Shaun Newman Podcast - Mashup 227

Episode Date: October 9, 2026

I am joined by Ben Trudeau, Sylvain Charlebois, Jason Lavigne and Leighton Grey. We discuss Quebec election, Elections Alberta, mail in ballots and First Nations challenging the new pipeline. Silver Gold Bull Links:Website: https://silvergoldbull.ca/Email: [e-mail] Grahame: [phone]Bow Valley Credit UnionBitcoin: www.bowvalleycu.com/en/personal/investing-wealth/bitcoin-gatewayEmail: [e-mail] Get your voice heard: Text Shaun 587-217-8500

Welcome to the Masha Tell me whether I'm wrong or right Easter west up or down side to side I sit to stand and fall to fly Of all of my impulsive plans Popping locking salsa dances on demand I follow leading off the map I stop the chatter scream happily

Welcome to the MASHU Welcome to the MASHup Welcome to the MASH up Welcome to the MASH up How's everybody doing today Mashup 227? I know everybody's disappointed They're like, no twos rant, no two's rant today. Okay.

I'm sure he's got a rant canned in the truck this morning, wherever he's working. But no twos today, which means you're stuck with me. Life will go on. Here's some big news maybe. Last time I talked to twos, when I was in Calgary picking up the truck, I said, I'm going to be voting from afar. And, you know, we recorded that roughly on like the 26th or 25th, somewhere in there. roughly the day that my ability to get a voting card from away ended.

So here's the news, folks. Albert, I'm coming back again. And you're going to probably not see me, but you never know. Maybe if you're voting at the same time. I'll be back on the Sunday before the 19th. Me and twos are doing a day-long show on the 19th. It's going to have people coming in from all over the place.

And actually, if I pull it up, if I was smart about this, here I'll pop it over my head. We're going to be doing something similar to our live election coverage when we did the federal election coverage, right? And we had the 90 plus thousand people watching in the 500,000 in the first, you know, roughly 24 hours. We've got more to come. I keep getting yeses from people as they confirm they're going to be coming. But we're going to be planning to start 10 a.m. Mountain Standard time.

We're going to be going all day long after I get back to vote. So you can expect some live. Referendum coverage, you know, watching how that goes. It's a pretty big day for Alberta and Canada, you know, so we're going to be here. Me and twos are going to be doing it live from Alberta, not from afar. I sit in Boston right now. And looking forward to be back in Alberta, although I don't think this is, this is exactly how I planned getting back to Alberta over and over and over again, regardless. Oh, well.

So welcome to the mashup 227. No twos. You're stuck with me. I got some guests coming on. We're going to talk a lot of different. different things and how about we just start there. I should say, so I don't get yelled at by Jamie Sinclair. Happy Airborne Friday. See, I can do this Jamie without Tuesday. Happy Airborne Friday at all the military boys out there that are tuning in. And where we're going to start

today is there was an election this week, Quebec. And I'm going to bring on guests to a friend of the show, Ben Trudeau, although Ben I can't see you right now. And Dr. Sylvan, Charlebeau, the food professor. Gentlemen, thanks for hopping on and doing this. Well, it's nice to meet Ben for the first time. Yes. Same for me. Thank you, Chan, for having me on. Well, okay, me and two's talked about this. We followed it for a long time. You know, the party Quebecwa, pro-independence, pro whatever Quebecers want to call it. I'm just a westerner. And, you know, now the election results have come in. They've got a minority.

I don't know. You guys tell me, I mean, Ben, you're back in Quebec. Sylvain, you live there. Like, walk us, I don't know, walk everybody through the Quebec election and your thoughts on the results. Well, I want to hear Ben first, for sure. He's there. He's more politically savvy than I am. I would say, I want to hear what Sylvain has to say because I was not here during the campaign. And I flew in just for the weekend for a set different roles in front of family.

So, yeah, well, I was, first of all, I'd like to say that despite no Quebec being probably the most xenophobic society on the planet, at the same time, they are the more willing to accept diversity in their, in their, operations and we could see that during that election. Two things about the results. I won't speak about the campaign because I didn't really follow the campaign, but I was, I found very interesting that there's still a little place in North America where people can still vote according to their convictions and doesn't have to choose between the two worst. And secondly, I'm impressed as well of the way the vote went, of course, like to

wipe out a party in power like from I don't know 79 MNAs to zero that's alone is is not very common in in our modern democracy but I believe that the election of the PQ this time contrary to other minority government that the PQ had I think was there were the last the last one that had it in 2012 under appellant Marwa I believe because of the way the election went and and to have a nine Quebec Salidae, which is basically the old very left, extreme left wing of the party that left to create their own. And then the right wing of the PQ left to create La CACCAC by joining the ADQ at the time. Well, I believe that now, contrary to other minority government in Quebec, the PQ is in a very good position with the conservative at 19 seats and Quebec Saladet at nine seats to kind of choose their

partner as they move forward on policies and all that. So I think contrary to other monetary government, I think they can make it work for the entire term. But that's a personal opinion. I'm not sure that Quebec will allow that. But I find that very interesting and very, very refreshing to see politics where people vote for their conviction and have a choice between five parties and end up for at the end. But yeah, that's what I have to say. My main main major point from Monday. Well, yeah, no, great points there, Ben. First of all, I thought that Quebecers were spoiled.

I mean, they had five choices, really, five platforms. And they were all a little bit different. In many provinces now, you basically have parties fighting for the center, but you do have parties that are going to the right, parties that are going to the left. So I thought that Quebecers had a pretty good choice. and the in the cack the governing party that ruled Quebec for two major major majorities over eight years basically had a shot at this for a while up until two weeks before the election christen frechette with whom i actually had the pleasure to work with on food policy when she became premier in the spring helped her cabinet in terms of

you know, framing a food policy for the province. She basically got into the 20s, mid-20s, and it was interesting for a while, but she couldn't overcome the fact that the media kept reminding people of the scandals and problems that the KAC actually had to deal with over the last eight years. And it was just too overwhelmed in the end. And that's why I think Quebecers started to look for other options.

but it's only in Quebec where you can actually see a complete reversal within two weeks. And so the PQ one, which I don't think it was overly surprising. I think it was just the government in waiting for the last two years. It's just everyone was wondering whether or not it's going to be a majority. It is not a majority, but they do have three parties with the balance of power. So they actually have options when governing. So I don't think that government is going to end soon anyway. But results were interesting.

You have nine MNAs from the left with Quebec Solidar. You have 19 conservatives from the right coming in to the National Assembly for the first time since 1935, I believe. But the most interesting thing is the fact that Quebec, the PQ beat a record that was held by an Albertan party. If you remember, Sean, back in 1921, the United Farmers Association actually was elected with barely 28% of the vote. And the PQ actually beat that record now with a popular vote of about 28.2%. It is a record in camp, but the record was held by an Albertan party before that. Yes. Yeah, of course, it was an Alberta record before.

When you look at this government, right, one of the things that has been talked about a lot is they want independence, they want to leave Canada, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. I've heard different things now that say they won't be able to even remotely get there, that even if they wanted to, we're looking at 2030 or later, do you see this party pushing forward on part of the platform they ram? Or now that they're in, is that going to die off for? a time.

Independence will never die off with the PQ. It's part of their roots. The root system. Yeah, it's Article I. It's always been since 1968. Never changed. Will never change. So I believe, though, that,

they are the party that brought the two referendum before. They are the party that brought all the work, the societal work on sovereignty and on autonomy and, me. And I believe that they will always be respected for, and not only that, but they gain a lot of authority and confidence in managing the province without separation, because that was the first, the first fear, I say, if it's your Article 1, how do you do well? I think Article 2 or through the program is like, we will be good administrative of the province until we achieve our goal.

And that gives a lot of open doors. That gives a lot of leeway as long as they do their referendum once Trump is gone. Because that's a promise that they know. Here, the TDS, the Trump Dernarmament syndrome is mass psychosis. Like I barely find one Quebecer that like Trump or that he's been willing to say a good thing about him. So they perform a steller job on that here. So that gives him a two-year break minimum unless the guy passed away or something more. But anyway, that gives him like a two-year leeway to be a good administrator of the province,

like the PQ usually did. No, overly speaking, there's not a lot of Quebecer that have bad taste about the way the PQ ever managed a province, contrary to others. And I believe that there's enough room in the movement and what's happening in Alberta to keep the flame open and their members happy because you know in Quebec as I often say in Alberta we have a party that

for instance the UCP voted to kick out their SMP in 2020 or in 2026. So in Quebec political party when you have something in your program you do it. And I believe they have enough support to be able to do that, to maintain the flame of separation on, while not doing it.

So that's my opinion. Yeah, absolutely. I agree with you, Ben. Some people, what I'm not picking up in English media is the fact that, well, yes, the PQ has won the election with 28% of the vote, 28, 29% of the vote. But the QS, Quebec Saidae, is also a separatist party, and they got 11% of the vote too.

So that gets you closer to 40% theoretically, theoretically. But it's all academic because both parties don't get along, really. The QS actually got, was created because there was a socialist group within the PQ that left, which actually makes the PQ more, more of a party that will occupy the center. Because historically, the PQ has always been. left to center. I'm not sure if Ben agrees with me on that one. But when I was living in Quebec and went through the 95 election, it was a left to center party. But because of the QS armed at left the PQ, it is more a center.

And some of the comments that Paul Seppiac at Plemondon has made, the premier elect has made recently, you can tell that they're no longer a left to center party, really. And I agree with Ben. I think they're actually, they're taking this mandate to govern, not necessarily to separate for now. Yeah. And it's interesting as well speaking of Quebec Sildare, that their leader, she's a Palestinian refugee.

And amongst the nine elected in that party, the MNA of Rosemont, she came in this country in 2023. It was the first election ever. I believe she became Canadian. sometime last spring. It was the first election ever that she could vote, and she vote for her and she won.

Only in Quebec. Yes. And this is what the colleagues is, schizophrenic, politically speaking, because as much they want to preserve their stuff, you see stuff like that that I wouldn't see happening tomorrow in Western Alberta. I would say, I mean, Sean,

I've been to Alberta a few times, And I must say, and I spoke into a lot of people on both sides of the referendum equation. And things are way, way, way more tense in Alberta right now. Like, it's not even comparable. I agree. You think it's way more tense in Alberta than it is in Quebec over the whole separation discussion. That's what you're talking about. Alberta is basically reliving what Quebec.

went through in the early 80s with the first referendum. I was obviously I was only 10 years old, but I remember, I mean, families being separated, friends that don't longer talk to each other. And that's not the case anymore in Quebec. I mean, Quebec, for many years, it was the Federalists against the separatists. And I was, I'm a staunch federalist myself. And I had to, you know, I was told by my father, well, they're a separer's family,

you shouldn't be talking to them sort of thing. That's kind of what I'm hearing right now in Alberta. Quebec is no longer there anymore because we've actually matured. The problem that Quebec has is that from one election to another, as Ben mentioned, the possibility of a referendum

will actually fuel many discussions, but it's not as emotional as it used to be, unlike what we're seeing right now in Alberta. Ben, you're not in your head. You agree. I totally agree. I mean, I think that, no, being here, having the PQ there doesn't change anything in their day life. They basically, the Quebecer made their choice knowing that that's part of the deal of the PQ, but knowing that the PQ as well ran the province probably consolidated one.

After the referendum, they still remain in power until 2000, something like that. they came back on the Pallin Marwa. They saw that government managing the province after referendum, the way regular government managed. And for the center position of the PQ, I agree with Sylvain. I believe that that position is totally right when you look at the party right now. There's no more these extremists in the party.

The thing that's very interesting, sorry, go ahead. Well, it's just context is big right now. I mean, Christian Frischette is a perfect example of how context is just making things calmer right now in Quebec. She did say during election night to a reporter that she voted yes in 1995, and she is a separatist, but she doesn't really see how separatism can actually help the cause of Quebec right now, given what's happening in the United States. Whereas in Alberta, what's interesting is that you see one camp favoring our relationship with the U.S. as an asset.

Because there are some people actually that do see our relationship with the U.S. as an asset in Alberta. In Quebec, as Ben mentioned, there is some consensus around seeing the U.S. relationship as being a liability, which is interesting. well actually that's one of the first conversations i had with uh forgive me ben you put me in touch with them it was a former what would have been dania turp i want to thank you yeah yeah yeah he was one of the questions i asked him is i'm like wait a second so quebec views trump as bad while alberton's view trump as you know if they were to get a yes vote to leave as like a total

ally. You couldn't get more contrast between the two provinces. Yeah. What's unfair to Alberta, and I'll be candid here, is that there is some criticism out there in the media suggesting Alberta's behavior around the U.S. and Washington is totally unacceptable to actually talk to an ally ahead of a vote is inappropriate, whereas forever, and both you and I spoke about it in Montreal, Sean, is that for many, many years,

the PQ has never hesitated to talk to Paris and get Paris to recognize Quebec as a sovereign nation. And so I think it's a little unfair to Alberta, and I don't want to suggest that I'm on either side here, but I do think it's a little rich coming from the eastern part of our country's media to condemn Alberta for, for flirting with potential ally should a referendum occur and that the separatist boat actually wins.

Yeah. Yeah. And the other thing about that as well, I think I find interesting even now. I just flew in yesterday night, but this morning I really had a couple of meetings because of what happened on Monday. I pick up the phone and I have my ex-chief of staff when I was for Blackburn is sitting here, a couple of tables, waiting for me to finish. finish that show, but all that to say that there's a lot of support as well. And this is why Carney is pushing on that stuff. There's a lot of support.

There are way more support for Canada to join the EU in Quebec than then to re-establish business with the states. Quebecers see that like they're cheering on Carney like crazy because he wants to link us under the EU. Quebec sees like an old dream of joining Paris and France and all that. and that is concerning. And then you can understand why Carney is pushing that, because it's popular to here is like to the roof. He's the most popular politician in Quebec by far.

By far. Mark Carney. All levels combined. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So that's an interesting point though. I hadn't put it that way. I'm like, who would want to join Europe?

When you point to, well, Quebec in their referendum, them, they went and talked to France. Well, if you become closer to Europe, who do you become closer to? Their motherland. If you pay attention to the media in Quebec, I mean, you'll quickly figure out, and I'm sure you saw that when you were in Quebec for a while, is that the press will actually often talk about France, especially the Francophone media.

We'll talk about France, and we'll barely talk about England. We'll talk a little bit about England. We'll talk about the Pope and about the U.S., but the U.S. coverage is always, always negative. Always, like 100%. So it's not surprising to me. And of course, the alliance between Quebec and France has always been historically strong. So I'm not surprised that there is strong support to become an EU associate member, whatever that means.

What I find ironic is that nobody seems to know what it means, but people are supportive of that. sticking on the Quebec election, just going back to it. Forgive me if I don't think I'm going to pronounce his name wrong, but, you know, me and names, folks. Paul St. Pierre Plemondon, the new leader. What do you know about him? Flamondon. Yeah.

Paul St. Pierre, Palmeant. Anyway, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Good job. What can you tell us about the new Premier? Well, the thing that I encourage, and again, I might sound, no, I have to be careful how I say it, but what I really like for me is a family man, you know, like amongst the five parties, you know, like Paul St. Pierre has, I think, three kids, Christian Charette, had one kid, no, Eric Duem is

homosexual from the conservative, the Milial from the... the labor is homosexual, and then you have a person refugee at the other one. So in terms of working together, and I'm thinking always from the Albertan perspective, working together with traditional values, I believe that he's the best candidate of them all, despite Eric Jem having very strong ties with Daniel Smith, because you have to remember that Zuhm ran the campaign from Stockwell Day here in 2000 in Quebec, alongside Daniel was running the same campaign

in Alberta and alongside Pierre Poyev was running the same campaign as well so these three has been working together since the late 90s, so so which three have been

working together? Say that again, Ben? Pierre Puev, Daniel Smith and Eric Duem. Yep. Since 97, 98. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

But I mean, Eric Duem didn't steal his election. I mean, he's worked very hard to get to 19 MNAs. But so has Paul St. Pierre, Plymando. I mean, he got elected. He inherited a party with three MNAs. And when he was elected leader of the party, barely anybody paid attention. Because they felt that the party was dead, really. And not separatism, but the party itself.

And so he came back strong. So you're looking at a few political leaders in Quebec that really, I would say the liberals, let's face it, like half of the Montreal Island, they'll vote for anybody who's red. I mean, the liberals will actually have seats until the end of time. But I would say that Duem and St. Pierre Plamondon, they really, they really did very well and deserve every single seat they got. I agree.

I agree. And I believe they will be knowing a bit of Ju-M because it was part of the ADQ. I was a founding member of the ADQ 94. And Zemm was part of our group there. That's right. And I believe that he will work quite well with Clamondon, with what I saw, both men. And this is why, again, I believe that the peak humanity will last. because they will be able to manage a lot of policies with with duem

and on their side manage the referendum question with the Quebec City. Personally, the only leader of actually exchange with is Duem. That's it. The others I've never met or spoken to. You mentioned the conservatives had not held. I don't know if you said they hadn't held the seat since 1935. but something along that lines. When I see Conservative Party of Quebec,

am I thinking like, I don't know, in Alberta terms, UCP, or is it a different, you know, in a different province, a different meaning of conservative? I would say that because I know the guy and because I know the leader of the UCP, I believe that both parties are quite aligned, leaderwise, for sure. No, I believe that the way that Eric Duem can see politics is quite the way that Daniel Smith can see politics.

They come from the same school of thoughts. They come from the helping the same guys and driving. But in terms of party base, I believe the UCP party base is way more conservative than the Quebec conservative. Because the Quebec conservative has been a bit more center. and even GM can know the position is on party as center and so but yeah

so it's a bit yeah the one question that that I did get a few times this week is how come all of DuM's seats are really around the Quebec region

the capital and typically typically and think of Alberta typically the capital city tends to vote more to the center or even to to the left and and frankly i i do have a theory and i'd love to hear ben i want to use yours first yeah well i mean i do think it's really based on how politics are covered by the media in in quebec and ben knows this term it's called Radio Poubelle.

Radio Poubelle is basically a slang term to describe talk show radio. And there's lots of talk show radio that tends to allow people to express their open opinion about politics all the time,

all day long, 24 hours a day almost. Whereas in Montreal I hate to say this, but the approach is much more elitist. And the media in Montreal, and I'm just overly generalizing here, obviously. They tend to basically dictate what people should be thinking and how they should be voting.

And so they'll invite experts to talk about how they see things. And they don't necessarily let the public become the show. In Quebec, in both Quebec City, the Quebec region, I think the reason why the concerns were so successful is that people just spoke up. And they were tired of seeing a government not delivering. It's overspending. Taxes are very high in Quebec compared to Alberta. So the hatred in Alberta is towards Ottawa, whereas in Quebec, the hatred is towards Quebec.

And so that's why I think it has created this unusual democratic scenario where most of the Conservatives are actually around. the capital city well and and and we saw that same phenomena in 2006 and by the way eric jem was one of the host of one of these radio shows yeah that's true in the yeah yeah in quebec i was interviewed by him a couple of times yeah so so and and this is why there's a good parallel with daniel as well daniel in albera because they were both they went was a talk show host and i spoke to daniel many times absolutely that's right so so and their correct region has been on always, the thing, it'd go back to

1984, the election of Brian Moroney. When the conservative, when Brian Romney became a leader of the conservative and had to run his election against Trudeau, he basically made the deal with René Levique, because it was very, very short after

the Noue de Lone-Den-Cuton, the long knife, where Quebec was kept out of the constitution. And what the deal he made with Renéle-Levike was to be able to use the PQ machine to run the conservative campaign in Quebec. And the evict called this, called it the beau risk.

So the good, no, it was the good, the good thing to do, the good risk to do, to get rid of the liberals. The beautiful risks. Yes, the beautiful risks. And that created a base of conservative at the federal level supporter in the Quebec region, because this is where the HQ of the PQ was at the time. You had big, big, big events happening in Drummondville and all that, and Troix Rivier,

or like the heartbeats of the PQ of the separatist movement. So these groups remain conservative, and this is why when Harper was prime minister, even in its majority, he never gained a single seat more in Quebec, because the only place he could have people elected

was in that region, and what was in John Kier, with Pijonkite Blackburn, they were all, they were all separatist bastions because they were the most, the most activist of the PQ that did campaign for their conservative in 84 to get Brian Martinian. So, yeah. Gentlemen, before I let you out, it being Thanksgiving weekend,

I probably should have started with that. One thing you're thankful for, and then I'll let you out of here. Well, I met you this year, Sean. I'm thankful for that. Oh, I'm. I think we met before, but we met in person this year. And frankly, I do too many shows and podcasts when I actually never meet someone, like in person. And it's different.

And so the fact that we met together in person for the first time, and I'm hoping that one day I'll be able to do the same with Ben. Ben, what do you thankful for today? I appreciate that, Sylvan. I enjoyed our chat as well. I'm thankful that I've been in Liberia for 20 years. I cannot stand Quebecers. Sorry. I love Quebec.

I love Quebec. My family is here, but I mean, I'm getting like, I'm getting like rash just hearing the way they see stuff. It's overcomplicated, but you've got to love Putin. You've got to love, you know, the Montreal. Canadians, the maple syrup. There's lots of love there, man. Yeah.

So I'm grateful to be there, Britain. Thanks for hopping on, gentlemen. Appreciate the update on. Happy Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving. Okay. All right.

Well, that's the first part done. I'm going to welcome in Mr. Jason. Maybe. Maybe. There it is. There it is. Jason, Levine, to the show. Jason, how are you doing this morning?

Sean, I'm doing. Wade and boy, are you ever traveling all over the place? It's fun keeping up to date and keeping track of you. Where are you today? Just outside Boston. All right. And you're going to be in the U.S. for a little bit? Well, we're working our way to Florida.

That's excellent. Good time of year to be going down there. Yeah, I saw a video of the first snowflake. I want to say vitamin D. If you're watching or listening, I think I saw you post a video of that. And I'm like, uh-uh. Nope. I'm going to keep going. I'm going to keep going south, Jason. So, yeah, we're, yeah, we're making our way anyways. How's Jason on that side? That was a fun conversation you just had with Ben and Sylvan. It was nice to hear a couple of people talking about Quebec from two perspectives. That was pretty cool.

Yeah. Well, I mean, and they both have such knowledge of it, right? Mm-hmm. Now, I want to shift from Quebec election that just happened and point more towards, you know, you know, the Alberta referendum coming up now in 10 days. You've been a guy that's been, I think, on the path, racing about as hard as anyone I've seen covering it. What do you, you know, with 10 days away, what do you think, you know, you've noticed been paying attention to,

some of the conversations you've been privy to, you've been on stage all over the province. I don't know. What do you see in Jason? at this stage in the game. Well, I'm certainly in good company. There's quite a few of us out there who's getting the vote out there. It's time to get the vote out.

I'm working with Elections Alberta to get information out, make sure people knew how to do the mail and ballots. You know, that's a taboo word for a lot of people. But fortunately, a lot of Albertans, about 650,000 of them, have requested one of those packages. We're going to find out in the next few weeks, how many people actually used them. The advanced polling, I'm suspecting, it's going to be a high turnout.

Elections, Alberta is predicting 85% turnout, which would be the largest turnout in any vote in Alberta, whether it's provincial, municipal, or a referendum. And I think the energy is very high. You're seeing people like Jason Kenney and others come out really hard. And they're not, Sean, I'm really disappointed because we were looking for a lot of arguments or conversations around why Alberta should stay. What does Canada offer? what will make the deal better? Is there a path forward to addressing some of the grievances that many old birds have had for generations?

And it looks like at this stage, the answer to that is none. They're just vilifying everybody, calling us traitors, saying we're breaking up Canada and going after a specific group to try and target them with fear, uncertainty, and doubt. But I don't think it's working for them. We have a sold-out show, well, not sold-out because it was free, but a full room in Medicine Hat just yesterday with Keith Wilson, Tanya Clemmings and several others.

And this is showing that the desire to go ahead and have these conversations is still very, very high. One of the takeaways for that particular event is a good majority of that group was the first time attendee to any of these kind of conversations. So we're seeing this across the place. Oh, yes, yes. There was 400 people or so that actually showed up. They filled that room.

And when they asked a question, how many people here for the first time. It definitely looked like a majority of the people there. So I think at this stage, people are excited. They're going to get out and vote. If you started looking at the numbers like the mail-in ballots, it's a massive amount of people who have already participated. So I'm expecting to have a good turnout.

And Sean, I just want to point out to anybody listening. I think high turnout is actually good for option two because about 40% of registered voters don't show up and vote. and that could be because they just gave up. They don't really care. They don't think their vote matters. And anybody who feels that way may actually see this as an opportunity to change the status quo by voting for option two and actually see some change happen.

So if there's a large turnout in the advanced polls, I think we're going to see some pretty exciting numbers on October 19th. Well, me and you both know, when you go in those rooms, Jason, how many times you go, hey, who's this in first time? there's like three hands that go up and they don't even want to put their hand up because they're just like, you know, if you're seeing new people out, that is a good sign, isn't it? Like people trying to figure out the information. I think it's an excellent sign. And there's this term called the Bradley effect.

There was a Merrill race in Los Angeles. And one of the gentlemen, his name was Bradley. He was an African American. and they kind of positioned the race as if you don't vote for this person, you must be a racist. So it was a very socially charged issue in Los Angeles. And when they did the polling and they were asking people who you plan to vote for, he was winning in a landslide according to the polls. But when people got to the voting booth and were able to privately provide their conscience

and vote for who they wanted to, he lost in the landslide. And so what this kind of shows, and we saw this with Trump in 2016, We saw this with Brexit. We saw this with some other elections. When it's a socially charged issue, people hide their intention. But I can tell you that when we're standing on the side of the road, you know, giving us signs and flags and that kind of stuff, and you'll have people go by. Very few stop, okay, to actually pick up a sign. And sometimes they don't even walk away with the sign.

They just say, hey, I'm here to support you, want you to know. And I'm like, do you want a sign? and like, well, I don't want any trouble with my neighbors. I don't want my car to be keyed. I don't want anything to happen. So they don't always take a sign. But the cars and trucks and buses and large vehicles that drive by, very, very few gives a thumbs down or the annoying long honk that shows that they're not supportive.

Several, several more will give their secret little thumbs up with no honk. And several will give a honk. So if we're just looking at that, I think there's a lot more support. that's not very vocal and they don't even show up to the town halls but they're ready to vote option too yeah well i think everybody's been called every word under the sun by this point in time right like that that doesn't seem to work anymore um you know if you ain't being called one of like several terms you're probably not doing anything and even when you're not doing anything you get called something for standing by and just you know like what you're not gonna you know grandstand

that canada is the best when you look around and you're like yeah but there's problems going on. We're going to talk about the problems? You are unpatriotic. You know, you get enough fingers pointed at you. Eventually, you know, I think like you're talking about, there's a group of people that are just sitting there quietly and going to go make their voice heard. Maybe I guess we're going to find out in 10 days. Now, when it comes to the vote in ballots, right, I actually just saw a comment. Where are you? Said, one said, I saw posted elections. I'll had already disqualified several mail-in ballots. You're a guy who's actually talked to Elections, Alberta, about this in general,

like not only that question, but a whole series of questions. What did you find out in talking to Elections, Alberta to kind of demystify all the worry of elections, Alberta? The very first one, which I thought was important because a couple weeks ago, this was a big topic here in Alberta that you can't trust the mail-in ballots. There was a couple of people online saying, hey, look, I'm from BC or Ontario. And I requested a package. This is insecure.

I was trying to tell people that time. It's an application process online. You will apply for the package, and then you need to be approved. And the approval process goes against the voter registry that exists already. You couldn't request a package if you were not already on that list. So even though you were able to get past the first web page, put in an address that wasn't in Alberta, by the time I got to somebody on election Alberta side, they would validate and make sure. So when I asked those questions, one of them was how many have been rejected so far.

And it was over 5,000 packages or applications. They rejected and didn't send out because they weren't on the voter list. We even had someone provide to us the response from Elections, Alberta, when you're not on the voter list and you made an application through the online portal. And it tells you right there, hook, we couldn't find you on the border list. We couldn't validate your information. We're not saying to you anything. You need to register as a voter before you can continue.

So it was a very secure process, even though a lot of people, were really poking at that system and saying, hey, look, you guys are going to lose your election because people from Ontario can vote. What we haven't seen, though, Sean, is proof that those people have received a package because they applied, but they didn't actually receive one. So we don't see posts online saying, look, I'm in Ontario. I'm not an eligible voter and I have the package because that didn't happen. It was very secure and it was very good process to make sure that only eligible voters in Alberta actually receive that package. and I put myself through that process for the purpose of finding out for myself instead of just assuming I went through the process myself.

And just yesterday I sent in my package completed as I have my vote in there now. Last step is to make sure they received it. And there's a tracking tool for that. And when that happens, I'll go ahead and share that with the public as well. I saw a post of Nahit Nenshi saying there was 500,000 that they hadn't returned. It had to be returned by October. 9th, which is today. Is that true? You have to have it in the mail by today so it can be arrived by 5 p.m. on October 13th because it's a Thanksgiving weekend and it's now the weekend.

If it's not in the mail today, there's a chance of one arrive by 5 on the 13th, 5 p.m. on the 13th. If that's the case, everybody that requested a package has a tracking tool. So you'll actually be able to see if election Alberta received it. If they didn't receive it, you're more than welcome to go through the advanced polling October 13th through the 17th or a vote on the day up on October 19th. Some more of the questions that I asked elections of voter directly was how do you make sure people don't vote twice? Like if someone puts a package in and then shows up the advanced polling or shows up in person, how do you make sure they don't vote twice? And they shared with me that they have real time tracking in the advanced polling. So they know on your voter record if you voted

already. And then on election day, those are freshly printed after. after the advanced polling is closed on who has already voted. So if you try and show up and vote a second time or a third time, you will not be able to. They'll actually stop you at that point. October 17th, you had a post, and I've seen it a couple different places, I believe now. All roads lead to the legislature.

Walk me through what's happening, October 17th. Yeah, so there's a great group called Lettlebird to Decide, who has maxed out their third-party contribution to limit. So that's the $600,000. They've been reporting every time, unlike other groups. But they actually have set up bus routes from Grand Prairie, Lethbridge, Madison Hat, Drayton Valley, all these bus routes where you can go ahead and get yourself on a bus to go to the rally itself at the legislature for October 17th. There'll be several speakers like Keith Wilson, Tanya Clemmings, Chris Scott,

and it's going to be hosted by John Bolton and everybody's going to be there like everybody's going to be there. We'll be there and we're looking forward to kind of having that last little hurrah right before October 19th by just bringing it together, making sure that people feel comfortable. They see that it's

a peaceful process. There's no violence, there's no anger. Nobody's yelling or swearing or threatening. It's going to be a nice time to see a big sea of blue. So if you can get there, do so. And if you want to check out the bus routes, you can go to let Alberta decide.com and check out one of those.

It's from Grand Prairie to Massachusetts, everything in between. Just for curiosity's sake, is there any buses going from Lloyd Minster? Or we just, I mean, Lloyd to Eminton isn't exactly that far, but do you know?

Actually, I just posted, so if you give me one second, I'll check. I don't want to give you information that isn't accurate. So let me just go post that up. Where are you?

Yeah, so just give me a second as I grab that. one. Off the top of my head, I can't remember, but I want to make sure I get accurate information. If we can go to another question, but I'm pulling it up, that will work. Well, we could certainly wait. I'm, uh, yeah, I don't know, sitting on this side watching everything from afar is always, is always interesting. And certainly there are different people reporting on what's happening and what's going on and trying to get to the bottom of things. So it doesn't look like there's a route, but I'll double check on the website from Lloyd

Minister. I'll double check on the website right now for you. Because the graphic doesn't show it, but let's see what it shows on the website. Pick a point. Calgary South, Calgary, Airdreine, Red Deer, Leduc, Stony Plain, Drayton, Lethbridge, Medicine, the Hat, Grand Prairie. Sorry. Maybe they need you to come back to drive a bus.

Maybe they do. Or maybe it's just, it's Lloyd Minster. I love you, Lloyd. We always are there. But you know, it's, it's funny because I think I just saw Bonnie. Yeah, Bonnie, shout out to Bonnie. She said Lloyd Minster had a solid audience of close to 400 with Keith Wilson this past weekend. Yes.

Or this past week. So that's good to hear. Because engagement is important, Jason. You know that as well as anyone. If nobody shows up, nobody cares. So when you have full rooms, that means people are paying attention. Like this isn't just being a, you know, and going in and listening to Keith Wilson talk would be he'd make some very compelling arguments of why you should vote option. too. Well, Keith has been doing such a great job, Sean, that the media has stopped calling him to put him on the main channels.

I think at first they were trying to show that this is the best of the best when it comes to these conversations, but he's been crushing it. He's been doing such a good job with the arguments, with the transition council, being able to talk to the numbers, actually explain how some of this could work. That doesn't look like they want to talk to him anymore. So he's doing his good job going to. actual events, talking to people, and then getting onto podcasts. He's going to be doing a Thanksgiving day, you know, five or six podcasts all in a row there to kind of get the message out. But he's been a very good advocate, very intelligent. He's not easily riled.

And he definitely has the information. I saw him do a debate in Calgary at the Wii Unified Conference. It was really good. It was really good. It was more of a fireside chat, but there was no. compelling reason for Alberta to stay. And this is the number one thing that a lot of us are looking for because some of us are sovereignists, which means we'd like to see Alberta have more sovereignty with or without Canada. And then some people are separatists. And their goal is to actually separate

from Canada. And those are two different groups. We may end up on the same side because if we do option two, Ottawa does not come back with taking Albertan seriously, understanding that we want to see some change. Then we may be at a second referendum. that's actually binding, that would be the actual vote for independence. Some of us are hoping things can change, but we've read Carnegie's book. We've seen what he's been doing recently. It's tough to be a sovereignist in this environment. What's, you know, with 10 days left, or 10 days before the vote happens, in your travels,

in your conversations, what's been maybe one of the, I don't know if surprising is the right word, Jason. But, you know, one of the things that stood out to you over the last couple of weeks as we lead up to, you know, a big day in Alberta's history. And certainly in Canada right now, like, I don't know if there's a bigger, like the Quebec election just happened. That was an important date to pay attention to to see what the results were going to be. But, you know, when you stick around Alberta and you're paying attention from what's going on there, what's, what's some things that have, maybe surprised you or just stood out to you as, uh, uh, you know, important for every Albertan to pay attention to.

I would say it's how the establishment has come together on this one. So whether your NDP, UCP leadership, or it doesn't matter if you're conservative or liberal, it doesn't matter if you're the mayor of a town or even the reeve of a county, the establishment is really coming together here to fight against the people's will. They keep saying vote option one because they don't want to change anything. They actually like it the way it is because, you know, they're in power. They're the ones that believe that they have the levers and they don't want to necessarily release them. So to see that come together along with the media, it's really a bit of a surprise to see them all in the same bed, as you can say.

And what I think that's really shown people is it's really not left versus right. It's not separatist versus loyalists. It's the establishment versus the people. At the end of the day, do you want to see the system change? Do you want to see it change in Alberta or maybe Ottawa? Do you want to see Canada have a new deal with provinces? Do you want to see Saskatchew and Quebec and other provinces get treated fairly? Then you shouldn't be for option one.

You should be for option two because it's either the establishment as is the status quo or we're looking at let's change something. I think most Albertans, even some of the ones that are kind of pushing hard against us and calling as traders, when you actually sit down with them and talk to them, a lot of people, a strong majority, believe something needs to change. They don't actually think it is all great. When you talk about equalization or you talk about energy

or you talk about West Coast tanker ban, when there's no East Coast tanker ban, when you actually talk about the issues, people go, you know what? You know, that is unfair. I don't think that that's right. But some of them are not to the point where they think option two is their right vote.

But a lot of people believe change is needed. So if you're on that path and you think that, you need to realize that, October 19th isn't a separation vote. It's not on the ballot. What is on the ballot is to equip the provincial government with the mandate to start to pursue the legal process to get us to a binding referendum. That would be when it would be about separation. Between now and that point, you actually will be able to equip our provincial leadership with lots of leverage to go ahead and take the conversation back to Ottawa and see what we can

get on the table. If the answer is nothing, no change is coming, even with an option to vote. Well, then there's going to be a strong support for a binding referendum and to leave Canada. But if it turns out that after an option two vote, Ottawa opens up the door. There's a lot more sovereignty for Albertans. There will be a large portion of people that were supporting option two that actually would be fine with staying in Canada at that stage. So when people say this is just a separation vote, so only the separatists, that's not true. That would be the second binding referendum if we ever get to that stage. Today, it's about telling Ottawa, we're not happy with the status quo.

we do think some changes needed. And most Albertans, even if they don't support it openly, do support the idea that some changes needed. So I would encourage everybody to take that chance on option two so we can have that leverage and that conversation with Ottawa. You brought up one thing. I got two things here before I let you out. One is you're running for Reeve, I saw, correct?

Mm-hmm. Correct for Brazzo County. You just announced that on Tuesday when it became official. And I assume you went, it's time to get involved. Jason, I want to say the first conversation I ever had with you, you always wanted to be involved somehow, some way. Running for Reeve, you picked that one out, and I assume there's importance to it.

Yeah, this will be the third time I'm on the ballot in the last two years. So the first one was a federal election in April 2025, where I ran for MP for Parkland, County. It was a very tough race. I was up against a very strong conservative opponent, Dane Lloyd, who was the incumbent and he successfully won. I also then ran for Division 6 counselor in the last municipal election here in Alberta, which was October 2025. And sadly, Arreve had stepped down. He announced he was stepping down recently. So just under a year of being Arreve, elected Reeve, he has stepped down, which has caused a by-election to happen here in Brasso County.

There's no incumbent, and I definitely still want to support and advocate for my community. So this was an opportunity to go ahead and get myself on the ballot for a third time to see if I'll be able to reach the community and start building bridges. This is my platform because we have a lot of partners and neighbors and the constituency itself, the ratepayers, where we need to kind of close the gap and build some bridges in those conversations and those partnerships. Also, infrastructure-wise, Brazzell County is in dire need. of a couple bridges, maybe a couple more, where we can go ahead and connect the community and the county properly so that our constituents and rape payers are able to get around properly.

So I'll be running on the building bridges platform because I believe we need to have a good representation and a good spokesperson for the Brazzell County. And there's four people on the ballot that are all running for the same position, but there will be no incumbent. He had to step down. your Sean Hartman documentary is now free on YouTube correct? Very true. Thank you very much for bringing that up. Where can people, I mean, I assume it's self-explanatory, but maybe just where can people find it?

You can go to YouTube and just type in the shot or Sean Hartman and you'll find it. You can go to Rainey Media, which is my partner on this film. I was the executive producer and the writer. And then Dean Rainey, he did the editing and the director world. So it's on his channel right now. But you also can go to support shan.ca. You can watch it for free there as well. But type in The Shot or Sean Hartman on YouTube and you can watch it there.

And then finally, it's Thanksgiving or at least it's around Thanksgiving a few days before. Anything you're thankful for Jason today. I'm thankful for Albertans that are willing to have conversations and talk, even if it's uncomfortable. Whether it's with people like me who are put on events or hosting. and shows or you take some of that information, go back to your families and your workplaces and your community to have those conversations. I'm really thankful for the Albertans who are stepping up to have what a lot of people believe is a difficult conversation.

Separating from Canada or even pushing Canada harder for some sovereignty isn't a very easy thing to do. And I really tip my hat and I thank all the people who are willing to do that. You know, COVID conversation was difficult. A lot of family split around that conversation. This is kind of similar. a lot of ways. So taking the courage and taking the time to go ahead and have those conversations, I'm really thankful for those people in Alberta.

One final one. I mentioned October 17th, but is there any other specific dates coming up in the next 10, I guess probably nine, that you'd like Albertans to know about that they should be paying attention to? Well, Calgary is going to have several events. One of them will be October 14th where I'm bringing Bruce Party, Dennis Kalima, and Matt Raleigh back together. Now that the, about Florida Transition Council has released their papers or white papers. Dennis Kalma is going to be presenting the Transition Council information in Calgary. This is going to be at the four points shared in Calgary Airport, October 14th. Doors open at 7 will be done by 9.

You can get your tickets at the Levine Show.com and come and check that out. And there's also on the 13th, there's going to be let Alberta talk or let's talk Alberta. There'll be a large event there where Keith Wilson and others will be in Calgary. And then on the 15th, this is going to be a fun one, Chris Scott will be sitting down at a fireside chat with Dwayne Brat and having a conversation about why should Alberta stay or why should Alberta go. It's not being framed as a debate, but it's going to be a great conversation. That'll be on the 15th. So three days in a row there for Calgary to go check out. You can go check out Let's Talk Alberta for some of the location in the Times.

And then the Levine show for the one of the 14th, which will be an excellent follow-up to our series. that we had earlier in the year. We were debating the three different constitutional types, the Republican style, the monarch style, which is what we're in right now, or a flip-to-default, which is what Bruce Party has been sharing for quite some time. But also we'd be talking about

what a constitutional convention could look like. So we're getting Albertan's minds thinking about after a binding referendum, what would be the process, and how could we get to a new Alberta? Jason, thanks for hopping on and doing this. My pleasure, and thanks for having me in Boston. It's pretty cool.

And enjoy your trip down that East Coast. There's a lot of history there. Boston. Well, it sounds good. Well, I'm back in Alberta on the 18th, so I'll be casting my vote Monday morning. So who knows? Maybe we'll run into each other just yet. Well, there's a large gathering on the 19th to watch the results in Calgary.

So if you're in that area, I'm sure you'd be more than welcome. Sounds good. Thanks, Jason. Take care of Shantzy. Hi, the family. Okay, we're through the first hour. I got one guest left, okay? I got one guest left for you because I was, you know, of course,

I'm looking and I'm like, Cold Lake First Nations challenges the Pacific Link pipeline. I'm like, I know somebody from Cold Lake. And I thought, I think great, why not bring you on the show? Great to be on the mobile mashup. Well, isn't that the truth, you know? And two's, forgive me, too. You texted me two and a half hours before a show start. I saw it like an hour and 10 minutes and I'm like, oh my God, what am I going to do?

And so I'm like, when you get dealt lemons, you make lemonade and some people say some other things. I'm like, I just open up the Rolodex of people that I've been meaning to have on the show in the last little bit because there's been lots to talk about. And obviously, you know, it started off with Ben and, and Sylvain, who were going to come on earlier this week to talk Quebec election. you just fit nicely. And then Jason's been running all over Alberta. Or at least that's what it seems like from where I said. I just had one of his events recently, actually. Well, there you go.

So you already know. I'm just sitting here and going, I should get him on to talk about it. And then Cold Lake comes up and I'm like, Layton, walk me through what you're seeing from your fortress of solitude. Well, as you know, I mean, your audience probably knows because I've been on your show before and I've talked about it. I'm a First Nations person myself. I've spent a lot of time in this space as a lawyer

representing Indigenous people's indigenous rights cases for now over a quarter century. Of course, and I'm very familiar with Cold Lake First Nation because I happen to live in the city of Coal Lake, which is adjacent to Coal Lake First Nation. But this story, Sean, you probably gather this, is not really about Cold Lake. Lake First Nation. It's part of a broader picture. We've seen a lot of these chiefs in headdress showing up at press conferences talking about Turtle Island and about how all the land belongs to them somehow. It's important to remember that that's really just a cultural statement. It really has no basis in Canadian law or even in the treaties. And so it sounds to many Canadians

who are not indigenous, very strange. What I would say to people, for a start, is if you see somebody come up to a microphone in a political gathering to give a speech, wearing a headdress, you should stop listening. Because I can tell you as an indigenous person, this is very offensive to see these people using ceremonial garb,

which has very, very profound significance to indigenous peoples in terms of our ceremonies and our traditions, to see them sort of cachet this into political currency is truly disgusting. It really is pitiful. I just think it's gross. And these people are not representing indigenous people. They're not. And I have the economic data to show you what's really going on if we follow the money.

And I can get into that, if you like. Sure. Well, let's start with this. Let's say, just for the sake of argument, that what these should. chiefs were really interested in was helping indigenous peoples and raising their economic standards, right? That looks like on the surface what they're talking about. At least that's what they're saying publicly, right? Well, let's look at the data. In British Columbia, between 2015 and 2019, the individual income of indigenous people's living on reserve rose significantly, almost $5,000 a

year. It's risen now to $26,800 a year, which is not far off what the median is or the mean is for people who are non-indigenous. Interestingly, indigenous peoples who live off reserve, who are not represented by these chiefs, do better. But here's the kicker. Consider this. First Nations Health Authority in BC reports that life expectancy for status First Nations people in British Columbia fell from nearly six. just over 73 years in 2017 to 67 years in 2021, and it's going down. So think about that. In four years, they lost six years of life expectancy as their individual income rose.

In Alberta, Sean, it's worse. A 2025 study in the Lancet Journal, which before COVID was a very respected medical journal, drawing on Alberta health records found that life expectancy among First Nations people in the province fell, 7.3 years in only two years between 2019 and 2021. Right now, it's all the way down to about 62.8 years. And this is even as, again, the income for Albertans and Indigenous Albertans, both on reserve and off, is going up. So what does this tell us? It should tell us very clearly that throwing more money at Indigenous peoples, and by the way, the government of Canada, Canadian taxpayers have spent about $400 billion, folks, $400 billion,

trying to solve the indigenous problems since 1940. Clearly, money is not the solution here. In fact, it looks like more money is actually making the situation worse. And so, you know, we've got to start asking some real questions, I think, Sean. And people get mad at me and they call me the R word and all this stuff when I speak publicly about indigenous peoples. what's really wrong. But, you know, instead of listening to these chiefs, you know, complaining about how they need more money, they have to get paid more money, they have to extort more money from the Canadian government, from the Canadian people for pipelines, let's start asking some real

questions. Why isn't more money producing better results for indigenous peoples? Why aren't we talking about the real problems, the things that we could actually do to solve some of these problems. Maybe address some, I don't know, things like gross unemployment. How about homelessness? How about high abortion rates? How about high suicide rates? How about gang activity? I mean, it pains me to say this. And I said this publicly in a speech I gave at the legislature at the end of August. I said, they call us First Nations people, but we're first in all the lousy things and we're last in all the good things. And that's the reality that's going on in Canada's day. what we really need to do as Canadians is start to question this narrative.

You know, we've spent all this money. Let's look at the results because it not only is it not improving the situation, tangibly, statistically, forensically, it's making all of these problems worse. So I think we've got to take a whole new approach to the whole issue of, you know, how we're going to achieve things like truth and reconciliation. And I think we've got to start with, you know, what's the truth? Now, what's the real truth about this? You know, our indigenous peoples actually owed something from the rest of Canada?

And if that's true, and we're paying the money, is that the solution? Is that how we get to reconciliation? I'm sorry, I'm questioning, as you can tell, I'm questioning this entire narrative, and I think it needs a complete rethink. If you a rethink or redrawing up of what actually needs to happen, I mean, obviously cleaning up the drugs, the crime, the unemployment, a lot of those different things would be obvious across the board for anyone, not just people on reserves or First Nations or anything to do with that.

Like, I think that's a pretty common thing for any one of us sitting here in Canada. But when it comes to, you know, truth and reconciliation, then what would you, what would you point people to, Leighton, as, you know, like this, this is what needs to change? Well, here's where we start. You know, I have a number, Sean. I live in a country that has an apartheid statute called the Indian Act. This is the oldest law on the books in Canada all the way back to 1876. It's called the Indian Act.

And I have a number. I'm number 378-0-270401. So we have to accept the reality. First of all, we live in a country where our government has created a separate class of human being called an Indian, whatever that is. That's a huge problem. And when you trace this, when you drill all the way down to the genesis of the problem in our country, it's, we've created this otherness of the Indian. And I know, Sean, you've lived in rural communities, very close to indigenous peoples. And you probably don't see indigenous peoples in this way.

But because, you know, you've played hockey with them, you've done business with them, you know, you've maybe farmed with them, close to them. You know, these people are just your neighbors. And you know that really, indigenous peoples are just flesh, blood, and bone. And they just want all the same things that most other people do. But unfortunately, you know, the sort of liberal types, small illiberal types that tend to live in places like Evanton and Calgary and Toronto and Vancouver, they think the Indian is some other animal. You know, David Eby, for example, the premier of British Columbia. I'm sure this is his idea that we have to treat the Indian as though there's some other sort of type of human being.

That's a serious problem. That's the beginning of the problem. Because when you do that, it creates a division. It creates a gap that we really have to build bridges to repair if we're ever going to get to a point where we can live together and be proud of the country that we live in and just share all the great blessings of, being Canadian. And so to sum it up, I would say this, we have to stop looking at Indigenous peoples as being something other and say, well, they're Canadians. They're just like us, right? And, you know, I think that's that, that's the beginning of it. There are, however, some serious social, economic and demographic problems that exist in our country because of the otherness

of the Indian, because of the Indian Act, because of the treaties. And we can really do something about them if we're serious and if we're committed to solving them. For example, indigenous families have the same problem that the blacks have in the United States, and that is an overabundance of fatherless homes. That's something we could really do something about. If we help to support indigenous families, if we encouraged young people to get married in this country and to build families and stay together, we know that long term that produces significant impacts for communities, for cities, for towns, for provinces, and for the entire country. Because, you know, the vast majority of indigenous men,

who, by the way, are responsible for 94% of the crime committed against indigenous women, they almost invariably come from fatherless homes. Same thing for the women who come from fatherless homes. They're the ones who are getting into sex trafficking. They're the ones who are most vulnerable being victimized and sadly being killed in a lot of cases. And we have a study that was done on this on missing and murdered indigenous women. We know this.

But the way the federal government is protecting missing and murdered indigenous women is by mandating judges to give indigenous men lighter sentences when they victimize the women and girls in their own communities. It's pure madness. But we can address these problems if we're really serious about fixing them. But, you know, sort of putting them all in a bag called racism and then throwing them at people and saying, This is denialism.

It solves, in fact, it only makes the problem worse. I'm glad you paint me in such a great light. I bet if I go back in my history, maybe even on the podcast, folks, I probably uttered or had somebody uttered, and I probably agreed with the thought of, let's just pay an exorbitant amount, a billion dollars, 17 billion, 700 billion. It's been done. I don't know the number. It's 400 billion. But let's just move.

on, right? Let's just pay the number and carry on and let's just get away from this, this idea, you know, and I know that holds weight in a lot of different conversations. What you just talked about, I think of for Canadian society as a whole, Layton, right? Like, you look at our birth rate, abysmal compared to, well, maybe not all the world, but certainly if you're going to have a strong nation in your birth rates at what one point, somewhere between 1.4 and 1.6, don't quote me on the number, folks. but it's low. And you go, and you're not encouraging young people. Young people are like, can't afford it. They can't afford a house. They can't afford all these different things. The cost of living is going up on and on and on. You've done things to them that, you know, COVID and other things like the such.

That's funny, I got a kid crying out. Can you hear that? Right on cue. Right on cue. Well, they're doing homeschooling right now. So that's funny. Mom's got the ruler out. I just think about it.

Like when you go like money isn't the issue. No. You've got to go to the root cause of things. I'm like, well, actually that sounds like the problem of Canadian society right now, doesn't it? Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. But Sean,

let's just talk reality here. A baby born today on reserve. Let's say Onion Lake, which is not far from Lloydminster where you're from. is going to die 20 years before a child born in Evanton today, statistically. Like, there's something seriously wrong with that. And the money is making that problem worse.

So we've got to really look at these problems. You know, there's a brilliant guy in the States. You've probably've heard of him, Dr. Thomas Sol. He's 96 years old. He's probably written more books after the age of 80 than most people have read. And he's done a really deep dive. He's an economist. He's a genius.

He's really studied the situation of the black people in the United States and how the social welfare programs had started in the 1960s have just destroyed, obliterated black families and caused almost all the social problems. And there's a direct symmetry between that and what we're doing with First Nations people in our country. It's all wrong. It's wrongheaded. And it needs to be fixed. And there are some really wonderful indigenous people in our country who are trying to change this. But they're not the people showing up at press conferences who are getting paid by NGOs to speak for, you know, the globalist crowd. They're not those people.

They're people like Dale Swampy, you know, who's tried to get every single pipeline that's been knocked down in our country over the past 30 years. Dale Swampi has been trying to get that pipeline bill because, you know, he's trying to help. And he's an indigenous man from Masquichese who wants to help people in his own community rise to dignity, right? To have jobs and employment, meaningful relationships and families. There are a lot of really good indigenous people doing that work right now. But unfortunately, they aren't the ones at these press conferences. By the way, Sean, little known fact. Did you know that you don't have to be an Indian to be an Indian chief under an Indian Act?

You have to be an Indian to be on band counsel, but you don't have to be an Indian. Did you know that? No, but somehow, Leighton, that doesn't surprise me. It just, it just doesn't surprise me in our country. That seems kind of like standard operating procedure that there's loopholes put into these things. Absolutely. Yeah, you bet you. So, you know, when you, when you look at, I don't know how often you talk, you know, whether you go to reserves or just like talking to,

indigenous in general. When it comes to Alberta, sorry, the referendum in Alberta happening on the 19th, have you talked to like the everyday indigenous person? I have. What are your thoughts? And what are their thoughts on it then? Well, most of the people that I talk to are,

I would call them everyday Albertans. And, you know, they want all the same things that white Albertans want. You know, again, indigenous people are just flesh, blood and bone. You know, they want safe communities. They want job opportunities. They want to have a say in things.

They want to seat at the table. But basically, they want to live in good communities. They want to be proud of their country. And it would surprise people, I think, to know that many indigenous people are very patriotic. They actually love Canada, you know, and they want to be part of Canada. They enjoy it. For example, you know, I've got tickets to the Oilers games. And I sit in a group of people who are, you know, from me,

indigenous communities. They love the oilers. They love coming to the games and cheering for cheering on the oilers. They're just like you and me, Sean. They're not something. Yeah, I know, I don't, I don't mean to make them seem like they're some far off alien, you know, just that, what is, what is the standard talking line in politics around indigenous people? They don't vote. They don't care. Yeah, that's it. You can't get them out to vote. Yeah. Um, you know, like, that's basically the standard feeling out here. They feel excluded. They feel excluded, right? And, uh, and so they, you know, they want to be heard. They want to feel like they have a, that they have a stake in things. But really, to answer your question, Sean, there's, there's kind of a dichotomy. There's

those people who are very fearful. It's almost like a Stockholm syndrome. You know, they want to hold on to the treaties. They want to hold on to the Indian Act because they fear if they lose that, then they'll lose whatever, you know, little piece that they have, almost like, you know, a raft that's floating in the middle of the ocean. You know, it's better than being in the water, being devoured by sharks. But, you know, what I say to them is, look, hey, why don't we sail to an island called Alberta where we can all live, you know, and you can have, you can have a villa on the beach. You know, we can have a much better province. This is what I'm saying to people is, you know, Alberta independence offers an opportunity, a renovation for new relationships. All these things

are on the table. So let's talk about it. But I think what we don't want to do is we don't want to bring one of the most dysfunctional, destructive parts of Canadian history and Canadian policy, that is this otherness of the Indian that I talked about. We don't want to import that into a new Alberta.

That would be a dreadful mistake. I think that we've got to sit down and we've got to talk about ways that we can help indigenous peoples to flourish, just as we want all Alberta to flourish. 100%.

Yes. This goes back to one of the first things I heard Bruce Party say is like you don't want division right at the start of a new thing. You want everybody to be created equal and let's move forward. Yeah. But you would be like, you know, your second marriage and you invite your ex-wife to come and live with you. He's probably going to cause a lot of problems in the marriage. Well, thankfully, I don't have that problem.

I don't have to worry about that problem. Amen. Amen, brother. What's your thoughts on the 19th? I mean, you know, like once again, I've been out of the province now. Yeah. July, August, September, October, you know, three plus months. It's, it's been interesting late in the travel across the country.

And, man, I've talked to a ton of people that I would never get the opportunity to talk to. Some on air. Others just in passing. And, you know, like, it's almost like you can, it's almost like, you know, in COVID, you say, certain word, you're like, oh, I know, I know, you're not, you're not doing the thing. Well, now it's interesting because, you know, Donald Trump, some people are treating it. I've been joking about this, like, uh, like he who shall not be named, like right out of Harry Potter, can't say the name. I'm like, you're crazy.

You totally can say Donald Trump. Nobody's, nothing's falling on you. It's okay. Um, and that leads you down. You absolutely know what they're going to say about Alberta and everything else. Right. And that seems to be the case as I go further and further abroad is we're in this world that when it comes to Alberta, even the people that understand Alberta's qualms with being in Canada or some of the things going on,

they're like, man, it's messy. That is a messy place. They just seem like they're in fight. Like the actual conversation, the open discussion is mesmerizing to them because they actually don't. get it in their own provinces the way Alberta has it. That's what I see from afar, but you're living it. You're in it right now. You know, 10 days away from a vote. What do you think? What are you seeing? Well, I mean, you're right, Sean, but people need to realize hating Trump is not a policy. It's actually a distraction. Anger at Mr. Trump doesn't cut your taxes. It doesn't shrink your

hospital weights. Doesn't fix your housing. Doesn't create good jobs. Doesn't balance the budget. It doesn't land a better trade deal, doesn't lower interest rates or ease the cost of living, clean up corruption, or stop foreign interference. All that's being done by your own government in Ottawa. And people need to recognize that. But to address your question, Sean, I'm one who thinks that the referendum is significant, but not necessarily as an electoral result. I think there's a great book by a Canadian guy who studied at Harvard is a professor named Malcolm Gladwell.

It's called the tipping point. And what Gladwell says is that movements like the independence movement, they reach a certain tipping point. And then once they reach that point, they sort of take on momentum, right? And I believe that Alberta independence has reached that tipping point. And so no matter what happens on October 19th, what that result is, I don't think it's going to be the be all or the end all of it. I know people like Daniel Smith, who is sounding more and more like a liberal cabinet minister every day, and Mark Carney would like to put the genie back in the bottle.

You know, after if there's a bad result or a good result for them on October 19th, they'd like to just say, okay, well, that was fun now. We can forget all about independence. I don't think that's what's going to happen. I think more and more people are seeing option two as an opportunity to see. send a strong message to say that we are unhappy with our government. We are dissatisfied. We want political change. And I believe that that message is going to be sent. And I believe it's my view that the independence movement is going to gather momentum following the referendum, regardless of

the result. But we're only going to make significant progress when something really important happens that has not yet happened. And that is the movement does not have a charismatic leader. We do not have a Javier Mule. We don't have a Donald Trump. We need someone like that. And we need a Ralph Klein who is going to be able to twirl the baton at the head of the parade, someone that people can get behind and will mark. We don't have that right now. We have a lot of people who are sort of out front and I'm not going to throw rocks at their windows. But I mean, we really don't have anybody right now who could be. Maybe that's a blessing. Well, I think it's for a reason. I think that's a sign that what

we have is a grassroots movement and not a top-down one. But I think if you follow the way that grassroots movements have been created, and this includes Manga, by the way, you know, Maga predates Donald Trump. Donald Trump is he's writing the wave on a surfboard, but he's not the wave. And I would make the same analogy with Alberta independence, but we need someone on that surfboard. Daniel Smith had the opportunity to be that person and clearly she's not much of a surfer. She doesn't like the beach boys. You know, she wants to swim in Canadian waters and she's a forever Canadian.

That's fine. One thing I'll say about that, though, you're not asking me this, but I'm going to say this anyway. I'm very disappointed in Daniel Smith because, you know, I have a lot of respect for her and I have respect for some of the things she's done. I think she made a really horrible mistake when she took sides in the referendum. To me, I think ethically, she needed to remain. neutral. And the reason why is this is a public electoral issue. And she should not have, she should not be spending $4 million of Alberta taxpayers money, my money, your money,

on an anti-independence advertising campaign. To me, that to me was just a real sign that I think that her days as leader of the Alberta government are numbered. In fact, I, I, I'm firmly convinced that she's looking past that. In fact, at this point, from listening to her press conferences, I wouldn't be surprised if she stepped into a role in the Carney government. She's telling us now that Mr. Carney is wonderful, how he's changing everything for the better. And it's so great that we're past the Trudeau days.

You know, really, she's waving pom-poms for Mark Carney. It's really shocking when you consider, you know, what she was brought to Alberta, which she was brought to power to do. And she's really walked away. from all of that. She's completely disengaged, disrespect at her base,

including people like me who really supported her. And, you know, I'm looking forward to the day when she's no longer our leader. That would be an unpopular opinion with conservatives outside of Alberta. And probably inside Alberta, too. But like outside of Alberta, they all look at Daniel Smith.

She's got to be the most popular politician in all of Canada, bar none. Yes. I mean, in saying that, if you just listen to the start of the show with Ben and Sylvann, they were talking about how Carney in Quebec is the most popular politician, bar none. But in the conservative world that I've been, you know, walking across Canada and Daniel Smith comes up all the time. And they, you know, they'll say you don't realize how good you have it, having her as the leader. I believe that, that they believe that's true.

But that is their perspective. their perspective is they want to maintain the status quo in our nation. And the status quo in our nation is that we're failing. We're failing on every measure. We're failing militarily. We're failing socially. We're killing more and more people, elderly people. We're killing more and more babies.

I just told you what's happening with indigenous peoples. We're paying higher and higher taxes. This is, you know, we have the lowest GDP rate in the G20. the status quo in Canada cannot remain. It's just not going to last. It's not sustainable. I'm not surprised that people have that opinion of her, but I think with grace to respect,

I think that opinion kind of displays profound ignorance of the reality that Canada is a failing state and that the Alberta independence movement is an answer to that failure. I go back to, you know, it was a conference. conversation I have with Shadow Davis where we got talking about the cult of personality and how, you know, you need somebody to follow. And I mean, in Alberta, the likely choice is Daniel Smith, right? She's as charismatic as it gets, right? Like, I mean, uh, anyone can see that. Yeah. But I keep coming back. I'm like, anytime there's been a big movement, you know, of like cataclysmic change and Alberta leaving Canada

or signaling they want to leave Canada is about as cataclysmic as it gets for Canada. And And that's not to mention all the strings attached to where Canada sits geographically and, you know, Carnie's back channels and everything else. Right. I'm like, if there was one charismatic leader, I have a hard time believing they wouldn't go on a plane ride that didn't end or or or that did end, sorry. Or, you know, one day have a bad cup of soup and fall fatally ill or something. when you've got all these people it's like who do we who do we like who do we go after i don't even they don't even seem like they like each other at times and i'm like that's great you can't pin one person down because they don't speak for everybody i mean that when you talk about that being true

grassroots late and i agree with you i think that is true grassroots right is that there's a ton of people pulling in their very distinct unique ways they rub each other the wrong way yet they all have a one goal and that's getting an option to vote on October 19th. I think that would be putting it in a nice simple bow, wouldn't it? Yeah, true. And you know, you're right, Sean. I mean, the founding fathers of the United States famously, they didn't all get along great either. They had very different ideas about things.

But they, as you say, they had a clear vision of the future and they put aside their personal differences to, you know, for the greater cause. that's something that if the Alberta independence movement has legs, that sort of coalition is going to have to come together. And people more and more, including myself, if I am a thinker in that process, I'm going to have to put away some of my prejudices and things like that too. But that's a call to action, I think.

But that's what I'd like to see happen. I think if it has legs. But this idea of electing the same, same sort of people all the time and producing the same results. It reminds me of something George Orwell wrote. He said that people that elect corrupt politicians, imposters and thieves and traders are not victims, they're accomplices. And we are becoming accomplices, accessories after the fact, in the failed Canadian state.

And I would say that to people, you know, who don't want to vote for Option 2. If you vote against Option 2, what are you voting for? you're voting in favor of continuation of a failed state, of a ship that is sinking. And, you know, I would encourage people listen to this or watching this to vote option two. If you want change, if you want things to change and get better, option two is a way of sending a strong message to Ottawa, especially, that we want things to change. Things have got to improve for Alberta, for the whole country. I think this is a safe thing to say to Leighton.

I would say that I try as best I can to remain impartial on lots of different things. You are. And you're very good at that. You're much better than I am. I'm breaking my rule, though, because I'm flying back to Alberta to vote option too. Because I can't stand idly by and watch what's happening in Canada. I just witnessed it driving it all the way across it and go.

like this isn't important. This is important. When I found out I'd miss my deadline to get a mail-in ballot sent to me. I'm like, I got no choice. I have to go back. And you know how much fight I got for my wife? Zero. She's like, well, you got to go back. You got to go back. I'm like, I mean, I don't know. I put this as, you know, don't get me wrong. Things can go on in your family that would that would change my mind of where I need to be that day. But, you know, at this point in the game, I'm like, I'll be back. I'm going to be back Sunday. I'm going to go vote Monday. Obviously, Leighton already knows this. And I showed at the start of the show on October 19th, me and twos are doing a 12-hour live stream, maybe a touch longer on the day. This is becoming a tradition for you, isn't it?

I mean, you know, it's funny, Leighton. Someone, like I have a set of skills, okay? I'm sure we all have a set of skills. That's straight out of taken, by the way. But I have a set of skills. And one of it is, is like, I look down the Rolodex guests I've got on. And I look at all the Albertans and I say, we should give them an opportunity to come on and talk on the day of this happening from academics down to the electrician. They should all get to come on and say some things.

And I know, I'm like, I'd be no different. You know, it's, it's draft day in the NHL. What are you going to do? You're going to turn in and you're going to just, you know, like, what's actually happening? There's really nothing happening. I mean, the draft day is a poor example. but I mean, you're sitting there waiting for something to happen. On the vote day, all you're going to be doing is saying,

oh, the vote is now up to 22%, I don't know, 49%, whatever the percentage comes out, and then just discussing. But we're all going to want something to tune into. So why not do what I know how to do and put on a show, twos and all his comedic relief mixed in there and bring a whole bunch of all of you from Alberta that have, you know, gotten it to this point. So, you know, Layton's going to be on, but so is a whole cast of characters.

And I think it's going to be a ton of fun. I mean, it's a big day in Alberta's short history, you know, and be very interesting to see what happened. I was already getting texts from the UK asking when we're putting her show on. I'm like, I haven't quite figured that out. 10 a.m. Mountain Standard Time now. That is official. That's where we're going to be starting. That is great.

There must be Brexit people. Maybe. Maybe. You know, there's been a lot of Albertans that are just gone. They have left. Yeah. They are, and they want to see the best for the province, but they're, they're gone. They, you know, they're, they've had enough of the insanity and they, you know, they're gone. Yeah. Well, and, and, you know, God bless them, I can understand that. But, you know, it's darkest before the dawn. And, uh, if we want to change things here, you know, we've got to, we've got to take action. And, uh, there are at least 700,000 Albertans who are very interested in changing things one way or the other. And I'm one of them, you're one of them.

So it's great that you're coming back crossing the country like that with your family. That must have been the educational experience of your lifetime. I mean, I've been sharing this story, I guess, off air a lot late. But I biked it 20 years ago, right? 20-year-old man, biked it. And I had a different set of eyes on this time going the opposite direction. You know, Newfoundland is a beautiful place. I could not get over, could not get over how many pride flags were in St. John's.

And everywhere, everywhere I went. It was just pride everywhere in Newfoundland. I met, I met, he was on the drive back after the vehicle. We had all the issues and I flew back to Calgary and got the new one I was driving back. I'm sitting at a gas station in Thunder Bay, just on the east side of Thunder Bay. It's like 10 at night, 9.30-ish. And I look over and it's in Alberta plate. I'm like, Alberta?

So we get talking. And I realize he's going to St. John's. Now everything I just told you about St. John's will give you a picture of who, and I'm sitting there. And I'm like, he's like, yeah, I just got to get out of the craziness. And I'm like, I know exactly what you mean. I am part of the craziness. But anyways, it doesn't matter.

and then his significant other. Now, once again, this is just me doing math. I could be completely wrong, but it looked like a gay couple. Yeah. Whatever. Okay. And, um, oh, man, and it's got baby on board in the back of that.

Wow. And there was a young little kid in there, too. You can imagine at 9.30 at night. I was sitting there and I'm like, they're running from Alberta because they perceive as hatred coming to whatever. And I look at it, I'm like, actually the values I stand for is what you're against. And you're going to the opposite end and I'm going to run back into the fire here in about a 10 days time or less.

So it's, it's been, it's been interesting to be on the road. There has been lots that has been eye opening. Just the drive itself is eye opening. We have such a beautiful country. We have nothing. Yes. But just absolute potential. and it's being squandered every single day, Layton.

Yes, that's the tragedy. That's the tragedy of Canada. What could we be, you know, if we, you know, if we only had the will to be a great country, we could be a world superpower, honestly. You know, we really could. I, at the Cornerstone Forum this year, I had Karen Katovsky there. And the reason she was there is she'd given me this thought. about, you know, after it was, she was talking about the Soviet Union.

And she had written a paper on who she thought would get their freedom first. And so she thought it would be the most oppressed. And it turned out to be inverse. It was the people with the most freedom. And when I look at Canada, bar none, Albertans have the most freedom because they're vocal about it. They show up to things. They disagree. They don't care.

They disagree. They call things out. Daniel Smith's the greatest premier in the country. That's great. If she doesn't start acting the right way, we're going to vote her out, right? Like that's, that's the Alberta mentality.

Yeah, you can see it happening in Canada. You would think Quebec who had, you know, all the lockdowns, the curfew, all the insanity. Nope.

They voted them back. I mean, now they have, right? Zero seats. Yeah. But it took time, whereas Alberta is like,

it's a different beast. It is a different mentality. And you notice that, too, when you went across. Canada. There was so many people that I was talking to, I'm just one person. What can I do? Yeah. They can, they can see that there are things wrong in Canada. And I'm talking about conservatives, but I'm certainly talking about liberals and NDP voters as well. It wasn't just one.

And they just didn't know, they don't know how to get out of it. Right. And so they just decide to go, you know, we think so much that going and watching, you know, for us probably the Emmington Oilers, is a distraction of like avoiding politics. Yes, yeah. But it's almost a necessary thing, I think, for some people, because they feel so hopeless in their plot in society and they don't know how to change it. Does that make sense?

Oh, it totally makes sense. And part of it, Sean, is that, you know, if you asked, if you asked the average American, what it means to be an American, they could probably tell you. But if you ask the average Canadian, For example, the people that you ran into at the gas station in Thunder Bay, what it meant to be a Canadian,

they probably couldn't tell you, or they would give you an answer that would be very different than yours. And one of the things that I say about the Alberta Independence Movement is it's actually not a separation movement. It's a conservation movement. The people who support Alberta independence love Alberta. They love Canada. They want to preserve our home.

They want to conserve it, which is the root of conservatism. They want to conserve it for the future because it's beautiful. And we have a very clear idea of what it means to be in Alberta and what it means to be a Canadian. I actually wrote something about this that I can share with you. It's called the Albertans Creed. Did you mind if I just read this? No, I'll give her.

It goes like this. It says, I do not choose to be a common man or woman. It is my right to be uncommon. I seek opportunity to develop whatever. talents God gave me and not security. I do not wish to be a kept citizen humbled and dulled by having the state look after me. I want to take the calculated risk to dream and to build and to fail and to succeed. I refuse to barter incentive for a dole for welfare. I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence, the thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of utopia. I will not trade

freedom for beneficence nor my dignity for a handout. I will never cower before any earthly master nor bend to any threat. It is my heritage to stand direct, proud and unafraid, to think and act for myself, enjoy the benefit of my creations, and to face the world boldly and say, this with God's help, I have done. All this is what it means to be in Alberta. And, you know, that's my own version of it. But I think that would resonate with a lot of people who support the independence movement, whether they want a truly politically independent Alberta state or whether they see Alberta as the tip of the spear that could create a more free and a more prosperous Canada that looks more like the Canada that some of us still know and love from history, from nostalgia.

But that's sort of my take on maybe what's the difference between many people who don't understand Alberta independence and what it's all about and the people who are out. and the people who are actually in it and support the movement or people like you who are willing to travel from Boston all the way back to Alberta just to vote in it. There's a different kind of ethos, right? And we feel this in our hearts. This is emotional to us.

This is core, right? Core meaning heart. And it's in our hearts to want to be free in Alberta. And I think that perhaps that feeling is stronger in Alberta than it is anywhere else in Canada. Well, and I think like, A, that's well put, what you just wrote. And I think what has been maybe eye-opening or interesting for me to discover, Layton, you've been a part of this.

You certainly have been a part of this here in Alberta, is by opening up discussions and having discussions, then I get to not only myself, but others get to go and sit and like, actually, when I think of that? Because, you know, like I saw the, the posts of this is who I am and this is why I want to leave Canada. You know what I'm talking about on X? Yes. Yeah.

Yeah. And if I were to write one out and maybe I should, I was in Alberta first until years into the podcast. I was Canada first, bar none. What are we talking about? I explored all those discussions. I remember having Dennis Modri on the first time to talk to me about it. And I wasn't, I was kind of like a little, not hesitant, just like, what is this? guy going to try and sell me.

You know? Canada first, baby. It sounded radical, didn't it? Yes, it did. And then the longer you go, you're like, oh, it takes time to unwind yourself from the idea of what you thought you were. Right. And actually what you want to become.

And when you write that out and you talk about it, you know, for some that may resonate. And for others, they may hear it. I don't know. But the thing is, is the. the discussions that are happening specifically in Alberta for sure, because there's such a concentration of it. You know, when I look at the guest list for,

for October 19th, I'm like, oh my goodness, I've got a lot of invitations out right now. And I'm like, I hope I can figure out a way to stick them all in. Because there's just a concentration of people who think differently. And we don't all agree.

And that's okay. Actually, it's probably a prerequisite that we don't agree. Oh, yeah. And that means it's going to be uncomfortable. But there's been time through COVID, certainly since COVID and onwards, where we've explored these ideas together.

And lots of different channels have done it. You're certainly one of them that's allowed that for people. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. You know, it's interesting, you know, the way you put that is that there is something different about Alberta. And I find that Albertans, and I would include most people from Saskatchewan as well, at least the people I know. And of course, I have many members of my family.

My family originally emigrated to Alberta from Regina in this. You know, we sort of what we love about Canada, and I think we're the most, we have been the most patriotic Canadians in a lot of ways. But the things that we think we love about Canada, we actually just love about Alberta or we love about Saskatchewan. We don't really love Canada. You know, things like, for example, a core belief of Albertans, you know, we value freedom over fear.

But most Canadians would value safety over freedom. They do. Because look at who they vote for. Most Albertans would value entrepreneurship, energy, trades, tech. Whereas most of Canada values public sector, you know, consultancy, activism, things of that with nature. Attitude toward government. Most Albertans would say, government, get out of the way. Whereas most Canadians would say, you know, government take care of me.

You know, cultural values. you know, we value family and ownership and self-reliance in Alberta. The rest of Canada is mostly they're compliant and they're concerned about their entitlements. Our preferred leader, we want someone who's going to build. The Canadian leader is someone who bans everyone from doing things that we're supposed to be free to do. Our lifestyle, you know, we're mostly focused on building businesses and raising families, you know, whereas in the rest of Canada, at least in the metro Canadian centers, You know, it's all about condo and transit, you know, HR jobs, things like that.

And of course, Canadians are very interested in self-governance, whereas, you know, with the rest of Canada, it doesn't seem to be very very interested in governing themselves. They're quite content to be part of this managerial state. One other point about self-governance that I forgot to mention earlier when we were talking about indigenous leaders, Sean, is, you know, isn't it curious that these indigenous leaders who come out in full headdress at press conferences complaining about Alberta independence and the ones who go off to court to try and stop the

referendum what are they trying to stop they're trying to stop Alberta's claim to self-governance and yet what does every single indigenous leader in the country talk about but self-government and so they want to deny Alberta the very thing that every thing that every single indigenous leader in the country talk about but self-government And so they want to deny Alberta the very thing that every one of these chiefs says that they're entitled to have on every single Indian Reserve in Canada. Truly, I mean, if that doesn't convince you that you shouldn't listen to these people, I don't know what else I could say, my friend. Well, one final thought from you, Leighton. Thanksgiving weekend. What are you thankful for?

Well, first of all, thank you for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and for the peace. and the grace and salvation that he gives to me. I'm thankful for my family, for my business, and for wonderful friends like you, uh, who have courage and, uh,

have integrity and who are interested in helping other people and in changing people's minds about the best way to live in Canada. And, uh, so I'm grateful for all those things. And I'm also grateful for being on your program here today and sharing this conversation. Layton and I appreciate you hopping on.

and talking about this. I went longer. I've looked up like, oh, crap. Well, that's a typical Sean and Leighton conversation. We get going.

Thanks again for hopping on and doing this. And while we'll see here in 10 days time, what happens in Alberta, obviously that isn't the end of anything. It could be the start of something that, you know, you talk about a wave. It could be the start of a big wave.

Who knows? I guess we're going to find out. Big waves. Big waves. next time we have to talk about the Oilers. Actually, I have no, I've watched this much of the NHL. Are they winning? Oh, yeah.

Their new goalie, Devin Levi, he's amazing. Of course, they finally, every Oilers fan knows this. What have we been yelling about? Can we just get a goalie? But Bushard's on pace to break all of Bobby O' scoring records. Well, we'll see if he can hold that pace. Come on. Come on.

Bobby. Bobby's records are pretty good. How many games do they play? They've only played four or five games, but they've only lost once in overtime. So they're during very well. The game Carney showed up to? Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. The game they showed, Carney showed up to, they lost it after that. And he wouldn't stand for the, for the veterans. Isn't that unbelievable? Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, you'll stand up for naked men in a parade, but not for people who risked their lives to save our country. Unbelievable. Layton, thanks for hopping on. And until we talk again, good sir, we'll see you on the 19th, if nothing else.

All right. God bless. Thank you. Okay, folks, that is going to do it for us today on mashup 2-27. Yeah, no twos today, okay? And I don't know. Hope you enjoyed the show. I should bring it back up again.

It's going to go right over my head. That's poor ad placement, but what are you going to do? There you go. The live stream, October 19th, 10 a.m. This is a list that is... There we go. Slowly growing. There's a whole bunch of names on there.

Marty up north. Chris Sims. Sheila Gunry, Corey Morgan, Layton Gray, Chuck Pradnik, Drew Weatherhead, Derek Phil Debrant, Eva Chippeke, Mitch Sylvester, Jeff Rath, Chris Scott, Tanya Clemens, Tanna Truth Seeker,

Mike Holmes, Madison Holmes, Macy Holmes, the whole Holmes clan. Susanna, you may recall the lady or maybe I move off to the side so you can actually see me you may recall Susanna she came over from the Eastern Block

and she had a post just go in my opinion viral on X and I'm like I remember interviewing Susanna so I texted her she's gonna come on you got David Nightlyag Jason Levine Ben Trudeau Kathy Flatt Brett Olin Nick Morianos Kirk Lou Bamoff

and there's more names going to be added to this list. This is just the starting point of it by one to put something up so you could see it. So October 19th, 10 a.m. Mountain Standard Time. We're going live. And me and two's plan to be live just like the federal election. We plan to be live from 10 a.m. to at least 10 p.m. if not later, if we have to. And once again, you can share that out far and wide. I'll be putting things out on social media about it. But for sure, October 19th, the mashup will be live. and we'll be going all day long, keeping you up to date on what's happening with the referendum,

where the vote sits. And I don't know, we're going to have some fun. We look forward to your guys' thoughts as we're going along. So you have to fill up that comment. The Cornerstone Forum 2027 tickets go live that day. We're going to be giving away some Cornerstone Forum tickets. And, yeah, I don't know.

If you've got nothing else to do and you want to toss it on at work, or maybe you've taken the day off, I don't know. make sure you get out and vote. And after you're done voting, tune into us, share it far and wide. It's going to be a lot of fun that day. One way or another, we're going to try and bring some conversations on

that you're not going to hear anywhere else. And that's what we do here on the mashup, or at least we try to do. All right, that's what I got for you. I'm sitting in, as you can tell, a little bit of Boston. We're in Boston today or the neighborhood. And Sunday night, I fly back,

and I'll be voting first thing Monday morning in the referendum. So I hope you've enjoyed the show. And hopefully next week, I spelled Mitch wrong. Oh, okay. I, oh, man, I can't even do this. Eh, Joe Mama, I will get that corrected. But I'm still waiting for twos. I know, I'm still waiting for twos, Kevin.

Aye, aye, aye. Tell you what. running a show. I got kids crying in the background. Pet's heads are falling off. Hopefully you're having a good day wherever you're at. Happy Friday to everyone.

Happy mashup, 227. Until next week. And then, you know, we're only 10 days away from a referendum. So if you're in Alberta, make sure you get out to vote.

And thanks for tuning in wherever you're at. And my apologies, I meant to say, I see Michelle in there. Hopefully you've got some Saskies joining. I got a ton of time for Saskatchewan. I grew up in Saskatchewan, the family farms in Saskatchewan. But here in Alberta, or there in Alberta as I sit in Boston, big things on October 19th.

We're going to be paying attention and we'll be talking about it. So tune in to this. Then that's how I got for you today. I don't know where twos is. You know, at least he could have done is taking a video from the truck or wherever he's at, had his rant pre-canned. I don't know. Tews, wherever you're at, figure it out.

all right okay folks that's what's gonna do it for today thanks for tuning in and uh we'll catch up to you next week all right tell me whether i'm wrong or right east or west up or down side to side i sit to stand if to fly of all of my impulse plans pop and locking salsa dances on demand i follow leading off the map stop the chatter scream happily welcome to the mashup welcome to the mashup welcome to the Welcome to the next shop. Welcome to the night show.