Meech Lake Accord - Compromise and Agreement

Compromise and Agreement

As the deadline approached, the consensus began to unravel. Pressure from voters at home brought many premiers, especially those in the western provinces, under fire. The accord became an issue in some provincial elections, as New Brunswick elected the Liberal government of Frank McKenna, which revoked the previous government's approval of the accord. Newfoundland Premier Clyde Wells would soon do likewise.

With a matter of months before the accord deadline, a commission led by prominent federal Tory cabinet minister Jean Charest recommended some changes to the accord. This prompted Lucien Bouchard, environment minister and Quebec lieutenant under Mulroney, and others to leave the Progressive Conservatives. Eventually, they and several disenchanted Liberals formed the federal Bloc Québécois party.

Arguably, the most pressure was on Robert Bourassa. To most Quebecers (at least 80%, according to various polls conducted by newspapers at the time), the accord was the bare minimum acceptable. Any weakening of the accord would undermine Bourassa's position and possibly bring a large backlash from Quebec.

This prompted a first ministers conference on June 3, 1990 (20 days before the deadline of the accord). After a week of negotiations, an agreement for further rounds of constitutional negotiations was devised to follow ratification of Meech Lake. All ten premiers again signed the "new" Accord, although Wells said that he would have to consult with the people of Newfoundland before committing to the Accord.

The agreement promised a commitment to Senate reform by July 1, 1995; the proposed Senate would be elected, "effective" (having power over most bills), and be more representative of the other provinces. If a unanimous agreement was not made, the Senate would convert to Quebec having 24 seats, Ontario having 18, Prince Edward Island with 4, and all other provinces with 8 seats. Further, it proposed a guarantee to not weaken gender equality; to give the territories the power to nominate senators and Supreme Court justices; future conferences on Aboriginal and minority language issues; and later discussions on a "Canada Clause", how new provinces would be formed, and a new amending procedure.

During the meeting, Wells echoed the feelings of many in the country:

We must never again implement this process for Constitutional reform. It is impossible for the eleven first ministers to do justice to the matters they have to consider, and it is grossly unfair to the 26 million people of this nation to have their first minister closeted and making decisions in a secret way without letting them know what was at stake, and the basis of the decisions were made.

New Brunswick soon accepted the accord, and Frank McKenna toured the nation to drum up support.

In Manitoba, however, things did not go as planned. With many First Nations protesters outside, the legislative assembly convened to approve the accord. Unanimous support was needed to bypass the necessary public consultation and Member of the Legislative Assembly Elijah Harper raised an eagle feather to mark his dissension. Harper opposed bypassing consultation because he did not believe First Nations had been adequately involved in the accord's process.

Even though a legal route was found to give Manitoba more time (the deadline would be extended three months, with Quebec being able to re-approve the Accord), Clyde Wells and opposition leader Thomas Rideout agreed to cancel the planned free vote in the Newfoundland House of Assembly, because the outcome would have most likely been a refusal. The accord was officially dead.