Officials who were "very, very high" in the Trump administration held secret meetings with far-right separatists attempting to undermine Canada's foundations.

As tensions between Canada's leadership and the White House seem to be widening, senior U.S. officials met secretly with the Alberta Prosperity Project. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau criticized President Trump for undermining the existing world order during his speech at the Davos conference in Switzerland last week.

This created favorable conditions for secret talks, as separatists sought to exploit the friction. According to sources, the group from the oil-rich province where Trudeau grew up has met with U.S. State Department officials in Washington D.C. three times in the past nine months, according to the Financial Times.

"The United States is very enthusiastic about a free and independent Alberta," said Jeff Lask, legal counsel for the organization, who also attended these meetings, told the Financial Times.

He claimed, "We met with people of extremely high rank, and after the meeting, they directly went to the Oval Office."

According to sources, the group plans to hold another meeting in February, aiming to apply for a $50 billion credit line to help maintain fiscal stability in the province after an independence referendum. No referendum has been held yet.

The U.S. State Department confirmed that the meetings did take place, but stated, "No commitments were made." White House officials said, "No such support or other commitments were conveyed."

A source familiar with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessette's views told the Financial Times that he and his team were not aware of any credit requests, and even if there were, they would not be involved.

A spokesperson for a conservative think tank in Calgary said that the actions of U.S. officials amounted to further destabilizing Canada. Carol Daid of the Western Canada Foundation described these separatist leaders as "demagogues."

He added, "Americans are more than willing to let Canadians fight among themselves."

These meetings reportedly surfaced after Bessette appeared on the right-wing streaming channel "The Real America," where he seemed to try to deepen the rift.

"Alberta is a natural partner for the United States. They have abundant resources. The people of Alberta are very independent," Bessette said. "There are rumors that they might hold a referendum on whether to remain in Canada."

Bessette had previously complained that Alberta has "abundant natural resources" but is not allowed to build an oil pipeline to the Pacific.

At the beginning of this month, Trump shared a post on Truth Social featuring an AI-generated map showing Canada, Greenland, and Venezuela covered by the American flag.

However, a recent poll showed that more Albertans prefer to remain in Canada. A survey by Ipsos found that approximately seven out of ten residents would vote to keep the province within Canada.

Nevertheless, the Alberta Prosperity Project is still trying to collect 177,000 signatures to submit an independence petition to the legislature before May.

"The majority of Albertans are not interested in becoming a state of the United States," said a spokesperson for Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.

Gill McGowan, president of the Alberta Labour Federation, said Canada is a victim of "foreign interference."

"It doesn't feel natural, we've become a target of the MAGA (Make America Great Again) crowd," he said.

Original: toutiao.com/article/7600984102673629723/

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