QUEBEC CITY — Government leaders said this week Canada was close to a constitutional crisis that could tear the political and social fabric of the country and may change its relationship with the United States.

Government officials said behind-the-scenes talks in the next 10 days probably would seal the fate of the 1987 Meech Lake Accord, whose main thrust is to bring Quebec fully into the Canadian constitutional arrangement by recognizing the province as a distinct society. Although legally bound by the 1982 constitution, Quebec opted to join that agreement, politically, only with certain conditions, including the dominance of wall-to-wall French in all walks of life.

Meech Lake stipulates that it must be ratified by the federal Parliament and the legislatures of all 10 provinces by June 23, or the deal is off. Supporters of the accord say Quebec’s special recognition is demanded by its history, tradition, language and culture. Opponents say the pact threatens national solidarity and doesn’t do enough for women, aboriginal people and other minorities. New Brunswick and Manitoba have declined to ratify the accord. Newfoundland has threatened to rescind the approval it gave earlier.

Without Meech Lake and Quebec in the constitution, the separatist movement in Quebec would be bound to gain strength. Canada and Quebec could be on the verge of another constitutional crisis that could end in divorce due to irreconcilable differences, some diehard Meech Lake supporters say. Jacques Parizeau, leader of the separatist Parti Quebecois, said recently it’s time for Quebec “to get out of Canada before they kick us out. I think we’re reaching the point of no return.”

Opposition to Meech Lake by premiers of New Brunswick, Manitoba and Newfoundland has cast serious doubt about whether the accord may be saved, or a satisfactory parallel accord drafted. A seething national debate is under way.

External Affairs Minister Joe Clark was accused of “fueling the flames” of discord last weekend when he said Meech Lake critics “forget the very real threat to the fabric of Canada which existed in the 1970s. They forget the War Measures Act, the bombs, the kidnappings, the soldiers in the streets,” touched off by the Front for the Liberation of Quebec.

But many of Quebec’s entrepreneurs and economists say the French-speaking province no longer fears the cost of separation from the rest of Canada. A constitutional crisis could be looming that harkens back to Quebec’s sovereignty-association vote of 1980.

“The fear of independence is dead,” Marcel Dutil, chairman of the steel-products conglomerate Canam Manac Group, said recently. “We have the competence to run the economy,” added Dutil, whose company is the biggest maker of steel joists in Canada.

Canada will be swallowed by the United States if Quebec ever separates, Liberal leadership candidate Jean Chretien warned earlier this month. “The will of staying together as a nation will disappear. That’s all.”

Merrill Lynch and Co. has published a report stating that separation from Canada would not have a disastrous effect on Quebec’s economy and shouldn’t discourage American financial institutions from investing in the province.

The accord was signed June 3, 1987, by the then 10 provincial premiers and Prime Minister Brian Mulroney following an agreement reached at Meech Lake, Quebec. In Manitoba, New Brunswick and Newfoundland, provincial offices have changed hands since Meech Lake was signed.

There’s more to Meech Lake than an attempt to placate Quebec so Maine’s neighboring province will sign Canada’s 1982 constitution. The accord would also:

Give provinces a voice in appointment of senators and Supreme Court judges.

Require unanimous provincial approval for Senate reform and creation of new provinces.

Give Quebec more control over immigration.

Allow provinces to opt out of certain future national shared-cost programs.

Set the agenda for future constitution talks. Sidebar to crises1

If the Meech Lake accord expires, its death rattle probably will emanate from Manitoba, a major opponent which has yet to ratify the agreement. New Brunswick hasn’t ratified it either. Newfoundland Premier Clyde Wells has announced his intention to withdraw his province’s previous endorsement.

Disruption of Canadian unity and its reputed lack of concern over rights of women, aboriginal and other minorities are among major arguments expressed against Meech Lake. Regional politics also enter the picture.

Manitoba and premier Gary Filmon may be the key to the Meech Lake impasse. Canadian westerners distrust the east. For Manitobans, Meech Lake carries these grievances, plus anti-French feelings that lie close to the surface in Canada’s west.

Resistance to the accord is part of a growing intolerance in Canada, Quebec’s intergovernmental affairs minister said earlier this month after a fruitless meeting with Filmon. “All these debates concerning Meech Lake are just the peak of the iceberg,” said Gil Remillard. “The reality is intolerance — intolerance toward bilingualism, intolerance toward our visible minorities, intolerance against immigrants.”

Filmon said Canada should know by the month’s end if the accord will stand or fall. The premier said that if his government had not introduced a motion to endorse the agreement by April 1, it probably would be “physically impossible” — given the rules of the Manitoba Legislature — to complete the ratification process by the June 23 deadline.

In New Brunswick, the Frank McKenna government has accepted Quebec’s main Meech Lake conditions, but wants changes to better protect the rights of women, aboriginals and linguistic minorities. New Brunswick’s government apparently wants improvements made to Meech Lake through a “parallel accord,” which McKenna may suggest this week.

Newfoundland’s premier, Clyde Wells, has strongly criticized the constitutional amendment for supposedly blocking Senate reform and entrenching regional disparities. Premier Wells is described as a hardened and articulate Meech Lake unbeliever.

Prominent Quebec cabinet ministers and members of Quebec’s National Assembly are rethinking their commitment to federalism. Quebec’s Revenue and Labor Minister, Yves Seguin, said recently that even if Meech Lake was passed, the wounds in Quebec may be irreparable.

Former Liberal Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau began a new offensive this week in his hit-and-run war against the Meech Lake constitutional accord and its architects. A new Trudeau book, “Towards a Just Society: The Trudeau Years,” accused Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney of selling out federal powers to the provinces for short-term political gain. The former prime minister repeated his belief that the accord would lead to the demolition of Canada. He accused Mulroney of agreeing to Meech Lake to appease separatists in Quebec and provincial premiers.

Leaving Canada — if Meech fails — apparently no longer scares Quebec’s corporate elite. Claude Castonguay guided the Laurentian Group to international stature as one of Quebec’s foremost financial institutions. His message to a Chamber of Commerce of Greater Montreal lunch last month was “Better a Canada with Meech Lake than no Canada at all.”

“If Meech fails,” he said, “then we’re on our way to a very different kind of constitutional setup in Canada. The middle class and the Quebec Liberal party would become much more amenable to a position that ultimately leads to sovereignty. And as we all know, independence movements are made by the middle class.”

The way things are going, Quebec and Canada are headed for a divorce, Castonguay said.