1. Meech Lake Accord, Charlottetown Accord & the 1995 Referendum

2. Review Question: Why were Quebec people so unhappy with Canada’s 1982 constitution amendments ?

3. Brian Mulroney Conservative Prime Minister 1984 – 1993
He won the 1984 election
by promising to bring Quebec
into the constitution.

4. 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

5. Read pages 201 & 202 Why did the Meech Lake Accord fail?
What was it missing?

6. 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

7. Elijah Harper A Cree NDP member of Manitoba’s Legislature opposed
Meech Lake and he
made sure it didn’t pass

8. 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)

9. 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

10. 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)

11. Was the long term impact?
Read pg
Why did it fail?
Was the long term impact?

12. 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

13. 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

15. 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