For months June 23 had loomed as the date of Canada's constitutional Armageddon. If the ten provinces failed by that time to ratify the delicate agreement known as the Meech Lake accord, years of effort at balancing the aspirations of French- and English-speaking Canadians would automatically fall apart -- and so, in the most pessimistic prognosis, might the country.
Last week the deadline came and went without the desperately sought unanimity. Instead there was constitutional confusion and, finally, admission that the controversial agreement was dead. Canada faced the divisive possibility that Quebec would reject any further attempt to negotiate with the...
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