Jeffrey Rath, Mitch Sylvestre, and Dr. Dennis Modry, of the Alberta Prosperity Project (APP), were in Washington DC, on Monday to discuss Albertan independence with cabinet-level US officials.This was the second round of talks the APP has had with members of the Trump administration, after a first meeting took place back in April.“We wanted to talk further about things that Albertans would be interested in knowing from a due diligence perspective with regard to independence,” Rath — the APP’s legal counsel — told the Western Standard.According to Rath, this week’s meeting marked a significant step forward.“We had a very productive meeting at a very senior level with the Trump administration. One of the people that was in our meeting left to go directly to the Oval Office,” he said, stating that the level of the meeting is an indication of the strong support from the United States for Alberta independence.He declined to disclose which officials attended, saying that both parties had agreed to confidentiality.Rath said the discussions touched on what Alberta would seek from the US if independence were achieved.“We’re very interested in US recognition of Alberta as an independent nation-state immediately upon the result of a successful referendum,” he explained.He added that free trade was central to the meeting, saying the “principles of reciprocity” in the context of a future Alberta-US trade agreement and the possibility of establishing a common market between the United States and Alberta, which would see “zero tariffs on all goods and services on both sides of the border,” was openly discussed.“They were very interested in the process, and where we were at in terms of moving things forward,” Rath said of his American counterparts..Alberta Prosperity Founder says a successful independence referendum would fix Canada.As for whether Alberta could ever become the 51st state, Rath pushed back on the speculation.“Everybody’s always worried that somehow we’re talking about Alberta becoming a state. That discussion came up, and we all laughed,” he said.“It’s extremely unlikely,” Rath continued, pointing to the fact that the Democrats would demand Puerto Rico and Washington DC, also be admitted as states to the union in exchange, emphasizing the difficult process of achieving statehood.“We would need to have our own constitution, which would have to be approved by the Congress and the US Senate,” he said.“There’s no magic fairy wand. It’s completely unrealistic — not likely to happen within the next twenty years.”Support for independence has grown in recent months, along with the province’s frustrations with Ottawa. A recent provincial poll indicates that the United Conservative Party (UCP) has 43% of voter support in the province.However, some critics are skeptical. Adrienne Davidson, assistant professor of political science at McMaster University, told the National Post that she hadn’t “seen anything compelling yet to suggest that the referendum question, were it to move forward, would get anywhere near the support that would be required to actually move it into the next stage of the process.”.UPDATED: Alberta Prosperity Project says its goal is still to become a 'sovereign nation'.Rath maintains that support is growing and says that 75% of UCP members are on board with independence.“Every week that goes by, Carney does something else to completely screw Alberta over,” he said, citing the fact Ottawa recently decided to maintain the emissions cap.“Support for independence is growing, and the Americans see that too. From a standpoint of economic development, who the hell is going to invest in energy projects in Alberta when they could be shut in by the federal government because they’re over the emissions cap?”Premier Danielle Smith consistently downplayed independence during her recent series of Alberta Next panels across the province, repeatedly stating she wants “a strong and sovereign Alberta within a united Canada.”She reiterated this on Tuesday, telling the National Post, that, “My responsibility is to try to make sure that Alberta has a new and renewed relationship with Ottawa, and as part of what the Alberta Next panel discussion is about , it is also important to identify the ways in which we may take on more responsibilities as we become stronger as an economy and have a stronger population.”Rath, however, accused her of ignoring her base.“My question for Danielle is: given that now over 75% of her members favour independence, how the hell does she hold on to her leadership when she’s thwarting the wishes of 75% of her party members?” he said.“She’s just governing as a dictator and does not care that a supermajority of her party disagrees with her policy position of working for a united Canada.”
