The Meech Lake Accord was signed in April 1987 by Prime Minister Mulroney and the premiers of all ten provinces. This agreement was intended to redress the 1982 constitutional negotiations in which Québec was left out of the constitutional agreement.
Meech Lake gave Québec control over immigration to that province, agreed that Senate appointments would be made from a list submitted by the provinces, recognized Québec as a "distinct society," allowed provinces to opt out of federal schemes provided they introduced their own, and established a formula for changing the constitution. The agreement also specified a deadline of June 22, 1990 to have the Accord passed by the House of Commons and the legislatures of all provinces.
Opposition to Meech grew over the next two years. In 1990, Clyde Wells, premier of Newfoundland, withdrew his agreement over concern about the "distinct society" clause. He only renewed his commitment to Meech conditional on approval by the provincial legislature. But when Elijah Harper, a Manitoba MLA, delayed debate in the Manitoba legislature past the June 22, 1990 deadline, Wells refused to hold a vote in Newfoundland, and the Accord failed.
Québec interpreted the failure of the Meech Lake Accord as a rejection by the rest of Canada. In the other provinces, the process through which agreement had been initially obtained was criticized as being too closed and exclusive.
