Allaire Report

Last updated

The Allaire Report was a report written by the constitutional reform committee of the Liberal Party of Quebec, chaired by lawyer and politician Jean Allaire, [1] recommending a significant transfer of powers from Canada's federal government to the Government of Quebec. Entitled "A Quebec Free to Choose", [2] the report was published on January 29, 1991, and adopted as party policy by the Liberal Party at their 25th convention on March 9, 1991. [3]

Contents

Report recommendations

The report recommended that the Canadian constitution be amended so that 22 areas of federal jurisdiction or jurisdictions shared between the federal and provincial governments become exclusive areas of provincial jurisdiction. [4] These areas included social affairs, culture, [5] health, family policy, manpower training, communications, the environment, agriculture and public security. The report recommended that the federal government no longer be allowed to spend money in these 22 areas. Because of Quebec's new proposed responsibilities, taxing powers would need to be adjusted so that the federal government collect less and the Quebec government collect more, according to the report.

As a result of its proposed changes, few areas would remain the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal government, including defence, tariffs, post, [6] currency, equalization payments and the federal debt. [7]

The report also made other recommendations on constitutional changes, including abolition of the Senate of Canada. The Liberal Party convention amended this proposal to call for reform of the Senate instead. The convention also approved some constitutional positions not included in the report, such as support for the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, guaranteeing anglophone rights and recognizing aboriginals as "distinct nations". [8]

Political significance

The Allaire report was adopted by the Liberal Party after the failure of the Meech Lake Accord, a proposal to make much more modest changes to the Canadian constitution. The Meech Lake Accord would have amended the constitution of Canada to recognize Quebec as a "distinct society". [9] When the Meech Lake Accord was not ratified by the legislatures of Manitoba and Newfoundland, Quebec sovereigntists portrayed it as a rejection of French-speaking Quebec by the rest of Canada, which was English-speaking. [10] Support for sovereignty increased significantly in Quebec in the months after the failure of the Meech Lake Accord.

The adoption of the Allaire Report as official policy by the governing Liberals was seen as the party's response to the failure of the Meech Lake Accord. It signalled a much tougher and more nationalist negotiating position for future constitutional amendment talks, which Liberal leader and Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa felt was needed to take momentum away from the Parti Québécois, the pro-sovereignty opposition party. The French title of the report, "Un Québec libre de ses choix," was evocative of "Vive le Québec libre", a rallying slogan of supporters of Quebec independence from Canada.

The next round of constitutional amendment talks with Bourassa, the other Canadian premiers, federal Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and aboriginal leaders in 1992 resulted in the Charlottetown Accord proposals. [11] The Charlottetown Accord did not propose any transfers of power from the federal government to the provincial governments (although it did confirm that certain powers already exercised by the provinces would be recognized as their exclusive powers). The Liberal Party then held a convention which approved the Charlottetown Accord, over the objections of Jean Allaire and the Liberal Party Youth Commission president, Mario Dumont. [12]

Both Allaire and Dumont quit the Liberal Party over this issue and subsequently formed a new political party, Action Democratique du Quebec. Its main issue in the 1994 Quebec election was support for the principles of the Allaire Report. Mario Dumont won the ADQ's first seat in the Quebec National Assembly in 1994. [13]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brian Mulroney</span> Prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993

Martin Brian Mulroney is a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician who served as the 18th prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Bourassa</span> 20th-century Premier of Quebec

Robert Bourassa was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd premier of Quebec from 1970 to 1976 and from 1985 to 1994. A member of the Liberal Party of Quebec, he served a total of just under 15 years as premier. Bourassa's tenure was marked by major events affecting Quebec, including the October Crisis and the Meech Lake and Charlottetown Accords.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quebec Liberal Party</span> Political party in Quebec

The Quebec Liberal Party is a provincial political party in Quebec. It has been independent of the federal Liberal Party of Canada since 1955. The QLP has always been associated with the colour red; each of their main opponents in different eras have been generally associated with the colour blue.

The politics of Quebec are centred on a provincial government resembling that of the other Canadian provinces, namely a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy. The capital of Quebec is Quebec City, where the Lieutenant Governor, Premier, the legislature, and cabinet reside.

The Charlottetown Accord was a package of proposed amendments to the Constitution of Canada, proposed by the Canadian federal and provincial governments in 1992. It was submitted to a public referendum on October 26 and was defeated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Action démocratique du Québec</span> Political party in Canada

The Action démocratique du Québec, commonly referred to as the ADQ, was a right-wing populist and conservative provincial political party in Quebec, Canada. On the sovereignty question, it defined itself as autonomist; it had support from nationalists and federalists. Its members were referred to as adéquistes, a name derived from the French pronunciation of the initials 'ADQ'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meech Lake Accord</span> Series of proposed amendments to the Constitution of Canada

The Meech Lake Accord was a series of proposed amendments to the Constitution of Canada negotiated in 1987 by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and all 10 Canadian provincial premiers. It was intended to persuade the government of Quebec to symbolically endorse the 1982 constitutional amendments by providing for some decentralization of the Canadian federation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mario Dumont</span> Canadian politician

Mario Dumont is a Canadian television personality and former politician in Quebec, Canada. He was a Member of the National Assembly of Quebec (MNA), and the leader of the Action démocratique du Québec (ADQ), from 1994 to 2009. After the 2007 Quebec election, Dumont obtained the post of Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly.

The Constitutional debate of Canada is an ongoing debate covering various political issues regarding the fundamental law of the country. The debate can be traced back to the Royal Proclamation, issued on October 7, 1763, following the signing of the Treaty of Paris (1763) wherein France ceded most of New France to Great Britain in favour of keeping Guadeloupe.

The Commission on the Political and Constitutional Future of Quebec, also known as the Bélanger-Campeau Commission, was established by the Lieutenant Governor of Quebec, at the initiative of Premier Robert Bourassa, after the demise of the Meech Lake Accord. The commission was mandated to examine the political and constitutional status of Quebec and to make recommendations for changes. The Bélanger-Campeau Report was published in 1991 and revised in 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Ghiz</span> Canadian politician and lawyer (1945–1996)

Joseph Atallah Ghiz was a Canadian politician and lawyer. He was the 27th premier of Prince Edward Island from 1986 to 1993, and was a justice of the Supreme Court of Prince Edward Island from 1995 until his death in 1996. He was the father of Robert Ghiz, the 31st premier of Prince Edward Island. Ghiz was the first premier of a Canadian province to be of non-European descent, since followed by Ujjal Dosanjh and Ghiz's son, Robert.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Distinct society</span> Term referring to Quebecs status in Canadian constitutional politics

Distinct society is a political term especially used during constitutional debate in Canada, in the second half of the 1980s and in the early 1990s, and present in the two failed constitutional amendments, the Meech Lake Accord and the Charlottetown Accord. "Distinct society" refers to the uniqueness of the province of Quebec within Canada, although here the meaning of "unique" is vague and controversial.

The History of the Quebec sovereignty movement covers various movements which sought to achieve political independence for Quebec, which has been a province of Canada since 1867. Quebec nationalism emerged in politics c. 1800. The terms sovereignty and sovereignism were introduced by the modern Quebec sovereignty movement which began during the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s. Pro-sovereignty political parties have represented Quebec at the provincial and federal level, and have held two referendums on sovereignty which were both defeated. Additionally, two accords to amend the Canadian Constitution on issues of concern to Quebecers were also defeated.

The Calgary Declaration, also known as the Calgary Accord, was an agreement made between most premiers of the provinces and territories of Canada regarding how to approach future amendments to the Constitution. It was signed in Calgary, Alberta, on September 14, 1997, by all Canadian premiers and territorial leaders except Quebec's Lucien Bouchard. The Declaration had followed controversial and divisive constitutional debate in Canada seen during the patriation of the Constitution in 1982, and the subsequent collapse of the Meech Lake and Charlottetown Accords.

Opting out is a political expression that was formulated in Canada to describe the intention of a province to remove itself from a program administered by the federal government, or to exempt itself from a constitutional amendment that would transfer its legislative powers to Parliament.

Since the Constitution of Canada was patriated, in 1982, ten Amendments to the Constitution of Canada have been passed. There have, however, been a number of unsuccessful attempts to amend the Constitution in accordance with its amending formula.

Quebec autonomism is the belief that Quebec should seek to gain more autonomy as a province, while remaining a part of the Canadian federation. The concept was first articulated by Maurice Duplessis; it has since been advocated primarily by Quebec's nationalist and conservative political parties, including Union Nationale, Action démocratique du Québec, and the latter's successor Coalition Avenir Québec. Coalition Avenir Québec and Équipe Autonomiste are two contemporary parties which support Quebec autonomism.

The Québécois nation motion was a parliamentary motion tabled by Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper on Wednesday, November 22, 2006 and approved by the House of Commons of Canada on Monday, November 27, 2006. It was approved 265–16 with supporters in every party in the Commons. The English motion read:

That this House recognize that the Québécois form a nation within a united Canada."

Michel Pagé was a Canadian businessman and politician in the province of Quebec. He served in the National Assembly of Quebec from 1973 to 1992 as a Liberal and was a cabinet minister in the government of Robert Bourassa.

Marcel Parent is a retired politician in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He was chair of the Montreal Catholic School Commission (MCSC) from 1983 to 1984, a Liberal member of the National Assembly of Quebec from 1984 to 1998, and a member of the Montreal city council from 2001 to 2009.

References

  1. ↑ David Layton-Brown, Canadian Annual Review of Politics(1991), p. 21
  2. ↑ Richard Fidler, Canada adieu? Quebec debates its future (1991), p.49
  3. ↑ Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Breaking Point: Timeline - 1991
  4. ↑ Radio Canada, Canada: la saga constitutionnelle - Le rapport Allaire (13 August 1999)
  5. ↑ Mollie Dunsmuir, Culture and communications: the constitutional setting (September 1991)
  6. ↑ Weaver et al., The Collapse of Canada? (1992) p.82
  7. ↑ Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Breaking Point: Timeline - 1991
  8. ↑ Richard Fidler, Canada adieu? Quebec debates its future (1991), p.50
  9. ↑ Radio Canada, Canada: la saga constitutionnelle - L'Accord du Lac Meech (13 August 1999)
  10. ↑ Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Breaking Point: Timeline - 1991
  11. ↑ "The Charlottetown Accord". The Canadian Encyclopedia
  12. ↑ McCord Museum, A Peek at the Political Future of Mario Dumont(M998.51.183)
  13. ↑ Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Dumont bids farewell to political life, (24 February 2009)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.