The Morning After: The 1995 Quebec Referendum and the Day that Almost Was

(Paperback)

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A #1 national bestseller, winner of the QWF Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-Fiction, and finalist for the BC National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction and the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing, The Morning After is a sly, insightful and wonderfully original book from one of Canada's most popular political analysts, Chantal Hebert, and one of Quebec's top political broadcasters, Jean Lapierre. Only the most fearless of political journalists would dare to open the old wounds of the 1995 Quebec referendum, a still-murky episode in Canadian history that continues to defy our understanding. The referendum brought one of the world's most successful democracies to the brink of the unknown, and yet Quebecers' attitudes toward sovereignty continue to baffle the country's political class. Interviewing seventeen key political leaders from the duelling referendum camps, Hebert and Lapierre begin with a simple premise- asking what were these political leaders' plans if the vote had gone the other way. Even two decades later, their answers may shock you. And in asking an unexpected question, these veteran political observers cleverly expose the fractures, tensions and fears that continue to shape Canada today.

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Praise for The Morning After:
"Riveting." --Toronto Star

"In asking the question no one really wanted to ask two decades ago--what would have happened if the 'yes' side had won--Chantal Hbert has not only sleuthed out the chaos that would have ensued following the 1995 referendum, she also trenchantly delineates an enduring warning to all politicians in Canada who might want to change the constitutional status quo without a coherent, principled strategy. In this clear-eyed, often gripping account of what was going on in the minds of the key players, and more ominously, what wasn't going on, Hbert and her collaborator Jean Lapierre have made a major contribution to our almighty national conundrum on what exactly constitutes Canada." --BC National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction jury citation

Author Bio

CHANTAL H BERT is a national affairs writer with the Toronto Star and a guest columnist for L'Actualite. She is a weekly participant on the political panel "At Issue" on CBC's The National as well as Radio-Canada's Les Coulisses du pouvoir. Her first book is French Kiss- Stephen Harper's Blind Date with Quebec. Hebert is a past recipient of the Hyman Solomon prize for excellence in journalism and public policy. JEAN LAPIERRE is a political commentator for CTV and TVA television networks. He has a daily commentary on the Cogeco radio stations and on CJAD Montreal. In his previous life as a Member of Parliament he served in John Turner's and Paul Martin's Liberal cabinets. In between he was a founding member of the Bloc Quebecois.