Separatism Is Canada Coming Apart?

Maybe not, but its politicians are playing a dangerous game of chicken over the future of the federation

Mikhail Gorbachev is not the only leader with separation anxieties. Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney is also finding it difficult keeping his vast nation together, and Canada has only two warring nationalities.

For decades, the French-speaking majority in Quebec has sought official recognition as a "distinct society" within the overwhelmingly English- speaking nation. Three years ago, at a meeting with the ten provincial premiers at Meech Lake in the Gatineau hills of Quebec, Mulroney devised a set of amendments that would finally satisfy the demands of the Quebecois and bring them to sign the national constitution "with honor and enthusiasm." But...

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