TOI correspondent from Washington: Canada is finding out why New Delhi is so concerned about Khalistani people in “Kandada”. A growing separatist movement in the country’s oil-rich province of Alberta has sparked a diplomatic row with Washington at a time when relations between the United States and its Western partners are already strained over trade disputes and defense questions.At the center of the storm are revelations that leaders of the Alberta Prosperity Project (APP), a group that campaigns for Alberta independence, have held several high-level meetings with officials in Washington to discuss separation from Canada. APP representatives have reportedly met with US State Department officials at least three times in recent months, with a fourth meeting planned for February 2026 that will also include the US Treasury Department.
The most inflammatory element is the APP’s reported request for a US$500 billion credit line from the US Treasury, designed to bankroll a “day one” transition to independence if a referendum on the issue is successful. To trigger a referendum under Alberta law, the group must collect 177,732 valid signatures by the beginning of May. Organizers boast of momentum after large rallies in Calgary and Edmonton, while a counter movement, “Alberta Forever Canada,” says it has already mobilized thousands against secession. Some polls show support as high as 30 percent in favor of Alberta’s separation from Canada. Gallingly to Ottawa, the group sought early diplomatic signals that Washington would recognize an independent Alberta, while also discussing federal Canadian approval and alternative pipeline routes through the US Pacific Northwest to bypass the province of British Columbia. Alberta is the wealthiest of Canada’s ten provinces because of its energy; This accounts for more than 90 percent of Canada’s proven oil reserves and 80 percent of its current production. Radical Canadian nationalists are criticizing the APP, accusing it of betrayal and sabotage. “Going to a foreign country and asking for help in breaking up Canada, there’s an old-fashioned word for it. And that word is treason.” David Abe, Premier of British Columbia, where Khalistani separatists are active, said on Thursday. Ontario Premier Doug Ford called the meetings “unacceptable and immoral”, and urged Alberta Premier Danielle Smith to unequivocally condemn the movement.MAGA influencers, intrigued by President Trump’s idea of making Canada the 51st US state, are more than happy to jump into the fire, though APP separatists say they want independence, not annexation. “It’s time to make a deal with Canada. We’ll take Alberta, and they can take Minnesota,” one social media troll joked, referring to the unease in the two regions on either side of the world’s longest international land border of 8,890 kilometres.Washington’s official response has been cautious. The White House and State Department say they meet regularly with civil society groups and insist that no commitments have been made. But the involvement of senior figures, including Treasury Secretary Scott Besant – who has publicly described Alberta as a “natural partner” for the US – has raised suspicions in Ottawa that the interest is more than academic. Canadian officials are privately concerned that Alberta separatism could provide leverage in future trade or energy negotiations. The episode has reopened deep questions about Canada’s federal model. Alberta’s complaints – over energy policy, equal pay and environmental regulation – are not new, echoing decades of isolation from Ottawa. What is new is the extent to which those grievances are intersecting with external actors at a particularly delicate time in US-Canada relations. The development is also inconvenient for Quebec, the country’s largest province, where separatist sentiment has waxed and waned for generations. The near-miss Quebec referendum of 1995 remains the country’s deepest constitutional blow, and federal officials are well aware that any perception of weakness could re-ignite separatist forces.