It is a truth universally acknowledged that virtually no one, with the possible exception of the American porn star Stormy Daniels, has ever benefited from a relationship with Donald Trump.
This axiom is likely to apply to Alberta’s premier, Danielle Smith, who raced off to Mar-a-Lago a year ago to be at the U.S. president’s side, as well as the de facto separatist wing of this province’s United Conservative Party, the so-called Alberta Prosperity Project.
At least the middle of the deadly occupation of Minneapolis by the reconstituted Army of the Confederacy was probably not the ideal moment for U.S. President Donald Trump’s “underhanded and sleazy” Treasury Secretary to weigh in on Alberta separatism, when self-appointed Alberta separatist leaders have been claiming they’re holding secret talks with high officials in the Trump Administration about quick diplomatic recognition in the event Alberta unilaterally declares independence.
Clearly Scott Bessent had been briefed by someone when he started bloviating on Alberta politics during a right-wing TV show south of what we used to call the longest undefended border in the world.
“I think we should let them come down into the U.S.,” Mr. Bessent opined last week, referencing a “rumour that they may have a referendum on whether they want to stay in Canada or not” and falsely claiming that Ottawa “won’t let them build a pipeline to the Pacific.”
It would be interesting to know where he picked that up. Mr. Bessent may be “truly vile, like the rest of the Trump crew, despite the Wall Street polish,” observed Nobel economics laureate Paul Krugman in a recent Substack, but “unlike virtually all other Trump cabinet members, Bessent isn’t a fool.” So it’s probably safe to assume that he knows he’s lying.
Regardless of what the APP’s leaders say, it’s widely understood here in Wild Rose Country that if you scratch an Alberta separatist you’ll usually find a 51st stater.
So a moment when the still-unfolding crisis in the Gopher State appears to be close to the domestic equivalent of DEFCON 2 is probably not the best time for the APP to be putting on a full-court press to persuade Albertans that a step toward U.S. statehood would be just peachy and we should all start using the U.S. dollar.
Despite much publicized and possibly staged lineups to sign the APP referendum petition in rural Alberta, one would think most sane Albertans would say no thank you to the opportunity to become part of the violent shitshow next door.
Naturally, this didn’t stop a UCP-friendly political columnist for the U.S.-owned Postmedia newspaper chain from cheering on Mr. Bessent and the local separatists.
But it may explain why Premier Smith took to the radio waves yesterday to try to persuade Albertans that while she’s done everything humanly possible to ensure the APP’s unconstitutional referendum question can get on a ballot, she’s not really a separatist like many of her caucus, cabinet and party officials.
“When I talk to people who are frustrated with the way we’ve been treated for the past 10 years, they don’t say, therefore, I want to be an American state,” she told the host of her Your Province, Your Premier radio program, which is basically an advertising platform for the UCP provided by Corus Entertainment. “That is not what I am hearing. They want a new relationship with Canada, and that’s what I’m doing. I’m forging a new relationship with Canada.”
It’s important to remember, though, that Ms. Smith’s definition of provincial sovereignty is simply not possible in a united Canadian federation because it would elevate Alberta to the status of a super-province with the right to ignore federal legal jurisdiction and the territorial jurisdiction of other provinces.
So that dog won’t hunt. This may explain the urgency the premier obviously feels to ensure a separatist referendum is on the ballot, opening the door the deluge of foreign-funded disinformation and manipulation that is already starting. And this would include Mr. Bessent sticking his oar in.
As for what the separatists have in mind for an independent Alberta, take a look at The Edmonton Journal’s recent report of what was said at a recent APP townhall in Didsbury, population 5,000, 80 kilometres north of Calgary.
Brexit redux? Only worse. God help us!