Word: bourassa
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...divisive possibility that Quebec would reject any further attempt to negotiate with the other provinces on the issues that had riven the country and consumed so much of its energy. "In the name of all Quebeckers, I want to announce my profound disappointment," said a drawn Premier Robert Bourassa. "English Canada must clearly understand that Quebec is today and forever a distinct society, capable of ensuring its own development and its destiny...
...entire point of the Meech Lake accord was to bring Quebec into the reformed 1982 constitution the province had refused to sign. Another goal was to short-circuit Quebec's up-and-down aspirations to break away from confederation in favor of separate nationhood. To those ends, Mulroney and Bourassa had supported the "distinct society" clause as the means to preserve Quebec's French language and culture, a deep concern among the province's 6.5 million residents. Seven other provincial premiers agreed, with varying degrees of reluctance...
...Quebec, Jacques Parizeau, leader of the separatist Parti Quebecois, struck a pose shoulder to shoulder with his rival Bourassa. "Canada is saying no to Quebeckers," he declared. "I say to my premier, let's try to find a way together to the future of Quebec...
Ever since, the Meech Lake agreement has been a catchall for discord, pitting English speakers against French, and Canada's eastern and western regions against the central provinces of Ontario and Quebec. In 1988 passions flared after Bourassa overrode a Canadian Supreme Court ruling by passing a law that banned English on outdoor commercial signs in Quebec. English speakers across the country expressed outrage, and some later engaged in highly publicized Quebec-flag stomping. About 60 municipalities have since passed symbolic ordinances declaring English their sole official tongue. Said - Mayor Joe Fratesi of Sault Sainte Marie, in explanation...
...great gain for Quebec," said Bourassa after the negotiations, "and a great gain for Canada." Not to mention a political necessity for Bourassa. The constitutional imbroglio revived the cause of Quebec separatism, which the Meech Lake accord had been intended to defuse. With nationalist sentiment growing, the premier could not show the slightest sign of buckling under pressure from his fellow premiers. Waiting for Bourassa to make a slip was Jacques Parizeau, leader of the opposition Parti Quebecois, the party that endorses the concept of Quebec nationhood. "Faced with what we consider wrong and profoundly humiliating," says Parizeau...