B.C. premier says Alberta separatists seeking assistance from U.S. is 'treason'

British Columbia Premier David Eby says Alberta separatists meeting with the U.S. administration for financial backing is an act of "treason" and it's an issue he'll raise as the premiers gather with the prime minister in Ottawa on Thursday. 

"To go to a foreign country and to ask for assistance in breaking up Canada, there's an old-fashioned word for that, and that word is treason," said Eby ahead of the closed-door meeting. 

He was reacting to multiple reports that members of U.S. President Donald Trump's administration have held meetings with members of the Alberta Prosperity Project, a separatist group that is pushing for the western province to become independent.

The group is openly seeking a $500-billion US line of credit credit from the U.S. Treasury to help bankroll the new country if they come out victorious in a referendum.

"It is completely inappropriate to seek to weaken Canada, to go and ask for assistance, to break up this country from a foreign power and — with respect — a president who has not been particularly respectful of Canada's sovereignty," said Eby, whose province would be cut off from the rest of the country.

"I think that while we can respect the right of any Canadian to express themselves to vote in a referendum, I think we need to draw the line at people seeking the assistance of foreign countries to break up this beautiful land of ours," he said.

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew joked to reporters that all the talk makes him want to have a referendum as well.

"Except in Manitoba the question is going to be 'do you want to stay a part of Canada?' and the two choices are going to be yeah and heck yeah," he said before sitting down with his counterparts.

"So that's where we're coming from."

Heading into the same meeting, Ontario Premier Doug Ford urged Alberta Premier Danielle Smith "to stand up and say enough is enough." 

Last week, Smith said she "supports a strong and sovereign Alberta within a united Canada," although her critics point out she made it easier last year for an independence petition to succeed. 

Organizers of the Alberta independence movement are collecting signatures in order to trigger a referendum in that province. The pro-independence campaign has been travelling across the province as organizers try to collect nearly 178,000 signatures over the next few months.

Last week, a senior Trump adviser spoke encouragingly about the prospect of Alberta separating from Canada.

"They have great resources. Albertans are a very independent people," U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told the conservative website Real America's Voice.