Angry in the Great White North

From the Globe and Mail:

Fearing defeat in the 1995 referendum on Quebec sovereignty, a group of federal ministers from English Canada openly pondered a putsch against former prime minister Jean Chretien, a CBC documentary says.

Eight days before the Oct. 30, 1995, referendum, when polls indicated that the Yes side was ahead by seven percentage points, about 10 ministers met in a classy restaurant in Hull, across the river from Ottawa, to examine their options in the event of a separatist victory.

"We asked ourselves difficult questions such as: Could a prime minister from Quebec represent Canada in negotiations?" [former fisheries minister Brian Tobin] said. Could a team from Quebec negotiate on Canada's behalf if the province's left Canada?

"The answer is that they couldn't," Mr. Tobin said. "The structure of government would have to change dramatically."

A team from Quebec? What exaclty is Tobin talking about?

Here is a list of the Federal Cabinet Ministers in 1995 of the 35th Parliament, which sat from 1993 to 1997 (as best as I could reconstruct it -- please let me know of any mistakes):

Rt. Hon. Jean CHReTIEN...Prime Minister
Hon. Paul MARTIN...Minister of Finance
Hon. Andre OUELLET...Minister of Foreign Affairs
Hon. Marcel MASSe...Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and President of the Privy Council
Hon. Lucienne ROBILLARD...Minister of Labour
Hon. Michel DUPUY...Minister of Communications and of Multiculturalism and Citizenship
Hon. Ralph E. GOODALE...Minister of Agriculture
Hon. Charles DINGWALL...Minister of Public Works and Government Services and ACOA
Hon. Sheila COPPS...Minister of the Environment
Hon. Sergio MARCHI...Minister of Citizenship and Immigration
Hon. Brian TOBIN...Minister of Fisheries and Oceans
Hon. Diane MARLEAU...Minister of Health
Hon. Ron IRWIN...Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
Hon. John MANLEY...Minister of Industry
Hon. Roy MACLAREN...Minister of International Trade
Hon. Allan ROCK...Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
Hon. Herb GRAY...Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Solicitor General of Canada
Hon. David ANDERSON...Minister of National Revenue
Hon. Anne McLELLAN...Minister of Natural Resources
Hon. Doug YOUNG...Minister of Transport
Hon. Arthur C. EGGLETON...Treasury Board President
Hon. David COLLENETTE...Minister of National Defence and Minister of Veterans Affairs
Hon. Lloyd AXWORTHY...Minister of Western Economic Diversification

I've coloured Quebec ministers blue, and the others red. Of the 23 ministers, 6 were from Quebec, or about 26%. Quebec was slightly overrepresented, but only a bean counter would care. Of course, some of the most powerful ministries are in that group, so the numbers don't tell the whole story.

Now consider the positions most immediately involved in potential negotiations with Quebec (essentially the key politcal and financial ministries, along with defence), as I see it:

Rt. Hon. Jean CHReTIEN
Hon. Paul MARTIN
Hon. Marcel MASSe
Hon. Michel DUPUY
Hon. David COLLENETTE
Hon. Allan ROCK
Hon. Arthur C. EGGLETON

Now 57% of the core team is from Quebec. Tobin's concerns at the time were real. Ministers from English Canada could see that the critical decision making was focused on a group of ministers over half of whom were from Quebec. Worse than that, all the most important posts (Prime Minister, Finance Minister, Citizenship, and Intergovernmental Affairs) were assigned to Quebec ministers.

The CBC documentary and the Globe and Mail piece are only partly right. The "putsch" would not have been soley against Jean Chretien. The inner cabinet would certainly have been purged of Quebec ministers. Personally, I suspect the entire cabinet would have been purged.

I think this is what Tobin means when he says the "structure of government would have to change dramatically". Now thanks to Adscam, the Gomery Inquiry, and the way the Liberal Party has alienated just about all of Quebec, we might have a chance to ponder all of this all over again.