Provincial Legislature to Vote on Quebec Pact : Canada: The Newfoundland lawmakers will consider ratification of an accord giving special powers to the nation’s French-speaking province.

TORONTO —  Newfoundland Premier Clyde Wells said Monday that he will put a controversial package of constitutional amendments to a vote in the provincial legislature sometime in the next two weeks.

The Newfoundland legislators will vote on whether to ratify amendments, coupled with a political accord hammered out last week, that give special powers to the French-speaking province of Quebec. The possibility of amending the constitution in this way has touched off a bitter debate all across Canada. Seven of the country’s 10 provinces have already ratified the amendments; three have been holding out. Newfoundland has fought the changes more vigorously than any other province.

A “yes” vote by Newfoundland now would do much to break years of constitutional impasse in Canada, where Quebec has refused to sign the national constitution since 1982. A “no” vote would almost certainly kill the amendments, inflame separatist sentiments in Quebec and torpedo all chance of further constitutional amendment in the foreseeable future.

Wells, speaking first in the legislature and later in a news conference in the provincial capital of St. John’s, declined to set a date for the vote. He said he wants to give the legislators plenty of time to consult with their constituents beforehand. He noted that the vote could be held as late as June 22, just one day before the amendments must be ratified by all 10 provinces or become null.

Putting off the vote until the last possible moment adds to the cliff-hanger atmosphere that has prevailed in Canada for the last few weeks, as Prime Minister Brian Mulroney has fought a fierce battle to persuade all 10 provinces to ratify the amendments before they expire.

Mulroney’s efforts culminated last week in seven days of closed-door marathon bargaining sessions, in which the 10 premiers struggled to find common ground between the pro-amendment and anti-amendment camps. (In addition to Newfoundland, the provinces of New Brunswick and Manitoba had refused to sign the amendment package, called the Meech Lake Accord.) By Saturday, the exhausted premiers said they were as close to having an agreement as they would ever be.

But while Wells’ call for a legislative vote may prolong Canada’s agony, it does appear as the lesser of two evils in the eyes of some observers. Until Monday, Wells had been saying he wanted to put the amendments to a popular referendum, province-wide. In such an event, impoverished, isolated “Newfies,” as other Canadians deprecatingly call the people of Newfoundland, would have had the chance to vent years of ire toward with Quebec by voting the amendments down.

“The decision taken by Mr. Wells today is a very good one,” said Gil Remillard, Quebec’s provincial minister of inter-governmental affairs.

In his news conference, Wells said he would still have preferred to hold a referendum, but he said that Quebec and other provinces weren’t willing to extend the June 23 deadline and give him the time that a referendum would require. He said he hadn’t wavered from his position that the Meech Lake Accord is a bad proposition for Canada, but he added that he isn’t absolutely positive about this. As long as he harbored any doubts, he said, he felt obligated to let his fellow Newfoundlanders have their say.

Wells said he wouldn’t do anything to influence the outcome of the vote. And he invited Mulroney and the nine other provincial premiers to come to Newfoundland and explain publicly why they want the public to vote in favor of the pro-Quebec amendments.

Meanwhile, the legislatures of Manitoba and New Brunswick must still ratify the Meech Lake Accord. New Brunswick Premier Frank McKenna has said that he now accepts the package and that he will push it through his provincial legislature in good time.

The situation in Manitoba is more precarious, however. There, the legislature isn’t even in session now. The law calls for full public hearings to be held before ratification. And while Premier Gary Filmon now says he thinks the constitutional documents are “worth supporting,” he has also been making charges that the federal government has been monitoring his private, Meech Lake-related phone conversations.

The federal government denied the charges.

NEXT STEP

Three provinces that have not yet done so must ratify Canada’s so-called Meech Lake Accord for it to become effective. And they must do so by June 23--a week from Saturday. Otherwise, the accord becomes null. Attention is focused on the legislature of Newfoundland, whose premier most stubbornly resisted signing the accord after last week’s talks in Ottawa. But the legislatures of Manitoba and New Brunswick must also vote their approval. The aim of the accord is to bring French-speaking Quebec, where separatist sentiment is great, under Canada’s 1982 constitution.