Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney took a swing at an upcoming vote on Alberta’s independence, calling it a “dangerous bluff.”

“In these separation issues, it is often advanced that, ‘Vote for this and it’s a free option,’ ‘Vote for this and we will strengthen your — our hand in a future negotiation.’ That is a very dangerous bluff, that is a very dangerous bluff,” Carney told reporters Monday, calling it an “observation from experience.”

“I saw firsthand what happened in the United Kingdom, when the view was, ‘Vote for this, it’ll be soft, and then we’ll negotiate, etc.’ And they ended up, and they’re still — 10 years later — trying to undo what people didn’t think they were voting for,” Carney, who ran the Bank of England from 2013 to 2020, said, likely referencing the Brexit vote.

In October, Alberta is set to have a referendum about no longer being a part of Canada.

But Premier Danielle Smith said last week that the vote will not determine the separation, The Associated Press reported. Voters are set to determine if it’s the time to have a referendum about leaving the country, according to Smith, the AP reported.

“I want to be clear. I support Alberta remaining in Canada, and this is how I would vote on separation in a provincial referendum. It is also the position of my government,” she said, according to the AP.

A “yes” vote in a binding referendum still would not trigger independence. Negotiations with the federal government would have to take place. A 1998 Supreme Court ruling means provinces cannot secede unilaterally from Canada, AP reported.

The Trump administration earlier this year reportedly took meetings with a fringe far-right separatist group from Alberta. British Columbia Premier David Eby harshly critiqued the Alberta Prosperity Project and Trump administration meetings as amounting to “treason,” in response to reporting by the Financial Times.

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