Canada and the World Backgrounder articles from October 2002

Canada and the World Backgrounder archives from October 2002

Canada's search for national harmony.
October 1, 2002... MAKING THE CONSTITUTION It has been said that there are two things the public should never watch being made -- sausages and constitutions. The processes, it seems, are so messy that the public appetite for both will be lost. In Canada's...

Who speaks for the regions? Former Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau once famously asked: "Who speaks for Canada?" He added that, "Our strength lies in our national will to live and work together as a people. Weaken that will, that spirit of community and you weaken Canada. Weaken Canada, and you damage all the parts, no matter how rich some of those parts may be." (National Unity--Introduction).
October 1, 2002... The Liberal Party of Canada captured 41% of the votes in the 2000 federal election. But, because of the way our electoral system is set up, the Liberals won 100%, of the power. To win a seat in the House of Commons a candidate only has to...

An "inner colony": die-hard separatists in Quebec feel oppressed, as if governed by a colonial power. It might be productive for people in the rest of Canada to try to understand their point of view rather than complain about Quebeckers being spoiled. (National Unity--Quebec's Anger).
October 1, 2002... Normand Lester used to be a reporter for Radio-Canada (the CBC in Quebec), until he got suspended. It was the publication of his book Le livre noir du Canada anglais (The Black Book of English Canada) in 2001 that got Mr. Lester into trouble....

"Maitres chez nous": the popularity of the notion that Quebeckers should be "masters in their own house" has ebbed and flowed over many decades. (National Unity--Quebec Sovereignty).
October 1, 2002... The riding of Saguenay, Quebec was won by the separatist Pard Quebecois in the 1998 provincial election by a whopping majority of more than 10,000 votes; the people in the Saguenay region, voted 73.3% in favour of sovereignty in the 1995...

Sovereignty by the back door? All the provinces complain about not receiving enough money from Ottawa, but sometimes it's hard to tell whether Quebec's cry for more is in response to its special needs or simply political maneuvering. (National Unity--Special Status).
October 1, 2002... For many Canadians, Quebec already has sovereignty within Canada. The province operates its own pension plan, labour market training, and has its own legal and justice system. According to a column in the Financial Post by Diane Francis, Quebec...

A long and winding road our constitution sets down the law of the land for most of us, except for Quebec, and that's a problem. (National Unity--The Constitution).
October 1, 2002... Twenty years ago, the Constitution came home to Canada, but Quebec did not then, and has not since, signed the document. The nationalist Parti Quebecois provincial government was excluded from the final negotiations of the legislation because...

Part of the family: with a history almost as long as Quebec's separatism although not as virulent, Western Canada is still upset about control from Ottawa. (National Unity--Western Alienation).
October 1, 2002... For the West, the issue is not one of separation from Canada. People who support the idea are considered a fringe group, and no one seriously expects that to change. After all, the Reform Party started with the slogan "The West Wants In," a...

A crumbling vision: there seems to be trouble in the Canadian family over the concept of sharing. Equalization is meant to help Canada's poorer provinces, with Ottawa taking revenue from the richer provinces and giving it to the poorer ones so every Canadian can have access to an equal level of government services. (National Unity-Inequality).
October 1, 2002... While Alberta is super rich, some other provinces are not. New Brunswick Premier Bernard Lord says: "Unfortunately, where you live is increasingly an important factor in how equally you are treated as a Canadian." And that, he says, is causing...

Quote ... unquote.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2002... "Quebec doesn't need to obtain Canada's consent to become sovereign." Jacques Parizeau, former Premier of Quebec, 1994 "Where is the consensus in Canada... that Quebec should have anything that all other provinces haven't got,...

Making the constitution.(Related article: Not So Capital Ideas)
October 1, 2002... It has been said that there are two things the public should never watch being made--sausages and constitutions. The processes, it seems, are so messy that the public appetite for both will be lost. In Canada's case, the rule applies. Since the...

Charlottetown Conference.
October 1, 2002... CHARLOTTETOWN September 1864 Delegates from all over the Maritime colonies have gathered here to discuss forming a political union. The idea of such a union isn't new. Nova Scotians like it because, as the biggest colony, they would...

Quebec Conference.(Quebec Conference)
October 1, 2002... QUEBEC CITY October 1864 The old capital of New France is hosting an important conference about the future of the British colonies in North America. The delegate list includes just about everyone of importance. John A. Macdonald,...

Quebec aftermath.(Quebec Conference)
October 1, 2002... CANADA--1864-65 The Quebec Conference delivered an agreement on 72 Resolutions to be put to each colony's legislature for approval. While all delegations to the conference approved the resolutions there is plenty of opposition back on home...

London Conference.(federation of British colonies)
October 1, 2002... LONDON--December 1866 Two years ago, the 72 Resolutions on creating a federation of British colonies in North America were agreed to in Quebec. Now, 16 men are gathered around a long table inside the Westminster Palace Hotel in the British...

British North America.(British North America Act)
October 1, 2002... LONDON, ENGLAND March 1867 Once introduced into the Westminster Parliament, the British North America Bill has received swift passage. With little or no debate, the Bill has gone from introduction to Royal Assent, on 29 March, in just 46...

Canada's first day.
October 1, 2002... CANADA--1 July 1867 The quiet of the warm evening is broken by the sound of church bells ringing. Bonfires are lit and cannons roar. Then, fireworks light up the night sky. It is just past midnight on Monday, 1 July 1867, and the Dominion...

Canada expands.(Northwest Terrorities)
October 1, 2002... LONDON, ENGLAND 1 December 1869 Canada became six times larger today. The huge expanse of Rupert's Land has been transferred to Canadian possession. In September 1670, Charles Bayly stepped ashore from the sailing ship Wivenhoe on the...

British Columbia joins.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2002... OTTAWA--7 July 1870 A month ago, delegates from the colony of British Columbia arrived in Ottawa. They came to discuss the terms under which the Pacific territory will join Canada. Among the delegation's demands was one to build a road...

Prince Edward Island joins.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2002... CHARLOTTETOWN 1 July 1873 Railway mania gripped Prince Edward Island a couple of years ago, just as it has gripped almost every community on the entire continent. The roads on the island are extremely bad and it is becoming more...

Alberta and Saskatchewan created.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2002... THE PRAIRIES September 1905 During the 1870s, Plains Indians signed treaties with the Canadian government. By these treaties, the Native People transferred ownership of their land to the federal government. Slowly at first, but then...

Statute of Westminster.
October 1, 2002... LONDON, ENGLAND 11 December 1931 Today, Canada becomes an independent nation--almost. The British Parliament has passed the Statute of Westminster, making all its Dominions free and sovereign nations; all that is, except Canada. The last...

Newfoundland joins Canada.
October 1, 2002... ST. JOHN'S, NEWFOUNDLAND--31 March 1949 The Great Depression was hard on Newfoundland and the government ran a series of deficits. The huge debts weren't entirely due to bad luck; a British royal commission blamed some of the money problems...

Fulton-Favreau formula.
October 1, 2002... QUEBEC CITY--5 June 1966 For many years, Canada's politicians have recognized problems with the country's Constitution, The BNA Act. The most serious difficulty is that there is no way to make changes to the Constitution without the...

Victoria Charter.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2002... VICTORIA, B.C.--June 1971 Close, but no cigar. Once again, Quebec has scuttled an attempt at constitutional reform. Two years ago, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau began the search for an acceptable amending formula. This seemed to have been...

Rene Levesque.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2002... MONTREAL 15 November 1976 Even Premier-elect Rene Levesque seems stunned. Certainly, the rest of the country is as the leader of the separatist Parti Quebecois has taken his followers to victory in Quebec's provincial election. Mr....

Quebec referendum.(sovereignty-association)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2002... MONTREAL--22 May 1980 "This hurts more than any election defeat." This is Premier Rene Levesque speaking as he brushes away tears. The huge crowd in the Paul Sauve Arena in Montreal is sombre, having just learned they have lost the...

Unilateral patriation.(constitution)
October 1, 2002... OTTAWA--24 October 1980 The two sides of the House of Commons face each other--the distance between the government and opposition benches is, by tradition, at least two sword lengths. Separated thus, MPs are safely far enough apart to...

Supreme Court ruling 1.(Constitution)
October 1, 2002... OTTAWA 28 September 1981 Since the federal government decided to act alone on the Constitution a year ago, relations with the provinces have become steadily more poisonous. Parliament has been paralysed into inaction on other matters...

Constitutional agreement.
October 1, 2002... OTTAWA--November 1981 The Supreme Court's decision on the Constitution left both sides claiming victory. Backing away a little from his initial decision to "press on," Mr. Trudeau agreed to sit down with the provincial premiers one more...

Constitution Act 1982.
October 1, 2002... OTTAWA--17 April 1982 In a colourful ceremony on Parliament Hill, the Queen has signed the Royal Proclamation of the Canadian Constitution. The Constitution is now an act of the Canadian Parliament, with an added Charter of Rights and...

Meech Lake Accord.
October 1, 2002... OTTAWA--3 June 1987 Senator Lowell Murray is Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's Minister of Federal-Provincial Relations. Quebec's Intergovernmental Affairs Minister is Gil Remillard. The two men have been criss-crossing the country trying to...

Meech Lake stumbles.(Meech Lake Accord)
October 1, 2002... OTTAWA--November 1989 "It's a done deal," said Prime Minister Brian Mulroney after the premiers signed the Meech Lake Accord. But, now it's looking like an undone deal. Opposition to the Accord has grown steadily since June 1987. ...

Meech Lake revived.(Meech Lake Accord)
October 1, 2002... OTTAWA--9 June 1990 Several attempts have been made over the past few months to put life into the ailing Meech Lake Accord. New Brunswick's Frank McKenna tried to sell a "Parallel Accord." Prime Minister Brian Mulroney said there would be...

Elijah Harper.
October 1, 2002... WINNIPEG--12 June 1990 Until today, very few people in Canada knew the name of Elijah Harper, the lone Aboriginal Member of the Manitoba Legislature. Manitoba's Premier Gary Filmon left Ottawa on Sunday having promised to hold a vote...

Clyde Wells.(Meech Lake Accord)
October 1, 2002... ST.JOHN'S--22 June 1990 One final act has been played out in the whole Meech Lake drama and now the curtain can be lowered for the last time. Clyde Wells of Newfoundland had reluctantly signed the deal patched together in Ottawa. He...

Quebec reacts.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2002... QUEBEC--24 June 1990 Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day is the "national" holiday in Quebec. This year it falls on the day after the collapse of the Meech Lake Accord. At a celebration, Quebec singer Michel Rivard is moved to cry: "Meech may be...

Constitutional reports.
October 1, 2002... CANADA--1990-1991 In the aftermath of the Meech disaster Premier Robert Bourassa made the rest of Canada a not-very-generous bargain: present Quebec with an offer it can accept within two years or he would pursue independence. Many...

Beaudoin-Dobbie Committee.(constitutional change)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2002... OTTAWA 28 September 1991 The Government of Canada has published Shaping Canada s Future Together, its proposals for constitutional change. They are broad and far-reaching, dealing with, among other things: the Canadian identity; Quebec's...

Charlottetown Accord.
October 1, 2002... CHARLOTTETOWN 28 August 1992 Here we are, back again where it all started, 128 years later--almost to the day. Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Joe Clark has been on an exhausting odyssey. Using the Beaudoin-Dobbie Committee report as a...

National referendum.(Charlottetown Accord)
October 1, 2002... OTTAWA--26 October 1992 Canadians, it seems, are in a grumpy mood; they don't like the Charlottetown Accord any more than they liked Meech Lake. Three quarters of eligible Canadians have voted in the referendum on the Charlottetown Accord...

October 1995 Referendum.
October 1, 2002... QUEBEC--30 October 1995 That was close, very close. In 1994, the Parti Quebecois returned to power in Quebec City under the leadership of Jacques Parizeau. The new premier campaigned on a promise to hold another referendum on sovereignty....

Trudeau attacks Bouchard.(Pierre Trudeau, Lucien Bouchard)
October 1, 2002... QUEBEC--12 February 1996 It's getting downright nasty. Four days ago, former Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau wrote a 3,500-word letter denouncing Lucien Bouchard, the Premier of Quebec. "I accuse Lucien Bouchard of having...

Calgary Declaration.
October 1, 2002... CALGARY 16 September 1997 Now, we have the Calgary Declaration. Nine premiers and two territorial leaders have been in another marathon of talk over the Constitution. This one was only 11 hours, but it brings back memories of Meech Lake,...

Supreme Court ruling 2.(Quebec separation)
October 1, 2002... OTTAWA--20 August 1998 Quebec can't separate without first consulting with Canada. That's the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada after six months of mulling over the issue. In February, some of the country's finest legal minds...

Clarity act.
October 1, 2002... OTTAWA--13 December 1999 "TRAITRE!" "VENDU!" "FASCISTE!" Such, un-parliamentary language has been shouted across the floor of the House of Commons. The shouters are members of the Bloc Quebecois. The person being labelled...

The "Neverendum" campaign.(sovereignty referendum)
October 1, 2002... GATINEAU, QUEBEC 8 September 2002 Quebec Premier Bernard Landry says another referendum on sovereignty will be held within 1,000 days--IF. The qualifier is that Mr. Landry wants to see a majority of Quebeckers in favour of sovereignty...