Critics say there are signs of US meddling in Alberta’s secession campaign
Leaders of a Canadian group seeking to break away from the oil-rich province of Alberta have met with members of US President Donald Trump’s administration at least three times since last April, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.
US officials said the meetings were routine civic engagements and did not involve any commitment to the separatist cause. But unity advocates in Alberta suspect foreign actors are boosting the campaign.
The Alberta Prosperity Project (APP) describes itself as an educational initiative promoting independence from Ottawa and opposing globalism and its supporters. The group is collecting signatures for a petition to hold a referendum on independence. County election authorities have until May to collect at least 177,732 signatures from eligible voters to advance.
“The United States is extremely enthusiastic about a free and independent Alberta,” APP legal counsel Jeff Rath told the FT. The organization did not name the US officials it spoke to, but called them senior officials.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent previously mentioned a potential referendum in an interview with right-wing podcaster Jack Posobiec, saying an independent Alberta would be “a natural partner for the US.”
Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour, said there is “proof of foreign interference” in collecting signatures. Citing pro-separatist internet posts, he stated, “It doesn’t feel organic to me, we’re targeting the MAGA crowd. On the contrary, APP claims that there is an organized effort to derail its agitation.
US-Canada tensions rose after Trump suggested Canada would be better off as part of the US and accused Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government of being influenced by China. In a recent speech in Davos, Carney said the Western “rules-based order” was breaking down and urged smaller nations to stop supporting a system he said had always been partly based on convenient lies.
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