OTTAWA : British Columbia Premier David Eby has described recent meetings between Alberta separatists and the U.S. administration as an act of “treason,” as national sovereignty dominated discussions during a meeting between the premiers and Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday.
The Alberta Prosperity Project, a separatist group pushing for independence, reportedly sought a $500-billion US line of credit from the U.S. Treasury to help bankroll a potential new country. While a U.S. State Department official confirmed the meetings, they emphasized that “no commitments were made” and that the department “regularly meets with civil society types.”
“To go to a foreign country and ask for assistance in breaking up Canada, there’s an old-fashioned word for that, and that word is treason,” Eby said, stressing that foreign involvement in separatist movements is “completely inappropriate” and undermines Canadian sovereignty.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith responded that she “supports a strong and sovereign Alberta within a united Canada.” She also called on the U.S. administration to “confine their discussion about Alberta’s democratic process to Albertans and Canadians,” noting that she will raise the issue with both her delegates in Washington and Ottawa. Critics, however, point to her role in making it easier for an independence petition to advance in Alberta last year.
The controversy comes amid wider discussions in Canada about potential referendums in Alberta and Quebec, as Prime Minister Carney and the premiers met in Ottawa to emphasize unity and national cohesion.
