Quebec and National Unity
Key to the national unity debate is the ongoing issue of Quebec separatism. Following the failure of two constitutional initiatives in the past 14 years, Canada is still seeking a constitutional settlement that will satisfy the aspirations of the French-speaking province of Quebec. The issue has been a fixture in Canadian history, dating back to the 18th century rivalry between France and Britain. For more than a century, Canada was a French colony. Although New France came under British control in 1759, it was permitted to retain its religious and civil code.
The early 1960s brought a Quiet Revolution to Quebec, leading to a new assertiveness and heightened sense of identity among the French-speaking Quebecois, who make up about one-quarter of Canada's population. In 1976, the separatist Parti Quebecois won the provincial election and began to explore a course for Quebec of greater independence from the rest of Canada.
In a 1980 referendum, the Parti Quebecois sought a mandate from the people of Quebec to negotiate a new status of sovereignty-association, combining political independence with a continued economic association with the rest of Canada. Sixty percent of Quebec voters rejected the proposal. Subsequently, an agreement between the federal government and all provincial governments except Quebec, led to Canada in 1982 assuming from the United Kingdom full responsibility for its own constitution. Quebec objected to certain aspects of the new arrangement, including a constitutional amending formula that did not require consensus among all provinces. The 1987 Meech Lake Accord sought to address Quebec's concerns and bring it back into Canada's constitutional fold. Quebec's provincial government, then controlled by federalists, strongly endorsed the accord, but lack of support in Newfoundland and Manitoba prevented it from taking effect. Rejected in its bid for special constitutional recognition, Quebec's provincial government authorized a second sovereignty referendum.
Intense negotiations among Quebec, the federal government, and other provinces led to a second proposed constitutional accord in 1992--the Charlottetown Accord. Despite near-unanimous support from the country's political leaders, this second effort at constitutional reform was defeated in Quebec and the rest of Canada in an October 1992 nationwide referendum. Tired of the country's constitutional deadlock, many Canadians prefer to focus on economic issues. Nonetheless, the election of the sovereigntist Bloc Quebecois as Canada's official opposition in 1993 and the subsequent election of the separatist Parti Quebecois as Quebec's provincial government in September 1994 kept national unity in the forefront of political debate and resulted in a second referendum on the issue.
This referendum, held in Quebec on October 30, 1995, resulted in a narrow 50.56% to 49.44% victory for federalists over sovereigntists. Quebec's status thus remaind a serious political issue in Canada. In December 1999, the Chretien administration introduced the so-called "Clarity Bill", setting out the federal role in any future referendum on Quebec?s status. Both houses of Parliament subsequently approved the legislation. Bernard Landry, who succeeded Lucien Bouchard as Premier of Quebec in March 2001, pledged to promote independence for Quebec.
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