B.C. Premier David Eby says Alberta separatists meeting with the U.S. administration and seeking financial backing is an act of “treason,” as the issue of national sovereignty loomed over a meeting between the premiers and Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday.

“To go to a foreign country and to ask for assistance in breaking up Canada, there’s an old-fashioned word for that, and that word is treason,” said Eby, ahead of the closed-door meeting in Ottawa.

He was reacting to reports that members of U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration have held meetings with members of the Alberta Prosperity Project, a separatist group that is pushing for the western province to become independent.

The group is openly seeking a $500-billion US line of credit from the U.S. Treasury to help bankroll the new country if they come out victorious in a referendum.

An official with the U.S. State Department confirmed the meetings, saying the department “regularly meets with civil society types,” but added that “no commitments were made.”

“It is completely inappropriate to seek to weaken Canada, to go and ask for assistance, to break up this country from a foreign power and — with respect — a president who has not been particularly respectful of Canada’s sovereignty,” said Eby, whose province would be cut off from the rest of the provinces.

“I think that while we can respect the right of any Canadian to express themselves to vote in a referendum, I think we need to draw the line at people seeking the assistance of foreign countries to break up this beautiful land of ours,” he said.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said she “supports a strong and sovereign Alberta within a united Canada,” although her critics point out she made it easier last year for an independence petition to succeed.

At a closing news conference Thursday, the premier said she expects the U.S. administration to “confine their discussion about Alberta’s democratic process to Albertans and to Canadians,” adding she’ll raise the issue with both her delegates in Washington and Ottawa.

Asked about the cross-border meetings, Carney would only say he expects the U.S. administration — which has previously made jabs about making Canada the 51st state — to “respect Canadian sovereignty.”

The prime minister said Trump has not raised either Alberta or Quebec sovereignty in the leaders’ conversations.

“I’m always clear, in my conversation with President Trump, to that effect and then move on to what we can do together,” he said.

‘Enough is enough’: Ford

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew joked to reporters earlier in the day that all the talk makes him want to have a referendum as well.

“Except in Manitoba the question is going to be ‘do you want to stay a part of Canada?’ and the two choices are going to be yeah and heck yeah,” he said before sitting down with his counterparts.

“So that’s where we’re coming from.”