Garrett, Laurie.The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging
Diseases in a World out of Balance. New York: Pen-
guin Books, 1995. Chronicles the spread of infec-
tious disease over the past fifty years. Argues that
changes in human behaviors have resulted in in-
creased incidence of disease caused by Ebola,
HIV, and other organisms.
Shilts, Randy, and William Greider.And the Band
Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic.
New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000. Updated de-
scription of the outbreak of the AIDS epidemic
and how the lack of recognition by the govern-
ment during the 1980’s contributed to its spread.
Shilts was a newspaper reporter who later suc-
cumbed to the illness.
Richard Adler
See also AIDS epidemic; Alternative medicine; Ar-
tificial heart; Baby Fae heart transplantation; Cancer
research; Fetal medicine; Genetics research; Health
care in Canada; Health care in the United States;
Health maintenance organizations (HMOs); Ho-
mosexuality and gay rights; Hudson, Rock; Koop,
C. Everett; Plastic surgery; Transplantation.
Meech Lake Accord
Identification A failed attempt to revise the
Canadian Constitution
Date Put forward June 3, 1987; ratification failed
June, 1990
Prime Minister Brian Mulroney attempted in the Meech
Lake Accord to complete the process of establishing an inde-
pendent government for Canada, by gaining acceptance
from the province of Quebec of the 1982 Canadian consti-
tution.
In 1982, the constitution of Canada was patriated,
granting the nation full independence from the
United Kingdom. The province of Quebec never
formally accepted the new constitution, however.
In 1987, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, who had
taken office in 1984, sought to gain Quebec’s formal
acceptance. Mulroney was bolstered in this effort
both by his own political success and by a change
of government in Quebec. The sovereignist Parti
Québécois, whose former leader René Lévesque
had led opposition to the constitution, had been de-
feated shortly after Lévesque’s retirement, and Lib-
eral Party leader Robert Bourassa had regained the
province’s premiership.
At the end of April, 1987, Mulroney gathered the
premiers of the ten Canadian provinces for a meet-
ing at Meech Lake in Quebec. The meeting resulted
in a set of terms designed to gain Quebec’s accep-
tance of the constitution. Among the chief provi-
sions were the recognition of Quebec as a “distinct
society” within Canada; veto power for Quebec on
future constitutional amendments; increased pro-
vincial powers, especially for Quebec, to regulate im-
migration; compensation for provinces deciding to
opt out of federal programs; and continued discus-
sion of reforms relating to the upper house (Senate)
of the federal parliament.
The accord required the approval of the ten pro-
vincial legislatures within a three-year period, by
early June of 1990. Although the accord had wide-
spread support in the early stages of debate, opposi-
tion to it grew as the process continued. Among
prominent national figures opposing it were former
prime minister Pierre Trudeau, who believed that
the accord weakened the federal government by giv-
ing too much power to the provinces. The use of the
phrase “distinct society” to give special status to Que-
bec was also unpopular, as was the manner in which
the accord itself was reached, by “eleven men in
suits” (the premiers and the prime minister) meet-
ing behind closed doors. Opposition in two prov-
inces—Newfoundland and Manitoba—proved deci-
sive. In the former, a new government reversed the
province’s earlier legislative support. Meanwhile, a
First Nations member of Manitoba’s legislature, Eli-
jah Harper, worked to block ratification of the ac-
cord, because he believed that it overlooked the
rights and needs of aboriginal peoples. In the end,
the accord remained unratified when the three-year
time limit expired.Impact The most significant impact of the Meech
Lake Accord occurred in Quebec, where its defeat
led to renewed support for sovereignism. Quebec
leader Lucien Bouchard resigned his cabinet post in
the Mulroney government and played a key role in
the founding of the new sovereignist group Bloc
Québécois. In the broadest sense, the failure of the
accord continued to leave the long-term question of
Quebec’s place within the Canadian federal system
uncertain.632 Meech Lake Accord The Eighties in America