Word: quebecs
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Last week the deadline came and went without the desperately sought unanimity. Instead there was constitutional confusion and, finally, admission that the controversial agreement was dead. Canada faced the 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...
...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...
...years ago, 60% of Quebec residents voted down in a referendum the idea of negotiating independence; today 56% of a polling sample favor more sovereignty for Quebec. That sentiment has gained strength from the rise of a new French-speaking business class that in the past decade has largely replaced Quebec's old English-speaking elite. Says Ghislain Dufour, head of the Conseil du Patronat, the provincial chamber of commerce: "We're much more confident than we were ten years...
Even if the Meech Lake agreement wins unanimous approval, many Quebeckers feel that greater provincial control of such areas as communications and taxation is inevitable. Says Pierre Laurin, head of Quebec operations for Merrill Lynch Canada: "People here have realized that Quebec needs a new sort of arrangement...
...arrangement, of course, would demand even more wearying constitutional debates. But if Manitoba and Newfoundland (which joined Canada only in 1949) fail to meet the Meech deadline, or reject the agreement, the issue to be debated may be Quebec's separation. Canada, which frets constantly about maintaining a separate identity from the U.S., could then lose the bilingual and bicultural character that is the country's greatest difference from its powerful neighbor...