Attempts to appease Quebec's enduring resentment and demands resulted in the Meech Lake Accord, which failed when the provinces of Manitoba and Newfoundland were not able to ratify the document by the deadline established.

Premier Robert Bourassa stated that a referendum would occur in 1992 on either a new constitutional agreement with Canada or sovereignty for Quebec, and citing his dignity, refused to again negotiate as one province.

Clark conducted over the period from November 1991 to its culmination in August 1992 a series of negotiations with the non-Quebec premiers on a new constitutional accord.

Broad agreement was made for the Meech Lake provisions to be included, a recognition of aboriginal self-government, and wholesale Senate reform that allowed for equality of the provinces.

A misunderstanding on the back channel regarding Quebec's position on the latter created an impression that the agreement would be acceptable to the National Assembly, and Clark announced that a consensus had been reached.

Aboriginal legislation, however, would have been required to be consistent with the principles of "peace, order, and good government in Canada", and would have been subject to judicial review under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Beyond these general principles, the Charlottetown Accord did not provide any details on the precise form that such Aboriginal self-government would have taken, or how the transition would have been effected.

The Canada Clause set out general values which it asserted defined the nature of Canadian character and political society.

The accord also proposed a social charter to promote such objectives as health care, welfare, education, environmental protection, and collective bargaining.

It also proposed the elimination of barriers to the free flow of goods, services, labour and capital, and other provisions related to employment, standard of living, and development among the provinces.

Three provinces — British Columbia, Alberta, and Quebec — had recently passed legislation requiring that constitutional amendments be submitted to a public referendum.

British Columbia and Alberta agreed to have their referendums overseen by Elections Canada, but Quebec opted to conduct its vote provincially.

All three major party leaders travelled the country supporting the accord while large amounts of money were spent on pro-accord advertising.

In a piece first published in Maclean's, he argued that the accord meant the end of Canada and was the effective disintegration of the federal government.

He hosted a press conference at a Montreal restaurant, the transcript of which was published and distributed in book form as A Mess That Deserves a Big No.

This is often credited to much of the electorate finding at least some aspect of the lengthy accord with which they disagreed and the extreme unpopularity of Prime Minister Mulroney in 1992.

Canada was experiencing a deepening recession since the Meech Lake Accord process ended on June 23, 1990, and many saw a political elite obsessed with constitutional affairs to the detriment of the health of the economy.

broadcaster Rafe Mair gained national prominence by arguing that the accord represented an attempt to permanently cement Canada's power base in the Quebec-Ontario bloc at the expense of fast-growing, wealthy provinces like Alberta and British Columbia that were challenging its authority.

Further undermining the "Yes" vote in Quebec was when British Columbia's Constitutional Affairs minister Moe Sihota, responding to Mair's comments, said that Bourassa had been "outgunned" in the discussions.

Probably the most striking result of the referendum was the effect of most of Canada's population voting against an agreement endorsed by every first minister and most other political groups, and most media.

The Liberals, despite their support for the accord, had a new leader in Jean Chrétien who promised not to revisit constitutional issues, and won a large majority in the new Parliament.

[18] In the late 1990s and early 2000s, several matters relating to the status of Quebec were pursued through Parliament (e.g., the Clarity Act) or through intergovernmental agreements.