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.Recommended Stories list of 1 itemend of listSpeaking in Ottawa on Thursday, Carney said he has been clear with US President Donald Trump on the issue.“I expect the US administration to respect Canadian sovereignty,” he said, adding that after raising the issue, he wanted the two sides to focus on areas where they can work together.Carney is himself an Albertan, raised in Edmonton, the provincial capital. The province has had an independence movement for decades.Trump has repeatedly threatened to make Canada the “51st state” of the American Union.Here is what we know:Leaders of the APP have reportedly met with US State Department officials in Washington at least three times since last April. Trump entered office for a second time in January.These meetings have prompted concern in Ottawa regarding potential US interference in Canadian domestic politics.This follows comments by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent last week, who described Alberta as “a natural partner for the US” and praised the province’s resource wealth and “independent” character during an interview with the right-wing broadcaster Real America’s Voice. Advertisement “Alberta has a wealth of natural resources, but they [the Canadian government] won’t let them build a pipeline to the Pacific,” he said. “I think we should let them come down into the US,” Bessent said during an interview with the right-wing broadcaster.“There’s a ru …
