Prime Minister Mark Carney’s top security official says Ottawa expects the United States administration to stay out of Canada’s domestic politics.
When asked Tuesday if she viewed the U.S. as a potential threat to Canadian democracy, National Security and Intelligence Advisor Nathalie Drouin said the federal government is on guard against any threat to Canadian democracy, including the U.S.
“Canada has expectations with all countries, including the United States … (that) there should be no interference in our domestic affairs,” Drouin told a House of Commons committee.
“And we have to look at the situation in an agnostic way; no country should be interfering in our domestic affairs.”
Her comments come after U.S. officials reportedly met with Alberta separatist campaigners, and after a member of U.S. President Donald Trump’s cabinet made public comments that appeared to encourage the independence movement.
Drouin was speaking to a Commons committee investigating foreign interference in Canadian elections — a conversation that usually focuses on threat actors like China, India, Russia and Iran, which have attempted to covertly meddle in Canadian politics.
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But Drouin’s answer suggests that the Trump administration is being viewed as a potential threat, even while remaining Canada’s most important economic and security partner.
On Jan. 23, Trump’s treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, made public comments about the fledgling independence movement in Alberta, and suggested the province would make a “natural partner” for the U.S.
The following week, media reports revealed separatist leaders met with unnamed U.S. Treasury Department officials to discuss possible support for the independence movement, which they hope will include a $500 billion credit facility in the event that the province passes an independence referendum, according to the Financial Times.
“Alberta has a wealth of natural resources, but (Ottawa) won’t let them build a pipeline to the Pacific,” Bessent told the right-wing American media outlet Real America’s Voice, failing to mention the recent agreement between Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith on pipelines.
“There’s a rumour they may have a referendum on whether they want to stay in Canada or not … People are talking. People want sovereignty. They want what the U.S. has got.”
Responding to Bessent’s comments last week, Carney told reporters he expects “the U.S. administration to respect Canadian sovereignty.”
A senior federal official, speaking to Global News on the condition they not be named, said Bessent’s comments were taken as “influence” rather than “interference” and that there is “a big difference” between the two.
The official cited former French president Charles de Gaulle’s 1967 proclamation, “Vivre le Québec libre,” which was viewed as support for the Québec separatists’ cause.
As a general rule, the official said, Canada doesn’t comment on other countries’ domestic political debates, and Ottawa expects the same treatment from foreign powers.
Leah West, an associate professor at Carleton University and a former Department of Justice national security lawyer, agreed the reported meetings between U.S. officials and Alberta separatist leaders don’t constitute foreign interference.
“Certainly, the actions of the U.S. in this case could be described as detrimental to Canadian interests, but it’s not clandestine or covert. They weren’t meeting secretly under a bridge,” West said in an interview.
“It doesn’t meet the legal threshold (of interference) … But that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t test the idea of America’s lack of respect of Canadian sovereignty.”
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