A high-stakes separatist scheme

In December, we discussed the growing concerns regarding the separatist movement in Alberta, the motivations and character of the people behind the movement, and the growing spectre of foreign interference in the process. Events that have occurred over the past several days have only added to those concerns.

Last week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, a senior member of the Trump administration, said that Alberta is a “natural partner for the U.S.” He added that “Alberta has a wealth of natural resources, but they won’t let them build a pipeline to the Pacific … I think we should let them come down into the U.S., and Alberta is a natural partner for the U.S. They have great resources. The Albertans are very independent people.”

Those remarks, which represent obvious foreign interference, have caused shockwaves across Canada. On Thursday, Prime Minister Mark Carney warned that Canadians “expect the U.S. administration to respect Canadian sovereignty — I’m always clear with President Trump to that effect.”

That may be the PM’s expectations, but it was also reported by the Financial Times earlier this week that leaders of the Alberta separatist movement have met with Trump administration officials to discuss the possibility of Alberta leaving Canada. According to that report, there have been three meetings so far, during which the possibility of the U.S. providing a $500-billion line of credit to help Alberta in the event that voters decide to separate from Canada.

That revelation has prompted British Columbia Premier David Eby to say that “to go to a country and ask for assistance in breaking up Canada — there’s an old-fashioned word for that, and that word is ‘treason.’”

Jeffrey Rath, who is a co-founder of the Alberta Prosperity Project and a leader of the province’s separatist movement, condemned Eby’s comments as being “defamatory.” He told CBC News that “It’s a childish temper tantrum on behalf of a spoiled NDP politician.”

That may be his opinion, but there was a report in the Edmonton Journal on Thursday that discussed comments made by Rath at an event in that city on Tuesday night. According to that report, he told those in attendance that “The only thing keeping Canada from being bankrupt is Alberta … And we’re all sick and tired of Carney cashing or writing cheques with his mouth, cheques that Albertans are sick and tired of paying for.

“Enough is enough,” he reportedly said. “We will move forward in a positive way to get Alberta out of Canada and free ourselves from this tyranny we’ve been living under as a resource colony for Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal. We’re done with it.”

Rath also told the audience that an independent Alberta would be supported by Americans, adding that the priority is to work with the U.S. “Do you think Donald Trump gives a crap if Carney said ‘but I got elbows?’” he said.

“Does anyone see anything more pathetic, more ridiculous and more embarrassing to the country of Canada? And, again, for that reason I am really happy. I am not a Canadian anymore. I’m an Albertan, so this s–t doesn’t embarrass me.”

Rath also reportedly took aim at newcomers to Canada, saying that an independent Alberta would have a strong deportation program, and would immediately erect a “no vacancy” sign for potential immigrants.

He is quoted in the Journal report as telling the audience that “There is no way on God’s green Earth that we need any temporary foreign workers in this province … There are international mobility program workers, all being subsidized by the federal government to compete with your kids for rent, compete with your kids for housing, plug our emergency rooms. They stuff our classrooms full of children who do not speak English, they’re English as a second language students, and they’re driving our teachers to distraction.”

That’s one of the guys who is leading the Alberta separatist movement. That’s the guy who is meeting with Trump administration officials. That’s the guy who the premier of B.C. accuses of treason. That’s the guy who former Alberta premier Jason Kenney described on Thursday as “a clown and carny barker” who “thrives on conflict.”

And that’s the guy who is apparently pushing for the mass deportation of immigrants from Alberta. If that sounds a lot like what the Trump administration is doing in America, it might actually be worse. In the U.S., the administration claims that ICE is focused solely on immigrants who have broken the law and those who are present in the country illegally. Rath’s plan appears to go much further, targeting all immigrants.

That’s bad, but we haven’t even talked about the ways in which an independent Alberta government would trample the rights of Indigenous peoples and other groups within that province.

Think about all that for a second. That’s the Alberta Rath and his colleagues want to create, and far too few Albertans are aware of those plans.

If, like me, you have friends and/or family in Alberta, call them and tell what’s really at stake. Tell them to help their fellow Albertans put the lame-brained separatism scheme where it belongs — in the garbage.