Canada's continuing national-unity struggles have reached a new stage. In the wake of the 1992 referendum on the Charlottetown constitutional accord, constitutional reform has become all but impossible in English Canada, leaving Quebec to choose, over the coming year, between the current arrangements and independence. In the game of constitutional chicken, the English Canadian car cannot swerve. Will the Quebec car swerve?
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References
1.
1. Thomas C. Schelling, Arms and Influence (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1966), pp. 116, 119.
2.
2. Herman Kahn, On Escalation: Metaphors and Scenarios (New York: Praeger, 1965), p. 11.
3.
3. The term “English Canada” grates on some Canadians. But it will be used here instead of the awkward alternatives, which include “the rest of Canada,”“the nine predominantly English-speaking provinces,” or “Canada outside of Quebec.” See J. L. Granatstein and Kenneth McNaught, eds., “English Canada” Speaks Out (Toronto: Doubleday Canada, 1991).
4.
4. Those committed to taking Quebec out of Canada have long resisted, indeed resented, the term “separatist,” preferring to be called independentists or, over the past several years, sovereignists. But in March 1994, the Bloc leader, Lucien Bouchard, and the Parti Québécois leader, Jacques Parizeau, unexpectedly swept away the old objections, announcing that they also considered themselves separatists.
5.
See also idem, La rupture tranquille (Montreal: Boréal, 1992).
6.
6. Quoted in Rhéal Séguin, “Give Canada Last Chance, Grit Adviser Tells Quebec,”Globe and Mail (Toronto), 13 Dec. 1990.
7.
idem, Charter versus Federalism: The Dilemmas of Constitutional Reform (Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1992).
8.
8. Quebec, Report of the Commission on the Political and Constitutional Future of Québec, Mar. 1991, p. 45.
9.
9. Consensus Report on the Constitution, Charlottetown, PE, 28 Aug. 1992. The Draft Legal Text was released on 9 Oct. 1992.
10.
A good introduction to western (and Atlantic Canadian) grievances is David Kilgour, Inside Outer Canada (Edmonton, AB: Lone Pine, 1990).
11.
11. Ronald L. Watts, “The Reform of Federal Institutions,” in The Charlottetown Accord, the Referendum, and the Future of Canada, ed. Kenneth McRoberts and Patrick J. Monahan (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1993), pp. 34-35.
12.
See also idem, English Canada and Quebec: Avoiding the Issue (Toronto: York University, Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies, 1991).
13.
13. McRoberts, “Disagreeing on Fundamentals,” p. 260.
14.
14. Stéphane Dion, “Explaining Quebec Nationalism,” in The Collapse of Canada? ed. Kent Weaver (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1982), p. 77.
15.
For an extended essay on the subject, see Philip Resnick, Letters to a Québécois Friend (Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1990).
16.
For an often differing approach, see Daniel Drache and Roberto Perin, eds., Negotiating with a Sovereign Quebec (Toronto: James Lorimer, 1992).
17.
17. Maurice Pinard, “The Dramatic Re-emergence of the Quebec Independence Movement,”Journal of International Affairs, no. 2. pp. 471-497 (Winter 1992).
