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A Globe and Mail investigation reveals Republican strategists aided Alberta's separatist campaign, leading to a massive privacy breach and U.S. interest in Alberta's resources.
A Globe and Mail investigation has uncovered that Republican political strategists from Michigan were on the ground in Alberta this year to assist the separatist campaign, while harboring their own aspirations for the province to secede from Canada. The collaboration involved the use of a voter mobilization software called 10X Votes and ultimately resulted in a massive privacy breach affecting nearly three million Albertans. The investigation also found that Alberta separatist leaders offered key resource assets, including access to fresh water and crude oil royalties, to the U.S. State Department in exchange for help transitioning to independence.
Michigan Strategists and 10X Votes Software
In late January, Mitch Sylvestre, leader of the Alberta Prosperity Project, met with three lieutenants and Republican strategists from Michigan in a boardroom near Calgary International Airport. The Americans, who helped Donald Trump win Michigan in the 2024 U.S. presidential election, were there to sell software developed for Republicans to get out the vote. The software, known as 10X Votes, mines voter lists to identify communities of like-minded people that could be mobilized to swing elections. David Parker, an organizer for Alberta separation, brokered the meeting and championed the software, calling it the most effective way he has ever come across to win a campaign.
Gregory Hartzler, a financial consultant to the Alberta Prosperity Project, attended the gathering and recalled the American attendees as affable fellows in casual clothes. Sylvestre described them as young Christians, capable and intelligent people, and said they prayed before starting the meeting. Drew Wierda, one of the founders of 10X Votes, was identified as being present at the meeting. His co-founder, Drew Born, has openly called for the U.S. annexation of Alberta, writing on social media in August that he prays daily for Alberta to separate from Canada.
Privacy Breach and Security Concerns
The embrace of the Michigan delegation led to a massive privacy breach involving the sensitive personal data of nearly three million Albertans. The breach raised alarms inside Canada's security agencies, according to a classified document obtained by The Globe and Mail. The separatist cause has never made a sustained push past 30 percent support, and Parker saw the software as the path to victory. However, the breach has highlighted the risks associated with engaging foreign actors in domestic political campaigns.
In Washington, the Trump administration has quietly displayed detailed knowledge of Canadian secessionist history, indicating an interest in the outcome of the referendum on October 19, in which Albertans will decide whether to pursue independence. Alberta sovereignty has become a talking point for senior American leaders and influential conservative voices, giving legitimacy to a separatist cause that might otherwise have been a fringe provincial movement. The ballot question is, in effect, a referendum on whether to have a second referendum.
Washington Overtures and Resource Offers
When Alberta separatist leaders went to Washington to meet with the U.S. State Department, they offered up key assets from the province's resource portfolio, including access to fresh water and royalties on crude oil, in exchange for help transitioning to independence. The Globe also found that Republican political operatives were on the ground in Alberta to assist the separatist campaign, while harboring their own aspirations for the province to secede. Through interviews on both sides of the border, people involved in politics, the corporate sector, and Alberta's pursuit of separatism described persistent efforts by figures in the U.S. administration and conservative political establishment to support groups seeking American expansionism and independence for Alberta.
The Alberta separatist campaign got under way in January with a rally on the Calgary Stampede grounds, near the city's downtown. In May, Sylvestre posed with boxes of signed petitions for a referendum on Alberta sovereignty. Albertans have other decisions to make on October 19, on issues from immigration to amending the Constitution. The investigation underscores the growing entanglement between U.S. political operatives and Alberta's separatist movement, raising questions about foreign influence in Canadian affairs.
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