Politicians often refer to examples in history to make a point about a particular idea, policy or event. It can be an effective tool in everything from election campaigns to legislative speeches. Except when it’s not.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney recently made a significant political blunder when he tried to compare a referendum that will occur in one of the country’s provinces to, of all things, Brexit. Not only was this a poor campaign strategy, it ended up massively backfiring and leaving the PM with plenty of egg on his face.
Let’s go back a few steps to understand why.

