Canadian PM Mark Carney calls for US respect of sovereignty after reports of State Department meetings with Alberta separatists, as poll shows 28% support independence.
MONTREAL: Prime Minister Mark Carney has called on the United States to respect Canadian sovereignty following reports of meetings between US State Department officials and Alberta separatists.
Carney made the statement in response to a Financial Times report that leaders of the Alberta Prosperity Project (APP) met with officials in Washington three times since April. The group is collecting signatures for a referendum on making the oil-rich province an independent country.
“I expect the US administration to respect Canadian sovereignty,” Carney told reporters alongside provincial leaders, including Alberta Premier Danielle Smith. His comments also addressed supportive remarks from US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent about Alberta’s independence push.
A senior State Department official told AFP the meetings were routine engagements with civil society where no commitments were made. Carney confirmed that President Donald Trump has not raised Alberta or Quebec separatism in their direct conversations.
Premier Smith echoed Carney’s expectation for US respect of sovereignty, stating she would raise any referendum meddling with Washington. She affirmed support for a “sovereign Alberta, within a united Canada” but blamed former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for fueling provincial alienation.
“For 10 years under Justin Trudeau’s government, our province was relentlessly attacked, our economy was relentlessly attacked,” Smith told reporters. She suggested Carney’s cooperation on a new Pacific coast oil pipeline could reduce support for independence.
An Ipsos poll from January 23 found 28% of Albertans would vote for independence. An independence vote could be held this fall, though current polling indicates the separatists would lose.
British Columbia Premier David Eby on Tuesday accused the separatists who reportedly met in Washington of committing “treason.” The proposed pipeline is controversial as it would run through British Columbia, where Pacific coast First Nations have vowed to block it.
