By David Ljunggren
OTTAWA, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, asked about reports that U.S. officials had met separatists seeking independence for the province of Alberta, on Thursday said he expected the U.S. administration to respect Canadian sovereignty.
The Financial Times said State Department officials had held three meetings with the Alberta Prosperity Project, a group that is pushing for a referendum on whether the energy-producing Western province should break away from Canada.
"We expect the U.S. administration to respect Canadian sovereignty. I'm always clear in my conversations with President Trump to that effect," Carney told a press conference.
Trump, he added, had never raised the question of Alberta separatism with him.
The APP, which says Ottawa's policies are stifling the province, wants another meeting next month with State and Treasury officials to ask for a $500 billion credit facility, the Financial Times reported.
Alberta premier Danielle Smith said she wanted to stay part of Canada but noted that polls show 30% of the population was fed up with what it saw as Ottawa's excessive interference.
Alberta is landlocked and Smith is pressing for another oil pipeline to the Pacific Coast. That would have to cross the neighboring province of British Columbia, whose premier David Eby has ruled out the idea.
Eby, whose relations with Smith are usually chilly, told reporters earlier that "to go to a foreign country and to ask for assistance in breaking up Canada ... is treason".
Last week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told a radio station: "I think we should let them come down into the U.S."
Asked about a possible Alberta referendum, he replied: "People want sovereignty. They want what the U.S. has got."
Carney and Trump have repeatedly traded barbs in recent weeks. Carney, who calls the U.S. president a skilled negotiator, suggests some of Trump's recent comments could be tied to a review of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade pact that is due to start later this year.
(Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Chris Reese and Diane Craft)
