Quebec's 1995 referendum far from last gasp for sovereignty hopes

One thing on which sovereigntists and federalists canagree some 20 years after the 1995 referendum is that the Quebecindependence movement in one form or another will likely nevergo away.

Prominent sovereigntists say their side the Yes side wouldhave won if the federal government had stayed away and not tried tohelp the No campaign, particularly regarding the controversial UnityRally in Montreal three days before the Oct. 30, 1995, vote.

Federalists, meanwhile, argue the defeat of the Yes side in 1995 and in the preceding referendum of 1980 is due to astubborn-yet-obvious reality: Canada's flexible, federal systemworks.

"There will continue to be a group of people in Quebec who wantto separate and we need to respect that and understand that," saidformer Quebec Premier Jean Charest, who was the leader of thefederal Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 1995.

"But the country works. There is the government of the day andthere may be the leaders of the day but in the end there is ourcountry the resilience of the country itself."

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Bernard Landry, the formerQuebec Premier, saysthere is an equal-yet-opposite, obvious reality.

Six months before the 1995 vote the Yes side was at 39% in thepolls, Landry said, "And a few months later we were at 50 per cent."

"Today, the polls say sovereignty is at 40 per cent support. Theidea of Quebec independence is extremely powerful and logical," he said.

"Ifsovereignty comes back in the news and we have a good campaign, Ithink Quebec will have its place at the United Nations."

Constitutional disaccord

What new flashpoint could trigger a resurgence of support forsovereignty is anyone's guess, but events leading up to the lastreferendum were due to several specific failures, explains JohnParisella, chief of staff to two Quebec premiers and a strategicadviser to the No campaign.

Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau failed to get Quebec's signature onthe constitution in 1982, which led to another failure by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney years later to pass the Meech Lake Accord,which was a series of proposals to assuage Quebec's frustrationswith the federalist system.

The country tried once more and failed in 1992 to pass anotherseries of constitutional amendments regarding the division of powersbetween the federal and provincial governments

"The failure to renew the constitution and to bring about changecreated a sense of pessimism that helped the Yes camp," Parisellasaid.

In the end the No side won but just barely.

Razor-thin victory

After almost 94 per cent of eligible citizens cast a ballot thatfateful day in 1995, the country came within about one percentagepoint from being broken apart.

At the start of the campaign, however, polls indicated the Noside was going to win handily, which might explain why federalistleaders inside and outside Quebec "lacked emotion,"says Charest.

Sheila Copps, who in 1995 was deputy prime minister of Canada,said the No campaign refused to allow federal politicians to getinvolved.

"I was told by one of the No organizers: 'We want to win but wewon't want to win too big.' That was their strategy and that led tous almost losing the whole thing,"Copps said.

A major turning point came roughly three weeks before voting day,Parisella explained, when federal Bloc Qubcois leader LucienBouchard took over leadership of the Yes side from Parti QubcoisPremier JacquesParizeau.

All of a sudden the No side was in trouble as the polls beganindicating a sharp swing towards the Yes camp.

Unity Rally controversy

What followed next was either a quasi-spontaneous, massiveshowing of love for country or an illegal and malicious attempt tocircumvent democracy depending on whom is asked.

The so-called Unity Rally was held on Oct. 27, 1995, in adowntown Montreal square and promoted by federal politicians whocalled on thousands of Canadians from coast to coast to showQuebecers how much they are loved

Canadians obliged: Tens of thousands of people from across thecountry converged on the urban square called Place du Canada.

The Yes side fumed.

ARCHIVES | 1995 federalist rally

9 years ago

Duration 3:28

Thousands travelled from Ottawa to Montreal on Oct. 27, 1995 for a federalist rally days before the referendum.Several companies, including Air Canada, offered special reducedfares to Montreal for the rally, a decision Quebec's electoraloffice months later said "undermined democracy as a whole ... bydisrupting the balance in expenses" between the Yes and Nocampaigns.

Jean-Franois Lise, a member of Quebec's legislature who was aspeechwriter for Parizeau, said the result was so close any singledecision could have tipped the balance.

"We should have been less naive about the federal government'swillingness to (interfere) in the No campaign," he said.

Copps, who helped organize the rally, said "We were sitting onthe outside wanting to help and ready to help but we were to toldstay out

"Finally when the rally came we said we were going to go therewhether you like it or not we're coming."

Twenty years later, the Quebec independence movement is at a lowebb, with the federal Bloc Qubcois in the political doldrums andthe provincial Parti Qubcois back in opposition after less thantwo years in power since 2003.

Charest says the constitutional battles made the countrystronger.

"The experience of 1995 and through every episode we learn alittle more about the country and of ourselves," he said.

"Ithink we are less vulnerable to falling for the rhetoric of theextremists on both sides."