Proposals for Canadian Unity Prove Divisive : Some well-placed citizens are now hoping that the unwieldy negotiations fail.

It started as a well-meaning attempt to amend the Canadian constitution and keep the country together. Now, eight months and countless missed deadlines later, Canada’s national-unity negotiations are proving so unwieldy--and some of the proposals so far-fetched--that many well-placed Canadians have begun to hope the talks fail.

The inability of Canadians to agree on a national constitution sets a troubled stage for Canada’s 125th birthday, to be celebrated next week with a visit by Queen Elizabeth II.

Prime Minister Brian Mulroney launched this latest round of national-unity talks last year, after the secessionist-minded French-speaking province of Quebec announced it would hold a referendum on sovereignty by Oct. 26, 1992. Quebec had said at the time that it would call off the potentially divisive vote if English-speaking Canada offered a set of political reforms satisfactory to its Francophone interests.

Mulroney evidently hoped that such reforms would emerge if he pulled together politicians, business leaders, special-interest groups and a sprinkling of “ordinary Canadians” selected by lottery for a series of constitutional talks.

But as the discussions have proceeded, they have offered not answers so much as a lesson on how far apart Canadians are on their visions of what their country is all about.

Quebec has made things difficult for the negotiators by refusing to come to the table. That has left the English-speaking drafters designing their “offer” to Quebec on the basis of what they think Quebec wants, rather than on what they know to be the case.

And to make matters worse, while Quebec has stayed away, seemingly every other interest group in Canada has come to the table, issuing ringing demands about what they think a model constitution ought to include.

In early June, the government revealed the negotiators’ draft national-unity package. Some of its remarkable elements:

* The Canadian Senate would be overhauled to give a guaranteed number of seats to native Canadians--and perhaps to other racial minority groups, to Francophones and to women. But on the question of what exact powers the Senate would hold, the drafters wrote only, “to be determined.”

* Alternatively, the Senate might be reformed to give an equal number of seats to each of Canada’s 10 provinces. But some senators would have a greater or lesser number of votes than others, depending on the bill being voted.

* Native Canadians would have “self-government” in the new constitutional order. But no one has stated what self-government is, how much it would cost or who would pay.

* The provincial governments would assume new powers over such areas as post-secondary education and tourism. But the feds would go on footing the bills.

Crowning these convoluted compromises, Joe Clark, the constitutional affairs minister, has said that once a final version of the offer is agreed upon, provinces might still be able to “opt in and opt out” of its various elements.

On Wednesday, Mulroney said the discussions will continue but that he is reserving the right to throw the whole package out and make his own unilateral offer to Quebec by July 15. Many fed-up federalists are now rooting for just such an outcome.

If Mulroney does act unilaterally, he would elicit howls of outrage from the interest groups that helped to draft the existing package. But he might please the general public, for he has said that, if he does make a unilateral offer to Quebec, he may give the English-speaking public a chance to vote on it, in a coast-to-coast referendum.

Key Dates for Canada

Canada’s history is characterized by the inability of its widely diverse regions and linguistic groups to agree on a common vision of the country. The disputes recently have focused on the Canadian constitution. Key dates in Canada’s current constitutional ordeal:

Nov. 5, 1981: Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and nine of 10 provincial leaders reach an agreement to create a Canadian constitution, replacing British law. But an angry Quebec refuses to ratify the document.

April 30, 1987: Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, working with all 10 provincial premiers, crafts a package of constitutional amendments designed to appease Quebec and bring it “into the constitutional family.”

June 23, 1990: Mulroney’s package, the Meech Lake Accord, is rejected by two provinces that must ratify it. The rejection sets off a new wave of secessionist sentiment in Quebec.

March 10, 1991: Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa announces that his province will hold a referendum on sovereignty by October, 1992. He says the vote can be called off if English-speaking Canadians first propose political reforms acceptable to Quebec.

Sept. 24, 1991: Mulroney issues a framework for crafting a new set of pro-Quebec reforms. Talks begin in major Canadian cities.

July 15, 1992: Mulroney has promised to unveil the final offer from English-speaking Canada to Quebec by this date.

Oct. 26: Quebec must hold a referendum, either on English-speaking Canada’s offer, or on the question of outright sovereignty, by this date.

Source: Times staff