Funny Video

[August1991]

This is ridiculous but funny.

http://www.nuitdeslongscouteaux.com/

"The Night of the Long Knives" happened on 4 November 1981 - 25 years ago.

[Charles Anthony]

The video is comical indeed and it made me do some research. I had no idea how much the negociations were a massive waste of time.

However, I am genuinely confused about what was changed without consulting Levesque:

4 au 5 novembre : Nuit des longs couteaux. Pendant la nuit, Jean Chrétien, procureur général, négocie avec les premiers ministres provinciaux l'élimination de la clause dérogatoire et offre une clause nonobstant. René Lévesque n'est jamais averti de ces tractations. À son réveil, tous ont accepté l'entente, il refuse de signer.

http://www.nuitdeslongscouteaux.com/

Are they not the same thing?

From the Library of Parliament:

LA DISPOSITION DÉROGATOIRE DE LA CHARTE

(1) Aussi appelée « disposition de dérogation », « disposition d’exemption » ou, abusivement, « clause nonobstant ».

footnote

S'il vous plait, quelle est la difference entre une clause derogatoire et celle qui est non-obstant?

[August1991]

Do we want to have a thread on the Constitution, Charter, Meech Lake and all that?

Here goes.

The difference concerns compensation. In some cases, a province has the right to opt out and in some cases, the federal government would have to compensate the provincial government for opting out (in lieu of receiving programme services).

Opting out is the Canadian version of a veto. Rather than hold up the entire country, a provincial government could opt out of the change. That's what the notwithstanding clause does.

Incidentally, I think the PQ website should use the term "droit de retrait avec compensation" rather than "clause dérogatoire".

----

The Night of the Long Knives is an interesting event in Canadian history. Like so much else in our history, it is perceived very differently in English and French - and yet it's the same event.

For this and other reasons, I have come to the conclusion that there is a single reality but there are several ways to perceive it. But this doesn't mean you have the right to invent reality. Sorry to go post-modern on you.

[kimmy]

It's a tremendously well animated video. I feel bad that my French is so dismal, because that's really about all I can say about it.

Is there a parallel between the response this event elicits in Quebec to the response the NEP elicits in Alberta? By which I mean, is this a show-pony that a political party can trot out at its convenience to make a large section of the voting public feel a wave of anti-federal, anti-Liberal nausea?

-k

{the ghost of eureka1891 arrives, rattles chains, and moans "The provincialists, children! The provincialists!" ...then hovers off to reminisce about the time he debated Haultain at the Bagbeigh Theatre in Upper Yorkton before the great fire of '27. Hitchcock shakes his head disapprovingly.}

[Charles Anthony]

Do we want to have a thread on the Constitution, Charter, Meech Lake and all that?

Yes.

Mind you, I have nothing to contribute other than questions -- and maybe snarky comments.

The difference concerns compensation. In some cases, a province has the right to opt out and in some cases, the federal government would have to compensate the provincial government for opting out (in lieu of receiving programme services).

Opting out is the Canadian version of a veto. Rather than hold up the entire country, a provincial government could opt out of the change. That's what the notwithstanding clause does.

Is that not what we have in the Constitution?

What exactly did Levesque want in its stead?

Is there a parallel between the response this event elicits in Quebec to the response the NEP elicits in Alberta? By which I mean, is this a show-pony that a political party can trot out at its convenience to make a large section of the voting public feel a wave of anti-federal, anti-Liberal nausea?

My guess is that most Quebeckers do not care about this episode.

Many of them do not even know the meaning of their Je Me Souviens license plate.

[August1991]

Let's do it in a proper thread.

[Charles Anthony]

Let's do it in a proper thread.

Thank you.

I am bumping this to maintain a cross-link with its continuation:

Constitution, Charter, Meech Lake & All That -- Night of the Long Knives

On the 25th anniversary, the saga continues. Thread continues from

here

.