Word: quebecers
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This week, Canada's ten provincial premiers huddled contentiously in a downtown Toronto hotel to find some way to obstruct or reform Trudeau's latest package, which he hopes to present to the British government by early 1981. Premier Rene Levesque of Quebec, head of the separatist party that decisively lost a plebiscite last spring on the right to negotiate with Ottawa for sovereignty-association, characteristically produced the most biting quote. He called Trudeau's plan a "proposed coupt d'etat...
...long time held an inordinate piece of the economic pie. The Maritime provinces, traditionally the weakest economically, fear that greater centralization could jeopardize their already tenuous position. And Levesque stands to gain the most personally from a country in disarray; he could then tell his constituency that Quebec would better be able to fend for itself by seceding...
Almost ironically, Canadian voters have struck an odd balance of power. At the federal level, Trudeau won a majority, toppling Conservative leader Joe Clark's minority government after only nine months. But among the provincial premiers, not one belongs to a provincial Liberal party. In Quebec, the federal Liberals' stronghold, Levesque holds forth as the second-most popular politician--behind Trudeau--and the provincial leader determined to lead the anti-federalist camp. In a strange fashion, Canada has demonstrated checks and balances without a constitution...
MONTREAL--They started coming Thursday night. French-speaking fanaties in crested hockey jackets waved Expos pennants up and down Rue Sherbrooke, having made the trip down from Trois Rivieres or Quebec City that afternoon. Distinguished-looking men in business suits stepped off the Air Canada non-stop from Toronto with Expos buttons on their lapels. Frustrated New Englanders arrived from Brattleboro and Bangor, wearing Red Sox jackets and Expos hats...
Most of the premiers had rejected Trudeau's proposed changes on the grounds that some of their considerable powers would be usurped. They argued that under British parliamentary tradition, human rights are more securely protected by legislatures than by the courts. Quebec's Lévesque, for example, opposed the language-rights formula because he felt it would undermine his provincial government's control over Quebec's cultural identity. Indeed, the premiers were anxious to talk about expanding their powers and blamed Trudeau for insisting on a heavily centralized view of Canadian federalism...