Word: quebecs
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...outcome was unmitigated disaster for 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...
...fight is not with Quebec," said Harper, who throughout his stonewalling clutched an eagle feather as a sign of divine guidance. The province's aims "are the same goals we as aboriginal people are seeking to achieve." Ottawa's attempts to mollify Harper with promises of an active role in future constitutional reform were rejected by native leaders. Said Manitoba's Ovide Mercredi: "We aren't interested in horse-trading...
What next? The 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...
...other of separation from the rest of Canada. The stage was set for a demonstration of that unhappy feeling as the province prepared for its "national" holiday, St. Jean Baptiste Day, on June 24. It augured to be one of the most fervent expressions of nationalist sentiment that Quebec had seen for decades. Such passions may not fade easily. Last week it was difficult to see through the shattered accord how Canada might put the pieces back together again...