2 hours ago
2
Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney has said that helium expects the United States to respect the country’s sovereignty aft reports that Alberta separatists person met respective times with officials of the Donald Trump administration.
The Financial Times reported that US State Department officials held meetings with the Alberta Prosperity Project (APP), a radical calling for a referendum connected whether the energy-rich occidental state should permission Canada.
Recommended Stories
list of 1 itemend of listSpeaking successful Ottawa connected Thursday, Carney said helium has been wide with US President Donald Trump connected the issue.
“I expect the US medication to respect Canadian sovereignty,” helium said, adding that aft raising the issue, helium wanted the 2 sides to absorption connected areas wherever they tin enactment together.
Carney is himself an Albertan, raised successful Edmonton, the provincial capital. The state has had an independency question for decades.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to marque Canada the “51st state” of the American Union.
Here is what we know:
Leaders of the APP person reportedly met with US State Department officials successful Washington astatine slightest 3 times since past April. Trump entered bureau for a 2nd clip successful January.
These meetings person prompted interest successful Ottawa regarding imaginable US interference successful Canadian home politics.
This follows comments by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent past week, who described Alberta arsenic “a earthy spouse for the US” and praised the province’s assets wealthiness and “independent” quality during an interrogation with the right-wing broadcaster Real America’s Voice.
“Alberta has a wealthiness of earthy resources, but they [the Canadian government] won’t fto them physique a pipeline to the Pacific,” helium said. “I deliberation we should fto them travel down into the US,” Bessent said during an interrogation with the right-wing broadcaster.
“There’s a rumour they whitethorn person a referendum connected whether they privation to enactment successful Canada oregon not.”
Asked if helium knew thing astir the separation effort, Bessent said, “People are talking. People privation sovereignty. They privation what the US has got.”
After Bessent’s comments, Jeffrey Rath, a person of the APP, said that the radical was seeking different gathering with US officials adjacent month, wherever they are expected to inquire astir a imaginable $500bn recognition enactment to enactment Alberta if a aboriginal independency referendum – which has not yet been called – were to beryllium held.
The developments travel astatine a delicate infinitesimal successful US-Canada relations, with commercialized tensions inactive simmering and aft a caller code astatine the World Economic Forum successful Davos wherever Carney warned that Washington was contributing to a “rupture” successful the planetary order.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to marque Canada portion of the American Union. His expansionist ambitions person been further underscored by his caller propulsion to acquire Greenland from Denmark, which, similar Canada, is simply a NATO ally. At the commencement of the year, the US subject besides abducted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, and has since attempted to instrumentality power of the South American nation’s monolithic lipid industry.
How person Canadian leaders reacted to the reports?
Speaking connected Thursday, British Columbia Premier David Eby described the reported behind-the-scenes meetings arsenic “treason”.
“To spell to a overseas state and to inquire for assistance successful breaking up Canada, there’s an old-fashioned connection for that – and that connection is treason,” Eby told reporters.
“It is wholly inappropriate to question to weaken Canada, to spell and inquire for assistance, to interruption up this state from a overseas powerfulness and – with respect – a president who has not been peculiarly respectful of Canada’s sovereignty.”
Ontario Premier Doug Ford appealed for Canadian unity connected Thursday morning.
“You know, we person a referendum going connected retired successful Alberta. The separatists successful Quebec accidental they’re gonna telephone a referendum if they get elected. Like, folks, we request to instrumentality together. It’s Team Canada. It’s thing else,” helium said.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, however, said she won’t demonise the Albertans who are unfastened to separation due to the fact that of “legitimate grievances” with Ottawa and said she did not privation to “demonise oregon marginalise a cardinal of my chap citizens”.
Smith has agelong been pro-Trump and visited the US president’s Mar-a-Lago property successful January 2025, astatine a clip erstwhile astir different Canadian leaders were joining hands to criticise his request that the state go a portion of the United States.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith [FILE: Todd Korol/Reuters]What bash we cognize astir a imaginable referendum successful Alberta?
Anger towards Ottawa has been gathering successful Alberta for decades, rooted mostly successful disputes implicit however the national authorities manages the province’s immense lipid and state resources.
Many Albertans consciousness national policies – peculiarly biology regulations, c pricing and pipeline approvals – bounds Alberta’s quality to make and export its energy.
As a landlocked province, Alberta depends connected pipelines and practice with different provinces to entree planetary markets, making those national decisions particularly contentious.
Many Albertans judge the state generates important wealthiness portion having constricted power implicit nationalist decision-making. In 2024-25, for instance, it contributed 15 percent of Canada’s gross home merchandise (GDP), contempt being location to lone 12 percent of the population.
Alberta consistently produces much than 80 percent of Canada’s lipid and 60 percent of the country’s earthy gas.
Yet, galore Albertans accidental that the national authorities does not springiness the state its just stock from taxes collected. Canada has a strategy of equalisation payments, nether which the national authorities pays poorer provinces other funds to guarantee that they tin support societal services. While Quebec and Manitoba person the highest payments, Alberta – arsenic good arsenic British Columbia and Saskatchewan – astatine the infinitesimal person nary equalisation payments.
A pistillate crosses an bare downtown thoroughfare successful Calgary, Alberta [FILE: Andy Clark/Reuters]Carney precocious signed an statement with Alberta, opening the doorway for an lipid pipeline to the Pacific, though it is opposed by Eby and faces important hurdles.
Recent Ipsos polling suggests that astir 3 successful 10 Albertans would enactment starting the process of leaving Canada.
But the survey besides recovered that astir 1 successful 5 of those supporters viewed a ballot to permission arsenic mostly symbolic – a mode to awesome governmental dissatisfaction alternatively than a steadfast tendency for independence.
A referendum connected Alberta independency could hap aboriginal this twelvemonth if a radical of residents tin cod the astir 178,000 signatures required to unit a ballot connected the issue. But adjacent if the referendum passes, Alberta would not beryllium instantly independent.
Under the Clarity Act, the national authorities would archetypal person to find whether the referendum question was wide and whether the effect represented a wide majority. Only past would negotiations begin, covering issues specified arsenic the part of assets and debt, borders and Indigenous rights.
What is the Alberta Prosperity Project and what does it want?
The APP is simply a pro-independence radical that is campaigning for a referendum connected Alberta leaving Canada.
It argues that the state would beryllium amended disconnected controlling its ain resources, taxes and policies, and has been moving to stitchery signatures nether Alberta’s citizen-initiative rules to trigger a vote.
While it describes itself arsenic an educational, non-partisan project, the radical has drawn contention implicit its claims astir the economical viability of an autarkic Alberta.
On its website, the APP says, “Alberta sovereignty, successful the discourse of its narration with Canada, refers to the aspiration for Alberta to summation greater autonomy and power implicit provincial areas of responsibility.”
“However, a operation of economic, political, taste and quality rights factors … has resulted successful galore Albertans defining ‘Alberta sovereignty’ to mean Alberta becoming an autarkic state and taking power of each matters that autumn wrong the jurisdiction of an autarkic nation,” it adds.
What other has Washington said?
White House and State Department officials told the FT that medication officials regularly conscionable with civilian nine groups and that nary enactment oregon commitments were conveyed.
A report published by Canada’s nationalist broadcaster CBC earlier this twelvemonth quoted US nationalist information expert Brandon Weichert arsenic saying that Trump’s speech of Canada becoming the “51st state” was, successful reality, aimed astatine Alberta.
Appearing connected a amusement hosted by erstwhile Trump main strategist Steve Bannon, Weichert suggested that a ballot for independency successful Alberta would punctual the US to recognise the state and usher it towards becoming a US state.
Has the Trump medication tried this elsewhere?
Yes, successful Greenland.
As with Canada, Trump has repeatedly called for Greenland to beryllium incorporated into the US. His threats to annex Greenland person prompted beardown absorption from the authorities of the Arctic island, Denmark — which governs Greenland — and Europe.
But arsenic with Alberta, Trump’s medication has besides attempted to trial separatist sentiment. In August 2025, the Danish authorities summoned the apical US diplomat successful Copenhagen aft Denmark’s nationalist broadcaster reported that 3 Trump allies had begun pulling unneurotic a database of Greenlanders supportive of the US president’s efforts to get it to articulation the United States.
English (US) ·