Quebec to fight Trudeau

Press, 4 December 1981, Page 6

Quebec to fight Trudeau

NZPA-Reuter Ottawa Canada yesterday faced bitter protests from the province of Quebec after crossing the first and most important hurdle in the legal process of getting control of its own Constitution from Britain. The Lower House of Parliament yesterday gave strong approval to a Government resolution asking Britain to send the Canadian Constitution, a century-old British law, to Canada after inserting a charter of rights and a formula for its amendment. The resolution will be sent to London for endorsement by the British Parliament after it is approved by the Upper House, the Senate, where a vote is expected early next week. But Quebec’s Premier (Mr Rene Levesque) said he would seek court backing for his claim that Quebec’s consent was necessary for the Constitution to be brought to Canada. Quebec, Canada’s only mainly French-speaking province. opposed constitutional reforms agreed last month by the Prime Minister (Mr Pierre Trudeau) and the Premiers of the nine other provinces. Federal Government Ministers said Quebec has no veto power by law or tradition and expressed confidence that Mr Levesque’s legal action would not hold up Canada’s request to Britain. “We’re going to London and we don't expect any major problems there," the Minister of Justice (Mr Jean Chretien) said on television after yesterday’s vote. The House of Commons voted 246 to 24 in favour of the resolution, with some members of all three parties opposing it for various reasons. Mr Trudeau and the two other party leaders received ovations from their supporters and jubilant members sang the national anthem. But in Quebec Mr Levesque ordered provincial flags be flown at half-mast for five days of symbolic mourning and suspended debates in the legislature. Apart from legal action in the Quebec Court of Appeal, Mr Levesque was expected to work out fresh political moves aimed at blocking the constitutional reforms which he says will whittle away Quebec’s powers.