Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he expects US President Donald Trump to “respect Canadian sovereignty” following reports that Alberta separatists met with US officials numerous times.
“I expect the US administration to respect Canadian sovereignty,” Carney said in Ottawa on Thursday, flanked by premiers from Canada’s provinces. “I’m always clear in my conversations with President Trump to that effect, and then move on to what we can do together.”
The prime minister said that Trump has never brought up the issue of Alberta independence during their meetings.
Carney’s comments came after David Eby, the premier of British Columbia, accused a group of Alberta independence activists of “treason” for meeting with the Trump administration.
Commenting on a Financial Times report that White House officials had met with activists collecting signatures for a possible plebiscite on Alberta independence, Eby told reporters Thursday he understood their desire for a referendum and to “talk about the issues you want to talk about in Canada,” but said it was inappropriate at a time when Canadians should be standing together amid tensions with the United States.
“We’ve got free speech, that’s important. But to go to a foreign country and to ask for assistance in breaking up Canada, there’s an old-fashioned word for that, and that word is treason,” he said.
The oil-rich province of Alberta, which is generally more conservative than the rest of Canada, has a vocal independence movement. Separatists there have long argued that Albertans are too over-taxed and under-represented to remain a part of Canada’s federation.
Asked about the meetings, a White House official told CNN that “administration officials meet with a number of civil society groups. No support or commitments were conveyed.”
News of the meetings comes at a delicate moment in US-Canada relations. Trump has repeatedly threatened to turn the country into the 51st state. Meanwhile, Carney has made it clear that he believes Canada must steer a course outside of US influence after a year of trading tariffs and counter-tariffs with the United States.
