The surging "yes" campaign in Scotland's upcoming referendum is giving Quebec sovereigntists a "clue" about how to run a successful independence campaign, says a Parti Quebecois MNA.

Thursday's referendum is now considered too close to call, largely due to a "yes" campaign that has surged in recent months.

Six months ago, no one believed that Scotland had a chance at becoming a separate country, says Alexandre Cloutier, MNA for Lac-Saint-Jean, who is in Scotland to observe the referendum.

“It used to be a movement that was supported by a member of parliament of the [Scottish National Party],” Cloutier told CTV News Channel Wednesday in a telephone interview. “Obviously now, it’s much broader. It’s no longer an SNP movement, it’s a population movement.”

Cloutier is among a group of PQ and Bloc Quebecois members who are observing not only the referendum but the campaign tactics of both sides.

One of the key factors that has turned around the “yes” campaign is that 3,000 small- and medium-sized businesses got behind it, Cloutier said. Typically, fears about what independence will mean for the economy spurs many voters in an independence referendum to vote “no,” Cloutier noted.

However, during the run-up to the Scottish referendum, the SNP has “tried to answer all of those questions to make sure the business sector felt secure,” he said.

“It gives us some clue and new argument on how to do things,” Cloutier said. “This is why we’re here.”