Deadlines do tend to concentrate the mind. That would seem to be the hope of Robert Bourassa, Quebec's premier, who last week delivered a clear ultimatum to Canada: draw up, by the end of 1992, a new constitution that gives Quebec greater powers -- or the French-speaking province will vote on secession. Said Jean Allaire, head of the Quebec committee that drafted the challenge: "This proposal is the final and decisive test for Canada."
The same claims were made about Meech Lake, the plan for constitutional reforms supported by Quebec but defeated when two English-speaking provinces rejected its special provisions for...