Word: distinctive
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...global trend may be on Mulroney's side. From the old Russian empire to the new Europe, there is a devolution of power not only upward toward supranational bodies and outward toward commonwealths and common markets, but also downward toward freer units of federation that would allow "distinct societies" to preserve their identity and govern themselves -- without bolting altogether. If Canadians, French and English speaking alike, choose to be part of that pattern, the current crisis over Quebec will pass just as those earlier ones did, perhaps never to be repeated again...
With the collapse of the 1987 agreement that would have formalized the province's right to "preserve and promote" its "distinct society," centered on 5.5 million French speakers, Quebec remains outside the 1982 constitution. It must now decide where it wants to go: to full independence, to sovereignty inside an economic union or simply to a further loosening of Canada's confederation. Like people from the Soviet Union to Western Europe to Southern Africa, Quebeckers will have to choose what compromise between central power and national autonomy will serve them best in the 21st century...
...need the "distinct society" clause in the constitution...
...Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. He had stressed time and again that the Meech Lake effort would fail unless two balking provinces voted to ratify the accord. At the center of Mulroney's concern was the agreement's recognition that Quebec could preserve and promote a unique status as a "distinct society" within Canada, based on the fact that the province is the only one with a French-speaking majority. Many other Canadians, including former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, charged that the accord might fatally weaken the country...
...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...