OCTOBER 1996
By Barry Stagg
WHO INVENTED LUCIEN BOUCHARD?
How did Lucien Bouchard go from obscure Quebec country lawyer to leader of a radical federal separatist party and then on to being the charismatic Premier of Quebec? The answer, like a lot of other foul truths about Canadian politics, lies in the political sewage that flowed and continues to flow from the campaign to defeat the Meech Lake Accord.
Here are some points to consider regarding the creation and elevation of Mr. Bouchard:
1. Bouchard came into the Mulroney Cabinet as a moderate Quebec separatist.
2. His entry into federal politics was based on the invitation and political efforts of Brian Mulroney.
3. Bouchard represented the leader of the Quebec moderate separatist forces that were willing to accept and endorse the Meech Lake Accord and its now infamous "distinct society" description of Quebec.
4. The Liberals under John Turner fought and lost the 1988 election against the Mulroney- Bouchard forces in Quebec.
5. The Chretien forces, who had been exiled from the Liberal party during the Turner era, saw the obvious after the 1988 elections, that being that in order to recapture the Federal Government, the Liberals needed to undermine the Tory supremacy in Quebec.
6. The Tories had taken Quebec handily in both the 1984 and 1988 elections. The unofficial coalition between moderate separatists such as Bouchard and the Mulroney Conservatives had out-manoeuvred the Liberals at every turn in both elections.
7. The Liberals saw quite clearly that in order to retake Quebec they had to drive a wedge between the two leaders of the unofficial Tory coalition in Quebec.
8. The Liberal leadership convention in 1990 which elected Chretien as leader coincided with the last ditch efforts to salvage the Meech Lake Accord.
9. Through the efforts of Newfoundland Liberal Premier Clyde Wells, a Chretien supporter, the Meech Lake Accord was unravelled and Bouchard was unable to stomach the modifications of the original Accord.
10. Bouchard jumped ship and created the Bloc Quebecois.
11. The Bloc Quebecois essentially broke the Tory coalition in Quebec.
12. Chretien and his cohorts such as Wells effectively and successfully broke the Tory-Separatist coalition in Quebec.
13. The Chretien Liberals succeeded in destroying the Tory party in the 1993 election based principally upon their efforts to severe the Bouchard camp from the Tory party in Quebec.
14. The Chretien Liberals miscalculated in only one very serious matter. They failed to realize that the efforts of Chretien and his camp in undermining and killing the Meech Lake Accord would render Chretien a pariah in Quebec. As a result the Bloc Quebecois swept Quebec leaving the Liberals with only a small rump of seats.
15. The Chretien miscalculation lead to the near disastrous 1995 referendum campaign in Quebec.
16. Bouchard now exists as a Quebec political saint.
17. Bouchard's existence as a Quebec hero is directly related to the purely selfish efforts of the Chretien Liberals to undermine the Tory coalition in Quebec in order to return the Liberals to power.
18. Lucien Bouchard and the utterly putrid mess that he now personifies for Canada exist only because the Liberals were prepared to go to any and all efforts including the possibility of the destruction of Canada in order to regain power.
19. Chretien, and his allies including former Newfoundland Premier Clyde Wells and present Newfoundland Premier Brian Tobin continue to wrap themselves in the Canadian flag while deflecting any attention away from their roles in bringing the Meech Lake Accord to its death.
20. Lucien Bouchard is Premier of Quebec because Clyde Wells became Premier of Newfoundland in 1989.
Would Mary Shelley have found literary inspiration in any parts of this pitiful tale?