Jean Charest was enjoying Thanksgiving dinner with his family a few weeks before the 1995 referendum when he received the news that would send shock waves through Canada.

Lucien Bouchard was taking the lead in the battle to take Quebec out of Canada.

Charest went up to his father's bedroom at his home in the Eastern Townships where he could call No campaign headquarters in relative peace.

"I told them, 'This is major,' " Charest said in an interview with The Canadian Press ahead of the 10th anniversary of the historic sovereignty referendum held on Oct. 30, 1995.

"I knew right away the campaign had changed. His history of Meech and his ability to convey that frustration with the demise of Meech, the fact a number of issues had not been resolved.

"I knew Lucien had the ability to express that, to draw people to that conclusion. We were not in a good position to respond."

Charest was right. Bouchard struck the campaign like a bolt from the blue, swelling separatist hearts with pride and striking terror among federalists with the power of his words.

Within days, a campaign that looked as though it would end in a devastating loss for Quebec independence turned into a cliffhanger, with the future of the entire country hanging in the balance.

The No side barely survived the onslaught, getting 50.6 per cent of the votes, compared with 49.4 per cent for the Yes forces.

The seeds of the referendum campaign had been planted in the previous five years.

In 1990, Bouchard and Charest were Conservative colleagues and Bouchard was the point man for the Meech Lake deal designed to get Quebec's endorsement of the Constitution.

The accord, which would have recognized Quebec as a distinct society, foundered as some provinces rejected what they considered special status for Quebec.

An indignant Bouchard resigned from the Conservatives shortly before Meech officially died and he went on to help found the Bloc Quebecois.

The demise of Meech prompted huge sovereigntist rallies in Quebec and led to the Bloc winning 54 of Quebec's 75 seats in 1993 and the Parti Quebecois sweeping to power under Jacques Parizeau in 1994.

"There is a crescendo of events here leading to this referendum in 1995," Charest recalled.

"The environment was very favourable to Lucien Bouchard's entry into the campaign and what he had to say and unfavourable to us.

"Up until then we had been fairly lucky because Mr. Parizeau had not been able to express that. He carried a lot of luggage and there was a certain - and rightfully so - there was a high level of suspicion about what he was saying and not saying.

"When Lucien comes on, then all of a sudden the issue isn't what they're not saying, it's everything that has gone wrong."

Bouchard could deliver a passionate speech on Canada's rejection of Quebec's aspirations but he was also inspirational to many Quebecers for another reason. Ten months earlier, Quebecers and Canadians had prayed for Bouchard when he was stricken with flesh-eating disease, losing a leg and almost his life.

Few could forget the image of Bouchard leaning on his cane for support while reaching out to touch star-struck elderly women and awed teenagers who packed every event.

While Bouchard was even asked to bless Quebec flags during the campaign, some sovereigntist leaders have tried to downplay his role as the messiah of the movement.

"I don't come from the perspective that Mr. Bouchard saved the day," said Gerald Larose, head of the Conseil de la souverainete du Quebec.

"The progression of sovereignty was an option that was coming along long before Mr. Bouchard got involved. Bouchard gave it a certain elan but the Quebec people are pushing that way.

"In sovereignty, there are no transcendent figures. It's a collective responsibility."

But Bouchard has also become a handy excuse for federalists to explain how they came within a few thousand votes of blowing the campaign - and, with it, possibly the country.

"I certainly attribute it to the phenomenon of Lucien Bouchard," said Brian Tobin, a former federal cabinet minister who wore the nickname Captain Canada with pride in the 1990s for defending Canadian interests in international fishing disputes.

"I take off my hat to him as a politician," Tobin said in an interview.

"He had a terrific impact but in particular as a human being who'd been quite ill, who was near death and who had recovered. He had a very powerful impact on Quebecers.

"Campaigns take on a life of their own. And once they do, all you can do is hang on for the ride and that of course was a very, very exciting ride and a very close near-death experience for the country."

Ten years on from the vote that the No side narrowly won, Bouchard has maintained a relative vow of silence on his role in bringing Quebec to the brink of independence, dropping only a few clues on his view of how it unfolded.

Bouchard said recently he became involved "without being prepared" but in a subsequent interview he moved to clarify the remark.

"I didn't want to say that I didn't have any plans in my head, that I had never thought about sovereignty before the referendum campaign," the ex-premier said.

"What I wanted to say was that I wasn't groomed for the campaign. I had to do it with spontaneity, emotion and passion."

Bouchard recalls sitting down with his teenage sons to watch a recent documentary on the referendum campaign.

"We watched it all together and there was a lot of emotion all round.

"I was watching it and it's like when you watch an old film you end up thinking the hero is going to win," he said, laughing.

"But I remembered we didn't win in the end."

Charest, who is again on friendly terms with Bouchard, chuckled at the way his old colleague was pitched into the campaign.

"We've found out they were even less organized than the federalist side," Charest said. "They had no idea, they were running it all on a whim.

"I took some satisfaction in the fact that I was right: they didn't know what they were getting into. Lucien, I don't know whether he did it deliberately, but he was admitting that. They were all doing this on a wing and a prayer."

Bouchard was not the only leader who seared indelible images into Canadian imaginations.

Jean Chretien was the beleaguered prime minister, begging for his country and his political life in a hunched appearance on national television just days before the referendum.

The most infamous of all was Jacques Parizeau on the night of the vote, denouncing "money and the ethnic vote" as the reason for the sovereigntist defeat.

"I could not believe I had been on the the same side as someone who made that speech," said Action democratique du Quebec Leader Mario Dumont, who had joined the Yes side out of disgust over Meech Lake.

"You should be talking about uniting the people. The last, last thing you should do is a speech like that accusing people, using the 'nous,' the 'we' that is not including everybody. Those are all things that I can't even imagine a leader would do under any circumstances."

Charest was the youthful, passport-waving federalist. He was among the few on the No side with the charisma and passion to express his love of Canada and play in the same league as Bouchard.

Charest looks back fondly on one signature moment during the campaign where he crystallized what was at stake for many Quebecers by reaching into his pocket, pulling out his Canadian passport and waving it to the crowd.

"On Oct. 30, Jacques Parizeau will ask you to take your passport and put it on the table," Charest told his audience.

Ten years later, Charest says he was "quite proud" to show the passport.

"A lot of people were better informed about the consequences of our choice when I was able to use that strong symbol to exemplify what the choice was."

As important as the passport was, Charest lost it a few weeks after the referendum. He sheepishly had to call the passport office for a replacement.

"I give my name and after this pause, the woman at the passport office says, 'Are you sure you haven't forgotten it on a podium somewhere?' " Charest laughs.

"She was well aware of the passport."

A look at some of the key moments in the run-up to the Quebec sovereignty referendum that was held on Oct. 30, 1995:

• Sept. 7: Premier Jacques Parizeau confirms Oct. 30 will be referendum day.
• Sept. 8: Quebec Superior Court Justice Robert Lesage rules the Quebec government's push for separation threatens the civil rights of Canadians, but refuses to issue an injunction to stop the referendum.
• Sept. 24: Businessman Claude Garcia calls on federalists "to crush" separatists.
• Oct. 1: Parizeau drops writs starting referendum campaign.
• Oct. 3: Bombardier chief Laurent Beaudoin says he may move his company out of Quebec if there's a Yes vote.
• Oct. 7: Lucien Bouchard takes lead role in separatist Yes campaign.
• Oct. 14: Bouchard laments that Quebecers are one of the "white races" with the lowest birthrate.
• Oct. 16: Finance Minister Paul Martin says independence will cost one million jobs.
• Oct. 19: Dollar begins to tumble, lines at Montreal passport offices grow.
• Oct. 25: Prime Minister Jean Chretien pleads with Quebecers not to destroy the dream of Canada.
• Oct. 27: Tens of thousands of Canadians stream into Montreal streets for giant federalist rally.
• Oct. 30: No side wins referendum with 50.6 per cent of vote.
• Oct. 31: Parizeau announces intention to resign as PQ leader and premier after blaming referendum loss on "money and the ethnic vote."
• This Sunday, Oct. 30, marks the 10th anniversary of the sovereignty referendum in Quebec. Some facts:
• Date: Oct. 30, 1995.
• Question: Do you agree that Quebec should become sovereign after having made a formal offer to Canada for a new economic and political partnership within the scope of the bill respecting the future of Quebec and of the agreement signed on June 12, 1995?
• Result: No, 50.6 per cent; Yes, 49.4 per cent.
• Quote: "Money and the ethnic vote." Then-Parti Quebecois leader Jacques Parizeau on referendum night explaining the Yes side's defeat.