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Toronto (Canada).- Canada expects the United States to "respect Canadian sovereignty," declared Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday, following reports that separatist groups from the province of Alberta have secretly met with the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump in search of financial support.
"I expect the U.S. administration to respect Canadian sovereignty at all times and without exception. I have always been clear in my conversations with President Trump about this," Carney stated at a press conference, in response to questions from the media.
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Carney added that Trump has never discussed with him the issue of the separation of the provinces of Alberta or Quebec, but avoided answering whether he has protested to the Trump Administration about the recent comments by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, in which he hinted at Washington's possible support for Alberta separatists.This Thursday, the Financial Times published that the separatist group Alberta Prosperity Project (APP) held secret meetings with members of the Trump Administration to request logistical and financial support for a possible separatist referendum in the province.
Precisely, APP wants Bessent's Treasury Department to grant them a $500 million line of credit to help Alberta if the separatists were to win the hypothetical referendum. This Thursday, the head of government of the Canadian province of British Columbia, David Eby, called APP's contacts with Washington, "treason." "Going to another country and asking for help to break Canada, that has an old name and it's treason," he declared. Doug Ford, head of Government of the province of Ontario, the most industrialized and populated in the country, and who has distinguished himself by his opposition to Trump's trade policies, also reacted to the information and said that the head of Government of Alberta, the ultra-conservative Danielle Smith, has to clarify her position. "You're either with Canada or you're not," he stated. Smith, who was the only Canadian provincial head of government to attend Trump's inauguration in January 2025 and who has expressed her ideological closeness to the American president, refused to condemn APP's contacts with members of the US government and attributed the separatist sentiment, which she estimated at 30% of the population, to the policies of the former Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau. "I am not going to demonize or marginalize a million of my citizens when they have legitimate grievances," Smith declared, who in the past was accused of favoring the rise of the separatist movement in Alberta, a province that concentrates almost all of the country's oil production and has the largest proven crude oil reserves on the planet. The separatist movement in Alberta, promoted by far-right and ultraconservative groups, wants to hold a referendum on the territory's independence this year. Also this year, the province of Quebec is expected to hold elections. Currently, the separatist Parti Québécois (PQ) leads the polls to win the elections. His leader, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, promised to hold an independence referendum, which would be Quebec's third, if he wins the elections.
