In the meantime, there was a provincial election in Quebec. Despite a brief post-referendum malaise, the PQ easily defeated Ryan's Liberals in the 1981 provincial election, campaigning both on their governing record and against Trudeau's intentions. Notably, the PQ did not promise to hold a second referendum.
With regards to Trudeau's plans to unilaterally patriate and change the constitution, the newly re-elected Lévesque, who had initially argued for the incorporation of a Quebec veto into the new constitution, agreed with eight other premiers (the Gang of Eight) to a proposal that would not allow Quebec a veto, but would permit "opting out" of certain federal endeavours with compensation.
The federal government, still interested in proceeding unilaterally, sought an opinion on whether it was legally entitled to do so from the Supreme Court of Canada. The Supreme Court ruled that any constitutional changes, including patriation of the constitution, could be made unilaterally under the letter of the law, but, by non-binding convention, "a substantial degree of provincial consent was required".
The Supreme Court's decision prompted a final meeting among the first ministers. Lévesque abandoned the Gang of Eight and opted to join Trudeau in advocating immediate patriation with the promise of a future referendum on the other matters. The other premiers, loath to be seen arguing against the charter of rights that was included in Trudeau's proposed constitutional changes, formulated a compromise proposal with Jean Chrétien that was acceptable to the Canadian government. The compromise came during the Kitchen Meeting, which took place after Lévesque had left for the evening. In Quebec, that night has sometimes been called the "Night of the Long Knives".
As a result of the compromise between the premiers (other than Lévesque) and the federal government, the government partiated the Canadian constitution in the Constitution Act, 1982 without support from Lévesque or Quebec's National Assembly. The result was a shattering defeat for the PQ, especially after the Quebec government's loss in its Quebec Veto Reference case. The National Assembly of Quebec, compared to its position in 1976, actually lost power under Lévesque and the PQ.
Historical debate would centre on whether Trudeau's advocacy and agreement on patriation were in accord with or in contravention of his commitments made in his speech at the Paul Sauvé Arena. Trudeau defended his actions by stating he had kept his promise to deliver a new constitution that resided entirely within Canada and an embedded Charter of Rights. Quebec nationalists argue that this is an overly literal view of his words and that, in context to a Québécois audience, Trudeau had promised that Quebec would be given a status in accordance with a decentralized view of federalism, or his MPs would resign.
In 1984, Brian Mulroney led the Progressive Conservatives to victory nationally, having committed during the campaign to try to find a way to accommodate Quebec's objections to the constitution. Lévesque pledged to take the risk of trying to work towards a deal with Mulroney. This led to a split in the PQ and subsequently Lévesque's resignation from politics in 1985. After the PQ defeat by the Liberals of Robert Bourassa, the Mulroney government began negotiations with Quebec to find a deal that would be acceptable to all provinces. The 1987 Meech Lake Accord and the 1992 Charlottetown Accord, despite receiving unanimous consent among the provincial premiers, each failed in dramatic public fashion, reviving the sovereignty movement.
The PQ returned to office, led by hard-line separatist and former Finance Minister Jacques Parizeau, in 1994. Parizeau called a second sovereignty referendum of 1995, which featured a more direct question. That referendum failed by a margin of less than 0.6%.
2022 Asian Games
The 2022 Asian Games, also known as XIX Asiad (), will be a sport event held in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China from 10 to 25 September 2022.
Hangzhou will be the third Chinese city to host the Asian Games, after Beijing 1990 and Guangzhou 2010.
44 venues will be used during the Games. 30 venues are already existing in the city, 10 are under construction and another 4 venues are in the planning stage.
2019 Xiangshui chemical plant explosion
On 21 March 2019, an explosion occurred at a chemical plant in Chenjiagang Chemical Industry Park, , Xiangshui County, Yancheng, Jiangsu, China.
78 people were killed and 617 injured in this accident.
The plant — located in Yancheng's industrial park—was operated by Tianjiayi Chemical (), and was used to produce fertilizer or pesticides. Tianjiayi Chemical had previously been punished six times for not obeying pollution and waste management laws, and "China Daily" reported fines over safety issues.
On November 27, 2007, an explosion occurred in one of the chemical factories in Chenjiagang Chemical Zone (), with 7 killed and around 50 injured. On November 23, 2010, more than thirty were poisoned by a harmful gas release. In the of harmful chemical release and potential upcoming explosions in the Chenjiagang Chemical Industry Park led over ten thousand residents to move away in panic from the towns of Chenjiagang and Shuanggang () during which four people died and many were injured. On the afternoon of May 18 and again on July 26 in 2011, there were explosions at local factories.
The explosion happened at a local time of 14:48 (06:48 GMT). 78 people were killed, and at least 94 were severely injured, 32 of whom were critically injured. Around 640 people required hospital treatment and were taken to 16 hospitals. The injured included children at a local kindergarten. CENC detected an artificial earthquake at .
The force of the blast started fires in Yancheng, knocked down several buildings, and reportedly destroyed windows several kilometers away. The fire was reported to have been controlled by 03:00 local time. Considerable damage was caused to nearby factories and offices; the roof of Henglida Chemical Factory, 3 km from the explosion, fell in. At least one of the people killed was in another building destroyed by the blast. Windows are reported to have been blown out up to 6 km away from the explosion, and houses and other buildings were damaged in the nearby administrative divisions including Hai'an Town (Haianju) and Shadang.
The search for survivors was ongoing on 23 March; one survivor was rescued from the site on the morning of 23 March, but 25 of the 28 people earlier reported missing were found dead. According to the Jiangsu environmental protection bureau, the monitored levels of benzene, toluene, and xylene in the area were not abnormal, and levels of acetone and chloroform outside the explosion area were within normal limits.
Vernéaz
Vernéaz is a small village in the municipality of La Grande-Béroche (former Vaumarcus) in the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel.
Since 1875, it was an independent municipality merged with Vaumarcus to form Vaumarcus-Vernéaz. It was known from 1875 to 1966. On 1 January 2018, it has been with Vaumarcus merged to form the new municipality of La Grande-Béroche.
Wavre, Switzerland
Wavre is a village in the municipality of La Tène (former Thielle-Wavre) in the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel. Since 1888, it was an independent municipality merged with Thielle to form Thielle-Wavre.
Thielle, Switzerland
Thielle is a village in the municipality of La Tène (former Thielle-Wavre) in the canton of Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Since 1888, it joined together with Thielle and Wavre and became Thielle-Wavre.
Les Eplatures
Les Eplatures is a village in the municipality of La Chaux-de-Fonds, in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. Since 1900, it became a part of La Chaux-de-Fonds.
Les Eplatures is the birthplace of painter Louis Léopold Robert.
Speculation tax