Some Day the Sun Will Shine and Have Not Will Be No More by Brian Peckford

Author:Brian Peckford
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Flanker Press
Published: 2012-03-21T16:00:00+00:00

And so this attempt by the federal government to fundamentally and unilaterally alter the Constitution of Canada went down to crushing defeat. Following this, Prime Minister Trudeau needed the provinces’ support to carry out his constitutional project. Is there another democracy where a prime minister has so brazenly tried to impose his personal vision unto the people? And to think, two provinces saw no problem with such an effort!

And so all parties were back to the drawing board for Constitution making, with thankfully a more reasonable federal government.

The momentous days were from November 3-5, 1981. On November 5, the Constitution of 1981 was born! Through the evening of November 4, meeting in the Château Laurier Hotel, the four premiers of PEI, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland, with senior designates from Premier Lougheed of Alberta and Premier Bennett of British Columbia, worked on a proposal presented by Newfoundland. By 12: 30 a.m., this proposal, with some changes, was agreed to and retyped. It was agreed that I would present this amended Newfoundland proposal to the Gang of Eight’s scheduled breakfast meeting that morning. Seven of the eight provinces agreed with the proposal without further amendment. Quebec opposed it. It was agreed by the seven that I would present this proposal to the full conference later that morning. Upon invitation from the prime minister, who was aware that there was a new provincial proposal, I presented the proposal and after a number of hours of discussion and additional amendments, the Patriation Agreement was born.

This series of events got very mangled later by various commentators, journalists, “scholars,” and authors, and for thirty years the real story of how the deal came together was submerged. Full elaboration on this sad state of affairs is explained in Appendix I.

The immediate, large issues of the day here enumerated only strengthened our resolve that as important as they were, they could not lead (alone or in combination) to the goal that we sought: real, fundamental change leading to a proud and self-reliant place—a “have” province.

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