A Meech Lake Post-Mortem: Is Quebec Sovereignty Inevitable?

Terry A. Crowley is an associate professor of history at the University
of Guelph.

The flight of former Marxists from their discredited ideology has been
worth watching. While some have taken to feminism or deconstructionism
as their new homes, in Quebec the question of independence continues to
serve as a rallying point. Nationalism assumes new guises as the fate of
Canada hangs in the balance since Quebec was excluded from the 1982
Constitution.

Fournier has already established his left-wing academic credentials in
a previous study of his province’s political and economic
establishment. Now, as an independentist, he surveys developments
relating to the country’s Constitution during the past decade to show
that a sovereign Quebec is far from being an inevitable outcome. While
much of what he writes is not new to those who follow Quebec’s
affairs, Fischman’s excellent translation makes that viewpoint more
accessible to anglophones.

Fournier’s observations are shrewd and well-informed. They provide a
perspective on Pierre Trudeau, Jean Chrétien, and Robert Bourassa that
seldom finds expression in English-speaking Canada. His book contributes
to the contemporary national debate in new ways, but ultimately it will
be discarded by Quebec’s independence or a modified Canadian
Constitution.