The status quo means using a constitution Quebec has never signed. The rejected plan, known as the Charlottetown accord, would correct that, ending the perennial threat that the Francophone province might secede. It proposed to grant Quebec special privileges-and guarantee it a quarter of the seats in the House of Commons. As a sop to other provinces, the plan promised greater political clout for thinly populated regions and a measure of self-government for “aboriginals.” But the agreement didn’t give Quebec enough to win over its French-speakers, while at the same time giving it too much to suit many residents of other provinces. That wasn’t the only problem. The plans main salesman, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, has sunk lower in the polls than any leader in 50 years. “The referendum became a lightning rod for dissent,” said Toronto pollster Allan Gregg. Only four of the country’s 10 provinces voted for the deal. Said Mulroney: “The Charlottetown agreement is now history.”
Mulroney may well be, too. He must call an election by next November, though some analysts now expect him to resign before Christmas in an effort to protect his party. Meanwhile, he pledged to put aside constitutional reform and turn his full attention to economic policy. It was an admission that many voters consider unemployment and the national debt far more pressing than the nebulous search for a social contract. “We win elections because we have an approach to the economy that appeals to both an Alberta rancher and to an economics teacher in [Quebec],” Mulroney’s chief of staff told The Globe and Mail.
Next, Quebec separatists will again test their own vote-getting ability. “Quebecois are a people, they are a nation, and very soon they will be a country,” Parti Quebecois leader Jacques Parizeau told cheering supporters after the vote. But the party, currently out of power in the provincial government, may not have a chance to take even that to the voters until 1994. And its prospects, ultimately, are poor. Even when the charismatic Parti Quebecois premier Rene Levesque was in power more than a decade ago, Quebec voters resoundingly defeated a referendum that would have authorized their government to negotiate a weak form of sovereignty. Since then, hardcore support for separation has slipped to about 20 percent of the population. “Let’s face the obvious,” wrote Jean Pare, publisher of the French-language L’Actualite. “If, after 30 years of ‘independantisme,’ nine years of PQ government, one referendum and 10 years of sterile threats, Quebecers have not yet separated, it’s because they don’t want to leave Canada.”
To be sure, last week’s vote will provoke a backlash. Some Indian leaders were outraged. “If there’s more Okas … congratulations, you’ve won,” Ron George, president of the Native Council of Canada, told a nationwide television audience. But government can address the grievances of Indians and others through legislation, rather than constitutional reform. It’s messy to run a country without a universally approved constitution. But Canada has shown a remarkable knack for muddling through without one. More than likely, it will keep right on doing so.
