The former leader of the United Kingdom during the Brexit referendum says you can’t compare that debate to Alberta’s prospective split from Canada.

David Cameron largely avoided talking directly about the Alberta separatism debate when speaking at an energy leadership conference in downtown Calgary on Monday morning.

But Cameron says that Alberta’s vote toward secession in October is about the future of a country rather than the United Kingdom’s membership in a trade association.

Cameron led the United Kingdom for six years leading up to the 2016 vote to split the United Kingdom from the European Union.

Also speaking about the proposition for Scotland to become an independent country in 2014, he called the idea of a fragmented United Kingdom a tragedy.

However, he also says not calling the Scottish independence referendum would have been built resentment and worsened the situation.

“I was very nervous about it because if you have a referendum, you can’t guarantee what the results are going to be,” Cameron said Monday at a conference while speaking about the independence vote in Scotland.

— More to come…