The greatest crisis encountered by the federal parliament during Manning's and Reform's first term was the Quebec referendum on secession held on October 30, 1995. Lucien Bouchard had used his two years as Leader of the Opposition in the federal parliament to promote the cause of "sovereignty association" – a more euphemistic definition of secession – and public support for that position in Quebec was increasing. Manning was severely hampered in discussing the issue by his inability to speak French, so his bilingual Constitution critic, Stephen Harper, took a leading role in advancing the Reform position. From Manning's perspective, the Chrétien government's position on federalism was that "the status quo is good enough". Federalism was working well and Quebeckers simply needed to be convinced that they were better off in Canada as it was than in going it alone. Manning argued with Chrétien (mainly in private rather than in public) that when competing with a "dream" – Bouchard's dream of sovereignty association – the federalists needed a better dream, not a dry, unemotional alternative like "the status quo is good enough". What Manning and Reform wanted was for the federal government to advance the dream of a "reformed federalism" – one characterized by greater decentralization – which would address the constitutional concerns of both Quebec and the West. Manning and Harper also demanded a much clearer position on what constituted a large enough majority vote in the Quebec referendum to justify acceptance by the Rest of Canada of the break-up of the country. Harper and the Reform research staff prepared a list of "twenty hard questions" the government would have to answer immediately if Quebec were to vote Yes to separation. Chrétien and the Liberals condemned all of Reform's initiatives as not only unhelpful but characterized them as a deliberate attempt to aid the sovereigntist cause since the West would have greater influence in a Canada without Quebec.