Trump Administration officials have reportedly been in meetings with an Alberta separatist group, who is seeking to split away from Canada. According the Financial Times, these talks have been held multiple times throughout the past nine months as tensions continue to boil between Canada and the U.S.
Alberta Separatist Groups
The Alberta Prosperity Project is a fringe separatist group that “strives to bolster Alberta’s prosperity, self-determination, and independence”, as per its website. Reportedly, this group has met three times in the last nine months with State Department officials. Jeff Rath, the group’s leader, told the Financial Times, “We’re meeting very, very senior people leaving our meetings to go directly to the Oval Office.”
The Times notes that the group had also reportedly wanted to request $500 billion in credit for Alberta in the case that an independence referendum were passed. While the meetings were confirmed by the publication with the State Department, they said that no commitments nor support were made or conveyed.
Will Alberta Split From Canada?
Hundreds lined up in Calgary this week to sign a citizen initiative petition, asking if Alberta should leave Canada and become an independent state. It is important to note that this is not a referendum vote yet, as it needs at least 177,732 valid signatures to qualify.
But while throngs of crowds are joining to participate in this signature-gathering phase of the petition, the majority of Albertans would rather stay with Canada. Polling data from Pollara Strategic Insights shows that out of the 1,000 Albertans asked if they would separate from Canada, 75% said no. The reality is that it is “a very vocal minority and a very quiet super majority,” said the polling firm’s western executive vice-president Matt Smith.
On January 29, B.C. Premier David Eby said that these reported meetings between Alberta separatists and Trump Administration officials were “treason[ous].” Eby says he plans on discussing the matter at the First Ministers Meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney and other Canadian officials in Ottawa.
“There’s an old-fashioned word for that, and that word is ‘treason,’” said Eby. “It is completely inappropriate to seek to weaken Canada, to seek to go and ask for assistance to break up this country from a foreign power and, with respect, a president who has not been particularly respectful of Canada’s sovereignty.”
