Meech Lake Accord, Charlottetown Accord & the 1995 Referendum

Meech Lake Accord, Charlottetown Accord & the

1995 Referendum

Review Question:

Why were Quebec people so unhappy with Canada’s 1982

constitution amendments ?

Brian Mulroney

• Conservative Prime Minister 1984 – 1993

• He won the 1984 electionby promising to bring Quebecinto the constitution.

Meech Lake Accord (1987)

• Quebec would be recognized as a “Distinct Society”

• More power to the provinces– Ex. Immigration control & Constitutional veto

• Opting Out Clause• New Amending Formula–House/Senate must pass it, plus 2/3 of the

provinces with 50% of the population

Read pages 201 & 202

•Why did the Meech Lake Accord fail?

•What was it missing?

Why did it fail?• Pierre Trudeau (retired) was very vocal against it. He

thought it would isolate Quebec and make them different

• Many Canadian’s thought it was giving too much power to Quebec

• First Nations were upset it didn’t contain anything for them

• Citizens had not been involved in the process

• Manitoba and Newfoundland withheld their support and the Meech Lake Accord died in 1990

Elijah Harper

• A Cree NDP member of Manitoba’sLegislature opposed Meech Lake and he made sure it didn’t pass

Impact of the Failure of the Meech Lake Accord

• Quebec separatism was on the rise

• Two new federal political parties were formed:

– Bloc Quebecois (Federal separatist party)

– Reform Party (western right wing party)

Charlottetown Accord

• Brian Mulroney tried a second time to bring Quebec into Canada’s constitution

• This time, he promised to include something for everyone, and citizens would be involved in the process by putting the constitutional amendments to a national referendum

Charlottetown Accord:

• Distinct Society for Quebec• Self-government for First Nations• More power for the Provinces– Forestry– Mining– Immigration

• Opting Out Clause• Senate Reform (Triple E Senate)• House of Commons reform (Quebec gets ¼)

Read pg. 202-203

•Why did it fail?

•Was the long term impact?

National Referendum (1992)

• 54.5% of Canadians voted NO to the Charlottetown Accord– 68.3% of BC citizens voted NO (the highest)• Didn’t like Quebec getting ¼ of the House of Commons

forever, even if BC passed Quebec in population

• It had so many clauses, there was something everyone liked and something everyone disliked in it

Impact of the Charlottetown Failure

• Changes in politics:

– Mulroney quit as Prime Minister in 1993, and he was replaced by Kim Campbell (1st female PM), and the next election, the Liberal Party won a majority government (Jean Chretien)

– Parti Quebecois won the provincial election (1994)

– Lucien Bouchard and his Bloc Quebecois become the Official Opposition Party in the 1993 Federal election

– 1995 Referendum on full sovereignty for Quebec

1995 Referendum• Quebec PQ Premier Jacques Parizeau against Canadian

Prime Minister Jean Chretien

• 49.4% of Quebeckers voted “yes” to full sovereignty

• 50.6% voted “no”

• Prime Minister Chretien passed the Clarity Bill after the referendum so the Federal Government has more power in the future to approve a clear referendum question

– This makes future referendums on sovereignty harder