Prime Minister Brian Mul-roney, having swayed a key opponent in a bitter constitutional crisis, called Canada's leaders to further talks Tuesday to break the will of two remaining holdouts.
Mulroney, facing a crucial deadline less than three weeks away, offered the provinces fresh proposals Monday for cracking the deadlock over Quebec's future in Canada and won the support of New Brunswick.Newfoundland and Manitoba, however, remained adamantly opposed to granting French-speaking Quebec special status and a veto over Senate reform that are the backbone of the Meech Lake Accord.
"I see no reason for optimism; as a matter of fact I see less reason to be optimistic," a grim Newfoundland Premier Clyde Wells told reporters after a four-hour meeting Monday. "I'm quite unhappy with it."
The Meech Lake agreement, which dies unless ratified by all provinces by June 23, would bring Quebec into the 1982 constitution - which it has refused to endorse - and recognize the province as a distinct society.
Mulroney, elected in 1984 on promises to unite the nation, said described the discussions as "vigorous."