Canada news
fromwww.aljazeera.com
1 hour agoCould Alberta trigger Canada's Brexit moment?
Alberta separatism is accelerating toward a government-backed referendum, raising fears of a Canada-wide unity crisis comparable to Brexit.
The oft-repeated claim that organizers gathered roughly 300,000 signatures on a separation petition rests entirely on statements made by one individual: Mitch Sylvestre. There has been no independent verification, no public audit, and no transparent accounting of the signatures themselves. That uncertainty alone should encourage caution. Yet Mitch's number has dominated public discourse as an accepted fact rather than the unverified political assertion that it is.
Unlike the more well-known Quebec separatism, which is rooted in a sense of a separate nationality, culture, and language, Alberta separatism has historically been a minor political movement rooted in Western Canadian alienation, a catch-all term for the perception that Alberta's economic interests and political values are marginalized by federal institutions dominated by Central Canada.
A separation movement in the Canadian province of Alberta claims to be gaining steam, and its leaders say they now have a meeting booked with U.S. Treasury Department officials. They will be asking for a line of credit worth $500 billion in U.S. currency to help transition Alberta from a Canadian province into a U.S. state. Led by businessman Mitch Sylvestre, the Alberta Prosperity Project has launched a petition through a campaign called Stay Free Alberta
Alberta separatists seek funding from the Trump administration after three reported meetings. Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney has said that he expects the United States to respect the country's sovereignty after reports that Alberta separatists have met several times with officials of the Donald Trump administration. The Financial Times reported that US State Department officials held meetings with the Alberta Prosperity Project (APP), a group calling for a referendum on whether the energy-rich western province should leave Canada.
To go to a foreign country and to ask for assistance in breaking up Canada, there's an old-fashioned word for that and that word is treason, David Eby told reporters. It is completely inappropriate to seek to weaken Canada, to go and ask for assistance, to break up this country from a foreign power and with respect a president who has not been particularly respectful of Canada's sovereignty.