OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian politicians who almost saw their country torn apart by an independence referendum in 1995 say pro-union British leaders have been slow to learn lessons from that campaign but can still take steps to win the vote Scotland will hold on Sept. 18.
In a campaign with striking similarities to the Scottish vote, the predominantly French-speaking province of Quebec came within a whisker of deciding to split up Canada in the 1995 referendum, which saw support for separatism spike in the final week.