Documents
in Quebec History
Last
revised: 23 August 2000 | Documents on the Controversy Surrounding the Language
of Commercial Signs in Quebec (Bill 178) December 1988
Manitoba
and Meech Lake Quebec "Punished" for Using the Notwithstanding Clause
Paul-André Comeau, editorial, Le Devoir, December 20, 1988, p.
6 "Is
an anti-Quebec backlash taking form merely a few hours after the Prime Minister,
Mr. Robert Bourassa, took recourse in the notwithstanding clause to maintain unilingual
French signs outside of commercial establishments? This is the easy hypothesis
being reached as the head of the government of Manitoba withdraws the resolution
of support for the Meech Lake Accord. At this stage where everything seems confusing
and discordant, some comments must be made. First
of all, let us recognise that Mr. Garry Filmon seized with great skill, if not
machiavelically, this pretext offered to him by his Quebec counterpart. It had
become evident, in the last few days, that the Manitoba legislature would refuse
to support the Meech Lake Accord. The
Liberal leader of Opposition, Mrs Sharon Carstairs, clearly stated, last week,
during The Journal, on the English CBC network that the most important
reason for her opposition was the recognition of the status of "distinct
society" for Quebec. Whether there is a notwithstanding clause or not, she
does not want to hear about this clause. One rather prefers this truthfulness
to the threat that a distinct Quebec would pose to women, natives or federalism.
Everything is clear, crystal clear: Mrs Carstairs, and the New democrats likely
as well, did the dirty job that others had failed to do. The
Prime Minister of Manitoba was spared a sharp defeat, one that would have definitely
sealed the fate of this agreement negotiated in June of 1987. He attributes the
withdrawal to Quebec which by its actions negated "the spirit of Meech".
This is to go a little far. One should not forget the laws adopted by Saskatchewan
and Alberta following just as solemn a decision by the Supreme Court. The rights
of the francophones of these two provinces were struck from the law books and
such action is not limited in time, as is the notwithstanding clause of the Federal
Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The francophones of these two Western provinces
have lost permanently the rights that had been guaranteed by constitutional enactment
since the end of the last century. It
would be trite and repetitive to come back, ad nauseam, to the fate of
the francophone minorities in the rest of Canada and to compare it to the treatment
accorded to anglophones in Quebec, with or without a notwithstanding clause. In
this respect, Quebec can hold its head high, although this does not preclude multiplying
our efforts to reach an agreement with the anglophones of Quebec. [...] From
now until June 1990, heads will have time to cool. Otherwise, the Canadian federation
will celebrate its 125th anniversary with one of its founding members in the penalty
box. The caravan of history will come by again, near Meech Lake or elsewhere. ©
1999, for the translation, Claude Bélanger, Marianopolis College |