According to the UK's Financial Times, U.S. State Department officials have held three meetings with the so-called "Alberta Prosperity Project" organization. The organization is pushing for an "independence referendum" on whether Alberta should secede from Canada. The report states that the so-called "Alberta Prosperity Project" organization hopes to meet again with U.S. State Department and Treasury officials next month, applying for a $50 billion credit line.

In early January 2026, the UK's Financial Times exposed that senior officials of the Trump administration secretly met three times with the Canadian far-right separatist group "Alberta Prosperity Plan," triggering strong protests from Canada, further straining U.S.-Canada relations, which is currently facing serious challenges.

Alberta is a province in western Canada rich in mineral resources. After Trump took office, he proposed that Canada become a U.S. state, and referred to former Prime Minister Trudeau as "governor." Whether this was an unintentional joke or a serious topic, it caused public attention in Canada, hurting Canadians' sense of pride. However, it also catered to the ambitions of some people who wanted to split the country. Since April 2025, the leader of the far-right organization "Alberta Prosperity Plan" (APP), which advocates for Alberta's independence from Canada, has held three secret meetings with senior U.S. State Department officials in Washington and plans to meet with U.S. Treasury officials next month. The U.S. participants were described as "very high-level individuals," and after the meeting, they entered the White House Oval Office.

APP put forward two core demands during the meetings:

Seeking a $5 billion credit line from the United States to support the province's financial operations after the "independence referendum" passes;

Promoting U.S. recognition of Alberta's independence. Its legal counsel Jeff Rask claimed that "the U.S. has shown great enthusiasm for an independent Alberta," and boasted that their relationship with the Trump administration is "stronger than that of the Canadian Prime Minister."

U.S. Response and Contradictory Statements:

Admitting the meetings but stating "no commitments were made," emphasizing it was "routine contact with a civil society group."

The U.S. Treasury denied knowledge of the credit proposal, saying senior officials did not receive meeting requests.

Treasury Secretary Bassett: privately called Alberta "a natural partner of the U.S." and implied the possibility of a referendum, but publicly stated no support for the independence movement.

The background and underlying motives of this incident are

Continued deterioration of U.S.-Canada relations —

Trump repeatedly publicly stated that Canada should be the "51st state of the U.S." and threatened to impose a 50% tariff on Canada;

Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau criticized the U.S. at the Davos Forum for "undermining world order," and Trump subsequently revoked Canada's eligibility to join his initiated "International Peace Commission";

A Pew survey shows that 59% of Canadians view the U.S. as the "number one threat to sovereignty."

Prime Minister Trudeau demanded the U.S. "respect Canada's sovereignty" and clarified that Trump never discussed Alberta's independence with him;

The Premier of British Columbia directly accused separatists of "seeking foreign division of Canada, equivalent to treason";

The Alberta Premier demanded the U.S. stop interfering in "democratic processes."

International media and scholars' analysis —

Calgary University scholar Carol Daid called separatists "attention seekers" and pointed out that the U.S. intends to "incite internal conflicts among Canadians";

Foreign media such as Reuters said the incident highlights the "collapse of trust between traditional allies," possibly accelerating Canada's shift toward diversified diplomacy.

Media and netizens criticized the U.S. methods as similar to "color revolutions," with Reddit (a globally renowned social news aggregation and discussion platform originating in the U.S.)热议 "the plot is familiar, this time it's applied to an ally."

The subsequent development of this incident has many uncertainties and is worth continuous attention.

Original: toutiao.com/article/1855775092328460/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author himself.