The Night of the Long Knives (in French Nuit des longs couteaux) is the name Quebec nationalists use to refer to the night in November 1981 when the Constitution Act 1982 was agreed upon by Pierre Trudeau (former Prime Minister of Canada) and the provincial Premiers, excluding René Lévesque the Premier of Quebec. The phrase is a reference to the "Night of the Long Knives," of 1934 Germany, in which socialist Nazis were purged from party ranks, as they were seen as a threat to Hitlers new political status.
The Constitution was a bitter point amongst the provincial Premiers and Trudeau, and soon a group emerged called "The Gang of Eight". The "Gang" included every Premier except for Bill Davis (Ontario) and Richard Hatfield (New Brunswick). The 8 Premiers submitted their own plan for a Constitution, without a Charter and with a provincial veto on Constitutional amendments. Trudeau constantly threatened to take the case for patriation straight to the U.K. Parliament, "..[without] bothering to ask one Premier." The "Gang" soon appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada, which ruled that the federal government had the right to proceed with the unilateral patriation of the Constitution, but, according to convention, it was preferable if it could first work out an agreement with a "substantial" (the number meant was undefined, Trudeau himself recognized it as 5 to 9) number of Premiers. This set the stage for a meeting amongst all Premiers and Trudeau in Ottawa, in November of 1981.
After 2 days of meetings, Trudeau pitched an idea to all of the Premiers: that they patriate the Constitution as it was, but continue debates for 2 years and maybe even have a national referendum on certain issues. René Lévesque, feeling threatened and that he would be cast as "undemocratic" (especially after his recent referendum) agreed with Trudeau on the issue (their respective memoirs have very different stories on the conversation). The other 7 opposition Premiers were startled: Canadians were mostly in agreement with Trudeau on the issue (Even in the West, a rarity for him), and a referendum would surely give him what he wanted, with backing of the people, undermining provincial powers. Trudeau had thus succeded in breaking up the Gang of Eight. Lévesque went to sleep in Hull, Quebec for the night, telling the other Premiers to call him if anything happened.
That night, Attorney-General Jean Chrétien negotiated with the Attorney-Generals of Saskatchewan (Roy Romanow) and Ontario (Roy McMurty). The provincial Premiers agreed to get rid of the "opt out" clause, while Chrétien reluctantly offered the Notwithstanding Clause on the Constitution. Lévesque was not called. Hatfield and Davis agreed to the compromise, and told Trudeau that he should take the deal. Trudeau accepted. The agreement is also known as the "Kitchen Accord" because it grew from conversations started in the kitchen.
The next morning, Lévesque walked into the Premier's breakfast and was told a deal had been made. Lévesque refused to sign the deal, and left the meeting. Quebec announced on November 25, 1981 that it would veto the deal. However, the Supreme Court issued a ruling on December 6, stating that Quebec had never held such veto powers.
The events were very divisive in Canada. Many Québecois saw the deal as the English Premiers stabbing Québec in the back. Jean Chrétien's role in the negotiations made him almost universally reviled among sovereignists. The deal plunged the Liberal's traditional popularity in Québec, and would set the stage for Brian Mulroney and the Progressive Conservatives to make large gains in the province. As of 2005, Quebec has still not signed on to the Constitution, even after a number of attempts to amend it (such as the Meech Lake Accord and Charlottetown Accord, both of which Trudeau was instrumental in defeating) during the administrations of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.