Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 7, 1990, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press january 1990 Page 7 debating Meech Lake mess who by Donald Bailey special to the free press f the Meech lace Accord fails to win formal approval by next the three persons who will be primarily responsible for that failure will be prime minister Brian senator Lowell Murray and Premier Robert these Are the men respect set the bringing of Quebec into the Constitution As a primary negotiated with All ten pre Miers to win an and set out the fundamental conditions without which Quebec would not formally recognize its presence within the so it is the height of political irony that so Many of the accords difficulties can be attributed to their actions what have these men not done five conditions they promoted these negotiations and this agreement As the Quebec the occasion when Quebec demands would be the focus of constitutional if the promotion had been it would have run into certain difficulties because each of Quebec five conditions has its opponents in the country and Une or two of the conditions clearly por tend More harm to Canada As an entity than they could Ever portend advantage for i refer Here to matters of Immi Gration and to limitations on the Federal spending Power Canada could live safely with suitable framing of a distinct society a veto confined to one province and specified and Quebec Spe Cial interest in appointments to the supreme but our three Mechla keeters did not confine themselves to their pro claimed of the 17 clauses in the Only seven concern Quebec demands the other ten have Little or nothing to do with those not All the clauses concern single simple and some of the no Quebec clauses Are pro forma for the amending proce but the rough count nonetheless represents rather accurately the ratio of Quebec round to non Quebec round issues of into the Accord were thrown sen ate creation and Boun Daries of a housekeeping insertion of a Tion constitutional conferences and two clauses from i he Quebec demands were transformed into a Universal intrusion into the shaping of Canadian and the under mining of Federal cohesion and i How can All this be promoted As or even essential the Quebec As soon As the criticisms of the Accord our prime his peripatetic and their favorite Premier completely missed All while most of the Early criticisms had nothing to do with the Quebec none of these men has attempted to defend the no Quebec clauses on their own where did some of them come from within previous constitutional discus Sions Why were they in the form at that time what considerations recommended them we do not no one has told our obfuscating friends continually this is the Quebec if that were they should have kept it that or shown us the connection Between Quebec demands and the other even the amendments related to or derived from the Quebec de mands have rarely been defended on their Why were they All so slavishly without some delimiting without the hard bargaining that Well cede these in these but not those Why were they extended so dangerously to other provinces and against the Federal Powers Why was a term like distinct society not even abstractly defined or described none of our three would be Sta Tesmen has made the Effort to de fend even these Quebec Points one at a on their in their proposed they have used the Shibboleth of que Bec or the threat of que becs or the election Promise of 1984 to bring Quebec into the or whatever else As a cloak to hide All their pernicious mischief and to Ward off close examination of their Al night it is time to defend the Meech Lake Accord time to Stop hiding its diverse implications from the people of or its time to choose Between significant amendments to its clauses and scrapping it the third reason Why these men Bear responsibility for the Immi nent failure of the Accord is from the very they absolutely ruled out changing a single Jot or Tittle of its so highly touted that a mighty arrogant position for leaders of a democracy to say about amendments to a document As fundamental As the Many of the clauses of which had not been or at least discussed had they no respect for the Legislatures Back Home or for the nations citizens had they no humility somewhere out a few canadians of and critical acumen might be Able to suggest judicious let alone substantial modifications did they not recall that prime minister Pierre Trudeau did not become that High handed about his Patriate Constitution and charter until he had exhausted years of searching for agreement in open discussions to his senator Murray allowed for the possibility of egregious but even he has not accepted the one regarding the Bourassa can handle a crisis by William Tetley special to the free press for Robert pre Mier of the adoption of the Meech Lake Accord is the most important crisis of his probably More acute and dangerous than the 1970 october events of the Fly front for the liberation of yet there Are Many close parallels Between these two very important events in Canadian Nineteen years ago James Richard the British Consul general in was kid and five Days later it was the turn of Pierre the provincial minister of the who believed in separation even through violence including the use of bombs promised to execute Cross and Laporte unless 23 Fly prisoners in jail were eleven of whom were under the sole control of the Quebec six being still before the courts and five subject to a at this critical the specialist doctors of Quebec went on strike and the hospitals were thrown into yet Bourassa remained he met at least daily with his full Cabinet on every Issue and eventually a unanimous group decision was made to Send the doctors Back to work along with the Federal to invoke the War measures Calm was Laporte was then horribly Mur dered but Bourassa continued to negotiate with the so that seven weeks later Cross was re leased without any Fly prisoners being As Henry Kis Singer was to Point this was one of the first times in history that the release of a hostage was obtained without a Trade for despite criticism from the parti constant second guess ing from the press and Strong rumours of the formation of a Paral Lel Bourassa acted rationally and without National crisis Bourassa and Quebec and Canada Are faced with another National the adoption or rejection of the Meech Lake but this time the danger to Canada is far greater because almost the whole Canadian population is involved and is equally divided on this highly emotionally two provinces have not signed the agreement and their premiers now talk against the phrase Quebec is a distinct society within Canada in clause two of the pro posed constitutional amendment is the main stumbling but its opponents ignore that the same clause recognizes that English speaking concentrated outside Quebec but also present in constitute a fundamental characteristic of clause two is thus a recognition of the distinctive nature of Quebec and of forgotten As Well by some persons is the fact that que Bec As a distinct society is within Canada and includes anglophone As Well As francophone this is what Bourassa must sell to his fellow premiers and what they must in turn sell to their constituents because Bourassa himself does not have the necessary National Public Bourassaw role is nevertheless essential because by his actions and words As Quebec Premier he must show that the danger is real at the same despite his Quebec is open to the views of in particular he must not Threa ten the rest of Canada with the consequences of the failure of the Meech Lake that can be left to Jacques pan eau of the parti armed with his 40 per cent of the votes in the recent Quebec nor must Bourassa allow himself to be harassed by the opponents of Meech such As David bar who Calls Bourassa a All the while presenting himself As unilingual Leader of a National Polit ical nor must Bourassa answer to Federal Liberal leadership candidates who Are having their convention next year on of All Days june Jean Baptist which is also one Day after the Meech Lake Accord throughout Bourassa must keep the negotiations open with the opponents of Meech just As he did with the he May also agree to a parallel Accord on the condition that the Meech Lake agreement is just As he agreed that the five Fly kidnappers be exiled to Cuba for Cross Safe the kidnappers All returned years later to face the Justice and in Bourassa never closed the door on the Fly and he must not do so on the rest of fair Leader Bourassaw role that of the open minded and fair Leader of determined to be part of Canada but also dedicated to maintain its the English of Quebec also have a they must Point out to the rest of Canada that Quebec distinct society includes Anglo Allophone As Well As francophone Quebe cers and that they wish to remain As such in Quebec in a United Federal traditionally bonfires Are lit in Quebec on june the eve of Stjean Baptist let us Hope that they Are lit on june but As a Symbol of Quebec distinctive nature in the Canadian William Tetley is a Law professor at Mcgill and was a member of the first Bourassa Cabinet from 1970 to contrast Between Quebec and others appointments to the preme court that has been pointed out to he does not see that aboriginal and multicultural rights cannot be lifted out of the charter for special mention without Denk grating the Many rights such those of women left nor does he recognize that his very in its essence and unconsidered is an egregious it is not an error because it was a Well meaning attempt to bring que Bee into the because if i describes two fundamental characteristics of or because it accepts the demand to that Quebec is a distinct significant debate Over even Points does not make them Ous or the Accord was an error because ers failed to negotiate directly firmly with Quebec Over its five and because they led these demands with several irrelevant amendments that profound implications for the nation As a it was also an error because they refused to allow critics to distinguish these items for the purpose of honest constructive and because the entire some of accords clauses especially unanimity and the politically obscurantist arguments its defenders Are an affront to our parliamentary wasted time two and a half valuable the prime of or Mulroney two1 terms in have been wasted and an Opportunity to bring Quebec formally into the Constitution is Likely to be lost because of the efforts of these three who had Hopes of being recognized As now the Between Quebec and the rest of the country has risen and will of Many premiers has this tragic Fate for Canada did not have to if the Quebec round had confined itself to stated if the accords framers had defended its diverse0 clauses on their individual instead of resorting to and if the three Mechla keeters had shown some to discussion and National future might have different and More they failed their Accord and All Donald Bailey teaches at the University of soviet Union is in danger of disintegrating by William Pfaff special to the free press Paris Eastern Europe in 1969 had Only to be libero uni from its the soviet Union in Lias to be saved from 1 he i sri As easy astoundingly so Only the romanians paid a Price in the that ind the East germans of and hungarians of whose made it evident that the liberation that now has Ikea was an eventual no inevitability is pm in he for tunes of the is so striking about the i situation is the role that has pay to and will again play Mikhail thu Chev is product of a Lige Tsia that would c even if there were no Gorbachev nonetheless lie is a Cian of and a without him soviet Icloria have come too or even now have and the general libera Tion might have required much Vio this whole extraordinary historical episode began by even though Leninist must insist on the that what happened to Russia was the product of immense us Lal forces nothing could with it was the German general staff that sent Lenin off from Swit Zerland to Imperial Russia in it was one of those decisions that seemed a Good idea at the the ultimate outcome of the Deci 28 years was lenins red Flap Hying Over a ruined the ultimate outcome of that soviet Victory Over nazi Germany ii Ivy prove to be the soviet unions Ortu brought on by Overes and the waste of the nations in a superpower born it War and Tho u r was incapable of sustaining producing lethal inter Nal the soviet Union is not a nor Mal an advanced science and technology coexists with a Gen eral Economy of third world Stan it is the last of the 19th Century empires to Bye the Are All annexed Terri soviet Central Asia and much of the soviet far East were acquired Only a Century an american analogy would be a United states with new and Southern califor Nia overwhelmingly and Spanish speaking Northern California Russia speaking and Ortho Dox the Northern Midwest and new England French in and southerners still convinced they live in occupied the Baltic Azer and Armenia All fought for their Independence of Russia when the civil War broke out in the Baltic parts of Poland and of what used to be East were Only incorporated or reincorporated into the soviet Union in the course of the second world today there Are separatist move ments in virtually every one of these places and there is on the iranian Border recently rioters against the local communist authorities raised the ominous cry re calling 1917 of Power to the in reaction there is a growing russian nationalist movement whose Campaign platform for elections scheduled to take place in March addresses voters As com not and de clares that Russia has always been and will remain a global the document attacks naive politicians who Are cutting russian military Power on grounds of a need for Mere military sufficiency while the United states goes on with its armaments Mikhail Gorbachev new years message justifiably spoke of a sentiment of bitterness provoked by the checks perestroika has met in the last 12 months the great difficulties economic Reform has in the worsened consumer goods for the first time we have experienced massive work stoppages in there has been a Lack of order and and there have been the ethnic ten Sions that have caused i quietude throughout the there is extreme pessimism in official and intellectual circles in Moscow about or All this can be As yet there is not despair a determination is evident to go on with Reform at whatever in recognition of the fact that no rational alternative exists to going yet go where Here is the no one can describe with Confidence How to what All want to the economic reforms already Mit de taken have made things worse rather than the political Rev forms have excited nationalism and weakened the authority of the Cornu Wiist the argument Over economic policy resulted in a Compromise Grain of action thai no one likes a few believe nationalist tensions have no answer except a Rise in general living standards that is where in the struggle now is not to save communism or to Reform communism but simply to save the nation a nation de scribes itself As the Union of soviet socialist republics its system of acid allur1 ;