Quebec Essay, Research Paper

Quebec’s Quiet revolution: What is it? How has it changed

Quebec’s society? How has it affected Confederation? The

English-French relations have not always been easy. Each is

always arguing and accusing the other of wrong doings. All

this hatred and differences started in the past, and this Quiet

revolution, right after a new Liberal government led by Jean

Lesage came in 1960. Thus was the beginning of the Quiet

Revolution. Lesage had an excellent team of cabinet

ministers which included Rene Levesque. The Liberals

promised to do two things during the Quiet Revolution; one

was to improve economic and social standards for the

people of Quebec, and the other was to win greater respect

and recognition for all the French people of Canada. The

Liberals started a program to take control of hydro-electric

power companies. French-Canadian engineers from all over

Canada returned to Quebec to work on the project. Slogans

during these times were "we can do it" and "masters in our

own homes". The government also started to replace

programs the Church previously ran, which included hospital

insurance, pension schemes and the beginning of Medi-Care.

For these programs, the Quebec Liberals had to struggle

with Ottawa for a larger share of the tax dollars. One of the

greatest reforms was the modernization of the entire school

system. The Church used to own the schools of Quebec.

Most of the teachers were Priests, Nuns and Brothers. They

provided a good education but Quebec needed more in

business and technology. Lesage wanted a government-run

school system that would provide Quebec with people in

engineering, science, business and commerce. With the new

freedom of expression, lots of books, plays and music about

French culture were all developed in Quebec. French

contemporary playwrights were very famous during that

time. However, not all was going well in Quebec. The

French-English relation was going bad. Many studies

showed that French-Canadian Quebecers were earning the

lowest wage in all of the ethnic groups in Canada. Other

complaints were that the top jobs in Quebec were given to

English speaking Canadians. Canada was going through the

worst crisis in its history, and unless equal partnership was

found a break-up would likely happen. Some Quebecers

thought that separation was the only solution. They thought

that as long as Quebec was associated with the rest of

Canada, French-Canadians would never be treated equal.

The FLQ (Front De Libération Du Québec) was founded in

1963. It was a smaller, more forceful group of separatists.

They were a collection of groups of young people whose

idea was to use terrorism to achieve independence for

Quebec. The ALQ (L’Armée de Libération de Quebec) was

even more of a violent separatist group. Some of their

actions included robbing banks in order to get money. For

their ammunition they had to raid arms depots of the

Canadian Armed Forces. There were many Federalists that

believed that separatism had no future and that

French-Canadians could play a role in a bi-lingual Canada.

There were three Quebec men that believed in Federalism.

These men were Liberals and their names were Pierre

Trudeau, Jean Marchand and Gérard Pelletier. The

President of France, General De Gaulle came to Quebec in

1967 and gave speeches to separatist groups that deemed

him an enthusiast of the thoughts of the separatists in the

struggle to fight for the liberation of Quebec. The Prime

Minister at the time, Lester B. Pearson, criticized De

Gaulle’s remarks and said that Quebec belonged to Canada

and there was no need for their liberation. In 1970, British

Trade Commissioner James R. Cross was kidnapped by

FLQ and wanted in return for Cross, 23 political prisoners.

Quebec Labour Minister, Pierre Laporte was also

kidnapped which started a Quebec crisis. After a few

months Cross returned when Laporte was assassinated. The

Quebec crisis ended several years of violence in Quebec.

This crisis made many Quebecers upset because Ottawa

sent the army into Quebec. Therefore English-French turmoil

did not end. Rene Levesque was a leader who became very

popular in Quebec with his views on independence. In 1976,

Rene Levesque and the Parti Quebecois won the Provincial

election. Now many Quebecers thought he could build up

Quebec. Since many French were lower then English in

status, Quebecers thought the Parti Quebecois could do

something about it. Then the two languages became a major

issue. Many businesses had a sign in French only, and

doctors and nurses had to speak French. These were all

effects on Bill 101 by the Parti Quebecois. Immigrants were

educated only in French. Businesses accused the Parti

Quebecois of practising economic blackmail. Quebec

Nationalists wanted an independent state so that they could

have full control over their territory. But many top authorities

in Canada say it is not legal for a Province to leave.

Levesque said that he wanted a Quebec that was

independent but joined Canada in the market. Levesque

wanted to protect Quebec culture. Many people in Quebec

opposed the separation. An organization called the Positive

Action Committee was formed to help fight the separation

dispute. Quebec was not the only Province that wanted

more political power for themselves. Canada was working

an a new Constitution and wanted to replace the BNA Act

of 1867. If a new Constitution was made, Quebec might

remain a part of Canada. The Constitution had to make all

the Provinces happy. It would have to recognize the

partnership between the French and the English in the history

of Quebec. The Federal Liberals probably helped tip the

balance in favour of the no vote. The referendum campaign

in the early 80’s was intense. Premier of Quebec, Rene

Levesque and the PQ desperately wanted the vote to be a

resounding "oui". The referendum was a critical test for the

PQ government. The PQ’s (Parti Quebecois) was elected

out of the separatist platform. Their party represented the

bone of forming independence of Quebec. In order for the

independence movement to take greater strides, the Parti

Qubecois would have to encourage an "our" vote in the

Referendum. There were intense battles to win the opinion

and admiration of the Quebec population with ads in

newspapers, magazines, on T.V and radio. With a

resounding "no vote" in the makings, Prime Minister Pierre

Trudeau was prepared to bring on the Constitution. Trudeau

made a speech on May 14th, which was a sincere

commitment to a new Canada. He was determined that

Canada would have a new Federal system of government.