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This story is the second of two installments of a feature interview with U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra. Read also: U.S. ambassador denies donations delayed Gordie Howe Bridge opening
U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra says the Trump administration has not met with Alberta separatists, nor discussed any potential financial support for an independent Alberta, directly contradicting claims made by prominent separatists.
“No, we’re not meeting with the separatists and strategizing this at all,” Hoekstra told Global News.
A report in the Financial Times, citing sources familiar with the talks, said leaders of the Alberta Prosperity Project met three times with U.S. State Department officials in Washington since April.
Alberta Prosperity Project leader Jeffery Rath, the group spearheading the separatist movement, has publicly stated his organization has met with American officials. That includes a meeting with US Treasury officials to discuss a potential US$500-billion line of credit for an independent Alberta.
Hoekstra was dismissive of the separatists’ claims, saying “separatists can say whatever they want.”
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Asked if there were conversations about a potential line of credit with the separatists, Hoekstra said “no, not that I know of.”
When asked if the Trump administration wants Alberta to stay a part of Canada, Hoekstra would not give a definitive answer.
“That’s the president’s call,” he said. “I think at this point in time, we’ve made it very clear we are not going to take a position on that. That’s a decision that has to be made by the people of Alberta, the province of Alberta, and the federal government.”
That position offers a stark difference from a previous administration.
During the Quebec referendum campaign in February 1995, then-U.S. President Bill Clinton called for a united Canada.
“Canada has stood for all of us as a model of how people of different cultures can live and work together in peace, prosperity and respect,” Clinton said in a speech to the House of Commons.
Hoekstra anticipates the Trump administration will not get involved in the fall referendum.
“I’m not going to get a directive, I don’t believe, from the President of the United States, from our Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, that says, ‘Pete, go out there and do what you can to advocate for, secession or for the people of Alberta to vote to stay as part of the Confederation,’” Hoekstra told Global News.
Despite the ambassador’s claim of not getting involved in Alberta politics, several premiers criticized Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent after he said in January that Alberta is a “natural partner for the U.S.
“The Albertans are a very independent people,” Bessent said on the Real America’s Voice podcast. “They want what the U.S. has got.”
Hoekstra dismissed Bessent’s comments, saying, “Canadians get upset about a number of things.
“There are lots of instances of Canadian politicians saying things about American politics or American policies and those types of things that I’m not happy about,” he said. “I don’t focus on them.”
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