[LINK] "Parti Quebecois toasts success of Scottish separatists, shares referendum ideas"

[rfmcdonald]

The Canadian Press' Jonathan Montpetit reports on the Parti Québécois' new interest in helping the Scottish National Party win its own referendum. Intra-Commonwealth collaboration is fine, right?

Quebec's independence movement plans to bolster ties with the Scottish National Party and share some advice as it prepares for a referendum on whether to break away from Britain.

Key suggestions for Scotland's nationalists: be careful with the timing and keep an eye out for rule-bending rivals.

The SNP has made it clear, following its landslide election win this month, that it will hold a vote on Scottish independence over the course of its five-year mandate.

The SNP holds a majority for the first time in Scotland's parliament, a position roughly analogous to where the Parti Quebecois found itself 35 years ago after its first win in a provincial election.

Since then the PQ has managed to hold two referendums on independence, in 1980 and 1995. It lost both times, though it came within less than a percentage point of triumph on the second try.

Veterans of those campaigns are urging their Scottish counterparts to pay close attention to the political climate — and be very careful about when they pull the trigger.

"It depends on local circumstances. It's up to them to prepare," said Bernard Landry, a former PQ premier who was a cabinet minister during the 1980 and 1995 referendums.

"It's not in their interests to lose one. If they feel they're ready, they'll do like (Jaques) Parizeau (and hold one)."

The SNP's leader, Alex Salmond, has indicated he will wait for the latter half of his term before holding a referendum.

To borrow a phrase from Quebec's sovereigntist vocabulary, the so-called "winning conditions" are not quite in place for Scottish independence. Only about a third of Scots currently support separating from the rest of the United Kingdom.