OTTAWA – A month after Quebecers voted Oct. 30 not to leave Canada, the House of Commons was plunged into a divisive debate over how to satisfy the province’s demands.
Immediately, the Liberal proposals were dismissed as too little by Quebec politicians and too much by Reform.
They were accused of making westerners “second-class citizens” by offering Quebec a superior position in the country.
And Reform MPs said they would support change only if it went before Canadians in a referendum.
Leader Preston Manning accused the government of “pandering to Quebec separatists.”
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Prime minister Jean ChrŽtien proposed:
- Federal recognition of Quebec as a distinct society.
- A law under which Ottawa would recognize a constitutional veto for Quebec, Ontario and any combination of western and eastern provinces comprising at least half of the population of the region.
- A federal transfer of manpower training jurisdiction to the provinces.
He said he was fulfilling commitments he made to Quebec during the campaign before the narrow federalist victory.
“All our actions have just one goal, to ensure the unity and evolution of Canada in order to respond to the aspirations of all Canadians,” he told the House of Commons.
His critics said he failed miserably, if that was the goal.
Bloc QuŽbecois leader Lucien Bouchard, who is expected to become Quebec premier in January and would be the one to exercise Quebec’s veto, said the ChrŽtien package was a charade. He said he would accept no constitutional proposal from Ottawa because it would never be better for Quebec than separation.
National vote
Manning said Reform only would accept it if there was a national vote and if it was made clear that Quebec was getting nothing the rest of the provinces were not getting.
In the provinces, there were denunciations from British Columbia, rumblings of a court challenge from Alberta and sharp words in the House of Commons.
New Democrat Svend Robinson joined a western chorus by denouncing the government for not also giving B.C. a veto.
Justice minister Allan Rock said that early in the next decade, B.C. will have 50 percent of the population of the West, giving it an effective veto. Reform MPs complained that meant Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba would be constitutionally irrelevant.
And Robinson scolded the justice minister for telling British Columbians “we have to wait for demographics until we have basic equality with Ontario and Quebec.”
The debate continues this week.
