The Critical Compass Podcast - Understanding Alberta's History & Engaging Women to Build a Strong Independence Movement

00:00:00.000 there is a little bit of yeah i love canada and and and we have to take people through a bit of

00:00:04.480 a mourning process sometimes that the canada you think we're in is not where we're at like

00:00:09.760 it's a dumpster fire and we got we got to do something to save to save ourselves and to save

00:00:16.640 our our future generations and and so it's it's more the social part of it so what about health

00:00:22.800 care what about education what about the pension what about um helping the poor what about making

00:00:29.040 sure that all of these these these nets these safety nets are still there there's this fear that

00:00:36.400 the minute we're independent we're not going to have any of that and so to be able to walk these

00:00:41.280 ladies through well no actually we'll not only have them we'll make them better we'll make them

00:00:47.600 better and even like for those like i'm pretty much a libertarian i don't stand on your own two feet

00:00:53.040 you know but at the same time right at the same time if i see someone in need i'll be the first

00:00:59.440 one to make sure that they've got what they need if they're actually in need and then once we talk

00:01:03.520 about that talk about our hospitals being so much more vibrant because we're not going to be under the

00:01:10.080 canada health act we'll be able to do things and help people in ways that we can't do now because ottawa

00:01:18.160 says we can welcome back to the critical compass my name is mike and this is james and we are very

00:01:41.120 pleased to be joined by miss kathy flett uh an advocate for alberta independence for at least the

00:01:47.120 last six years she was uh she was advocating for alberta independence before it was cool and uh

00:01:53.680 and she's been a very loud very prominent and very important voice in the movement for a long time

00:01:59.680 uh kathy thank you for joining us today we really appreciate you taking the time

00:02:04.000 and maybe you could um start off with uh just kind of giving our viewers a little bit of a

00:02:09.040 introduction to yourself how you got involved with this movement and kind of what you've been what

00:02:13.600 you've been up to for the last six years sure so i got involved i've actually been a separatist quote

00:02:20.000 unquote we're not supposed to say that word but i've i've been a separatist for a very long time

00:02:25.520 and i just didn't know what to do with it i didn't get involved in politics i was too busy raising

00:02:29.280 children and uh and then in 2019 opportunity knocked and the whole wexit thing kind of came on

00:02:37.120 stage right came on the scene and i was like oh you know what the kids are grown now maybe it's time

00:02:43.280 and so i went to a meeting like how most people do right i went to a meeting met uh the guy that was

00:02:49.440 that was the head of it at the time and said well you know whatever i can do to help let me do that

00:02:54.160 and so i got involved and we caught lightning in a bottle and then of course there was the federal

00:02:58.480 election and it just exploded right after that in 2019 and so those meetings that happened in

00:03:06.320 edmonton and calgary and then in red deer that was i was one of the ones on that stage that was talking

00:03:12.320 and and then it and then it was gone as fast as it came on it was just disappeared and i had never

00:03:20.000 ever been in politics before like involved i've always thought i knew what goes on in politics i tried

00:03:25.120 to be an educated voter but i'd never experienced the back side of it so i was i was just trying to

00:03:30.320 figure this out like what happened and then i sort of sat there and sat there and sat there and i

00:03:37.440 don't know what i'm supposed to do so i guess i'll just stay home so i stayed home until the phone rang

00:03:42.320 inviting me to a different meeting with a bunch of different other folks who are also involved in

00:03:46.800 politics and long story short uh 2020 began with me being part of at that time it was called the

00:03:53.840 freedom conservative party and then it changed its name over a couple of of months um about six

00:03:59.920 months later i guess to the wild rose independence party of alberta and then we were catching lightning

00:04:05.520 in a bottle there too and and i was traveling the province talking and trying to build up all these

00:04:10.320 CAs and learning as i go and and again experiencing sort of the back side the ugly side of politics

00:04:16.720 and no sooner was that party we were polling at 40 percent without even a seat in the legislature it

00:04:23.920 was crazy and then it gone like just gone and i'm like what the hell like what's what is this and uh so

00:04:32.240 i learned that in this independence movement what happens is people blame infighting right that is

00:04:40.320 always infighting that pulls it down it's people's egos whatever else not and i watched it three times

00:04:45.440 right before my eyes that that's only half right what actually happens is infiltration

00:04:53.040 it's infiltration so people that that right people that do not want to see this happen

00:04:58.720 and there's lots and we know who they are and and that's fine but they who the ones that don't

00:05:04.000 want to see this happen they find the low-hanging fruit they find the ones that will that will do

00:05:08.480 their bidding for them within that organization it doesn't even have to be a political party within the

00:05:13.600 organization of the political party or whatever it is it's going and say hey you know if i do a b c and

00:05:20.960 d will you take on this assignment for me and so then they pull it down from within and that's what

00:05:27.440 happened i was like wow that sucks now what do we do uh so angela and i my my good friend that we we

00:05:33.680 started the a win together we decided well we've got a provincial election coming up why don't we just

00:05:37.920 run as independent candidates and see what happened and so we did and of course neither of us won because you

00:05:43.040 don't typically but oh we had the time of our lives and discovered that we still we just loved it and

00:05:49.440 and slept for a week after it was done i've never worked so hard to not win in all my life like never

00:05:56.560 and and i don't like losing but um yeah but i learned so much i made so many connections and then again we

00:06:03.040 sat there and said well now what and once the dust settled with the ucp and and we we had danielle smith now

00:06:11.360 as as the premier sort of like not just because she replaced kenny but because the province voted for

00:06:16.880 her to be the premier and then all the mlas and and everything was kind of shaken out there uh we

00:06:24.560 realized that the independence movement hadn't gone away it just sort of tucked back a little bit until

00:06:30.400 we got this provincial election out from underneath us and and we started to see some names pop up again

00:06:36.560 and these were all names we knew uh we had you know worked with them or knew who they were experienced

00:06:42.480 what they were like what these folks were like and said you know and in some cases were like oh yeah

00:06:46.160 that's all great and then in other cases like oh boy that's not good and um we thought well what are

00:06:52.320 we going to do how how are we going to there's a gap here what do we how do we fill it so angela calls

00:06:58.880 me up one day and she says i have an idea we need to reach the women and i went no no no not women no

00:07:09.360 angela we don't like no this is a terrible idea exactly i am one i know what's coming and uh and

00:07:22.000 she says no just hear me out she says think about it everything that we've been through

00:07:26.480 particularly with the wild rose independence party it's not that women weren't involved

00:07:30.960 but we were always completely outnumbered by the men and and it was very hard to get women to kind

00:07:37.040 of come into those trenches because it's ugly and it's dirty and it literally is a pig pen in politics

00:07:42.720 but they don't have a voice we need to give them a voice and they're not hearing this message there's

00:07:46.800 a disconnect they're not hearing this message in a way that makes sense to them because we think about

00:07:51.360 things much different than you guys obviously right we're wired different and so we sat down

00:07:56.720 and and and finally i agreed and um we sat down we came up sort of with this with this presentation

00:08:02.960 this very simple presentation that would speak specifically to the women and the point of the

00:08:08.640 presentation was was twofold one to show the ladies that first of all we can't fix it we can't we can't

00:08:17.920 fix it and and and that then it kind of goes into a bit of a a crisis mode when women realize that you

00:08:26.000 can't fix confederation it's working like it's designed that's how it is so you can't fix it

00:08:32.320 from there then we were able to go on and talk about okay well what's important to you

00:08:37.600 how are we how are we going to help you walk through this to realize that the only hope for your

00:08:42.400 kids and your grandkids and your families and your communities your church is independence what do we

00:08:49.120 need to talk about to help you get there and how do we create this network across the province to do

00:08:54.800 that and 30 meetings later since march we've done it we've done it and and that's how it started but

00:09:04.240 then the other thing that we discovered is in these meetings the men didn't like getting left out they

00:09:08.320 wanted to come too and we're like oh boy okay and and so this could be interesting and it was

00:09:15.040 interesting because in those meetings if the number of men and women were fairly equal the women would

00:09:22.480 talk a little bit if the number between the men and women were not equal and there was more women

00:09:29.680 they would talk a lot but the minute it changed the other way and there was more men in the room

00:09:34.880 the women would go quiet just because it's not you know it's not good it's not bad it just is

00:09:42.000 that's just how we that's how most women are they the guys get talking and sometimes you guys get

00:09:46.720 a little bit of aggressive when you're talking and and we tend to not like that aggression and so

00:09:50.880 just step back and let the boys fight but the minute it was the other way around well then the women

00:09:55.360 would be so much more willing to participate in the conversation so i'm hopeful one day i'll meet

00:10:01.920 jordan peterson and he can explain that to me but it just you know and so then that presentation i

00:10:09.600 ended up just sharing in bigger groups because it was working i thought well why not like there's

00:10:13.840 women in these bigger groups and then that took off and the next thing i knew app wanted me to be

00:10:18.960 one of their speakers and that was really cool and then that just has now gone into stay free alberta so

00:10:25.040 there you go there's the cole's notes version of how i got to where i am right on yeah it seems like

00:10:32.560 it's the kind of case where if you don't find politics politics will find you and a lot of

00:10:38.320 people will stumble into it and it's out of that curiosity it's out of that necessity and i've noticed

00:10:45.440 that there's a few different voices going on right now and i think you're fitting a very

00:10:50.080 good niche because there's an over-representation of people who are very loud boisterous are able to

00:10:59.680 rally up people who are already excited and are on board with independence but there's actually less

00:11:08.720 value in rallying up those people they're already sold like what what else are you going to convince

00:11:14.080 them of at that point so i i've been looking around and now we have more of a need for people

00:11:21.200 to communicate to those who are undecided who are moderate who have misconceptions who might

00:11:28.400 maybe like have an emotional argument at first and you have to not be reactive to that you have to

00:11:36.080 like listen a little bit kind of dispel these concerns and reframe it in a way that makes sense

00:11:43.120 and that's a skill set not everybody has and i'm thankful to have more voices like you to

00:11:49.040 to kind of play that role as well my pleasure yeah because that's exactly what happens that's

00:11:56.320 exactly what happens and even in a meeting that i was at um over the weekend at at james river who even

00:12:03.680 knew there was a james river this is the best part of this right i get sent to these little popcorn holes

00:12:08.080 all over the province that nobody even knew existed it's lovely and james river is literally

00:12:12.800 a community hall that's it community hall smacked in the middle of all these range roads and there

00:12:18.240 were people lined up for like half a mile down the road to sign that petition there and after i gave my

00:12:25.280 presentation uh there was this one guy he was just really really struggling with the with this whole

00:12:31.040 negotiating with ottawa thing and and he couldn't wrap his head around it he just and i could see

00:12:36.480 and and but i'm not catching what his disconnect was and i'm asking him questions and he's trying

00:12:42.640 to answer and i finally i just like lord you gotta help me i do not know where this guy is coming from

00:12:47.280 like you gotta you gotta give me something and and it was like he did because i went i get it and he

00:12:54.800 said what and he's in the back of the room right there's like 200 people in this room i said you think

00:13:00.400 we're gonna go negotiate a better deal with ottawa after this referendum and he said yeah i said no

00:13:07.840 we're negotiating our divorce man and he went oh and the whole room just lit up and i was like oh my gosh

00:13:15.280 i just stumbled upon something just in the q and a's of of where that disconnect is with people

00:13:20.960 and what they're not understanding so that was it okay presentation gets changed again now because

00:13:26.400 they're not going to be the only ones i i know now when i'm speaking next week i'm all over northwestern

00:13:31.600 alberta and i'm going to have to make sure as best i can that i remember to point that out

00:13:38.160 so people are yeah yeah yeah because they're yeah i mean that's that's going to be a consistent

00:13:44.000 issue that the movement faces especially as it gains momentum where people you know might have

00:13:49.200 a notion that this will be like a quebec type scenario where um you know we'll just accept

00:13:54.800 certain concessions and you know this it's sort of beyond that point you know right now i would say

00:14:00.320 um i want to go back to a point that you were mentioning about the uh engaging women sure um there's um

00:14:08.560 there's sort of a known like psychological effect but a psychological difference between men and women

00:14:15.200 in that um uh women are much more oriented typically to to a consensus filter um versus men like men are

00:14:23.440 much it's it's much easier for the average man to be um uh disagreeable and get into an argument like

00:14:30.480 he that that type of um that type of thing isn't that um it's not foreign to you guys yeah it's not

00:14:38.240 foreign it's not difficult for us to wrap our heads around like we're okay with it a lot of us enjoy it

00:14:42.720 maybe a couple guys in this podcast right now um but with women it's it's much different and there's

00:14:48.400 a there's a much greater push towards uh an amicable consensus and i was reading this article about how

00:14:55.120 um and i'm sure you know you know this and you've seen this how uh the differences between politically

00:15:00.640 between men and women have been uh have been the gap has been widening over the last uh decade decade

00:15:06.880 and a half women becoming much more liberal men becoming more conservative but not as much but

00:15:12.880 there's definitely a um as far as the the gap widening it's it's been crazy with with women going

00:15:18.080 much more liberal this seems to coincide uh with a increase like with the the prevalence of social

00:15:24.960 media and the the accessibility of social media apps uh women are are presented as there are there

00:15:32.000 are more you know there are more younger women on these apps that tend to be you know young people

00:15:36.960 in general tend to be more liberal but especially younger women and so if they're presented if the

00:15:41.360 average woman is presented with these types of ideas you can see how this would lend itself to a

00:15:46.240 consensus filter so i think what you're doing is so important to get get a voice out there of

00:15:51.920 somebody who's um you know just to look at you you know if you had to make a uh people make assumptions

00:15:58.560 about people just based on how they look you're a nice normal lady you're not like you know you're not

00:16:03.520 yelling and screaming you don't have purple hair and piercings you're not like a you know you have a

00:16:07.840 family you're you're a well-adjusted human being you know and i think that's very very important

00:16:12.640 because that's good is what is gonna give other women permission to explore these ideas in a way

00:16:18.800 that they might not have thought they had before oh that's cool yeah yeah that was a bit of a screed

00:16:25.840 no that's all right i never thought of that it's true yeah it is true it does give them permission

00:16:31.520 and oh well yeah if kathy and angela are saying this or tanya you know she's another great female voice

00:16:37.360 as well or any of the others that we've chatted with then maybe there is something to what we're saying

00:16:42.320 yeah that's true find that consensus piece yeah yeah just allow them to explore the idea just

00:16:48.880 allow them to intellectually get there you know in a way they might have not even opened that door

00:16:52.880 before that's true that's true that's a good point i'm just to build on that uh maybe have you

00:17:00.400 noticed a reoccurring kind of a hurdle when trying to communicate with some women where you're

00:17:07.600 presenting ideas and you get to one thing that is just a stumbling block let it be maybe they have

00:17:13.600 empathy for like oh we gotta feel for canada and i i owe them something or maybe there's some other

00:17:20.560 some other roadblock in there so it's the social stuff it's the social stuff there is a little bit of

00:17:28.000 yeah i love canada and and and we have to take people through a bit of a mourning process sometimes that

00:17:33.680 you know yeah okay but the canada you think we're in is not where we're at like it's a dumpster fire

00:17:39.520 and we got we got to do something to save to save ourselves and to save our our future generations and

00:17:47.520 and so it's it's more the social part of it so what about health care what about education what about the

00:17:53.280 pension what about um helping the poor what about making sure that all of these these these nets these

00:18:00.800 safety nets are still there there's this fear that the minute we're independent we're not going to

00:18:06.960 have any of that and so to be able to walk these ladies through well no actually we'll not only have

00:18:12.240 them we'll make them better we'll make them better and even like for those like i'm pretty much a

00:18:19.040 libertarian i don't stand on your own two feet you know but at the same time right at the same time if

00:18:25.280 i see someone in need i'll be the first one to make sure that they've got what they need if they're

00:18:30.240 actually in need right like there's so there's that um yeah so that's what it is is helping these

00:18:35.760 ladies through all of that social the social part that the nurturing part of it because that's how

00:18:40.080 that's what we do that that's how we are is to nurture so to make sure that all of that is still

00:18:45.440 there and then once we talk about that talk about our hospitals being so much more vibrant because

00:18:52.000 we're not going to be under the canada health act we'll be able to do things and help people

00:18:57.760 in ways that we can't do now because ottawa says we can't it's ridiculous right we won't have to wait

00:19:05.440 for years to be able to get something done you'll be able to get it done and not because it's private

00:19:11.120 health care because it's our health care that we're doing and making sure that it works and our schools

00:19:17.440 can be cleaned up and our roads can actually have the potables filled in you don't have to wait for

00:19:21.920 snow to do it like it there's just so many more things that can happen that way and once once that

00:19:28.800 dreaming begins then those ladies go all right where do i sign what do we yeah so it's giving them

00:19:36.800 that permission to dream too to go yeah you know what we can do this how do i how do i help build it

00:19:42.320 yeah and it's and and that particular hurdle is not you know uh limited to to women i mean there's

00:19:49.680 we get into these arguments every day with with men too you know on our youtube and on our x about

00:19:54.800 you know the the idea that you know what we're what we're giving up is so valuable that there's

00:20:00.240 just no way that an independent alberta could replicate it and it's like listen man when you look

00:20:05.680 into when you actually like learn about what your cpp pays you versus what you paid into it

00:20:12.160 you'll realize how much like it's garbage like there you shouldn't want to save a system like

00:20:17.040 this you should be you should be screaming to have a system that um is more like i don't know maybe the

00:20:24.080 quebec pension plan that's been in existence for 60 years and they get the quebec quebecers pay lower

00:20:30.640 premiums get higher payouts and the overall um the overall success of the fund is very similar year

00:20:36.800 over a year to the cpp anyway so um you know it's one of these it's a it's an education piece and this

00:20:43.040 this leads me to what i wanted to just mention uh at the edmonton uh um canvas or training event you

00:20:48.960 had a speech that you started the event with which was awesome it was it was such a the history lesson

00:20:55.760 that i i mean i knew a lot of this stuff going in but like i i felt like i knew a lot anyway but

00:21:00.720 after listening to your to your talk i mean the the depths i mean you go into like the 1800s even

00:21:06.160 and like the the amount that there is to know about how screwed alberta has been and how our

00:21:13.680 quality of life has diminished how our standards of living have dropped just the the the education

00:21:19.520 piece is so uh it's so robust that i don't know how anyone can form uh a solid opinion against the

00:21:27.440 idea of independence until they even have a baseline of what you you taught us like what

00:21:33.120 what do you think is the if you have to lay out maybe two or three of the most important points

00:21:39.600 of your talk that an average uneducated person on this issue should know that might change their

00:21:46.480 mind and start to view alberta and confederation differently what might you pick out from your from

00:21:51.440 your talk uh how we were even brought into confederation usually does it so we were a lot

00:21:58.640 of people will argue with us now and say well you negotiated this and so too bad so sad you signed on

00:22:04.800 the dotted line well no actually we didn't the reason that alberta and saskatchewan were created

00:22:11.600 in 1905 both of them there's the alberta act of 1905 and the saskatchewan act of 1905

00:22:16.880 the reason that they were created at that time was because there was this big boom that was coming

00:22:22.560 over here and the people that were moving here predominantly from the states but from everywhere

00:22:26.960 we're saying you know it's really hard to get anything done around here when there's no

00:22:30.080 politicians to put their stamp of approval on anything we need to change this up

00:22:34.720 and they had this idea to create the province of buffalo out of alberta and saskatchewan that we know

00:22:39.760 today but ottawa had a canary over it because they knew that if our numbers and we were the people

00:22:45.760 were coming from everywhere right they knew that if our numbers of our population outgrew theirs then

00:22:52.480 the balance of power would shift to the west from the east because that's how the westminster system

00:22:58.320 is designed whoever has the population has the power and so that's why they divided it in half and

00:23:06.400 literally colonized us they literally there was no negotiation it was this is how it's going to be

00:23:14.480 too bad so sad we're appointing you each a premier a liberal one by the way and this is why i'm

00:23:20.640 completely confused all the folks that are tearing down statues having a meltdown over colonization

00:23:26.560 to be on our side they really should so when i get to that and and then the light bulb goes off and go

00:23:34.880 oh my gosh yeah we we haven't had a say ever since that's the first moment where people realize it's

00:23:42.240 working exactly as designed it's working exactly as it's supposed to and then when i keep walking

00:23:47.920 them through how our senators are chosen how our mps are chosen is it supposed to be representation by

00:23:55.040 population that's the second bit well okay let's check that out and then and you saw that mike right

00:24:00.480 i show all the numbers of how many people per senator across what do i pick five provinces and then i do the

00:24:08.240 same thing for the mps and in a room of 500 people you won't hear a noise yeah because everybody's just

00:24:17.520 looking at the screen in absolute disbelief that this is yes what we live in yeah it's that's what

00:24:24.080 i that's what i was i mean i i kind of knew the numbers i probably could have rattled off something

00:24:28.720 close but like just to see it laid out like that to see the percentages and the average number of people

00:24:33.680 per mp and per senator it's like you it's like you kind of you mentioned you cannot negotiate your

00:24:42.080 way out of that you'll never you'll never be able to just just mathematically well you need seven

00:24:47.280 provinces and then the representation of 50 of the population through parliament and

00:24:52.400 what are the chances of that happening already like you've created a power imbalance and then you require

00:24:58.560 power to be leveraged within that imbalance to change the power structure so you've you've created

00:25:07.200 a no-win situation from within and it seems like the the other thing i i lean on in some of these

00:25:14.480 conversations and you'll you'll get people who get ndp supporters saying well the conservatives are

00:25:22.160 corrupt or this group's corrupt or they did this or they did that and i'll ask them

00:25:27.040 why is our system designed in a way that enables corruption if you if you can agree that they're

00:25:34.640 corrupt then what you're saying is that right now the system it gives full license for people to do

00:25:41.120 that or it's so easily corrupt like it becomes so easily corrupt that we don't have really a way of

00:25:48.560 stopping or holding everything to account so if that's the case alberta independence is a way for us

00:25:56.880 to revise the system put those safe safeguards and like in place those checks and balances and

00:26:06.720 pretty much anybody who's complaining about the corruption left or right doesn't matter what

00:26:11.840 colored shirt they're wearing right now like wouldn't that be wouldn't that be a a good opportunity

00:26:18.320 for us to lean on it should be yeah it should be the other thing that i also say when i give my talks

00:26:26.480 is with regards to opening up the constitution and you're right right you need seven premiers making up

00:26:31.200 fifty percent of the population imagine what could happen if they said yeah sure we'll do that and

00:26:38.480 mathematically we don't have the numbers and they make it worse for us what are we going to do

00:26:44.640 why would we even risk that it makes no sense it makes no sense because we already know how it's

00:26:53.600 going to end and and in the westminster system that we're in it's it's on purpose top down that's how

00:27:00.480 it's it's it's a monarchist type structure because it's from england so of course it is and and so even

00:27:08.880 the people that have an issue with the monarchy should be on our side so that we have a chance to

00:27:14.480 to correct all of these wrongs that have been done to us for over 100 years

00:27:21.280 yeah um speaking of that when you hear an argument let's just let's just say for example let's take an

00:27:28.640 argument about um crown land that's that's a common that's a common thing you'll hear we've had the

00:27:35.280 lawyers on you know we talk about you know the what crown land actually means the difference

00:27:39.360 between federal and provincial crown uh you know who where the treaties lie things like this um when

00:27:45.680 you when you receive objections like that from people from well-meaning people maybe even who are

00:27:49.680 concerned about like well listen how are the how are indigenous treaties going to be managed how are

00:27:54.960 like what what is your normal response to that or what do you uh do you have a you know a series of

00:28:01.440 talking points or something that you would that you would give to a person who's concerned about

00:28:05.760 something like that that question comes up all the time and and it's a good one i'm glad it does

00:28:11.360 because it keeps the conversation going and it's an uncomfortable conversation that most people don't

00:28:15.200 want to have right especially that one and and so the the long and short of it is is that the treaties

00:28:20.880 that are across alberta all of that land was ceded it means it was given up and and that's part of

00:28:28.320 those agreements was that the aboriginals that lived here at the time said okay we'll give out

00:28:33.200 all this land and then we'll live right here in all of these little little pockets of land across the

00:28:40.000 province and sort of belong to the the federal government not necessarily the provincial but all

00:28:46.080 the rest is ceded and then when we became a province that ceded territory became part of alberta's

00:28:53.360 the province of alberta's property so crown land is alberta is alberta land and when it comes to

00:29:00.800 the aboriginals what irritates me the most is how many people just think they can speak for them

00:29:08.880 like are you that they're a monolith yeah right you can't take that it's treaty land well

00:29:14.240 have you asked any of them what they want like really are they enjoying living in squalor do they

00:29:21.840 like not having running water have you driven by a reserve to see what i grew up around them

00:29:27.920 i grew up in northern alberta like anybody who says that kind of stuff is i'll just say it they're

00:29:35.600 completely uneducated they have not gone out to see the living conditions that not all but a good number

00:29:43.280 of them and it seems to me that the folks that live there may want to have their own ideas explored

00:29:50.480 as to what they want their future to be and it's not for us to decide they are albertans as well they

00:29:56.240 get to check the box and if enough of us say yep you know what we're ready to explore another way of of

00:30:02.560 making this work among us we will sit at the table and away we go and quite frankly if those chiefs think

00:30:08.480 for one minute that they're going to speak for everybody on this they're wrong i want to hear

00:30:14.320 from the ones that check the box not the ones that say that they that they speak for everybody

00:30:21.440 and um that seems to go over pretty good when i say that you can draw a parallel to

00:30:29.120 pretty much like some of the loudest voice voices trying to keep albert and canada are just the ones

00:30:35.120 that have some kind of vested interest they're benefiting off the system in some kind of way

00:30:40.880 essentially grifting at a large scale um and this includes those entrenched in bureaucracy those

00:30:49.120 entrenched in some of these political parties uh more federalist leaning and that includes some of

00:30:54.080 these band chiefs who don't have the accountability in their current role and what happens with the money

00:31:01.280 we're not entirely sure so the accountability is not there and they're not wanting to like end the

00:31:10.400 gravy train right now so which makes sense but uh if maybe we keep on i think keep clear with this

00:31:20.560 separation between the individuals living in these conditions and those with entrenched interests who are

00:31:26.800 benefiting off the system and leeching the money and power away from those others because those are

00:31:34.000 two different groups they get summed up as a monolith but they are two different groups well said well said

00:31:40.880 and we're seeing it right there's a there's a couple of of aboriginals that that are treaty who have

00:31:47.840 gone gone public with a statement saying these chiefs don't speak for me and it's good you know what

00:31:54.880 we don't want them to speak for you we want to hear from you from you you you're our fellow albertans

00:32:00.080 we want to know what you say what about the uh the contradiction so we we've heard in the last like

00:32:06.960 decade that first of all canada is a post-national state with no firm identity so we heard that and

00:32:12.560 now we have maple syrup branded nationalism it's like this like cartoon version of like what it means

00:32:20.960 to be a patriotic canadian and then we also heard for the last 10 years that like well canada is a

00:32:27.200 colonialist um genocidal state and evil by all metrics and then people are fighting to stay in

00:32:37.280 that same genocidal colonial evil state so like what is it is it like is canada so corrupt can't be

00:32:46.560 from the ground up like you can't disparage it and then paint this rosy picture when it's

00:32:53.200 politically convenient now so if if it is true that canada if ottawa the federal government has wronged

00:33:02.800 these people and they got a bad deal wouldn't this be an opportunity to create a better future under

00:33:09.760 your own terms to negotiate something in your favor now that you have a chance to negotiate where you

00:33:16.800 did not have one before so it's an opportunity exactly it's a huge opportunity a huge opportunity

00:33:26.800 now with those opportunities of course comes responsibility um but yeah it's a massive it's

00:33:32.880 a massive chance for the folks that live on those reserves to to have a second chance really you

00:33:41.520 know i've um i've had this discussion with uh my my day job um i uh i have the opportunity to interact

00:33:50.240 with a lot of different um northern alberta indigenous groups um who who purchased from my company and um

00:33:57.920 they uh i asked them whenever i can i i asked them sort of like just very casually just like hey you

00:34:03.040 know there's a lot of talk going on about alberta independence lately do you have much of an opinion

00:34:06.880 on that and an opinion is usually split um almost always very thoughtful and very um uh very nuanced

00:34:16.160 usually the the what i hear is that like the the most common refrain i hear is that people are worried in

00:34:22.960 in the in these bands in these on these reservations that um they're worried that as little as their

00:34:28.640 voice seems to matter right now that it might matter even less um that there might be a um they're

00:34:35.920 worried that the even even though they've gotten a raw deal from the federal government at least there

00:34:42.160 seems to be like some sounds being made you know the you know the right words being said and they're

00:34:48.400 worried that perhaps they'll be forgotten about and i think and i try to bring this up as much as i

00:34:53.520 can um no matter like people tend to view people who are either very uh opposed to independence or who

00:35:01.360 are um simply just uneducated on it seem to view it as a left-right issue we don't think it should be

00:35:08.800 a left-right issue it's more of a top-down issue like you say you know we we have um pretty strong

00:35:14.480 libertarian leanings as well and so we're mostly concerned as far as uh the authority level of the

00:35:19.120 government rather than the position of a left-right because governments change like that opinions

00:35:23.760 change you know um and so i try to make the point known that regardless of wherever you sit politically

00:35:30.640 this should be an opportunity for you because now your voice goes from being essentially meaningless

00:35:36.000 because federal elections are decided before polls even close in alberta now you have actually a very

00:35:42.560 powerful voice your your percentage of influence has gone way up so you now have a better ability

00:35:47.600 to advocate for yourself and your own interest too regardless of where they stand on the political

00:35:51.680 spectrum exactly right exactly right and on top of that be at the table with people that actually want

00:36:00.560 to hear what they have to say yeah right ottawa doesn't care what anybody has to say but ottawa

00:36:07.280 and that doesn't matter who's in government it doesn't matter that's non-partisan it does not

00:36:12.000 matter who's in government they don't care outside of those walls what happens and and so we've got

00:36:18.480 this chance now this opportunity to say well you know what we do care about you because as far as

00:36:23.760 we're concerned you're albertans too and let's let's work this out let's figure this out i'm not saying

00:36:29.440 we'll agree on everything i'm sure we won't but doesn't mean we can't try and figure it out that's my

00:36:35.520 new my new favorite word is that everything is figureoutable yeah so let's let's chat let's sort

00:36:42.400 it out so i've kind of been mulling on this thought where if the foundations are shaky and people don't

00:36:50.080 feel like they can fairly contribute and they don't see people working together in a constructive way

00:36:56.800 i feel like you get these little power struggles where if somebody feels like they have no power

00:37:01.600 they'll find power in some kind of way and i think you get that a little bit with

00:37:07.040 some of these indigenous bands right now they feel like they have power in the sense that they can

00:37:11.600 disrupt or block or assert their voice but it's being represented in a very like you don't care about

00:37:20.000 us therefore we don't need to care about you and they will block things to assert their importance or

00:37:26.720 like this is our power we deserve to have our voice and they will wield that in whatever way they can

00:37:34.160 and again this reinforces that a system built upon a shaky foundation is reinforcing these behaviors

00:37:42.880 that ultimately create these kind of behaviors um because we're out of the cooperative mindset at this

00:37:50.640 point and also you could zoom out a little bit further into confederation and say right now between

00:37:58.320 provinces this is less of a cooperative endeavor where the idea what we were told about confederation is

00:38:07.520 we're all in this together and we're helping each other and we're supporting each other but if that was

00:38:13.120 really true confederation would function a little bit differently and if we lean back on this principle

00:38:21.200 of uh posi wit or like the purpose of a system is what it does what we're seeing confederation do

00:38:29.680 is not in alignment with its stated purpose so its real purpose must be what the outcome is right now

00:38:37.840 so i feel like we need to shift towards this cooperation or a system that

00:38:46.000 enables cooperation at multiple levels and if you can get that emerging naturally that that would be

00:38:53.280 that would be the best well and it's going to be a real exercise in trust isn't it

00:38:59.440 because this is a political problem so it requires a political solution but nobody in their right mind

00:39:05.280 trust politics right you can't and so that means we're going to have to trust each other which is

00:39:13.200 also it's equally hard to do that but we're getting a shared origin story in the process so people people

00:39:21.360 look to quebec and say like well they've got this they've got this history and this culture and a

00:39:25.760 language and this and that and as the alberta independence movement grows and there's more and more

00:39:31.280 pushback i don't think the east is realizing they are becoming the villain in a story that is

00:39:39.360 essentially going to glue albertans together the harder they push the more they demonize and it's

00:39:45.360 happening more and more and i feel like as they realize that there's more of a potential for independence

00:39:52.960 uh the more the anger comes out because they have to deal with this this idea like these two competing

00:39:58.720 ideas in their head like ball these are bad people and oh they're traitors but there's a legal pathway

00:40:05.840 and they're doing it peacefully and they are being positive and they're like these things don't

00:40:11.920 coexist and what comes out is anger but that is gluing all burdens together so i feel like if we can again

00:40:20.960 build a community around it assets the community including what you're doing on your end

00:40:28.880 that is giving license for people to feel comfortable stepping forward we saw that a little bit

00:40:34.240 during the convoy where people felt like they were lost like there was nobody who shared any of their

00:40:40.800 views or maybe they felt alone in the workplace and like well i can't really talk about this with

00:40:45.920 friends and family and then the convoy comes and now it was safe to actually explore these ideas

00:40:53.520 well and i think what happened what's happening now that the petition has started is that we thought

00:41:02.240 we knew how many people want to explore this idea or might even be full-on convinced now we're finding

00:41:09.360 out now we're finding out because there's not one location that there's not a lineup that goes all the

00:41:16.400 way out and around the building even the one in edmonton that first one right all the way out and

00:41:21.040 around the building down down the street through the parking lot and then the one on this last saturday

00:41:26.960 at rundle park that was wild for edmonton i mean i was watching this i didn't get anything done i

00:41:35.040 couldn't go because i had some zoom meetings and whatnot here but i'm on whenever i could i'm on my phone on

00:41:41.360 twitter like wanting to find where's all the pictures who's doing what what's going on where

00:41:45.360 and then everybody was posting pictures from all of these different events and i finally just threw

00:41:49.600 on there like i'm sorry edmonton i need to apologize i was ready to build a wall around you but i take that

00:41:56.880 i do i take that back i i will eat my humble pie i'm i was wrong and i've never i don't think i've ever

00:42:04.400 been so happy to be wrong but we're and that's that strength in numbers which is giving people

00:42:10.160 permission to talk about it which is giving people permission to explore the idea and go well wait a

00:42:15.120 minute what about this and that but it's also as you said james it's causing that the people against

00:42:22.080 us to get a little louder and a little meaner and a little more crass and uh and i just tell people

00:42:29.280 just ignore them i get in trouble for that because people want to fight back but it's really not worth

00:42:36.160 our time that's not worth yeah there's there's a there's certainly a balance to to strike there

00:42:42.640 because it's you know i and and we you know we're not innocent of this either because we like to

00:42:48.880 defend the movement and i'm i'm on there on our twitter and listen here yeah you know i try to try to

00:42:56.080 reel her in as much as i can but yeah i have that impulse too and i and i that's what sort of makes me

00:43:01.440 empathize a little bit with people who who have a strong impulse the other way because if you if you

00:43:06.560 truly have this notion in your head that these you know filthy separatists are trying to break up the

00:43:11.200 country because they're greedy and they only want you know they want to um poison the environment with

00:43:16.160 the oil and they don't care about you know all the good things that canada does around the world and

00:43:20.640 they just want to be selfish and insular like i i get it if that was your if that's what you truly

00:43:25.360 believed that would make a person angry sure what do you what do you say to a person like that like

00:43:30.400 what is a what are some of the tools that you use to kind of uh lower the temperature a little bit and

00:43:36.240 with these types of individuals because i gotta i gotta say i was on i saw in a in a group chat um a link

00:43:43.760 to uh one of the posts about how long that lineup was at rundle park and james was there actually we

00:43:49.520 have a couple videos on our channel about it yeah it was awesome to see but i i i made the mistake

00:43:55.360 of clicking on this reddit link and and looking at what the slash r slash edmonton reddit was talking

00:44:00.320 about it and they truly are uh discussing this movement in terms of in like apocalyptic terms

00:44:06.880 of like you know we gotta we gotta do something about this like this is you know we gotta stop them

00:44:11.360 we gotta counter they're like as if it's like uh you know they're strategizing in a military campaign

00:44:16.960 like what what do you how do you even begin with somebody like that well i think there's two camps

00:44:22.880 that belong that are they're part of that that group there's the ones that they're the paid

00:44:30.160 the paid problem right they're being paid to create this and to to stoke the fires and to make

00:44:36.800 people angry and upset and what are you going to do about that like you can't fire them because

00:44:40.320 somebody else is paying them to do it the paid literally paid opposition nothing you can do about

00:44:45.120 that the ones unfortunately that they're able to kind of loop into their argument if if those folks

00:44:53.360 are so far gone that they just don't want to see it you're not going to be able to do anything

00:45:00.560 the uh maybe there's a we'll see if mike agrees with my my strategy i've been stress testing this

00:45:09.280 i've been engaging with the trolls um not to convince them not feeding them in the sense of

00:45:15.280 like i guess feeding the trolls is normally described as like you get sucked in you get

00:45:21.680 emotional and you call them a bad person or something um and then they feel like you've met

00:45:28.240 them at their same level of emotion they feel like no they're totally justified yeah um but what i treat is

00:45:35.280 a lot of these discussions let it be online or with somebody i realize that i'm not going to convince

00:45:42.800 them but if there's other people usually it's the silent ones that you don't know their position you

00:45:49.840 don't know how many like ifs or maybes or what about this evidence or that and you can go a couple

00:45:56.560 ways but one way is like if you're the more reasonable side if in that discussion somebody

00:46:04.720 comes off as very emotional and they come off as insane you don't have to do much to keep a measured

00:46:12.160 like they are doing the work for you to make you look like the well-adjusted normal person so that's

00:46:19.920 like rule number one don't feed into that and you can just let them shout off all this crazy stuff

00:46:26.880 but also just take a step back like ask them well what's your evidence for this or somebody's like

00:46:31.920 you're a traitor and like well what's the legal definition of a traitor or is it uh does it make

00:46:37.920 you a traitor going through the democratic process of a citizen-led petition for referendum and what about

00:46:44.640 the 1998 supreme court reference case um and you point to these little like you can drop these little

00:46:53.200 these little learning moments for anybody else watching and and this could be something as like

00:46:59.520 oh you have a family chat with somebody and like you've got a group chat and there's some family

00:47:04.400 members and somebody says some crazy thing about these alberta separatists and you can

00:47:11.120 like you don't have to get into a full-blown argument just to start

00:47:14.560 like subtly correcting some of these things or pushing back or asking these questions that will

00:47:20.960 help convince somebody in the middle yeah that's true i agree that's true that's true

00:47:28.880 i was at a uh i was asked to do a for and against conversation a couple weeks ago and and so i gave

00:47:37.040 my my presentation the one that that you saw mike and then the other guy gave his presentation as to

00:47:42.640 why we should stay he turned it into a completely partisan issue and all conservatives are nasty bad

00:47:48.720 we're going to hell blah blah blah basically and it's like okay well whatever and then afterwards i i

00:47:56.240 went into the question and answer period and there was this one lady well there's a couple of them but

00:48:01.200 one in in particular who took great exception to the headlines about how many um people are here illegally

00:48:10.160 how many non-canadians are in our prisons how how much the the human trafficking has grown has exploded

00:48:18.720 and she took great exception to that and i couldn't figure out like visibly upset when i got there and

00:48:25.280 i couldn't figure out exactly where she was going with it i was hoping that she was finally realizing

00:48:29.440 we're in trouble we're in trouble we we have we've let the fox into the hen house here and uh no that

00:48:36.000 that was not it at all i was absolutely evil for bringing this up and i was racist and i was misogynist

00:48:45.600 and i was a colonialist and i was mega and i was ultra white wing and then all the names started

00:48:52.720 and and this is in a room full of people many of whom would it be in agreement with her and i said okay

00:49:00.320 well do you lock your doors at night and she said well of course i do i live here downtown edmonton of

00:49:08.240 course i do and i said well if someone broke into your house and ransacked it and then hurt you

00:49:15.520 and hurt your kids would you not have a problem with that and want to see some sort of restitution

00:49:21.760 well but that's not you know we invited these people in to come and be part of our social fabric and

00:49:27.920 she was doing an impressive amount of mental gymnastics and verbal salad cartwheels to try and

00:49:37.600 to try and justify her position yeah and and i said okay okay so you invite them into your home let's

00:49:45.120 just say that you invite somebody into your home and you feed them and you clothe them and you give

00:49:49.840 them a roof over your head and you make sure they have everything that they need and then they turn

00:49:54.080 around and they hurt you and they hurt your children and they ruin your house is it you're okay with that

00:50:00.960 and in her mind she just could not come to a place where she could say that that was wrong

00:50:08.960 without feeling like she was wronging the person for saying it was wrong and i guess when i'm what

00:50:14.480 i'm saying like there's people you're just not going to reach that's the person i'm talking about

00:50:17.600 yeah that's a person who and you know i don't want to stereotype but you know this is goes to what we

00:50:25.840 said earlier this is it's a very feminine coded type of response like this type of uh overly nurturing

00:50:32.080 like pathologically nurturing response where they believe like you know i i have these conversations

00:50:37.040 with my own family members you know who are you know especially the the more liberal uh female ones who

00:50:42.880 are you know they still are under the assumption that these people that we've brought in by the

00:50:48.000 hundreds of thousands and millions over the last you know decade half decade are like political

00:50:54.160 persecuted refugees like they don't understand this like this is it was never that there it's always

00:51:00.160 been economic migrants it's always been for uh subverse like at least from the federal level sub like uh

00:51:07.520 i don't want to say subversive that's a little bit too colored but uh you know it's always been for a

00:51:12.000 political aim it's never been as a uh this is not a rescue mission that canada is embarking across

00:51:17.280 the globe you know uh and so and and i think a good way that i've found to at least um at least

00:51:24.720 elicit a block on twitter you know not even a reply at least elicit a block is i i put it in terms

00:51:30.320 like this like why do you think that you're entitled to all of the rest of the world's cheap labor

00:51:37.760 like because essentially that's what this is like why you you know you think that you're being um

00:51:43.680 you know very generous and very kind and loving with other people's tax money but you look at what

00:51:48.480 these uh you know what we could say uh you know right now it's it's uh obviously it's india the the

00:51:54.080 highest amount of immigrants come from india years years before it was the philippines years before

00:51:58.480 that there was vietnamese and chinese you know these things change over time uh the last half decade has

00:52:03.680 been very specifically uh indian students quote unquote students uh and um and and and economic

00:52:13.360 cheap workers you're importing cheap labor from across the world and you're feeling good about

00:52:18.960 yourself as if you're um you know you're you're safe like this is not this is not something that

00:52:25.120 we should be aiming to do if you're truly a compassionate person you shouldn't be wanting to

00:52:30.640 um effectively just uh suppress the wage growth of your own country with by paying people who've

00:52:39.920 come here from across the globe the literal least amount of money you can pay them to do

00:52:45.680 the lowest status jobs that you would never do what part of that is compassionate well that's just

00:52:52.240 it there's nothing compassionate about that at all all you have done is fed into the human

00:52:57.040 trafficking component thinking you're doing somebody a favor and and and you're right like a lot of it

00:53:02.880 is it is the women it's the liberal women that are going after that and and what pains me is is i just

00:53:10.720 want to shake them and say where's your mama bear like where are you some kids yeah where is your mama bear

00:53:18.160 like you should be wanting to protect all the children and and and that's where this whole independence

00:53:25.120 conversation comes in really i guess like now that i'm saying it out loud is is we're trying to focus

00:53:30.240 in on that mama bear maybe it's maybe it's worth in those cases maybe asking like well especially to

00:53:38.480 these women who are mothers and like well how many people would you invite over like would you be

00:53:44.160 comfortable inviting to your house would you would you host a house party is to what if you had 20 people

00:53:51.280 and you only knew like 20 people came and you only knew 10 of them like well how how comfortable would

00:53:59.920 you be like would your like would things be broken would your house be a wreck after and then you could

00:54:08.560 ask like well what if a hundred people came like what are the chances that you stole food in the fridge that

00:54:16.160 like there's no damage like these people if they don't know you and they're coming into a space

00:54:24.240 and it feels free there's no there's nothing really stopping them from just saying like well it doesn't

00:54:31.840 really affect me so i'm going to take this or i'm going to use this or if that breaks well it's not mine

00:54:35.840 like it doesn't matter they don't really have any sense of responsibility they don't feel connected to

00:54:41.360 the community it's not like it's your next door neighbor um coming over for a little house party

00:54:47.360 if they break something you're going to see them walking your dog and you're going to say hi like

00:54:51.520 well and they're going to apologize like you don't have these communities checks and balances and i don't

00:54:59.440 know if that's a useful analogy or not but i i feel like once you put things into that some of these

00:55:05.680 framings of like well you can be compassionate but how large can that grow how far can you extend

00:55:13.120 that circle of compassion before it becomes unsustainable and that's a hard thing to wrap

00:55:19.120 our minds around when we're told that we have to hold infinite compassion for an infinite amount of

00:55:24.960 people and then pay for it well that's just it that's just it and then the other problem with regards

00:55:32.720 to immigration that a lot of people just and i don't know why i don't know what this one i haven't

00:55:38.400 figured out when people are coming from other countries and other cultures when we go there we

00:55:45.040 experience their culture and whether that's india china whatever pick one well when they come here

00:55:52.880 they're bringing that with them so what was normal over there is probably not going to be normal over

00:56:00.080 here and that doesn't mean we have to say that it's okay we don't if it's not okay here then it's

00:56:09.120 just simply not okay if having a child bride is not okay in alberta it's not okay it's not okay you know

00:56:17.520 like and and i think people forget that they the values don't don't stop at the border they come across

00:56:24.080 and so if we've got too many people coming in then there's this values tsunami that we can't stand up

00:56:31.520 against which means we can't make sure that that the networks that we have to take people in here the

00:56:38.720 infrastructure that we have to take people in in a way that makes sense so that they can assimilate

00:56:44.000 they can enjoy all the things that we do um we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna lose it we're gonna lose

00:56:50.560 it and that's what they're trying to do to canada right now but i contend that alberta can be uh can

00:56:56.560 be a lifeboat for all of canada and i don't mean that in that you know people in other provinces can

00:57:02.960 just suddenly go oh you guys do did it i'm moving there like no you'll get a visa if you don't you

00:57:08.000 don't you don't you can apply maybe you can apply we'll see you can apply we'll check your twitter

00:57:13.040 account and see what all you said over the last six years but um you know i i just mean that

00:57:19.360 when we do this and i really believe we will when we when we forge that path and we are the trail

00:57:25.440 blazers that we're known to be and we become we have our ticker tape parade on our independence day

00:57:30.320 because we are now the the republic of alberta that is just going to open up the door for other

00:57:36.880 provinces to say you know what they did it we're doing it too and saskatchewan will follow right after

00:57:43.120 um there'll be some others i think newfoundland might even do it manitoba who knows i don't know

00:57:49.760 the territories they're gonna have some decisions to make but the fact of the matter is if we don't

00:57:55.520 if we if alberta doesn't do this we've done the whole entire country a complete disservice so i think

00:58:02.880 we need to mm-hmm yeah and it's a it's a it's a great point you make i mean people um this is

00:58:11.280 something that separates albertans from you know if you've done any traveling around canada you can

00:58:15.280 kind of just sense it uh specifically from ontario quebec bc as well especially um

00:58:22.400 albertans are not yet uh completely unafraid to assert their own values you know uh it's it's like

00:58:30.000 you know we've said on the show before and in other contexts like you would never dream of you

00:58:34.480 know traveling to japan or um you know uh ethiopia or some like very or sweden or some very monolithic

00:58:42.400 country like this and just telling them that you know i don't care what your social fabric is or what

00:58:47.440 your cultural mores are i'm just going to do my own thing and you have to accommodate me and you have

00:58:52.000 to accept me there's just nowhere else in the world that functions like this no and but yet when you

00:58:56.720 come here you know we're you know i don't know whether it's some combination of like you know

00:59:02.720 canadians have this idea of being uh you know this this um we're very polite we're very accommodating

00:59:08.720 we're very nice you know people that's what people think about us but a lot of that actually can kind

00:59:13.040 of boil down to uh what it comes off as nice or accommodating or or kind or polite is actually like

00:59:18.960 passive aggression you know it's uh it's in it and it's sort of um it's sort of a a shrinking sort

00:59:25.840 of a sort of a weak type of um you know any any type of assertion of any sort of value structure

00:59:32.080 we're so worried about being called a racist like you know like you were called a racist or a

00:59:36.880 you know a a chauvinist of some type um but albertans don't we that hasn't been completely beaten out

00:59:43.920 of us yet and and we are we are sort of a um an anomaly right now in in canada and that's uh yeah

00:59:50.000 i think i think what you say is right that we are sort of a uh maybe a test case maybe a beacon

00:59:55.120 maybe a a light on a hill is the uh as the uh the biblical imagery right uh i don't know if i don't

01:00:01.520 know if we want to go that far yet but i sure hope so like you know it's are you hopeful is this

01:00:06.400 is this what you um what would you put your um if you had to give it some odds or a percentage i

01:00:13.280 don't know if you you if you could do that but if you had to are you hopeful seeing what you've

01:00:18.000 seen so far for the movement i'm probably more hopeful today than i've ever been yeah yeah i think

01:00:25.120 so up until up until we were ready to start collecting signatures we just didn't know

01:00:31.760 i mean i had an idea you can kind of get a feel for what's going on on the different social media

01:00:37.040 platforms and the conversation and whatnot and always trying to make sure i don't get stuck in that echo

01:00:42.240 chamber i don't want to do that and i want to i want to make sure that i can see you know at least

01:00:47.200 most of the whole picture and then to see these lineups right out the gate and the number of people

01:00:54.000 that were ready um and the other thing that spoke to me i i really thought knowing that there were

01:01:01.680 going to be some long lineups because things are just it's it was freaking disorganized chaos right in

01:01:06.400 some ways it kind of still is as we're trying to settle in who can take signatures who can't where

01:01:10.880 are we going where are we meeting oh they kicked us out now we got to go over there like all the

01:01:14.160 regulars and um and i thought man if people are in these lineups for a long time i know how much

01:01:20.560 how i know how upset people get in costco over 20 minutes this is going to be awful and that has not

01:01:27.200 happened yeah not even once and i'm like okay we're that right there we're gonna do this we're gonna do

01:01:39.440 this and i i really hope mitch gets his prayers answered that it is over a million signatures because

01:01:47.680 that's gonna send a message right there that don't don't around and find out just don't if i can say

01:01:58.240 that you can you absolutely can this let's just go to these negotiations everybody in good faith we're

01:02:08.000 going to sit at the table we're going to figure this out and albertans are going to go our own way

01:02:13.520 and that's that hell yeah hell yeah yeah we say it all the time i mean i say it anyway people can

01:02:20.400 just do things you can just do stuff you don't have to ask permission for everything you can just do

01:02:25.200 it and if you get enough people to agree with you then just go out there and do it exactly

01:02:33.200 james do you have anything else for our uh our highly esteemed guest no i feel like i've said

01:02:38.240 plenty today but uh likewise i feel like i rambled too but i hope i hope you didn't feel talked over

01:02:44.320 kathy oh don't worry about me i have no problem people will often i'll be in these conversations

01:02:50.880 and and i'm not that i'm not that gal that sort of sits there just quiet i'll jump in or whatever and

01:02:56.080 i had one guy say to me man like you really got into that conversation i said well you don't know

01:03:00.080 who i've been married to for 30 years it doesn't matter survival he prepared me well for this moment

01:03:10.080 well you have a way about you too that and and i see it when when we're out of these events you know

01:03:13.840 people enjoy talking to you and they they open up around you too so i think you're exactly you're

01:03:19.120 you're exactly where you should be and doing what you should do and and um we're we're both very

01:03:24.320 grateful that you're involved and you're such a uh such a uh a competent and uh prominent voice

01:03:30.880 in this movement because you know we need we need 12 of you so the more you know women's groups that

01:03:37.200 you can do and find find more more kathy flats out there the better i think well bless you thank you for

01:03:42.800 that that means a lot well thank you thank you for joining us james if you want i don't know if you

01:03:47.280 want to close us off with anything but i'm yeah i'm talking well uh thank you for coming kathy

01:03:52.320 look forward to like you met mike but i look forward to actually actually meeting you sometime

01:03:57.520 soon at one of these events uh we'll be out filming what we can sharing it um and hopefully

01:04:05.680 yeah some of these little moments they all add up and we all have to do what we can

01:04:11.360 to just help build the movement and uh yeah so it's great to have you on and um yeah we'll have to

01:04:18.640 do this again sometime soon we will get an update a few months down the line as we as we see all this

01:04:25.040 unfold awesome that'd be great that'd be great to forward to that thank you thanks guys anytime

01:04:32.000 yeah that was great thanks kathy all right thank you yeah appreciate it cheers

01:04:54.400 you

The Critical Compass Podcast - February 07, 2026

Understanding Alberta's History & Engaging Women to Build a Strong Independence Movement

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