Prelude
In 1981, a round of negotiations led by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau to patriate the constitution reached an agreement that formed the basis of the Constitution Act, 1982. Although this agreement passed into law, amending the British North America Acts, it was reached over the objections of Quebec Premier René Lévesque and the Quebec National Assembly refused to ratify the amendment. The Supreme Court of Canada had previously ruled in the Quebec Veto Reference that Quebec never had, according to constitutional convention, a constitutional veto and that no province did. The Supreme Court also ruled that the new constitution applied to all provinces notwithstanding their disagreement. Ultimately, Quebec was the only province that did not favour patriation as agreed to by the other premiers.
Brian Mulroney's appointment as Prime Minister of Canada while Robert Bourassa served as Premier of Quebec created a new climate, different from the bitter opposition between Pierre Trudeau and René Lévesque. Bourassa gave five key "demands" for Quebec to "sign on" to the constitution.
Read more about this topic: Meech Lake Accord
Famous quotes containing the word prelude:
“I got a little secretarial job after college, but I thought of it as a prelude. Education, work, whatever you did before marriage, was only a prelude to your real life, which was marriage.”
—Bonnie Carr (c. early 1930s)
“The less sophisticated of my forbears avoided foreigners at all costs, for the very good reason that, in their circles, speaking in tongues was commonly a prelude to snake handling. The more tolerant among us regarded foreign languages as a kind of speech impediment that could be overcome by willpower.”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)
“I am a prelude to better players, O my brothers! An example! Follow my example!”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)