Word: bourassa
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...heritage, which is threatened by immigration and a provincial birthrate that is below replacement level. In a bid to resolve the impasse, Mulroney assembled the ten provincial premiers in April 1987 at a retreat at Meech Lake, Quebec. The group cobbled together constitutional amendments that met Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa's five "minimal" demands for more provincial power. Chief among the concessions was an affirmation of Quebec's right to preserve and promote its status as a "distinct society...
Canada tried to do that when it rewrote its constitution in 1982 to add a bill of rights, but the then separatist government of Quebec refused to endorse the new document. The Meech Lake accord, based on proposals put forward by Quebec's Premier Robert Bourassa, was designed to overcome the province's opposition. Since then, however, newly elected governments in Manitoba, New Brunswick and Newfoundland have refused to ratify it. The holdouts argue that the accord grants Quebec special legislative powers over language and culture that other provinces do not have, and could endanger the civil rights...