Yesterday’s much-anticipated Scottish referendum on independence has come to a close, and the No side has won. But it has certainly not yielded definitive answers. In fact, many questions and points of contention have come to the forefront, and mark the beginning of new terrain for Scottish politics.

There was only one question on the ballot for Scots who, as early as 16, were to vote on whether or not Scotland should be an independent country. The referendum came to fruition when the Scottish National Party won a majority in the last Scottish election and sought to pose this question to the electorate. The results were, of a very high 84.6% turnout, 55.3% voting No and 44.7% voting Yes.

David Cameron has since introduced a new devolution plan for Westminster to transfer more sovereignty to Scotland. As the current distribution of power has Scotland already holding a fair amount, this could mean an almost-working definition of Scottish independence.  Subject to the magnitude (or lack thereof) of Cameron’s upcoming policy, there could be some change in Scotland’s favour, irrespective of a No vote.

42% of a very high voter turnout choosing in favour of Scottish independence is not something to ignore. It shows that a considerable amount of people, at the very least, believe that there are benefits to being a sovereign state, and at most have deep seated qualms about how the current state of government is working.

As Canadians, we shared a similar experience with the 1995 Quebec referendum. There is, was, and will always be a current of nationalism in Quebec, as well as Scotland, because of the intrinsic differences they have with Canada and England, respectively. The presences of cultural, lingual, and historical traditions that perpetually clash or misalign are an inevitable cause for future dispute.

However, the length in which both entities (Canada and the United Kingdom) have been in existence show that, in one way or another and in varying degrees over time, it is possible for such coexistence to occur. But the fact remains that Scotland has a long road ahead of them in order to achieve the independence they desire.