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Meech Lake Accord

            The Meech Lake Accord was a set of constitutional reforms designed to induce Quebec to accept the Canada Act (Monahan 1991). This particular Act made Canada a fully sovereign state. The Accord's five basic points, proposed by Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa, included a guarantee of Quebec's special status as a distinct society and a commitment to Canada's linguistic duality (Harris 1991). This paper discusses firstly the political implications that occurred in Canada, which lead to the formation of the Meech Lake Accord; secondly what was the Accord; and finally an examination of the failure of the Accord.
             Political debates have occurred between Canada and the provinces for hundreds of years. Shortly after the creation of Canada in 1867, there were disputes between the federal and the various provincial governments over areas of jurisdiction and the division of power (Harris 1991). Even though the Constitutional Act of 1867, divided the powers between the provinces and the federal government, there has always been debate over the interpretation of how and to what extent these powers should be divided. More recently, the constitutional debate has centered around the powers of the province of Quebec. Since the early 1960s successive governments have argued that their province needed additional constitutional powers to protect its language and culture (Cairns 1991). This was seriously debated on a constitutional reform at the Victorian Conference in 1970 but the arrangement adopted at that time failed to win the necessary approval for action (Barteby accessed 12th September 2003).
             Constitutional reform became more pressing after 1976, when Quebec elected Parti Quebecois, who formed a government committed to sovereignty-association or independence (Hall accessed 12th September 2003). Voters hoped that constitutional change would strengthen national unity and remove the fear of a possible break up of Canada.


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The Prime Minister's first major initiative was the Meech Lake Accord, which attempted to bring Quebec into the constitution. ... The Meech lake Accord also proposed some changes to Canada's Senate. In order for the Meech Lake Accord to be signed into law, the Premiers of Canada's provinces had to have the bill approved in their legislatures by a certain date. However, some provinces, notably Manitoba and Newfoundland, were unable to approve the Meech Lake Accord and, as a result, it failed to become law. ... After the Meech lake Accord failed, many Quebeckers felt that th...

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2. The Tightrope of Power

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