Artifact #5: Canada's Time Bomb

Artifact Citation: 

Alberta Report. “Canada’s Time Bomb.” Online. Edmonton: Interwest Publications LTD, January 1, 1990. From University of Calgary Digital Collections Emerging Alberta 1985-1992, Challenging Times. https://digitalcollections.ucalgary.ca/asset-management/2R3408TQTBA1. Accessed November 2024.

Artifact Label:

This artifact from the Alberta Report Magazine labelled “Canada’s Time Bomb” perfectly depicts the Accord. From the very beginning, the Meech Lake Accord was a fragile and uncertain proposal of a constitutional amendment. Prime Minister Mulroney had to get 10 First Ministers all with competing interests to agree to a compromised constitutional amendment, and then send them back to their legislatures to face their constituents and their caucus. He then set a time limit of three years, which allowed several provincial elections to occur, changing the makeup of provincial legislatures which were declining in their support for the Meech Lake Accord. Ultimately, because of these factors the ticking time bomb of Meech Lake failed, and its quake left an angry Quebec, a Western Canada who had stricter demands in future constitutional negotiations, and a new federal government. This highlights how the accord serves as a warning to future governments when dealing in constitutional negotiations. 

Bibliography of Secondary Sources:

Watts, Ronald L. 1991. “Canadian Federalism in the 1990s: Once More in Question.” Publius 21, no. 3 169–90. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3330521.