Brian Mulroney is the last to have tried to reintegrate Quebec into the Canadian constitutional family, an operation for which “we must be grateful to him as Quebecers,” according to former Prime Minister Philippe Couillard.
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“I will always remember this attempt, which I still find courageous and sincere today, to reintegrate Quebec into the constitutional axis through the Meech Lake agreement, which for Mulroney represented a considerable political risk,” says he said in an interview.
An operation doomed in advance
“Disappointed” by the turn of events at the time, Philippe Couillard, who became Liberal prime minister decades later, wanted to make amends.
In 2017, his government launched a campaign entitled “Québécois, notre mode d’être Canadians” aimed at bringing Quebec closer to the rest of the country to, ultimately, prepare the ground for constitutional discussions.
Ottawa’s response to the 197-page document was frosty. “You know my opinion on the Constitution. We are not opening the Constitution,” Justin Trudeau said dryly, on his way to a meeting, without stopping. End of the discussion.
Philippe Couillard did not mind it at the time. Looking back, he says he “regrets” the way things turned out.
“It was barely noticed,” he said. “I’m not even sure [le document] was read in detail at the time, and it disappointed me because there was a lot of work and thought that had gone into the preparation of this document. I wish there was at least an answer.”
Especially since the objective of his approach was not to launch a call to reopen the Constitution, but to “launch a dialogue” with the provinces and indigenous nations, municipalities, universities in the Rest of Canada.
The taboo of the Constitution
A Mulroney-style approach is unthinkable today. In Ottawa, we avoid the subject like the plague. But Philippe Couillard is hopeful that his document will one day be useful to other reckless politicians, as was the charismatic leader of the Progressive Conservatives at the time.
“One day or another, someone will have to focus on it, because it is not true that it is a subject that should be banned. I don’t know of any other democratic country where we cannot discuss this issue. People talk a lot less about that, but there is a very deep issue in the vision of the country.
A nice risk too risky
Law professor and federalism thinker Benoît Pelletier does not rule out the possibility that a Mulroney-style figure could one day emerge to put an end to the constitutional “taboo” that reigns in Ottawa.
However, there will be no jostling at the gate, because Brian Mulroney ended up paying the political price, he analyzes. “This is a file that many remember as being a failure.”
Elected with the largest majority in Canadian history in 1984, his end of reign, marked in particular by constitutional failures, was bitter.
“He paid a price for a long time, perhaps even today in “so-called” English Canada, because many were angry with him for having precisely sought to accommodate Quebec. There was a price and there is probably still a price to pay for Mr. Mulroney,” explains Benoît Pelletier.
“In fact, those who, like Mulroney, sought to reopen the constitutional file were criticized more than those who sabotaged the constitutional file,” continues the University of Ottawa professor.
As such, it is fair to describe Mulroney as the last reconciler, he judges.
“Even if his attempts failed, at least he had the courage and at the same time the wisdom to put forward a vision of federalism that contrasted with that of Pierre Elliott Trudeau.”