Trump Just Found Canada's Weak Spot

The Trump administration is spurring an independence movement in Canada. And if it succeeds, it could destroy Canada. Welcome to American Uncovered, I'm Chris Chappell. Be sure to leave an American or Canadian flag in the comments to show YouTube we've got engagement. And make sure you're still subscribed. YouTube has a habit of unsubscribing people without telling them. Oh Canada, the great white north, home of the Mounties, the sugar shack, that milk that comes in a bag. And a separatist crisis threatening to rip the country apart. Oh, I knew it. Those Frenchies up in Quebec are causing trouble again. What's wrong with those poutine slurpee—oh wait, what's that Shelley? It's not the French this time? Okay, disregard that last part. I just hope Bill Shatner doesn't block me over that. Nope, the hot new separatist movement du jour rocking Canada isn't Quebec, but the western province of Alberta. The group at the center of it all is the Alberta Prosperity Project, or APP. The APP is a non-profit whose goal is to break Alberta off from the rest of Canada and become an independent state. Since the beginning of this year, organizers have been collecting signatures for a referendum on Albertan independence. They only need to collect around 178,000 signatures, or 10% of Alberta's registered voters to trigger a vote. But why would Albertans want to leave Canada in the first place? Is having to share a country with Leaf fans really that bad? Maybe. But it goes deeper than that. You see, Alberta has a lot of grievances with the government back in Ottawa. And many of these grievances are centered around oil. That's because Alberta is an energy giant, containing the fourth largest oil reserves in the world. It produces around 85% of Canada's oil. As a result, Alberta contributes a lot to the country. From 2007 to 2022, only a handful of provinces were net contributors, and Alberta was by far the largest. More than double the contributions by British Columbia and Ontario combined. That doesn't seem very fair. Albertans effectively are subsidizing the rest of Canada. That doesn't sit too well with a lot of people. But if that wasn't bad enough, Alberta has to contend with a whole host of environmental and other regulations coming out of Ottawa. These include higher taxes on CO2 emissions, contributions towards electric infrastructure between provinces, massive data centers, and spending tens of billions of dollars on the Pathways Carbon Capture Project. The result is Alberta's oil sector becoming more expensive to operate and less competitive. And there really isn't much Alberta can do to change any of this, at least within Canadian politics. See, Alberta is the home of Canadian conservatism. But Liberal Party strongholds like Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritimes have kept Canada's parliament liberal for some time now. We're now in our 11th year of continuous Liberal Party rule in Canada. So if you can't change Canada from the inside, maybe the best option is to just leave? And if that's the case, it looks like Albertan separatists are getting some help from their neighbors down south. The Financial Times reports that leaders of the Alberta Prosperity Project traveled to Washington three times since April of last year to meet with officials in the Trump administration. In addition to moral support, they're also seeking a $500 billion line of credit from the US to temporarily bankroll the province should the independence referendum pass. And oh boy, did this ruffle some feathers on the old Canadian goose. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney demanded that the US respect Canada's sovereignty, while the Premier of British Columbia called the talks treason. Hmm, it's treason then. But hey, calme-toi, mon petit ami. The US says there's nothing to worry about. The State Department spokesperson assured us that they meet with civil society groups all the time. This was just a routine meeting, and no commitments were made. Granted, if the shoe were on the other foot and the Canadian government was hosting a Texan separatist group to discuss leaving the United States, we'd probably freak out, too. And it doesn't help that Treasury Secretary Scott Besson seems to be egging on the separatists. Alberta is a natural partner for the US. They have great resources. The Albertans are very independent people. Rumors that they may have a referendum on whether they want to stay in Canada or not. People want sovereignty. They want what the US has got. He seems to be implying that an independent Alberta would enjoy deeper integration with US markets, less environmental regulations, and more... Drill, baby, drill. What does this mean in practice? Maybe some sort of free association agreement with the US, like we have with places like the Marshall Islands or Palau? Maybe Alberta could become a US territory, or maybe even a state. Geopolitical analyst Peter Zion floated that idea more than a decade ago. I'm not saying that this is going to happen. What I'm saying is that every economic, financial, diplomatic, energy, inflationary, and labor problem that Alberta has would be solved by this solution. And it's legal. Regardless of what would happen to an independent Alberta, you have to ask, why are US officials doing this? Is Albertan independence the first step in making Canada the 51st state, like Trump has so frequently mused? Honestly, I hope so, because if the plan is to just scoop up Alberta, that would make for the ugliest map I've ever seen in my life. Though maybe Trump's plans for Alberta aren't that complicated. This could just be a way of putting pressure on Canada over issues that have nothing to do with the province. For instance, Canada has been getting real close to China. Way too close for Trump's liking. Amidst trade disputes with the US, Canada has turned to China for its electric vehicles, despite the obvious risks. China, meanwhile, has dropped visa requirements for Canadian tourists and businessmen, hoping to draw the country even further into their sphere. And then you have Prime Minister Carney's whole Chinese-Canadian New World Order thing. I believe the progress that we have made in the partnership sets us up well for the new world order. Yeah, that's the kind of stuff the US really doesn't like to hear. So it sounds like the US is saying, you want to be friends with China? Fine, we'll just keep this independent movement in our back pocket, just in case. Whether Alberta stays independent or becomes part of the US doesn't really matter. If the US started to really put its weight behind an independence movement, like it did in Bosnia, Kosovo, or South Sudan and elsewhere, and that movement succeeded, that would trigger the biggest constitutional and economic crisis in modern Canadian history. Canada would instantly lose control over the vast majority of its oil production. Its largest next tax contributor. Gone. And without cheap energy and transfer payments to send to the rest of the provinces, more separatist movements would spring to life. I'm looking at you, Quebec. Now to be clear, this whole referendum thing is by no means a sure thing. Albertan separatists haven't even collected all the signatures needed to trigger the referendum, let alone win it. But support for it is hovering around the same levels as calls for Quebec's independence. And the last time Quebec had a vote, they gave Ottawa one hell of a scare. What do you think? Is Albertan independence a good idea? Should the US support it? Leave your comments below. I do read as many as I can. And if you want to support America Uncovered, subscribe to my website AmericaUncovered.tv. Just click this button here or the link below. Once again, I'm Chris Chappell. Thank you for watching America Uncovered.