Quebec Shows Scots Question Returns Even If Answer Is No

In late summer 2011, three months after Alex Salmond secured an unprecedented majority in elections to the Scottish Parliament, officials from his party flew to Montreal to learn how to organize a referendum.

There, the Scottish National Party delegation met with separatists from Parti Quebecois waging their own four-decade battle to split from Canada, fighting on after calling -- and losing -- two plebiscites in 1980 and 1995. Conscious of that failure, the Scots had one request: no media.