{"id":921203,"date":"2026-10-05T06:54:18","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T06:54:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/921203\/"},"modified":"2026-10-05T06:54:18","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T06:54:18","slug":"alberta-separatists-talks-with-gop-spark-outcry-call-for-legislative-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/921203\/","title":{"rendered":"Alberta separatists\u2019 talks with GOP spark outcry, call for legislative change"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Alberta separatists participate in a rally in Redcliff, Alta., on Sept. 23. MP Corey Hogan says Canada needs to consider overhauling its laws to address the kind of freelance negotiating trips that separatist leaders have made to D.C.ABED ZAQ\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Revelations about talks in Washington where Alberta separatists suggested exchanging water and oil for U.S. support, and in Calgary where separatists met secretly with Republican strategists, have sparked an outcry from federalists \u2013 and a call for legislative change. <\/p>\n

Corey Hogan, Calgary\u2019s lone Liberal member of Parliament, said on Sunday that Canada needs to consider overhauling its laws to address the kind of freelance negotiating trips that separatist leaders have made to D.C. in advance of the Oct. 19 provincial referendum.<\/p>\n

Mr. Hogan does not think the discussions between the separatists and the U.S. State Department meet the bar for treason, but that does not make the cross-border talks innocent.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re wrong,\u201d he said in an interview Sunday. \u201cIf we don\u2019t have a law that covers them, I think we should at least be thinking about whether we need one.\u201d<\/p>\n

How some Alberta separatists are courting U.S. support for independence<\/a><\/p>\n

A Globe and Mail investigation on Saturday reported that Republican political operatives were on the ground in Alberta this year to assist the separatist campaign in its bid to leave Canada, while harbouring their own aspirations for the province to secede.<\/p>\n

The investigation also found that when Alberta separatist leaders went to Washington to meet with the State Department, they offered up key assets from the province\u2019s resource portfolio, including access to fresh water and royalties on crude oil, in exchange for help transitioning to independence.<\/p>\n

Mr. Hogan, a former campaign strategist, noted that Canada and the United States have a long history of political consultants doing business on both sides of the border. But, he said, Alberta\u2019s experience illustrates how the rules governing those activities need to be re-examined.<\/p>\n

\u201cA principle seems to have been violated here, even if a rule hasn\u2019t,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

As detailed in The Globe\u2019s investigation, Dennis Modry, a former Alberta heart surgeon who is co-founder of the Alberta Prosperity Project, said in an interview that the separatists proposed a number of ideas in a document that was put on the table for discussion during meetings at the State Department last year.<\/p>\n

They included access to valuable resources such as fresh water, agriculture, forestry, mining and precious metals. Land for a railway to Alaska was one potential idea, as was a new oil pipeline to the Pacific that would run through Washington State, with royalties from crude oil offered up as compensation, Dr. Modry told The Globe. <\/p>\n

Such an arrangement would upend the traditional structure of petroleum extraction, in which royalties flow to the owner of the resource. <\/p>\n

The document put into writing \u201cthe potential benefits of Alberta sovereignty to the United States of America \u2013 and to Alberta,\u201d Dr. Modry said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just brought up water as a possible issue. Does the U.S. need more water? Can Alberta provide some more water to them?\u201d Dr. Modry said.<\/p>\n

Opinion: Alberta\u2019s separatists would sell us out to the Americans<\/a><\/p>\n

His comments have drawn the ire of fellow separatist leader Jeffrey Rath<\/a>, who arranged the State Department meetings and disputes Mr. Modry\u2019s characterization of the talks.<\/p>\n

Mr. Rath told The Globe that the talks were general in nature, \u201cabout the aspirations of Albertans and Alberta for independence. And that was it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response to the article, Mr. Rath wrote on social media Saturday, \u201cWe were private citizens. We had no government mandate to offer anything. We only went to Washington to express the aspirations of hundreds of thousands of Albertans for a free and independent Alberta and to gauge U.S. support for such a project.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were gratified by the expressions of enthusiasm by U.S. officials and the fact that Citizens of Alberta receive a far warmer welcome in Washington than we would ever receive in Ottawa.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Rath told The Globe previously that he believes the Albertans\u2019 overtures to Washington garnered attention at the highest levels of the U.S. administration. In January, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described a \u201cwealth of natural resources\u201d in Alberta, which he said had been trapped by domestic opposition to a Pacific pipeline.<\/p>\n

The investigation also revealed that separatist advocate David Parker brokered an invitation-only meeting near the Calgary airport in January, where Republican strategists from Michigan discussed software that could be used to boost the sovereignty campaign and help sway the referendum outcome.<\/p>\n

The meeting involved representatives from 10X Votes, a U.S. company co-founded by Drew Born, who is part of an influential and wealthy family of Republican donors and has publicly advocated for Alberta separation and annexation by the U.S. On July 1, Mr. Born wrote on social media: \u201cOn this Canada Day, I hope this is the last year Alberta is part of Canada.\u201d <\/p>\n

Mr. Parker did not acknowledge multiple attempts to reach him for comment regarding The Globe\u2019s investigation that detailed the meeting in Calgary, which had not been publicly revealed. He wrote on social media Saturday that the Republicans from Michigan were \u201cfriends who agree with me politically.\u201d<\/p>\n

Opinion: We must call Alberta separation what it is<\/a><\/p>\n

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith<\/a>\u2019s spokesman said on Sunday that she \u201cis not affiliated with these individuals and has no knowledge of these alleged meetings.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe also opposes separation or becoming a U.S. state,\u201d Sam Blackett said in an e-mail. \u201cIn fact, many of these individuals in question have been relentlessly attacking the Premier for her support for remaining in Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Kenney, the former Alberta premier who has spent months sparring with independence advocates online and at town halls, said The Globe\u2019s investigation highlighted \u201cincoherence and chaos\u201d within the separatist movement.<\/p>\n

The separatist cause has never made a sustained push past 30-per-cent support in polling. Separatist leaders have called on Albertans to send a message to Ottawa by voting in favour of pursuing sovereignty. But Mr. Kenney said the discord should give Albertans frustrated with Ottawa pause.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just hope that severely normal, frustrated federalists who think this is a clever way of sending a message start paying attention to the movement,\u201d he said in an interview Sunday. \u201cThey will be empowering this shambolic movement of people, including those who are colluding with a foreign power and offering to give away aspects of Alberta sovereignty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Kenney wants Albertans to curtail their influence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s lots of ways to send a message about the need for reform in the federation, without turning these MAGA bootlickers into a major part of Alberta politics.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Depth: A country with its elbows up faces separation threats on two fronts<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr. Kenney has a history with some of Alberta\u2019s most prominent separatist advocates. They railed against the public-health measures his government imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic, such as vaccine passports, and campaigned against his leadership of the United Conservative Party.<\/p>\n

The former politician does not believe the trips to Washington meet the legal threshold to be considered treasonous or seditious.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s certainly disloyal and unpatriotic,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He stops short of calling on Canadian lawmakers to revise the rules in light of Alberta\u2019s experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t prevent Canadian citizens from talking to representatives of a foreign government, as long as it doesn\u2019t constitute a violation of actual treason, sharing national secrets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alberta NDP opposition leader Naheed Nenshi said he sees nothing normal about the U.S. interest and involvement in the separatists\u2019 campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s intensely bizarre, and the question is who is really pulling the strings here,\u201d Mr. Nenshi said in an interview Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Rath, whom I\u2019ve never met, is perfectly happy to brag about his connections to the Trump administration,\u201d Mr. Nenshi said. \u201cUntil it\u2019s pointed out to him that these could be seen as potentially dangerous and seditious acts, then suddenly he backs away and says, \u2018we just had a meeting with no mandate.\u2019 \u201d <\/p>\n

Mr. Nenshi said no other Canadian representative would likely get a meeting at the State Department if they just \u201cstrolled up with no mandate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot going on here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Alberta separatists participate in a rally in Redcliff, Alta., on Sept. 23. MP…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":921204,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,44,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-921203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-news","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/921203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=921203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/921203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/921204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=921203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=921203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=921203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}