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When asked whether Scotland might still achieve independence someday its foreign minister sounds optimistic, adamant, and a little like Rene Levesque.

In reacting to an initial Quebec referendum defeat in 1980, the first words uttered by the Parti Quebecois founder, forcing a smile as he addressed a cheering crowd, were, “If I’ve understood you correctly, what you’re telling me is, ‘It’ll be next time.”‘

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Fast-forward to modern-day Scotland, and the cabinet secretary there for culture and external affairs is equally resolute about the fate of her homeland.

“I know that the solution for Scotland will be independence,” Fiona Hyslop said in an interview with The Canadian Press. “I expect that will come at some point.

“The issue is not, ‘If.’ It’s just a case of, ‘When.”‘

Members of her Scottish National Party are suggesting that the, “When,” might not be for another generation, after their 10-percentage-point loss in Thursday’s independence referendum.