This blog is closed.

I'm closing this blog. Again, it's become an infrequently updated, unpopular thing so I'm starting fresh. New details available soon.

Scottish Independence - the Canadian argument

Yes, I'm still an Englishman and yes, I still support Scottish independence. Why, because although no process of creating a new country is smooth and free from complication, I get the feeling that things will be OK in the end. And England will be just fine too. Not perfect, but we never were anyway.

Just look at those who have gone before you, and take a look at how well they've fared, particularly those Western countries that were formerly part of the British Empire.

When America fought for independence, it was not without a struggle, lives were lost but ended up being the number one economy in the world and an economic, political and cultural zeitgeist. Same goes for the Republic of Ireland, which hasn't done bad for itself.

On the other side of the world, we have Australia and New Zealand, who still have the Queen as their Head of State, but rule their own affairs and have strong economies, and are such an attractive place to be, that many, many Brits are moving there every year.

I went to an emigration event last year. My wife is desperate to leave the UK and I wanted to find out more information for myself. I'm curious but not so eager to leave. It was last October at the WorkingIn event in Manchester. There were advisors from Australia and New Zealand there, as well as advisors from one other place. They talked about things to bear in mind about emigrating, the hard truth as it were, as well as some facts about their countries. All of them got out of recession quicker than the UK, and are just getting on with being better while we as a country struggle to turn a profit.

Anyway, the other country, as above, was Canada and I'll focus on this one a little bit. Canada severed its last ties with Westminster a little over 30 years ago in 1982, having gained independence bit by bit for decades. It still has the Queen as it's Head of State, but is a country in it's own right. Economically, Canada is doing quite well, seeing as it is currently a member of the G8, and is popular for emigration from both the UK and the USA.

So, what does this mean for Scotland? Well, I'll look at the similarities you guys share.

1) Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia was one of the first places discovered in Canada, receiving it's name in 1621, and you can easily see it translates from Latin to "New Scotland" (as opposed to the New England bits further south in the USA). Quite a bit of an endorsement for a new country. And the flag of Nova Scotia is a reverse Saltire (white background, blue cross) with the Scottish Rampant Lion in the middle. Kind of like a tribute, really, to the real deal.

Beautiful.

2) A fondness for Plaid

It says it all really, though Canadian Plaid typically (as worn by the typical lumberjack) is more red, I'm guessing to stand out amongst all the trees. Also, as worn by loads of people everywhere in some shape or form...

Oh fuck yes.

3) An understated contribution to media

There's a lot of output from BBC Scotland and other Scottish-based media companies, and yes it does include things like Balamory and Me Too (I have a daughter of 4 so cBeebies does go on from time to time) as well as a lot of serious drama and stuff. And quite a lot of actors, scriptwriters and authors hail from up north as well. I watch Doctor Who so I know how much this is true.

For Canadian actors, many people assume they're American until they find out they aren't. And if you look up Vancouver, it has a nickname of "Hollywood North" due to it's impressive media output, that you may have never known about until I told you just now. Along the same lines, Scotland could still hold it's own in the world of media.

And lest ye not forget that in the world of Sci Fi, there was a quite prominent Scottish character, who was called Mr Scott, or Scotty, i.e.

Played by James Doohan, who is also best known as being completely and utterly Canadian.

4) You'd be the UK's Canada, and we'd be your USA

If you go independent, you'll be a country north of us, which is slightly colder and politically more to the left. Us lucky people would be a little more exposed to the fucking lunacy of UKIP, which I noted at times were in favour of destroying the NHS, reducing taxes on the rich and deregulation of ownership of guns. Yes, guns. So basically, we're in danger of looking a lot more like 'Murica, should enough thick people decide they want to use their power to vote next year. It's the only thing making me wishing to have a Tory majority government instead (though that in itself is not my ideal situation). You don't want Trident, but I get the feeling that England does more. And we'll be keen to keep up our "special relationship" and sell shitloads of weaponry to everyone.

We may as well not worry any more about what our flag would look like with Scotland gone.

(yes, that's 51 stars, yes I'm trying to be too clever.)

5) You both pronounce "about" as "aboot"

I thought I'd put this one a bit further down the list.

"I wish I never deep fried that Kraft Dinner, Philip. There's something bubbling in my ass!"

I of course learned how to speak Scottish from a Maynard's Wine Gums advert.

6) A fuckload of islands

I found out today that Scotland has 790 islands. This is Canada.

Nobody has counted all of Canada's islands, but estimates are in hundreds of thousands.

Summary

So basically, you're a bit like Canada. The weather is a bit nippy, there are some really remote places of your country to go to and get lost in, and you're a proudly multicultural society that has a strong sense of national identity. And why should economical worries be a problem? Canada has very strong trading links with the US, just as much as Scotland will do with the rest of the UK.

There are some differences, as two countries are never the same (seeing that Canada is much bigger, and has an independence issue of its own with Québec), but that isn't really a flaw in the argument. I'm just demonstrating that as a similar country, you can go it alone and you can make it a success and you don't need to look back.

Just don't create any of your own Justin McBiebers. Thank you for your consideration.