 PETER BLACK Wrath of Meech revisited
Doing my part for the Meech Lake Accord 10th anniversary post-mortem and regret-a-thon that surely has been inflicted on the nation these past few days, I reread my copy of the Bélanger-Campeau Commission report.
For those playing catch-up in the jargon of the époque ("distinct society" "roll the dice" "bastard Trudeau" etc), the B-C commission was the late Robert Bourassa's specific political response to the collapse of the Accord.
Indeed, the commission took as its theme, mantra, and justification Bourassa's dramatic Chambre Rouge declaration that surreal June weekend that Quebec is free and able to determine its own destiny.
It's important to remember that while in the rest of the country people could turn off Newsworld and jump back into the pool to enjoy their summer, in Quebec the collapse of Meech was as close to an apocalyptic event as can be imagined in peacetime. The massive river of blue and white that flowed through Montreal for the fête nationaleparade that weekend was proof Quebecers wanted the death of Meech avenged.
So Bourassa created the Bélanger-Campeau commission, co-chaired by a federalist star of the Quiet Revolution (the late Michel Bélanger), and a sovereignist senior bureaucrat (future Parizeau finance minister Jean Campeau), both of whom found themselves later in life as powerful businessmen.
The commission, comprising a delicately balanced mix of members, but with an ever-so-slight federalist tilt, began work in the fall of 1990 and rendered its report in March, 1991.
A read of the commission report gives a sense of just how pumped up the Quebec political class was by the Meech fiasco, how utterly frustrated politicians were with the constitutional process, and how determined they were to not be toyed with again by the "Rotary Club presidents" who ruled English Canada.
What is also striking, 10 years later, is just how much Quebec has climbed down from the sizzling anger sparked by the death of Meech.
Despite the fact there is this day a nominally sovereignist government in power in Quebec and it is more or less determined to force the issue of sovereignty some time in the foreseeable future, nothing in the current political landscape compares to the steely determination to call the shots expressed in the B-C report. It is quite probably, given its non-partisan facade, the official embodiment of the wrath of Meech.
After a preamble that tries heroically to reconcile federalist and separatist doctrine, what the report amounts to is an ultimatum to Canada to come up with an acceptable package of constitutional reform that would stick. The "or else" was a referendum on sovereignty that, given the mood of the province, would have been a sure bet to win.
The ultimatum came down to this Mission Impossible-style threat in the report: "Should a final attempt to renew federalism fail, sovereignty would be the only course remaining."
And to back up that threat, the report discusses in some detail the implications of sovereignty and calls for the creation of a parliamentary commission to examine ways and means. It also actually sets dates for a possible referendum in either June or October, 1992.
It's important to remember that this was a document signed by the duly elected premier of Quebec, regardless of whether or not his heart and mind were as legible or affixed as his signature.
The B-C Commission launched Canada on the wrenching process that led to the Charlottetown Accord, with Bourassa rejoining the talks once he was convinced it just might get him off the hook for a referendum.
The life and death of the Charlottetown Accord is, of course, another story. Briefly put, though, despite its failure, the Charlottetown experience did help dissipate some of the anger over Meech, although not enough to prevent Lucien Bouchard from becoming federal opposition leader or Jacques Parizeau from becoming premier.
Many of the Meech players are now gone from the political scene, indeed three of the original ten premiers are gone from this mortal toil. In Quebec, much of the visceral anger over Meech has evaporated and contemporary politicians have a much more difficult time recreating the feelings of hurt, humiliation, anger and determination.
But if anybody doubts how high ran the feelings at the time, and how high they might run again, have a read of B-C.
Copyright © 2000 Peter Black/Log Cabin Chronicles/06.2000 |
