Scottish Independence: Edinburgh, Scotland

Independent Scotland Dept: The recent Edinburgh Agreement between Scotland s First Minister Alex Salmond and Britain s Prime Minister David Cameron, which laid the groundwork for a referendum on Scottish independence in 2014, has unleashed a fresh series of comparisons this time, between Scotland and other places with independence movements, according to Montreal Gazette. From a Scots-Canadian perspective, the closest parallel between Scotland and anywhere else is not Quebec, Ireland, Iceland, or Norway it s Canada. Indeed, it is Groundhog Day for people like me who lived in Canada for many years and live in Scotland now and edinburgh, Scotland Comparing a future independent Scotland to other places is all the rage. Visions of Scotland as a new Ireland or new Iceland have come and gone, their reputations as thriving small countries shredded by banking meltdowns and financial collapses. Comparisons with Nordic states are ongoing, but none is a perfect fit. Foremost among these is Quebec, which is deemed to be similar to Scotland because it has already experienced two independence referendums. However, the independence movement in Quebec differs from that in Scotland in at least two fundamental ways: creating a new country is not the same as restoring the independence of an old one, and Scotland has no equivalent of the language issue that has been so definitive in Quebec. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.