OTTAWA, Canada, June 3, Reuter: Canada’s new constitutional accord that finally brings Quebec into the fold was greeted today by bipartisan praise, but some concern was expressed over the role of Parliament in the ratification process.
After a nearly 20hour bargaining session, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and the 10 provincial premiers reached an historic accord at dawn today to bring predominately French speaking Quebec into the Constitution.
The agreement, which must still be approved by Parliament and the 10 provincial legislatures, would integrate Quebec into the Constitution five years after Ottawa and the remaining nine provinces signed the Constitution Act.
Mulroney and the Premiers reached a tentative agreement April 30, but formal signing of the deal was threatened by new demands from some provinces and a biting attack launched by former Liberal Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.
Mulroney was greeted by sustained applause from his own Progressive Conservative Party and the two opposition parties when he entered the House of Commons yesterday afternoon.
Following a formal signing ceremony with the provinces, “I say to the Prime Minister that he has lived a very significant event in the history of our country”, opposition Liberal John Turner told the House of Commons.
But Tumer expressed concern that Parliament would be able to study the agreement in detail and whether the government would consider amendments proposed by Parliamentary Committees.
Mulroney promised, “There will be an appropriate Parliamentary hearing of this matter”, but did not elaborate.
Trudeau, who attacked the April 30 Accord in newspaper articles, and interviews, said in Montreal he will have achieved his goal if the pact becomes a subject of national debate.
The Canadian Constitution Act was proclaimed in 1982 after Trudeau initiated repatriation of the country’s founding document, the 1867 British North American Act, from the British Parliament. But Quebec’s separatist party, Quebecois government led by Rene Levesque refused to sign the new Canadian constitution.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 12, 1987
