Charlottetown Accord - The accord, The referendum, Support, Opposition, The campaign, Results, The aftermath, External sources

A Canadian constitutional package for a new federal structure, put together by the prime minister (Brian Mulroney), provincial and territorial leaders, and First Nations representatives in August 1992. The essential difference between the ‘Consensus Report on the Constitution’ and the failed Meech Lake Accord of 1990 was that it recognized aboriginal demands as legitimate, and promised to integrate First Nations' leadership in future constitutional discussions. Nonetheless, the Charlottetown Accord was also rejected, this time in a national referendum in October 1992.

The Charlottetown Accord was a package of constitutional amendments, proposed by the Canadian federal and provincial governments in 1992. However, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in the Patriation Reference and the Quebec Veto Reference that neither Quebec nor any other province had a veto to prevent the federal government from petitioning the British Parliament to pass the Canada Act 1982, and that the new constitution applied to all provinces notwithstanding their disagreement.

Brian Mulroney defeated Trudeau's successor, John Turner, in the 1984 Federal Election and was determined to succeed where Trudeau had failed, by reaching an agreement that would allow Quebec to sanction the Constitution.

In the next two years, the future of Quebec dominated the national agenda.

On August 28, 1992, after intensive negotiations in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, the federal, provincial and territorial governments, and representatives from the Assembly of First Nations, the Native Council of Canada, the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada and the Métis National Council, came to the agreement known as the "Charlottetown Accord".

The accord

The Charlottetown Accord attempted to resolve long-standing disputes around the division of powers between federal and provincial jurisdiction.

The federal power of reservation, under which the provincial lieutenant governor could refer a bill passed by a provincial legislature to the federal government for assent or refusal, would have been abolished, and the federal power of disallowance, under which the federal government could overrule a provincial law that had already been signed into law, would have been severely limited. The Charlottetown Accord would have guaranteed federal funding for such programs, severely limiting the federal government's authority in these departments.

The accord proposed a social charter to promote such objectives as health care, welfare, education, environmental protection and collective bargaining.

The accord also contained the "Canada Clause", which sought to codify the values that define the nature of the Canadian character.

Perhaps most important, however, the accord also proposed a number of institutional changes that would radically reshape the face of Canadian politics.

The Canadian Senate would have been reformed, although the proposed reform fell short of the "triple-E" (equal, elected and effective) Senate demanded by the western provinces.

The accord formally institutionalized the federal/provincial/territorial consultative process, and allowed for Aboriginal inclusion in certain circumstances.

See the full text of the Charlottetown Accord for more details.

The referendum

Unlike the Meech Lake Accord, the Charlottetown Accord's ratification process provided for a national referendum.

The impetus for a federal referendum came from the many complaints about the Meech Lake process, and how many claimed it was a backdoor negotiation for the future of the country. (For that reason, Quebeckers "temporarily" living outside the province could have two votes, since they were enumerated to the voters' list based on federal rules, but people relatively new to Quebec could not vote at all because they had not established residency.)

The accord had to be approved not only by a majority of voters nationally, but also by a majority of voters in each province.

Support

The campaign saw an alignment of groups in support of the new constitution.

Opposition

The most important opponent of the accord was probably former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.

The campaign

As the campaign progressed, the accord steadily became less and less popular.

Mulroney was already deeply unpopular with Canadian voters who perceived him as arrogant, and made a number of mistakes in the referendum campaign. Most famously, he referred to persons against the Accord as "Enemies of Canada," and while speaking about the dangers of voting against the agreement in Sherbrooke, he ripped a piece of paper in half with a dramatic flourish to represent the historic gains for Quebec that would be threatened if the accord failed.

Many critics, especially those in the West, argued that the Accord was essentially a document created by the nation's elites to codify their vision of what Canada "should" be. BC broadcaster Rafe Mair gained national fame and notoriety by arguing that the accord represented an attempt to permanently cement Canada's power base in the Quebec-Ontario bloc at the expense of fast-growing, wealthy provinces like Alberta and British Columbia that were challenging its authority.

Results

Therefore, on October 26, 1992, two referenda (the Quebec government's referendum in Quebec, and the federal government's referendum in all other provinces and territories) were put to the people.

The question:

The results:

Province	Yes	No	Voter Turnout
Newfoundland	63.2	36.8	53.3
Nova Scotia	48.8	51.2	67.8
Prince Edward Island	73.9	26.1	70.5
New Brunswick	61.8	38.2	72.2
Quebec [1]	43.3	56.7	82.8
Ontario	50.1	49.9	71.9
Manitoba	38.4	61.6	70.6
Saskatchewan	44.7	55.3	68.7
Alberta	39.8	60.2	72.6
British Columbia	31.7	68.3	76.7
Northwest Territories	61.3	38.7	70.4
Yukon	43.7	56.3	70.0
Federal Totals	45.7	54.3	71.8

CBC Television news reported the result with the words "The Charlottetown Accord is DOA: Dead on arrival."

[1] Quebec's results were tabulated by the Directeur général des élections du Québec, not by the federal Chief Electoral Officer as in other provinces.

The aftermath

Many thought, from a national unity prespective, that the result given was probably the next best result to the Accord passing: since both Quebec and English Canada rejected it, there really was not a fundamental disagreement as there was with Meech Lake.

Probably the biggest result of the referendum, however, was the effect of most of Canada's population voting against an agreement by every First Minister and most other political groups.

External sources

History of Quebec and Canada Resource Centre: A clip of Brian Mulroney speaking after the defeat of the Accord