Word: bourassa
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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...
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...
...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...
...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...
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...