, that's such a common refrain amongst all our guests. And I think the first time we

00:20:38.180 heard those words like that exactly was when we interviewed Bruce Party for the first time. And

00:20:41.840 he said that, you know, Alberta independence could be, an independent Alberta could save Canada.

00:20:47.900 And so it's a strange thing to think about, but it's it is a I get that feeling, too, because there's you can tell right away people who who haven't done much traveling around Canada when they don't really view when they think that we're being hyperbolic.

00:21:06.940 And we talk about how different Alberta is compared to the rest of the country, because it is very palpably, tangibly, objectively different here.

00:21:14.220 there's a different type of person that lives here and um you know i i was i'm looking through

00:21:22.260 the um the speech that we posted of you where you had your five questions and the thing that really

00:21:29.200 stood out to me there there was there was two that really stood out to me but uh the question

00:21:34.260 the first question you asked of are we better off now than we were a generation ago is such a

00:21:39.100 such a profound question and you followed it up immediately by saying who should decide

00:21:44.680 Alberta's future Ottawa or the people who live here and and I wonder if if you could maybe speak

00:21:49.860 on how how those two things might be so linked and and what what our current generation who is

00:21:57.780 fighting for our independence from Ottawa how that could affect the the young generation going

00:22:04.300 forward. Is that too much of a compound question? No, that's okay. Sorry, I'm just trying to think

00:22:15.620 now. That's a lot thrown in there. Here, let me phrase it differently. So your first question of

00:22:23.520 are we better off now than we were a generation ago? It's a huge question because statistically

00:22:28.660 they say that. So James and I are pretty firmly in the millennial generation. I'm going to assume

00:22:34.280 you're a Zoomer because you're much younger than us. And, uh, and, uh, and, uh, we are the first

00:22:42.780 generation that is expected to have a lower quality of living and a lower lifespan than

00:22:46.300 our parents. And that's, I mean, that's, I can't believe that in the time that we live in. Um,

00:22:52.940 but when you ask, you know, should it be Ottawa or Alberta deciding Albertan's future? That's,

00:22:57.200 that's directly speaking to the, to the generational problem that we're facing,

00:23:00.760 Because there are a group of people in Ottawa who are so detached from what it's like to actually live here, and they are implementing policies that are directly negatively affecting our way of life.

00:23:13.700 And so if we free ourselves from that, what are some of the things that an independent Alberta can do to maybe erase all those negatives that they've placed upon this generation?

00:23:24.740 okay so first with the are we better off than we were a generation ago i think that we look at it

00:23:31.460 even like a step further than that too how how can we try to correct it so that the next generation

00:23:36.900 after us is better off because the stats right now are that for like my kids and the next generation

00:23:43.460 after me the average age of being able to purchase a house is now 44 years old yeah 20 years ago it

00:23:50.980 was 24 years old so 20 years ago by the time you were 44 you would have had your house paid for

00:23:57.220 and now the next generation is only going to be able to start buying their house at that

00:24:02.340 so it's it's pretty sad what our system has has been set up to leave for the generations after us

00:24:10.500 and how costly it is for them to live and just the chipping away at freedoms gradually over and over

00:24:17.460 and then for the second part of it Keith Wilson speaks about it really really well actually

00:24:22.200 about how giant Canada is and how diverse like we are just one big country with like five time

00:24:30.460 zones we cover an immense amount of land and culturally we are very different across the

00:24:35.660 entire country so does it even make sense really to be governed by one body thousands of kilometers

00:24:41.820 away that are going to make all those decisions for us it does make more sense for me that

00:24:46.700 Albertans would be governed by Albertans, by people that we elect in Alberta that understand

00:24:52.140 our needs and our issues. One recent example that's kind of a farming example that happened

00:24:57.880 was when our liberal government, our federal government slapped the tariffs on EVs from China

00:25:06.220 and that was kind of to protect the auto industry out east. And then what China did is they slapped

00:25:14.040 a hundred percent tariffs on canola which only affects western canada so all of a sudden our

00:25:20.040 canola was not moving for farmers and usually it seems like when our liberal government does

00:25:26.120 something silly like that it's something that protects the east and causes a consequence to

00:25:30.680 the west and what people didn't realize is that the canola industry is actually bigger than the

00:25:36.680 auto the steel industries combined so that was a terrible negative effect on canada because of

00:25:44.040 their idea out east there so no it doesn't make sense for us to be governed by people so far

00:25:49.920 removed from that plus we're like a very freedom loving prideful conservative by nature now not

00:25:58.440 meaning like politically conservative but just conservative people that you know value hard work

00:26:03.600 and and grit and the value of a dollar and want to be rewarded for their hard work we that's part

00:26:10.620 of our culture here perfect answer to my long rambling question thank you i don't know i don't

00:26:17.000 even know if i answered i just started talking now too but hopefully it did yes i i'm gonna mess up

00:26:23.760 the uh i don't know if it's if i'm gonna actually like attribute this to the right person but

00:26:29.340 i think it was warren buffett he was talking about the like how to make decisions to better

00:26:37.000 a company and he was thinking of it in the negative so essentially he was thinking like

00:26:42.480 if i wanted to harm this company and tank this company what would i need to do to tank them

00:26:49.420 instantly so he's identifying weaknesses and thinking of like if i do a b c and d

00:26:55.860 that would that would set you on a path to destruction essentially and i i feel like that's

00:27:03.640 a good thought experiment for Canada and also a good thought experiment for Alberta and our next

00:27:10.180 generation. So in Canada, if you wanted to harm the next generation, you would devalue our currency,

00:27:17.320 make it very difficult to save money. You would overload the country population-wise at a rate

00:27:25.380 faster than our heavy welfare and social systems could keep up so you would overload it you devalue

00:27:35.500 your currency you would essentially flip the incentives creating more dependency on the

00:27:43.260 government than what people would naturally have so you are growing the public sector you are

00:27:50.220 increasing the bloat and when you add all this together um you have created a problem that only

00:27:58.460 more government can solve right and the difficult thing is we still have a like even with however

00:28:09.260 many headstrong people we have in alberta right now the cities still have a large portion of public

00:28:15.820 sector, union-based people that are collectivists in nature, who trust a centralized government,

00:28:24.500 and they are not thinking about, well, like, what does putting our trust in this centralized

00:28:32.440 system, like, what will that do over time? Or what would happen if somebody else was in power

00:28:38.000 that didn't share our views.

00:28:41.220 And I don't know if those people

00:28:44.360 are going to be sold on the idea of independence,

00:28:47.420 but they're still part of the equation

00:28:49.360 because, and this is coming up recently with This Week,

00:28:54.780 Colonel David Redman wrote a paper in 2024

00:28:59.480 on the six national interests

00:29:02.160 that must be addressed for a country to thrive.

00:29:08.000 And, like, there's national security, there's unity, there's the economic side of things, and the list goes on.

00:29:14.920 But the unity aspect, I think, is something that's still growing because I feel like it can, like, it's not stagnant.

00:29:27.400 Like, whatever sense of unity we have right now, it can change as we lead towards a referendum.

00:29:34.840 So my question to you is, do you think there's enough unity in Alberta, even with the large share of kind of more public sector collectivists and those who believe in Canada, is there enough unity to solidify a country? Or do you think those people will leave or will they stay or will cause division? Like, how do we factor that into the equation?

00:30:01.020 I still think that there is definitely enough unity. I know when we're talking about independence specifically and the referendum vote, we kind of estimate that there's a third of the population that will just never support independence and will never vote that. And that's okay. They've got their minds made up.

00:30:20.560 So we're not targeting those people to have conversations, but there's like a third in the middle. They're just not sure yet or aren't educated enough. And that's who we're really trying to target and have those conversations with.

00:30:32.740 um as far as like the unions and some of the people who have like more of the collective

00:30:39.700 collectivism mentality that you were talking about i guess when i talk to groups like that

00:30:48.180 or people that come from groups like that because i'm a teacher by trade too so i understand a

00:30:52.460 little bit about the unions although i i'm not in favor of forced unions but um i think that

00:31:00.180 it just needs to be articulated that the pursuit of self-determination and the pursuit of prosperity

00:31:06.720 is actually a unifying pursuit it's not it's non-partisan it doesn't matter what your background

00:31:13.100 is this is something that will benefit all albertans and if they wanted to look at something

00:31:18.440 like the the economics of it you can go read the value of freedom which was a fully costed fiscal

00:31:24.660 document for Sovereign Alberta. It's on the albertaprosperity.com website. It's been out

00:31:30.540 to the public for about a year, I think now, and inviting feedback. So it's been reviewed by

00:31:36.020 economists and anybody in the public. And when you look at that, and it talks about your federal

00:31:42.400 income tax ending on day one of being an independent Alberta, and what would that look

00:31:47.660 like on your paycheck if all of a sudden federal income tax wasn't taken off? And then after five

00:31:52.640 years when we got rid of all income tax period. So you're working in your collectivist job,

00:31:58.760 if you're in a teacher's union or a nurse's union or whatever, but you're working and your

00:32:03.560 work is being rewarded and your paycheck that comes to you is your reward. It's not part of

00:32:09.240 it being taken off for the government to be sent out to Quebec or somewhere else in the form of a

00:32:14.440 transfer payment. This is your money that you worked for and earned. So I think talking in some

00:32:19.400 of those ways. Like it's not a, it's not a partisan issue. We want freedom and prosperity for all

00:32:23.900 Albertans. I don't know, does that kind of answer your question or did that go off track a little

00:32:29.460 bit? That answers it and it speaks to, I guess, a different entry point to that kind of conversation

00:32:38.680 depending on who you're talking to. Because if teachers, if one of their concerns right now is

00:32:43.980 the lack of resources for teaching.

00:32:48.400 Right now, they can't keep up.

00:32:49.960 They want more schools.

00:32:50.840 They want higher pay.

00:32:53.360 So that is an economic argument in a sense.

00:32:58.700 And then if that's a major concern,

00:33:00.440 then you'd ask them,

00:33:01.520 why can't schools keep up?

00:33:03.940 Why are they overloaded?

00:33:06.020 Why can't the budgets be expanded

00:33:09.040 to the point that you're paid

00:33:10.220 what you feel like you're worth

00:33:11.320 in this kind of situation?

00:33:13.980 Yeah, and maybe we need to look at the immigration policy that we have in place.

00:33:18.080 And in an independent Alberta, perhaps there is a little bit of a freeze on immigration for a few years until our infrastructure can actually catch up with the mass migration we've had here right now.

00:33:31.500 That's going to decrease the strain on teachers and make the education system better overall once we can catch up with that.

00:33:39.100 There's a lot of ways that it will benefit.

00:33:41.840 That sounds pretty racist to me.

00:33:43.980 I don't know.

00:33:46.320 Yeah, and that's the way that people will go right away.

00:33:48.360 And then there'll be a racist, misogynist, Nazi will be the next things that I'll

00:33:51.440 be called and like, I don't understand where that comes from, but it's not like

00:33:56.220 we used to have a really great immigration policy in Canada.

00:34:00.040 And I, I don't think it's bad to have a strict one, especially when we're

00:34:04.140 an independent Alberta, like we're going to be the beacon of prosperity

00:34:08.560 and freedom for the world.

00:34:10.000 You should want to protect what it means to be an Albertan. You should value that. Being a citizen of Alberta is going to be something that is monumental. It's huge. Why would we want to dilute that down at all?

00:34:26.460 we want to have people who want to come here that want to become albertans and value that like we do

00:34:33.260 that want to contribute to alberta to continue to make it better and better that have that same

00:34:38.000 regard for it that we do like i don't i don't think that's a bad thing that's that's pride in

00:34:42.980 what you've built and what the people before us have built yeah they say that um uh it should be

00:34:49.600 the goal of every progressive to make a society worth conserving. And I think that's kind of lost

00:34:57.440 on people, actually, because people often, modern liberals anyway, seem to view progress in and of

00:35:04.040 itself as the goal, just change for the sake of change and don't actually really think about what

00:35:08.440 they're trying to create. I wanted to just go, and I got to apologize to James, because you

00:35:15.200 you mentioned warren buffett and a quote and so i just started like i started trying to find that

00:35:19.860 quote as you were talking and i completely missed everything you said so i'm gonna have to watch it

00:35:24.840 back in the in the recording but i wanted to bring this up because i found what you were thinking

00:35:28.660 they call it um so buffett's referred to um the term inverse thinking which is popularized by

00:35:36.220 charlie munger who is his his partner and he says he looks for economic moats uh what are a uh what

00:35:44.240 what a competitor with unlimited capital could do to destroy a company if they were um if they were

00:35:51.800 so inclined and across that moat and i wanted to read you guys this uh this breakdown and see if

00:35:56.140 this sounds like something to you because this is the critical uh buffett highlights this several

00:36:03.020 critical vulnerabilities that can lead to a company's downfall losing your reputation and

00:36:08.600 is the quote this famous quote of it takes 20 years to build a reputation in five minutes to

00:36:12.300 ruin it. The ABC of decline, and the ABC is arrogance, bureaucracy, and complacency.

00:36:20.680 Failing to adapt, poor capital allocation, and operating outside your circle of competence.

00:36:28.400 What does that remind anyone of? Does that sound like anything to anyone?

00:36:33.780 Yeah, that sounds a lot like our federal government. 0.96

00:36:37.100 Like to a TA.

00:36:38.300 sad that they've actually

00:36:40.280 been following that plan and what it ultimately does

00:36:42.420 is it breaks the spirit

00:36:44.140 of the people. That's

00:36:46.340 what they're trying to do by achieving all of those

00:36:48.320 things.

00:36:50.080 So disappointing.

00:36:52.980 I'm glad you were able to find that

00:36:54.420 vote.

00:36:56.160 Sorry, I was enthralled

00:36:58.060 by the reading, but

00:37:00.200 thanks for bringing that up. That was good.

00:37:03.920 Tanya,

00:37:04.500 I'm curious,

00:37:06.820 you had a, this is also

00:37:08.260 what we titled the video actually of your speech we we said we titled it what happens if we do

00:37:13.940 nothing because that was your fourth question and that was that was such a good one too because it's

00:37:18.060 like people often think about you mentioned this earlier I don't know if it was before we hit

00:37:22.440 record or not but people um people often talk about the risks you know about if Alberta separates

00:37:27.720 like you know what what are you know what could happen it's an unknown thing you know this is

00:37:31.560 hasn't really happened in Canada yes it's happened in other places of the world but we haven't done

00:37:35.500 here. So, you know, what, what are the risks? What could we lose? But, but more importantly,

00:37:41.980 what do we actually stand to lose if we stay tethered to, to this sinking ship of, of Ottawa?

00:37:48.060 So maybe answer your, if you could answer your own question for, for anyone who hasn't seen the

00:37:53.280 speech, what, what happens if we do nothing? Yeah. And I guess the, the quote that goes really

00:37:58.620 well with that is that the certainty of where Canada is headed is far scarier than any uncertainty

00:38:03.160 that comes from forming a new nation.

00:38:05.660 Like we know where Canada is headed.

00:38:07.120 We've seen it like over the last couple of decades,

00:38:09.620 especially the last decade,

00:38:11.260 we've seen increased taxation,

00:38:13.200 more punitive policies against our oil and gas

00:38:16.920 and agriculture industries,

00:38:18.200 all of our industries in Alberta,

00:38:19.920 not being able to access trade markets,

00:38:23.220 not being able to move our products.

00:38:25.960 Freedom's chipped away at Bill C-9,

00:38:28.160 lots of bills that have come out.

00:38:29.720 we know where we're going if we stay in Canada.

00:38:33.720 And that's why if we do nothing, that's still, that's an act of choice.

00:38:38.840 And that has a consequence as well.

00:38:41.640 So taking a step forward and trying to do something to correct that has consequences.

00:38:46.120 And I see those to be way more beneficial on the opportunities there.

00:38:50.060 Whereas doing nothing, it does have consequences too.

00:38:52.860 Then we see where that path is going.

00:38:54.400 that's almost the ultimate expression of like it's the inverse of a victim mentality because

00:39:02.760 we're we're saying if we stay in this situation like things are like it's not going to work out

00:39:10.800 it's going to like everything's going to go down um like our lives are going to get worse if we're

00:39:16.380 stuck in this so rather than complaining about it and doing nothing we are trying to articulate the

00:39:23.760 problem, try to understand it. There's a pathway forward and we've outlined the pathway. We're

00:39:31.180 following that pathway and we're stepping up to make a change against all odds. And so any claim

00:39:39.820 of victimhood couldn't be farther from the truth. Yeah, I don't feel like I'm a victim at all. I

00:39:47.920 like I'm an advocate, and I feel sad for the way

00:39:54.980 this whole conversation gets presented

00:39:56.920 in the media in different ways,

00:39:58.680 because they pit people against each other

00:40:01.400 and sides against each other.

00:40:02.620 And really, I think that Albertans

00:40:04.700 all have the same core values and principles.

00:40:08.300 They want freedom and prosperity for Albertans.

00:40:10.840 I don't think that that's something

00:40:12.020 that we would argue over,

00:40:14.020 just the path to get there, people are unsure about.

00:40:17.760 And those that are absolutely opposed and maybe even the ones that say super hateful

00:40:22.220 things online and are very confrontational, I still think that that's coming from a place

00:40:27.780 of fear, that they're just so scared of change, of losing something that people are going

00:40:34.340 to think poorly of them because they're abandoned in Canada or things like that.

00:40:39.120 But really what we're trying to do is to save this piece of Canada that is Alberta and to

00:40:44.760 move that forwards.

00:40:45.760 And we just have to overcome the fear that people have by giving them the education and the tools to be able to move forwards.

00:40:54.920 You know, one of the things we often ask our guests is, you know, you spoke earlier about the kind of that that third of people who just will not be convincible.

00:41:07.360 people also talk about the middle third when you have people who are uh you know very you have

00:41:14.600 obviously people who are very pro-independence you have people who are very anti-independence

00:41:18.860 then you kind of have that uh nebulous sort of flexible middle third of people who maybe haven't

00:41:23.820 thought too much about it maybe don't care too much maybe you know they could be swayed either

00:41:27.200 way depending on the day or depending on the argument um you must run into a lot of these

00:41:32.660 people in your, in your advocacy work, um, what, what maybe are your best kind of like one or two

00:41:38.700 go-to lines that you might use to, um, sway a very, you know, somebody who presents anyway as

00:41:45.360 a very, um, you know, I say, you know, maybe a more liberal person, of course, Alberta independence

00:41:50.820 isn't a left-right issue, but it's sort of tends to get framed that way. Um, what, what are some

00:41:55.480 things that you might say to somebody who is on that sort of end of the political spectrum to try

00:42:01.620 sway them oh i guess i would first invite them to come out to one of the speaker events just to

00:42:08.740 hear the information that's being presented lots of times when we do have those events we'll ask

00:42:13.700 the crowd how many are attending for the first time like an independence event and to learn

00:42:18.740 and it is like usually 40 to 50 percent or something like that so that's good there's

00:42:23.140 people that are coming out to it um but i guess i would kind of go to my five questions that i've

00:42:29.700 talked about before for some of those ones a big one is about what kind of alberta are you wanting

00:42:36.340 to leave for your children and the next generation and just giving them some space to actually

00:42:41.620 reflect upon that and think about it and then just sharing the like there's so much education

00:42:48.500 available out there and so many documents and articles have been written and podcasts that

00:42:53.220 they can watch and people that you can refer them to to have those conversations like there's really

00:42:58.420 a limitless amount of directions that you can send them to but i think it is it's the one-on-one

00:43:05.300 conversations that really move people and giving them that space to be able to ask their questions

00:43:11.540 and tell you their hesitancies and then reacting with a little bit of grace that yeah they might

00:43:17.060 be coming from a position of fear or just not knowing understanding or they might have some

00:43:22.260 great reasons that need to be discussed. Sorry, I guess it's not like I don't have one or two

00:43:28.160 go-to points, but usually let them lead the direction of the conversation.

00:43:33.620 Yeah, that's a much more, I would say, holistic approach. I wondered, do you ever get asked

00:43:40.060 as a, you know, you're, you know, very soft-spoken, you know, very, you know,

00:43:45.980 agreeable type personality. Do you ever get asked, like, you know, why would you want to

00:43:51.620 associate yourself with somebody like jeff wrath or you know like jeff gets gets you know a bad rap

00:43:57.220 because he's kind of he gets beat on yeah yeah he's kind of brash and he's sort of that's just

00:44:01.060 his personality but um we we like him a lot but but do you ever like do people ever ask you like

00:44:06.660 you know you know or maybe get confused as to why somebody with your type of demeanor is is involved

00:44:12.620 with this movement uh i don't i've never really been asked why i am like because of more soft

00:44:19.100 spoken or anything like that but i guess yeah jeff is also part of um app once we get back going

00:44:25.980 again and yeah we have a very different approach to things but i've been on speaking tours with him

00:44:32.460 too and like down in taber in different places where he gets huge standing ovations and really

00:44:37.340 resonates with the crowd so it kind of goes back to having a variety of different voices that are

00:44:42.140 all sharing the information but resonating with different people i i don't love his approach he

00:44:47.820 probably doesn't love my approach but we're on the same team and we're advocating for the same thing

00:44:52.940 so we can get by those differences and continue on that path we do talk a little bit about i i

00:44:59.100 don't feel so we need to be making an enemy of the premier and him and i would obviously disagree on

00:45:03.820 that but again that's we're not all thinking on this is one linear thought and this is the only

00:45:10.060 way to get there right we want to move to an independent alberta and what that's gonna

00:45:15.100 ultimately look like is going to be what Albertans decide it's going to look like. It's not going to

00:45:19.580 be what Jeff says or what I say. It's going to be Albertans that are going to ratify that new

00:45:23.460 constitution and decide what the new Alberta looks like. So we just have to remember that we're all

00:45:28.940 in the same team, taking that same path forward, a little bit of deviations on the way.

00:45:36.420 So one thing I've been kind of observing or I try to read the comments and also listen to any

00:45:44.780 pushback on independence. And I'm going to see if I can articulate one of the points that

00:45:52.400 often comes up. And it depends on where somebody is in the conversation, because

00:45:57.400 if you can get on the same page and maybe you articulate that there's a legal path forward

00:46:04.420 and it takes a majority, and once there's a majority and a clear democratic will, then

00:46:09.940 And then you're on the road to independence at that point that negotiations will start.

00:46:18.300 One concern that I hear and I can understand where people are coming from is it's a compassion-based, like empathy-based concern for the rest of Canada.

00:46:30.300 If they can recognize that Alberta does have the natural resources and or is, in a way, unfairly supporting the rest of Canada, they seem concerned that if Alberta leaves, what would happen to Canada?

00:46:48.800 My personal feeling is that if there's some negative effects in the short term, it could lead to change, the much needed change in Canada that is unlikely to happen with the status quo of slowly withering away under the current policies.

00:47:14.440 But, again, that depends on the rest of Canada to stand up.

00:47:20.680 Do you have any thoughts on how to articulate that or how to respond to a person who's concerned from that angle?

00:47:30.720 Well, I think that immediately after independence for Alberta, it probably will have some negative effects on Canada.

00:47:37.220 I think the Canadian dollar will drop.

00:47:40.820 it'll definitely be tough on canada to not have alberta generating a lot of the wealth but there

00:47:47.360 is a lot of wealth generated in lots of parts of canada already like ontario does well quebec

00:47:53.740 they seem like they're um like a have-not province because of the equalization formula but they don't

00:48:00.020 have their hydroelectric industry on the equalization balance sheet so if you put that

00:48:05.200 in there like that would be like us taking off our oil and gas industry kind of right

00:48:08.220 so they're okay too i think that it's going to encourage people to to advocate for themselves

00:48:17.640 and to go seek better for themselves and to not rely on somebody else to provide for them and i

00:48:23.740 don't think that that's a negative thing i think that's actually a good thing it might come with

00:48:27.220 a little bit of a pain growing pains but ultimately if you can learn how to take care of yourself and

00:48:33.900 to stand on your own two feet. That is a good thing. Yeah, there's, um, you know, I may or may

00:48:40.460 not have used the term, um, fat welfare mom, uh, in the context of the, uh, Atlantic maritime 0.92

00:48:48.040 provinces, uh, in my more, uh, spicy moments on, on Twitter, but, uh, you know, but, but in a,

00:48:55.160 in, you know, honestly, like there is, there is a real conversation to be had about, um, you know,

00:49:01.000 can, can a, uh, a part of the country that is almost entirely funded during, at least during

00:49:08.120 the, the, the non-fishing seasons by equalization, like, is that ever going to allow them to fully

00:49:15.740 exploit their own potential? You know, my, my wife's family is from, uh, PEI and, uh, they,

00:49:23.300 you know, they, they're fairly, um, fairly blatant about it. You know, they just sort of,

00:49:28.740 They, they put in their, you know, eight months, seven months sometimes of, you know, working in the season, you know, the, on the, on the fishing boats or on the, you know, some, some form of, of, uh, Atlantic based commerce.

00:49:40.740 And then they, you know, they sign the check and they take their EI for the rest of the year.

00:49:45.100 Like that's just kind of how it, how it goes, you know?

00:49:47.000 And so if you have a population that is used to that way of living, how are they ever going to, you know, once the gravy train ends, you know, maybe, maybe we do reach peak oil.

00:49:57.760 You know, we've been, you know, peak oil has been a thing for, it's been 25 years away for the last 75 years.

00:50:04.180 So, um, but eventually it'll happen.

00:50:06.560 And, uh, and yeah, what do you do with the population that is not used to, um, having to make it through tough times, you know, on their own.

00:50:14.720 And will that necessarily change for them though, either?

00:50:17.200 Like, perhaps it will continue that same way that it has been.

00:50:21.240 It's just like, it's cause it's not like Alberta is funding all of that four months of EI or anything like that.

00:50:27.200 right? We're contributing positively to Confederation, but we're not solely funding it.

00:50:32.000 So maybe some formulas need to change and funding will come from elsewhere. Quebec might not like

00:50:37.400 it if they have to start putting some different things on the balance sheet and all of a sudden

00:50:40.860 they're a half province. They might have to start developing that, what, billion cubic meters of

00:50:49.240 natural gas that this have not province currently sits on? That's not in our business plan though.

00:50:56.260 That's according to Trudeau.

00:50:57.820 There's no business case.

00:50:59.960 The difficult thing is Quebec literally enacted policies to prevent that.

00:51:07.040 So they've hamstrung themselves through policy, which I don't know what it would actually take for them to, like, they would have to reform a bunch of legislation even to start developing it right now.

00:51:19.540 So that kind of goes against another argument that comes up is that the talk of independence or the talk of succession will hurt investment.

00:51:31.520 And I think there can be a temporary, not chilling, but like a waiting effect.

00:51:38.900 And this happens during elections, too.

00:51:41.960 companies do not spend a lot of money right before an election when the like they don't know what

00:51:48.360 policies are downstream because they're like well if these people get in then it might go this way

00:51:53.240 if those people get in it might go a different way so they're going to wait for more clarity

00:51:57.800 on the direction and they're not going to spend a bunch of money and invest

00:52:01.500 during a pivot point or like a transitional period but i think if the if there's a clear

00:52:09.460 vision in Alberta. And it doesn't need to be perfect because investment relies on like

00:52:16.520 comparative factors more than absolute factors. So if Alberta is like 10% more competitive than

00:52:25.960 the rest of Canada, that would be enough to draw investment in if there is a clear vision.

00:52:32.340 So I don't think Quebec's issue was the talk of separation. I think it was a combination

00:52:38.560 of language laws and policies, like self-restrictive policies when it came to their own development

00:52:46.180 that coincided with a period of their push towards independence.

00:52:51.680 So these comparisons will pop up, unfortunately, and we're seeing them time and time again

00:52:59.700 where like Quebec's used as the example of what not to do, but people are not treating Alberta

00:53:07.720 is like, well, we're not the same as Quebec, we're in that contributor versus recipient.

00:53:15.400 Yeah. And I could see that, you know, immediately following independence or leading up to that

00:53:20.360 referendum vote, that possibly there would be, you know, some uncertainty and companies would

00:53:25.320 wait for that little time period to figure out exactly what's going on. But shortly afterwards,

00:53:31.000 like Alberta will be able to unlock the natural resources that we've had policy locked by our

00:53:38.880 federal government for decades. So I can't understand how our trade and value would not

00:53:45.240 go up astronomically. And that's like in the value of freedom too, there are projections of that.

00:53:51.120 And if we don't pursue that, then we know we're going to continue to lose economic

00:53:56.500 abilities. I think it was since 2006, we've lost over $200 billion in economic activity due to

00:54:07.620 federal policies. But it's not just $200 billion, because when you put in the multiplier effect for

00:54:12.300 that, it's actually like $1.25 trillion that have been lost from Alberta because of our federal

00:54:19.260 policies. So again, doing nothing has some huge consequences, but going forwards and doing

00:54:25.520 something about it. I think there's only upside to our prosperity. Yeah. Heavy industry companies

00:54:32.340 famously hate, uh, uh, not having a heavy handed, heavy handed bureaucracy and, uh, and fake

00:54:39.760 environmental policy levied on them, right? They, they're, they're just, they're, they're big fans

00:54:43.980 of those things. Um, uh, I'm curious, maybe, uh, you could, uh, tell us from, from your perspective

00:54:49.500 on the farm, are there any things you, you guys have talked about that would, um, make your lives

00:54:54.780 a little bit easier if you if you kind of got out from under some some federal regulations that uh

00:55:01.980 what we maybe lost james um like on on the farm what are some things that you guys might see that

00:55:07.980 would get better for you make your lives a little easier one of the big things that is talked about

00:55:12.940 it's not just that would make farmers lives better either but that in the sovereign alberta we could

00:55:17.580 actually constitutionally protect property rights which we don't have in canada right now and with

00:55:23.420 that you could also have gun laws property rights so those two big those are two big ones especially

00:55:30.140 since our land is our basis for our economic activity so that would be kind of a huge thing

00:55:37.740 no kidding right there eliminating carbon taxes yes yeah for your fuel and feed and on and and

00:55:47.100 fertilizer and all that right yeah last year they passed a federal government passed i think

00:55:53.260 it was bill c 293 sometimes they get the numbers mixed up i think that's what it was it was the

00:55:57.740 climate preparedness act and in there it had you know just a couple small little lines that

00:56:03.740 in the events of uh emergency the government can go and seize your land and seize your herd

00:56:12.700 oh why would you need to make legislation like that why would you need like why would you ever

00:56:17.960 need to put that into law what sort of emergency what they deem as an emergency exactly what what

00:56:27.020 even is an emergency and why would you need to take someone's herd why would you need to take

00:56:32.400 their land so i think property rights for me would be a huge one yeah yeah honking and trucks

00:56:39.400 are an emergency. So I can only imagine the type of emergency that would require, uh, uh, seizing

00:56:44.080 her. What, uh, what do you guys, um, what, what is the, I don't know how to, can you, can you tell

00:56:50.480 I'm a city boy? What do you grow on the farm? What is your farm? We're a grain farm. So we just

00:56:57.460 have grain. So we've grown peas, canola, wheat, and barley. Oh yes. And we usually do about a

00:57:03.800 four-year crop rotation on most of it so that works out pretty well my my wife's family um from

00:57:11.000 from pei they're uh they're potato farmers and they uh they rotate between um potato and soybean

00:57:18.840 and i think a third crop but uh but potatoes and soybeans are the are the main ones they like to

00:57:24.560 rotate between because i don't know science science reasons yeah and we can't even grow

00:57:30.320 those up here but if you go further south in alberna there's a lot of potatoes and sugar beets

00:57:35.680 yeah it's really cool just to drive by different fields and see all different kinds of crops in

00:57:39.380 different areas i love it yeah yeah whenever we're in the car together he can point out at any

00:57:44.280 just seeing just by seeing the sprouts oh yeah well that's gonna be barley and that's gonna be

00:57:49.480 whatever and yeah there's a there's a lot of value that um you know james and i are both uh are both

00:57:55.800 city boys and we uh something that we've learned more and more through this independence movement

00:58:01.060 are you you you must know tim hoven right yep yeah so we interviewed tim and you know we learned

00:58:07.860 about um um his his regenerative uh ranching methods and stuff that are you know pretty much

00:58:14.640 the the envy of other ranchers you know across canada at least um and and we've really gotten

00:58:20.400 an appreciation for what happens in rural Alberta. And we really like, I wouldn't say that, you know,

00:58:28.120 James and I sometimes refer to each other as recovering leftists because we are, we grew up

00:58:33.640 fairly, you know, liberal in the city. We're both musicians and we, you know, the circles that we

00:58:37.620 were in are just traditionally very, very leftist. Right. And as we sort of grew and became more

00:58:43.680 conservative and more uh libertarian in our mindset we uh we realized that like how much

00:58:49.780 how much real world wisdom and knowledge there are there is on on on the farms and in rural

00:58:55.800 rural uh areas do you ever face um i don't know how i'd say it but like do people ever

00:59:04.480 underestimate you because of your your background like you're not a lawyer you're not a politician

00:59:08.440 like do people ever say like hey what what do you have to contribute to this movie like or are they

00:59:13.280 are they fairly like do they respect the the background and and respect your your roots of

00:59:18.520 where you're coming from that you're a real you know true blue albertan i think i get both actually

00:59:25.360 like there there is some people that think that if you're a farmer you're from like you're a simpler

00:59:30.900 mindset right um yeah you know maybe your education level your skill level is low but

00:59:36.680 like and i invite lots of people that my friends in the city to come out at harvest time just to

00:59:41.580 see the equipment we run and the technology we use and the processes for like keeping the soil

00:59:47.680 optimal and all different things like that. So that one's kind of easy to deal with. It's just

00:59:52.960 unfortunate that people tend to overgeneralize anyways. And then there's a large group of

00:59:59.340 people too that I think are just so far removed now from farming. Like a generation ago, everyone

01:00:04.120 had a grandparent or an uncle or someone that was still on the farm and you would go there in the

01:00:08.640 summers and spend some time on the farm and you had some kind of connection to it but now we're

01:00:13.000 kind of another generation removed from that that people don't really have the farm connection so

01:00:17.840 they're they're actually like impressed and and have wonder about it and awe and you know to kind

01:00:23.820 of almost think it's a little bit magical that oh you have these big fields where you grow things

01:00:28.100 and they don't you know know how it happens or what the processes are like so that's kind of

01:00:33.340 cool to have those conversations too where it's just like it is very valued and they're very

01:00:37.720 interested in it. Yeah, well, it is a very, you know, it's the running joke about, you know,

01:00:43.980 the city dwellers of, you know, like, well, where does meat come from and where does bread come

01:00:48.980 from? Well, it comes from the grocery store, right? Yeah, that's right. And as our cities

01:00:54.540 densify, you know, speaking about immigration earlier, our cities densify, our population gets

01:00:59.680 more and more closed in, you know, with infills and apartments and things like this. And people

01:01:05.400 really do lose the connection to the land you know it doesn't actually take that far driving out of

01:01:10.520 the city before you realize like holy smokes like we've got a lot of there's a lot of open country

01:01:15.480 in this province that's that's part of what makes alberta independence so valuable is that we're

01:01:19.480 such a people i think i think don't realize how resource rich we are and how many different types

01:01:25.160 of land and how uh fruitful our particular slice of of the country is yeah and i know from talking

01:01:33.240 into like Keith Wilson and different ones

01:01:34.880 that if Alberta was independent,

01:01:37.340 like just on its own,

01:01:38.200 it would be one of the most resource-rich

01:01:39.900 nations on the planet, like right away.

01:01:42.660 And if we got Saskatchewan to come with us,

01:01:44.340 I think we'd have like number one spot

01:01:45.900 locked in.

01:01:47.060 No kidding.

01:01:48.060 Yeah.

01:01:48.560 It's pretty amazing.

01:01:49.380 We live in the most beautiful

01:01:50.900 resource-rich place on earth.

01:01:53.740 So Tanya, thank you so much for your time

01:01:56.380 today.

01:01:56.580 You know, I always like to end an interview

01:01:58.920 by asking, was there anything that we

01:02:01.660 didn't talk about today that you kind of wish we did or something that you had in the hopper ready

01:02:06.460 to go? Not that I had in the hopper ready to go, but I think we didn't really actually talk about

01:02:12.320 referendum day fully. And I just have been speaking about that the last couple of times

01:02:18.080 I've done speeches to groups is that I hope that when people go into that referendum day and that

01:02:24.740 independence ballot is sitting on top and you're about to check that box, that people really just

01:02:30.880 stop for a moment and take in the reverence of that moment of what it's meant like the decades

01:02:38.160 and decades of work by thousands and thousands of people to get to that point for you to have

01:02:44.320 you know the honor really of holding that ballot and marking a box on independence for alberta

01:02:50.720 like you get to weigh in on that and that's going to be your decision and it's it's a historic

01:02:55.620 moment when we get to that point. So I hope people in the meantime, leading up to that,

01:03:01.920 have tough conversations, give each other grace and get educated so that when you get to that

01:03:08.560 moment, you know why you're voting and you're standing in your own conviction for why you're

01:03:13.980 doing that. Very well said. Tanya Clemens, where can people find you online?

01:03:19.060 uh well my page is like on social media is farm geek that's mostly where you can find me yeah

01:03:26.640 so you'll see lots of farming and then little heads coming in with independence thoughts

01:03:31.660 okay very good and do you have any um do you have any um more like speaking engagements recently

01:03:38.240 coming up that you can uh that you can um that we can share with people and plan for

01:03:43.260 Yeah. And part of, I think there's about 15 speakers of us on the Let's Talk Alberta tour.

01:03:50.300 So if you go to letstalkalberta.com, it's Chris Scott from Whistle Stop Cafe. Most people will

01:03:55.640 know who he is. He's kind of organized it and heading it up. And it's like 200 events we're

01:04:00.740 doing before the referendum. And then also Alberta Prosperity Project will be coming back

01:04:05.480 online here pretty quick and continuing our education of Albertans. So there'll be lots

01:04:10.760 coming out that way, too.

01:04:12.820 Very good.

01:04:13.360 Thank you so much for your time, Tanya.

01:04:14.700 We really appreciate your insight,

01:04:17.180 the work that you're putting in on the ground.

01:04:20.040 And we'd love to have you back,

01:04:22.220 maybe even before the referendum,

01:04:23.700 but definitely after the referendum,

01:04:25.700 and we can talk about how our interview

01:04:28.100 specifically helped turn the tides

01:04:29.880 and make a successful referendum.

01:04:33.200 I would be honored to.

01:04:34.400 Thank you.

01:04:35.020 Thanks for joining.

01:04:40.760 Transcription by CastingWords

The Critical Compass Podcast - May 22, 2026

Tanya Clemens ｜ Independence Really is the ONLY Choice for Alberta

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