By Ben Meiselas
I just spoke with Meidas Canada leader and former Member of Parliament Charlie Angus about what is rapidly becoming one of the most consequential international stories of this moment. Canada is not just frustrated with Donald Trump and his regime. Canada is openly furious, and with good reason. What we are witnessing right now is a direct challenge to Canadian sovereignty, democratic norms, and the postwar international order, driven by a Trump regime that cannot tolerate being exposed, challenged, or outperformed on the global stage.
The breaking point came at Davos.
Prime Minister Mark Carney delivered a speech that was widely praised across Europe and beyond. It was calm, substantive, and forward-looking. Carney spoke clearly about Canada’s response to changing U.S. trade policies and laid out a vision of democratic cooperation, global partnerships, and domestic investment. In stark contrast, Donald Trump delivered what many observers described as a rambling and hostile performance. Trump was widely mocked and derided. The contrast was so glaring that it sparked global coverage and, as Angus said, left Trump humiliated.
That humiliation appears to have triggered retaliation.
Shortly after Davos, Trump’s Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent went on regime-friendly media outlets and falsely claimed that Prime Minister Carney had apologized for his remarks and “walked them back” during a private call with Trump. Bessent asserted that Carney had acknowledged he was wrong and that Canada was too dependent on the United States to chart an independent course.
It was a lie.
Carney addressed it directly and publicly. “To be absolutely clear,” Carney said, “I meant what I said in Davos.” He explained that Canada understood the shift in U.S. trade policy and was responding by building partnerships abroad, investing at home, and redefining its economic relationships through legitimate diplomatic channels. Carney made clear there was no apology and no retreat.
What followed fits a familiar authoritarian pattern, and one we have been warning about.
Trump’s regime quickly escalated from rhetoric to provocation. As Canada forcefully rejected Trump’s repeated “51st state” taunts and threats of punitive tariffs, the Trump regime and its media allies began floating something far more dangerous: the idea of breaking Canada apart from within.
Specifically, they began amplifying far-right separatist movements in Alberta.
Angus, who has been traveling across Alberta on the Meidas Canada Resistance Tour, was blunt. “This is the Donbas playbook,” he said, referencing Vladimir Putin’s strategy of destabilizing Ukraine by backing separatist movements and then using that manufactured unrest as justification for coercion and territorial aggression. Angus warned that Trump’s allies are attempting the same strategy, seeding chaos, disinformation, and division to weaken Canada from the inside.
On right-wing extremist programming in the United States, Bessent openly speculated about Alberta leaving Canada, praising its natural resources and suggesting it might be better off aligning with the U.S. He referenced rumors of a referendum and portrayed Alberta as a “natural partner” for America. These comments were not offhand. They were deliberate.
According to Angus, Alberta separatist groups have been meeting in Washington and claiming that massive financial backing is available to support their efforts. “These are not credible people,” Angus said. “This is astroturf. This is foreign interference dressed up as grassroots.”
The danger, Angus emphasized, is not that these movements represent the will of Albertans. They do not. In fact, quite the opposite. Angus described massive rallies in Calgary and Edmonton where people overwhelmingly rejected separatism and affirmed their commitment to Canada. “You will not find any place in this country more proud to be Canadian than Alberta,” he said.
The danger is that legitimacy does not matter to authoritarians.
What matters is provocation.
Angus pointed to examples from Georgia, Moldova, Donbas, and Donetsk, where manufactured crises were used to justify repression or aggression. “It doesn’t matter whether these people are legitimate,” he warned. “What matters is that it gives authoritarians an excuse to act.”
That is why Alberta, right now, is the front line.
Angus explained that Alberta’s far-right provincial government under Premier Danielle Smith has mirrored the MAGA playbook. He cited gerrymandering, attacks on judges, threats to public healthcare, and efforts to privatize essential services. Once a gold standard for public health and education, Alberta is now grappling with outbreaks and systemic deterioration driven by ideological extremism.
At the same time, Smith has supported a constitutionally illegitimate referendum process aimed at undermining Canadian unity, while ignoring legitimate grassroots efforts that reaffirmed Alberta’s place within Canada. Indigenous nations, Angus noted, have categorically rejected the separatist push, pointing out that their treaties with the Crown long predate the existence of Alberta itself.
Zooming out, Angus framed Canada’s response as part of a broader global realignment. As Trump lashes out at allies and embraces authoritarian strongmen, democratic nations are deepening ties with one another. Canada is expanding partnerships across Europe and Asia. The European Union and India have announced major trade agreements. The Trans-Pacific and transatlantic frameworks are strengthening. Countries are connecting the dots, and the dots being excluded are Russia and the Trump-led United States.
“Canada is being seen as a world leader right now,” Angus said. He pointed to the grassroots boycott by ordinary Canadians that inflicted real economic damage on MAGA-aligned interests, followed by Carney’s diplomatic leadership on the world stage. “They are terrified of that,” Angus said. “They don’t want a democratic, inclusive, rule-of-law country on their border showing another way.”
That fear explains the escalation.
Angus did not mince words in his message to Trump. He described Trump as out of his depth and warned that Canadians, particularly Albertans, are far tougher than Trump understands. He recalled conversations in Europe honoring the sacrifices of Canadian soldiers who helped liberate villages during World War II. “We are fierce people,” Angus said.
The stakes, he made clear, extend far beyond Canada.
“Right now Canada is holding the line for the free world,” Angus said. That line is being tested by disinformation, intimidation, and deliberate attempts to fracture democratic societies. The response, he argued, must be clarity, solidarity, and resistance.
Canada has drawn its line.
And it is not backing down.
