Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney Said he expected The United States is demanding the United States respect the country’s sovereignty after reports emerged that separatists in Alberta had met with Donald Trump government officials on multiple occasions.

financial times report U.S. State Department officials held a meeting with the Alberta Prosperity Project (APP), a group calling for a referendum on whether the energy-rich western province should leave Canada.

Speaking in Ottawa on Thursday, Carney said he had made the issue clear to U.S. President Donald Trump.

“I hope the U.S. government respects Canada’s sovereignty,” he said, adding that after raising the issue, he hoped both sides would focus on areas where they could cooperate.

Carney himself is an Albertan and grew up in the provincial capital of Edmonton. The province’s independence movement is decades old.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to Canada’s “51st State” of the American League.

Here’s what we know:

According to reports, APP leaders have met with U.S. State Department officials in Washington at least three times since April last year. Trump took office for the second time in January.

The meetings raised concerns in Ottawa about possible U.S. interference in Canadian domestic politics.

It comes after U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant said in an interview with right-wing broadcaster Real America last week that Alberta was a “natural partner for the United States” and praised the province’s resource wealth and “independent” character.

“Alberta has great natural resources, but they (the Canadian government) won’t let them build a pipeline to the Pacific,” he said. “I think we should let them into the United States,” Bessant said in an interview with a right-wing broadcaster.

“There are rumors that they might have a referendum on whether they want to stay in Canada.”

Asked if he knew about the secession effort, Bessant said, “People are talking. People want sovereignty. They want what the United States has.”

After Bessant’s comments, APP leader Jeffrey Rath said the group is seeking another meeting with U.S. officials next month, where they are expected to inquire about a possible $500 billion line of credit to support Alberta if there is a future independence referendum, which has not yet been held.

The developments come at a sensitive time for U.S.-Canada relations, with trade tensions still simmering and Carney recently speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, warning that Washington was exacerbating “fractures” in the global order.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to make Canada part of the United States. His recent push for acquisitions further underscores his expansionist ambitions. Greenland Coming from Denmark, which, like Canada, is a NATO ally. The U.S. military also kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro earlier this year and has since sought to take control of the South American country’s vast oil industry.

How do Canadian leaders react to these reports?

Speaking on Thursday, British Columbia Premier David Eby described the reported behind-the-scenes meeting as a “treasonous act.”

“There’s an old-fashioned word for going to a foreign country to seek help to divide Canada – that word is treason,” Eby told reporters.

“It is completely inappropriate to seek to weaken Canada, to seek aid, to divide this country from foreign powers, and – with all due respect – to have a president who has no particular respect for Canada’s sovereignty.”

On Thursday morning, Ontario Premier Doug Ford called for Canadian unity.

“You know, we’re having a referendum in Alberta. The separatists in Quebec are saying if they’re elected, they’re going to have a referendum. It’s like, guys, we need to stick together. This is Team Canada. Nothing else,” he said.

However, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said she would not demonize Albertans who are willing to separate because of their “legitimate grievances” with Ottawa, saying she did not want to “demonize or marginalize a million of my fellow citizens.”

Smith has long supported Trump and visited the U.S. president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in January 2025, at a time when most other Canadian leaders were joining forces to criticize his demand for Canada to become part of the United States.

What do we know about a possible referendum in Alberta?

Anger in Alberta against Ottawa has been building for decades, rooted largely in disputes over how the federal government manages the province’s vast oil and gas resources.

Many Albertans believe federal policies — particularly environmental regulations, carbon pricing and pipeline approvals — limit Alberta’s ability to develop and export energy.

As a landlocked province, Alberta relies on pipelines and partnerships with other provinces to access global markets, making these federal decisions particularly controversial.

Many Albertans believe the province creates a lot of wealth but has limited influence on national decision-making. For example, in 2024-25, despite accounting for only 12% of Canada’s population, the region will contribute 15% to gross domestic product (GDP).

Alberta consistently produces more than 80% of Canada’s oil and more than 60% of the country’s natural gas.

However, many Albertans say the federal government is not giving the province its fair share of tax dollars. Canada has an equalization payments system, under which the federal government pays extra money to poorer provinces to ensure they can maintain social services. While Quebec and Manitoba receive the highest subsidies, Alberta, along with British Columbia and Saskatchewan, currently do not receive equal subsidies.

Carney recently signed a deal with Alberta that opens the door to an oil pipeline to the Pacific Ocean, although the deal is opposed by Ibe and faces significant hurdles.

Recent Ipsos poll suggestion About three in 10 Albertans support starting to leave Canada.

But the survey also found that about a fifth of supporters believe a vote to leave the EU was largely symbolic – a way of expressing political dissatisfaction rather than a firm desire for independence.

An Alberta independence referendum could be held later this year if a group of residents can gather the nearly 178,000 signatures needed to force a vote. But even if the referendum passes, Alberta will not immediately become independent.

Under the Clarification Act, the federal government must first determine whether the referendum question is clear and whether the result represents a clear majority. Only then will negotiations begin, covering issues such as the division of assets and debts, boundaries and Aboriginal rights.

What is the Alberta Prosperity Project? What does it want?

APP is a pro-independence group that is campaigning for a referendum for Alberta to secede from Canada.

It believes the province is better off controlling its own resources, taxes and policies and has been working to collect signatures under Alberta’s citizen initiative rules to trigger a vote.

Although the organization describes itself as an educational, non-partisan project, the group has attracted controversy for its claims about the economic viability of an independent Alberta.

“Alberta sovereignty, in relation to its relationship with Canada, refers to Alberta’s desire for greater autonomy and control over provincial areas of responsibility,” APP says on its website.

“However, a combination of economic, political, cultural and human rights factors … have led many Albertans to define ‘Alberta sovereignty’ as Alberta becoming an independent country and controlling all matters that fall within the jurisdiction of an independent country,” the report added.

What else did Washington say?

White House and State Department officials told the Financial Times that government officials meet regularly with civil society groups but have not expressed any support or commitment.

one Report An article published by Canadian public broadcaster CBC earlier this year quoted U.S. national security analyst Brandon Weichert as saying that Trump’s talk of Canada becoming the “51st state” was actually aimed at Alberta.

Weichert said on a show hosted by former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon that Alberta’s vote for independence would prompt U.S. recognition of the province and lead to its becoming a U.S. state.

Has the Trump administration tried this approach elsewhere?

Yes, in Greenland.

Like Canada, Trump has repeatedly called for Greenland to be annexed to the United States. His threat to annex Greenland triggered strong opposition from the governments of the Arctic island countries, Denmark, which governs Greenland, and Europe.

But like Alberta, the Trump administration is also seeking to test separatist sentiment. In August 2025, the Danish government summoned the top U.S. diplomat in Copenhagen after Denmark’s national broadcaster reported that three Trump allies had begun gathering a list of Greenlanders who would support the U.S. president’s push for Greenland to join the United States.