Alberta separatism debate has a foreign interference problem. Your movement needs legitimacy. Some supporters are meeting with White House officials. Steve Bannon’s show is talking about taking over Alberta. Trump’s treasury pick is commenting on Alberta referendums. David Eby called it treasonous. Now imagine if Jesse Ventura was meeting with Ottawa about Minnesota joining Canada. That’s how Americans would react to this.

Danielle Smith won’t demonize the 20% of Albertans sympathetic to separation, but she punted on denouncing those seeking American help. Rob Breakenridge draws the line there: going to any foreign capital asking them to help break up Canada is easy enough to denounce. The problem for the separatist movement? If you get linked to an incredibly unpopular US president, your support craters. Thirty percent open to the idea becomes much less when Donald Trump’s name attaches to it. And if people start associating it with joining the US instead of becoming a separate country, that’s not the association you want.

BC and Alberta premiers are playing nice under the Trump threat, trying to rebuild Team Canada. Pipeline tensions remain. Eby’s firm on tanker bans, though Trans Mountain expansion might be possible. But the squeaky wheel might be getting the wrong kind of grease. The attention separatists crave could backfire when it comes from Washington instead of Ottawa.

Topics: Alberta separatism, Western independence movement, US interference Canada, provincial politics, Trump Canada

GUEST:Rob Breakenridge | robbreakenridge.ca, @robbreakenridge

Originally aired on2026-01-29