Update 5
CHRETIEN OPEN TO NEGOTIATIONS
-The Toronto Star, November 11th, 1995
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Hull, Québec
12:30 PM, November 11, 1995
"Bonjour, Ms. Copps, your colleagues are already waiting for you at the table. Please follow me," the maître d' said.
The restaurant they had picked for the meeting wasn't the high-end affair that MPs as powerful as them would usually attend following the Remembrance Day ceremony, but the meeting they had planned was hardly usual. Sheila Copps found Brian Tobin and Joe Fontana in a booth at the back of the restaurant. They were already having a discussion, presumably an important one, since the two men hushed up when the maître d' approached.
"Thank you," she said.
"Avec plaisir," the maître d' replied. He turned to the men. "Messieurs, are you ready to order?"
"No actually," Tobin said, "we're still thinking it over."
"Very well, I will make sure you are checked on soon," the maître d' said, then left the table.
Copps sat at the booth next to Fontana, across from Tobin. Sheila Copps and Brian Tobin were compatriots from the days of the Mulroney government, along with Don Boudria and John Nunziata; upstart young Liberals known in the public consciousness as the "Rat Pack". Joe Fontana was an outsider to the group, though he was slowly rising in the party himself. He sat as Ontario chair of the Liberal caucus, served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transportation, and played in a band with Jean Chretien and Roger Gallaway.
"I assume that we're here to talk about our previous... meeting?" Copps asked.
"Of course," Tobin replied, "I've already filled Joe in."
"Just so you know," Fontana said, "I'm with this 100%."
"Is Don not joining us?" Copps asked.
"No," said Tobin, "he'd never go along with it."
"Have you even broached the topic with him?" she asked.
"If I did, it would reach the Prime Minister's ear. We can't afford that yet."
A waitress walked up to the table.
"Hi, are you ready to order?" she asked.
Tobin looked at her. "Yes, we'll have three specials," he said curtly.
"OK, sounds good," the waitress said, then left.
"What is the special?" Fontana asked.
"I have no idea," Tobin replied.
A week before the referendum, Tobin, Copps, and a select number of other Liberal MP's had met to discuss plans for the event of a separatist victory. They believed that the upper positions of government were too dominated by Québécois MP's, and that it would bring the legitimacy of any negotiations into question. Paul Martin, Marcel Massé, Michel Dupuy, and of course, the Prime Minister himself, were all elected from Québec ridings. The MP's all concluded that the negotiations would need to be led by a non-Québecker, and that potentially, the Prime Minister himself would need to resign.
"So, how exactly are we going to convince Chretien to not negotiate himself?" Fontana asked.
"We could pitch it as a way to politically insulate himself from the talks. That way if things go pear-shaped, he stands some chance of salvaging his reputation," said Copps.
"It wouldn't work, he's the PM, he's going to take the fall for all of this no matter what," Fontana replied.
"Almost certainly," Tobin said, "but that doesn't mean he couldn't be persuaded otherwise."
"We could just tell him the truth," said Fontana, "tell him that it would be for the best if the head of negotiations isn't from a Québec riding."
"But wouldn't that also question his legitimacy as PM?" Tobin asked.
"Not necessarily," Copps said, "There's precedent for a Prime Minister to not be a currently sitting MP. John Turner never held a seat in Parliament while he was PM."
"John Turner was never the Prime Minister of a sitting Parliament!" Fontana replied.
"It doesn't matter," said Copps, "he'd accept that even if it's legitimate, a Quebecker-dominated negotiation team would be a public relations catastrophe that could doom the party."
Tobin took a sip of water.
"So," Fontana asked, "who would be the lead negotiator, then?"
"It needs to be somebody the PM trusts implicitly." Tobin said.
"That kinda narrows down the list if we're excluding MP's from Québec," said Fontana.
"It should be somebody we can influence. Somebody with a position in the government, but not too powerful. And, we want somebody unambitious, so Chretien won't be worried they might turn it into a power play," said Tobin.
"I think I know who you're suggesting," Copps said, "you think he'd go for it?"
"Why wouldn't he? He's one of the Prime Minister's staunchest defenders, he'd go for this as an attempt to politically shield the PM."
"Who exactly are we talking about?" Fontana asked.
Tobin looked at him and leaned over.
"Don."
"Don Boudria?" Fontana asked. "He's just the whip, wouldn't it be strange for him to lead a critical negotiation?"
"That's where Sheila comes in," Tobin said, "as Deputy PM, you could suggest the creation of some ad hoc cabinet position who would lead negotiations. "Minister for Sovereignty Issues" or something. You recommend Don for the job, for all the reasons we discussed."
"That actually would help two ways," Fontana said, lowering his voice, "with him out of the way as whip, I'd stand a much better chance of being able to get the Ontario MP's voting the way we want if... the worst-case scenario happens."
"Who replaces Boudria as whip?" Copps asked.
Tobin smiled. "Joe does."