Canadian politicians who almost saw their country torn apart by an independence referendum in 1995 say that pro-union British leaders have been slow to learn lessons from that campaign but can still take steps to win the vote that Scotland will hold on Thursday.
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.
In both cases, an energetic "yes" camp led by a charismatic figure overshadowed the "no" campaign while each country's prime minister stayed on the sidelines in the belief that too much involvement could fuel nationalist passions.
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