meech lake accord, charlottetown accord & the 1995 referendum
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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 election by promising to bring Quebec - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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
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)
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