Trump administration officials have reportedly held several secret meetings with far-right Canadian separatists who want to break free from the rest of the country.
U.S. officials met with leaders of the Alberta Prosperity Project, a fringe right-wing group of separatists who want the oil-rich western province to become independent, three times in Washington since last April, sources told the Financial Times.
News of the stealthy meetings comes at a time of especially high tensions between the U.S. and its northern neighbor. During a speech in Davos at the World Economic Forum, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney spoke of a “rupture” in the world order, in what appeared to be a veiled attack on the trade and foreign policies of Donald Trump – but without mentioning him by name.
I know hypocrisy is a big part of international relations. But can you imagine the aneurysm this administration would have if they found out that the Canadian government had been having covert discussions with fringe separatist groups in, say, Washington State? It would be tarrifs and tantrums up the wazoo. Hell, there would probably be troop build-ups along parts of the border and all sorts of crazy threats/actions.
But the other way around? Nah. It’s all about the land-grab and American exceptionalism. “Rules for thee but not for me.”
Viva Cascadia!
Us separatists up here in Washington are in favor of a state called Cascadia that includes BC in addition to Washington and Oregon (and maybe NorCal), so it’d be a little different.
Yeah we even have a flag picked out. That said BC’s inclusion is more of a “we’d love to have them if they were interested” than a “we have the right to the whole of the pacific northwest”
BC is Canadian. You can’t “include it” any more than you can take Alberta.
Feel free to split up the United States however you like, that’s your business, but Canada’s staying Canadian.
I don’t have anything good to say here, just that I personally have no intention of taking anything from anyone, and I support separatism only to the extent that it allows for better self-governance. Being extremely skeptical of Americans supporting separatist movements, especially right now, given that we have a long and storied history of annexing those “independent” groups immediately afterwards, makes a lot of sense.
Edit: I lost my train of thought while in a different thread and forgot the point I was trying to make: exactly because Cascadian separatism concerns Canadian sovereignty, it would be considerably less contentious for Canada to meet with Washingtonians who want independence than it is for Trump to meet with Albertan separatists.
Specifically Texas was obtained by inflaming a separatist movement then invading after it was cracked down on.