Critics claim there are signs of US interference in a secession campaign in Alberta

Leaders of a Canadian group seeking the secession of the oil-rich province of Alberta have met members of the administration of US President Donald Trump at least three times since last April, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.

US officials said the meetings were routine civic engagements and involved no commitment to the separatist cause. However, pro-unity figures in Alberta suspect the campaign is being amplified by foreign actors.

The Alberta Prosperity Project (APP) describes itself as an educational initiative advocating independence from Ottawa and opposing globalism and its supporters. The group is gathering signatures for a petition to hold an independence referendum. Provincial election authorities have given it until May to collect at least 177,732 eligible voter signatures to advance.

"The US is extremely enthusiastic about a free and independent Alberta," APP legal counsel Jeff Rath told the FT. The organization did not name the US officials it talked with, but called them senior-level.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent previously mentioned the potential referendum in an interview with right-wing podcaster Jack Posobiec, saying an independent Alberta would be "a natural partner for the US."

Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour, told the outlet there is "evidence of foreign interference" in signature-gathering. He cited pro-separatist online posts, stating, "It doesn't feel organic, we are being targeted by the MAGA crowd." Conversely, the APP claims there is an organized effort to derail its canvassing.

US-Canada tensions have risen as Trump suggested Canada would be better off as part of the US and accused Prime Minister Mark Carney's government of being influenced by China. In a recent Davos speech, Carneysaidthe Western 'rules-based order' was fracturing and urged smaller nations to stop upholding a system that he said was always partly based on convenient lies.

(RT.com)