In November 1990, in the midst of the national unity crisis caused by the collapse of the Meech Lake Accord several months earlier, he took an eight-month leave from his duties at the CRTC at the request of then-Prime Minister Brian Mulroney to chair the Citizen's Forum on National Unity, known colloquially as the "Spicer commission".
The forum was more commonly known as the Spicer Commission, after its chair, Keith Spicer.
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Robin Philpot wrote a book about English Canada's use of the crisis as a political tool following the failed Meech Lake Accord: Oka: dernier alibi du Canada anglais (1991).
The Meech Lake Accord was opposed by aboriginal leaders, who were able to block its ratification in the Manitoba legislature due to the objection of Elijah Harper, and the Newfoundland legislature rescinded its ratification in response to Premier Clyde Wells's belief that it undid the progress achieved in the 1982 constitutional amendments and would undermine the Charter of Rights.
A film based on Harper’s life focusing in particular on the month of June 1990, when Harper blocked the Manitoba legislature from voting on the Meech Lake Accord, was directed by Paul Unwin and played in 2007 at the Vancouver International Film Festival.