Press Club Snippet -- O, Canada

Snippet #27

O Canada: Attempts to separate French-speaking Quebec from predominantly English-speaking Canada were hotly debated at the National Press Club in the 1970s, just prior to two razor-close provincial elections on the issue. Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau argued at a huge news conference at the Club in 1977 that Canada should stay intact. He was countered 18 months later in an angry Club address by Rene Levesque, the newly elected separatist premier of Quebec. It happened at the National Press Club(often bilingually) in the nation's capital.

This Club history snippet is one of the many put together by Art Wiese, who served as Club president in 1979. He was responsible for the reconstruction of the Club during its renovation in the early 1980s. In his later years, he put together a series of snippets on the Club's history. In honor of his passing last year, the Wire is running one of them each week while they last.