The Reform party, which is strong in the West, present in Ontario, known in Atlantic Canada, but invisible in Quebec, is using the Calgary Declaration on national unity to try to build a Quebec profile.
After sponsoring an all-day debate in the House of Commons in late November encouraging Canadians to examine and debate the Calgary Declaration as a possible blueprint for unity, Reform announced it would lead that public consultation process in Quebec.
Reform MPs contributed part of their office budgets to mail out copies of the Calgary Declaration to almost 50,000 homes in Quebec ridings considered open to federalist arguments.
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“Unity discussions can only succeed when they are truly national in scope and involve all Canadians at the front end,” Reform leader Preston Manning said in December when he announced the Quebec mail-out. “It is ironic and worrisome that Quebeckers are now the only people in Canada left out of the current unity discussions.”
The Reform opening came after the separatist Quebec government led by premier Lucien Bouchard refused to take part in the Calgary gathering of English-speaking premiers looking for a formula to affirm national unity.
Declaration ignored
As other premiers were promising to hold public consultations in their own provinces, Bouchard dismissed the document as irrelevant. He refused to recognize it or to foster provincial debate.
Reform, led by Manning and French-speaking rookie Edmonton MP Rahim Jaffer, pestered the federal Liberal government to submit the Calgary Declaration to Quebeckers and to organize hearings.
When the government refused to commit itself, Reform announced it would lead the charge.
The unity proposals are based on a set of principles that include the equality of provinces and citizens, but also recognition of “the unique character of Quebec society.”
It is meant as a way to recognize the special nature of Quebec as Canada’s only majority-French province, while avoiding the “distinct society” wording of the Meech Lake Accord, which led critics to suggest it would confer special status on the province.
During the House of Commons debate, Reform MPs did not embrace the “unique character” phrasing. They simply argued that Quebeckers should be consulted and urged the government and MPs to organize a consultation.
“The people of Quebec deserve to be heard,” Jaffer said.
Intergovernmental affairs minister StŽphane Dion praised Reform for its foray into Quebec, and promoted the Calgary agreement as a unity formula.
“It shows that in Canada, perhaps more than in any other country, we know that equality is not the same thing as uniformity,” he said during the Commons debate.
