Spots 
Former British prime minister David Cameron, who oversaw his country’s vote on Brexit as well as a referendum on Scottish independence, says he sees significant differences between those and Alberta’s coming vote on separation.
Speaking at an energy conference in Calgary on Monday, Mr. Cameron said he wishes he had spent more time at the negotiating table before allowing a vote that took the outcome out of his hands. “I wouldn’t compare what you’re discussing here with the Brexit referendum,” he said.
“Brexit was about whether we wanted to stay in a trade association with an element of political union. I mean, Canada is not a trade association with an element of political union. Canada is an amazing country with an incredible history.”
Mr. Cameron, who resigned as prime minister in 2016 the day after Britain narrowly voted to leave the bloc, said he wishes he’d “pushed the pause button” and taken longer to negotiate with the European Union.
He added that he failed to convince people to vote in favour of remaining in the EU, suggesting he didn’t campaign forcefully enough for that side.
The former British prime minister made the comments exactly three weeks before Alberta voters will have their say on whether they want a second, binding secession referendum – a vote that frequently draws comparisons to Brexit.
Echoes of Britain’s 2016 referendum on its membership in the EU have loomed large over Alberta’s separation debate. Prime Minister Mark Carney, who was governor of the Bank of England at the time of the British vote, has called Alberta’s plan a “dangerous bluff” and pointed to parallels between the two referendums.
Mr. Cameron called the 2016 vote under pressure from segments of his party that were skeptical of the European Union. He campaigned to stay in the EU, but the loss led to more than four years of negotiations between Britain and the bloc.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, meanwhile, has pointed to discontent in her province over Ottawa’s direction on energy policy under former prime minister Justin Trudeau as the impetus for the Oct. 19 referendum. In March, 2025, Ms. Smith threatened an “unprecedented national unity crisis” if Ottawa did not scrap laws she viewed as hostile toward Alberta’s energy industry. Mr. Carney has since eliminated many of those laws.
While Ms. Smith has argued that she called the referendum because of public demand – notably in two competing petitions that garnered hundreds of thousands of signatures – her detractors have accused her of attempting to appease separatists who make up a substantial part of her political base, according to public opinion polling. The Premier has said she and her colleagues in the governing United Conservative Party favour remaining in Canada.
Former British prime minister David Cameron, who oversaw his country’s vote on Brexit as well as a referendum on Scottish independence, says he sees significant differences between those and Alberta’s coming vote on separation.