{"id":2550,"date":"2026-01-31T14:45:54","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T14:45:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/?p=2550"},"modified":"2026-01-31T14:45:55","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T14:45:55","slug":"canadian-separatists-secretly-met-with-us-government-officials-ft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/2026\/01\/31\/canadian-separatists-secretly-met-with-us-government-officials-ft\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadian separatists secretly met with US government officials \u2013\u00a0FT"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Critics claim there are signs of US interference in a secession campaign in Alberta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Canadian<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

An Alberta Prosperity Project flyer at a pro-independence rally, Edmonton, May 3, 2025. \u00a9  Artur Widak \/ NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leaders of a Canadian group seeking the secession of the oil-rich province of Alberta have met members of the administration of US President Donald Trump at least three times since last April, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

US officials said the meetings were routine civic engagements and involved no commitment to the separatist cause. However, pro-unity figures in Alberta suspect the campaign is being amplified by foreign actors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Alberta Prosperity Project (APP) describes itself as an educational initiative advocating independence from Ottawa and opposing globalism and its supporters. The group is gathering signatures for a petition to hold an independence referendum. Provincial election authorities have given it until May to collect at least 177,732 eligible voter signatures to advance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can this US ally walk the fine line between Beijing and Washington?<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe US is extremely enthusiastic about a free and independent Alberta,\u201d<\/em> APP legal counsel Jeff Rath told the FT. The organization did not name the US officials it talked with, but called them senior-level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent previously mentioned the potential referendum in an interview with right-wing podcaster Jack Posobiec, saying an independent Alberta would be \u201ca natural partner for the US.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour, told the outlet there is \u201cevidence of foreign interference\u201d<\/em> in signature-gathering. He cited pro-separatist online posts, stating, \u201cIt doesn\u2019t feel organic, we are being targeted by the MAGA crowd.\u201d<\/em> Conversely, the APP claims there is an organized effort to derail its canvassing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

US-Canada tensions have risen as Trump suggested Canada would be better off as part of the US and accused Prime Minister Mark Carney\u2019s government of being influenced by China. In a recent Davos speech, Carney said<\/a> the Western \u2018rules-based order\u2019 was fracturing and urged smaller nations to stop upholding a system that he said was always partly based on convenient lies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Critics claim there are signs of US interference in a secession campaign in Alberta An Alberta Prosperity Project flyer at a pro-independence rally, Edmonton, May 3, 2025. \u00a9  Artur Widak \/ NurPhoto via Getty Images Leaders of a Canadian group…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","wpcat-1-id"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2550"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2551,"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2550\/revisions\/2551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}