Premier David Eby says Alberta separatists seeking support from the Trump administration amounts to “treason.”
He was responding a Financial Times report that members of a group advocating Alberta independence have met with U.S. State Department officials in Washington over the past year. The report said the group is seeking financial support in the event an independence referendum is passed.
Eby made the comments while in Ottawa for a two-day gathering with other provincial and territorial leaders and Prime Minister Mark Carney.
“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,’” said Eby ahead of the first ministers’ meeting on Thursday. He noted U.S. President Donald Trump “has not been particularly respectful of Canada’s sovereignty.”
Premier Danielle Smith said at a joint press conference after the meeting that she “supports a strong and sovereign Alberta within a united Canada.”
“I would expect that the U.S. administration would respect Canadian sovereignty, and that they would confine their discussion about Alberta’s democratic process to Albertans and to Canadians,” said Smith. She added she will raise the issue with her delegates in Washington and Ottawa.
Carney also said he expects the U.S. to respect Canada’s sovereignty. He noted Trump has not raised the issue of Alberta or Quebec sovereignty in their conversations.
