Alberta separatists backed by Trump and Putin?
Russian-American interference is undermining Canada, says report
It’s so hard to believe – Ottawa doesn’t even know how to respond.
A new report says the Russians – and the Americans – are coming together to support the independence movement that is pushing for a referendum on Alberta leaving Canada.
The study by leading information researchers says American and Russian actors are playing a dangerous role through disinformation and “fake news” delivered over social media, reports Global News.
“While homegrown, the movement has become an attractive target for foreign exploitation,” said the new study backed by five think tanks, including DisinfoWatch and the Global Centre for Democratic Resilience. “As they amplify separatist voices and normalize American annexation of Canada, these outside forces are posing a direct threat to Canada’s ‘democratic integrity.’”
Russians are covert – Americans are “in your face”
Russia’s interference supporting Alberta separatism is covert, using shadowy websites that create an echo chamber of disinformation. “Russian government strategy has long emphasized exploiting divisive issues within Western democracies,” says the report.
Meanwhile the Americans are much more bald-faced. “U.S. engagement is overt, escalating, and in some environments, converging with Russia,” the researchers found.
Separatists meeting with Trump administration
Senior U.S. figures in the Trump administration have met with Alberta separatist leaders several times, and endorsed their aims.
“We’re meeting very, very senior people leaving our meetings to go directly to the Oval Office,” claimed a member of Alberta Prosperity Project, a fringe right-wing group. One meeting was reportedly held in super-secure facility shielded from electronic eavesdropping.
“The U.S. is extremely enthusiastic about a free and independent Alberta,” the group’s legal counsel, Jeff Rath, told the Financial Times after attending the meetings.
The group is openly seeking a $500-billion credit facility from the U.S. Treasury to help bankroll the new country if they come out victorious in a referendum.
American Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent sparked excitement amongst Alberta separatists when he described the oil-rich province as “a natural partner for the U.S.” during an interview with right-wing streaming channel.
“The Albertans are very independent people,” Bessent said. “[There is a] rumor that they may have a referendum on whether they want to stay in Canada or not.”
U.S. influencers have amplified separatist and annexation narratives to audiences in the millions, say the researchers.
Watch comments by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent
Privacy controversy
Alberta separatists submitted a petition this week signed by over 300,000 people triggering a referendum on Alberta’s future within Canada.
But their efforts came under a cloud after it was discovered petition organizers gained illegal access to a list of millions of Alberta voters – and posted it to a website. Were some of these names copied to the petition?
Former Harper-era Cabinet minister Jason Kenney, a frequent target of Alberta’s extreme right, was very alarmed to learn his personal information was shared widely – with no complaint from the Premier who’s staffer was aware of the data breach.
Ottawa unable to respond
Despite over a year of annexation threats against Canada from Trump, the Ottawa political establishment seems to be unable or unwilling to confront the American threat of interference in Canadian politics.
As PeaceQuest readers may recall, progressive voices such as Gordon Laxer and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May urged the government to examine threats from American oil interest as far back as February 2024. The government-sponsored Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference ignored them.
Little has changed since. For instance, the Senate Committee on National Security released a report just last week that fingered Russia as deliberately disseminating false information to Western audiences. But American interference was not addressed.
The Senators recommended the Government of Canada counter Russia through our involvement in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Group of Seven, the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance and other international entities.
But it’s our involvement in these U.S.-led security alliances that leaves us wide open to the Americans.
Prime Minister Carney knows this already. As he described in his now famous speech in Davos, our integration is a vulnerability to be exploited by the big powers.
“You cannot ‘live within the lie’ of mutual benefit through integration when integration becomes the source of your subordination,” he said.
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A majority of PeaceQuest readers (56%) say that Canada should replace its aging feet of CF-18 jets with new ones built by Sweden - not American-made F-35 stealth fighters.
Canada’s $28-billion F-35 program is under review, and readers say that Canada should go with the Gripen fighter being offered to Canada by Saab. The second most popular answer was “none of the above” (31%). One-in-ten (9%) say a mixed fleet of both F-35s and Gripens would be preferable.
Comments:
“Any situation that involves dependence on the U.S. must be avoided, for obvious reasons.” – F. Brady
“My choice was only to buy Gripens.” - M. Laroque
“Why do we need fighter planes in the first place?” - S. Walke
