From Bourassa to Bourassa

by MacDonald, L. Ian

• ISBN13: 9780773523920
• ISBN10: 0773523928
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-01-01
• Publisher: McGill Queens Univ Pr

Summary

Robert Bourassa, a pariah after losing power to the separatist Parti Quebecois in the 1976 election, emerged a decade later from political exile to lead his party back to power. As he said: "I succeeded my successor." Claude Ryan, formerly the respected publisher of Le Devoir, had led the Quebec Liberal Party and the federalist coalition to a decisive victory in the 1980 referendum on Quebec sovereignty, but the uneasy alliance of Ryan and Pierre Trudeau did not survive the prime minister's unilateral patriation of the Canadian constitution. This contributed to Ryan's defeat in the 1981 Quebec election and to Bourassa's restoration. First published to critical acclaim in 1984, this second edition of From Bourassa to Bourassa brings the story up-to-date, recounting Bourassa's landslide election victory in 1985 and his subsequent role in the Meech Lake Accord and the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, the two issues that largely defined the decade of the 1980s for Quebec and for Canada.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Second Edition	ix
``A Change May Be in the Order of Things''	3	(10)
The Liberal Establishment: Picking Up the Pieces	13	(14)
``This Damn Word Irrevocable''	27	(6)
Draft Ryan	33	(11)
Insider, Outsider	44	(11)
Scarves and Balloons	55	(15)
The Ryan Express	70	(12)
Observe, Judge, Act	82	(10)
Non merci!	92	(8)
Yvette	100	(9)
Le oui et le non	109	(12)
The Cousins	121	(20)
Ryan and Trudeau: Two Hardheads	141	(11)
The Heirs of Lord Acton	152	(9)
Elliott: The Favorite Son	161	(11)
The Big Village: May 20, 1980	172	(11)
The Silent Spring	183	(12)
Ryan: The Final Days	195	(10)
Bourassa Redux	205	(10)
From Bourassa to Bourassa	215	(18)
Second Debut	233	(12)
Miracle at Meech Lake	245	(22)
Deal at Dawn	267	(15)
Such Good Friends	282	(19)
Annus Horribilis, 1990	301	(27)
Epilogue	328	(17)
List of Interviewees	345	(2)
Bibliography	347	(6)
Index	353