Quebec before and after the Quiet Revolution - Research Paper Example

? Quebec before and after the quiet revolution Lecturer: Introduction The Quite revolution is the given to a period of Quebec history extending from 1960-1966 during which Jean Lesage was the Prime Minister of and the leader of the Liberal Party of Quebec1. The Quite Revolution appears to have been coined by one journalist from Toronto, who upon witnessing what was taking place in Quebec, declared that what was happening was a revolution but a quite one, hence the name Quite revolution2. The Quite Revolution was a period marked by extreme social reforms, profound redefinition of the role of Quebec and French within Confederation and of modernization of Quebec. The origin of the Quite Revolution years was the Duplessis regime characterized by social conservation, isolation and generally negative autonomist stands3. The hopes and energies unleashed during the period of Quite Revolution shook the very foundation of Canada and the impact is still being felt up to date. In his reign as the Prime Minister of Quebec and the leader behind the Quite Revolution, Lesage introduced a slogan known as "Maitres chez nous" (Masters in our own house) which best represented his years as the leader of Quebec. The fundamental belief in Quebec, during the period of Quite Revolution, was that the French Canadians should not be contented with playing a second class responsibility in political, social and economical matters and that the fundamental aspect of the community development rested in the utilization of the distinct tool which was collectively controlled by the French Canadians: the state of Quebec, and hence in the denunciation of the anti-statism of the past. In this regard the government of Lesage became the tool and the symbol of a whole people on the road to self-assertion. The Duplessis regime is largely challenged by many social scientists today. However, there is no doubt that the end of Duplessis regime and the succeeding election of Jean Lesage as the leader of Liberal party, introduced a period of massive changes and activities, which later amounted to a Revolution. Quebec Before 1960 Prior to the 1960s, Quebec was governed by Maurice Duplessis. Duplessis was a conservative and the leader of Union National Party. During his tenure as the government controller, election fraud and corruption was eminent and common practices in Quebec. Even though he was not supported Catholic Church as a whole as some Catholic clergies and Unions criticized him, Duplessis enjoyed enormous support from small towns and rural clergies sometimes even quoting the Union dominant Slogan “Le ciel est bleu” (the sky/ heaven is blue), “l'enfer est rouge” (hell is red) - which referred to Union National colors (red) and the Liberals (red)4. The liberals were accused of being pro-communist by the Union. The newspaper Le Devoir, Radio Canada and political journal Cite’ Libre were intellectual forum for Duplessis critics5. Prior to the Quite Revolution, Quebec’s natural resources were mainly developed by foreign investors. For example iron mining was done by Iron Company of Canada which was based in U.S. in 1949 a group of asbestos miners engaged in a three month strike. The strike led to the formation of Quebecer miners united which opposes the foreign corporation nationalists system and the Catholic Clergies who backed the American company (l 1998). The voice of the miners did not go unnoticed and they received support from Monsignor Charbonneau, Bishop of Montreal, group of intellectual individuals, Quebecois nationalist newspaper and many other groups and individuals who were mainly opposed to the Duplessis system of governance. Until the mid 20th century, quite a number of Francophone Quebec workers lived below poverty line and did not have an opportunity to join the executive class of businessmen in their province6. For some reasons, the death of Duplessis in 1959, followed by the death of Paul Sauve, his successor, elicited the start of the Quite Revolution. Campaigning under the slogans “Maitres chez nous” and Il faut “que ca change”-meaning master of our own house and things have to change respectively- the Liberal Party, having Jean Lesage as the Leader, and gained power a year after the death of Duplessis7. Quebec during and after quite revolution The first major change that took place during the Quite Revolution was the rejection of past values8. Chief among the rejected values were anti-statism, agriculturalist and messianic, which were the three main components of French Canadian perception. In this regard, Quebec entered decisively into the age of modernization: as opposed to religious Quebec undertook a more secular outlook. Much of traditionalism witnessed in the past were replaced by advanced liberal attitudes; while long standing demographic tendencies, related with traditional rural way of life, were rapidly reversed. Only nationalism, among the past values, continued with vigor during the Quite Revolution although in an altered form. Secularization Education, according to the Canadian constitution of 1867, was an area of provincial responsibility. In 1968, Quebec established a Ministry of Public Instruction which was later abolished in 1875 following immense pressure from the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church urged that they were able and willing to provide necessary teaching to the youth and there should be no interference from the province9. By early 1960s, there were tremendous growth in school boards, approximately 1500, with each board responsible for its own textbooks, programs and recognition of diplomas using its own criteria. Prior to the Quite Revolution higher education was only available to a minority of French Canadians because of higher education expenses involved and low levels of formal education. After the Second World War, while Canada and USA was enjoying a lengthy period of modernization and prosperity, in Quebec, efforts at achieving modernization experienced draw backs by the Catholic Church’s position on education and conservative views of politicians (reau 2005). The level of formal schooling among French Canadians was low; that is, on 67% of the finished grade 7, and only 13% completed grade 11, compared to English speaking students (36%). In 1961, the Parent Commission was established to study the education system and to help develop recommendations that will eventually yield the desired reforms hence secularization of the education sector. One of the Key steps of education reforms was the establishment of the Ministry of Education in 1964 with Paul Gerin-Leroie appointed the first Education Minister since 187510. Although the catholic and protestant character still dominated in schools, practically they became more secular. The reforms worth noting in the education sector include: free schooling until the 11th grade, organization of school boards, the compulsory age of schooling was raised from 14 to 16, standardization of school curricula and replacement of classical colleges with cegeps. Another milestone was the creation of the Ministry of Social Affairs in 1985. This ministry was tasked with function of administration of health and social sciences in Quebec (reau 2005). The social and economic reforms The Quite revolution was also marked by intense social change. During the year 1960, Quebec and the world in general was agitated by the powerful waves of change that were taking place. Leftist and Liberal forces everywhere questioned the social order for quite a long time. The movement of civil rights and decolonization made social and national inequalities more and harder to accept. Objectives of educational network or democratization of the political system, adequate and equal accessibility for education and social services, economic empowerment for all, and the institution of a social safety were advocated and pursued with all the seriousness they deserved. Accepting social change importantly involved a superior role for the state as the distinct level of significance in the hands of French Canadians and able to affect the vast transformation was necessarily required. Due to this, in a period of six years, Quebec interestingly moved from being the least indebted and the least tax Canadian provinces to the highest debts and taxes. A big and professional state bureaucracy was established, public intuitions that were lacking previously were formed to follow through the desire to increase Quebec’s economic autonomy, numerous governmental departments and agencies were formed, the public companies such as SOQUEM(mining), SOQUIP(petroleum), REXFOR(forestry), were created to exploit the province’s natural resources. This was a massive step in shifting away from Duplessis regime in which Quebec’s natural resources were less exploited11. The Duple sis’s policy was mainly aimed at selling unchanged resources at bargaining prices so as to create more employment opportunities in the region. This policy turns out to be a weak one as more resources were sold at very low prices hence less profits. In 1964, a new labor code (Code du Travail), was adapted (l 1998). It paved way for much easier Union of workers and gave legalized strike for public employees provided the strike was guanine. It is during the same period that civil code was modified in recognition of legal equality of spouses. For divorce situations, the rules for managing Divorce Act were maintained using Quebec’s old Community property matrimonial regime until 1980, after which the new legislation unleashed an automatic equivalent division of certain basic family assets. For full understanding of Quite Revolution, one has to grasp the strong current of statism of the time. Whenever a problem existed in the 1960s, the solution always involved the state intervention no matter how big and complicated the problem was. For an active and effective state, proper planning and coordination of activities, departments had to take place. State intervention, social change, planning and modern culture were not elements strange to Quebec. They were part of the spirit by then; but because they happened so rapidly and in a short period of time, they appeared to have some sense of prevalence and urgency in Quebec than in any other place. The Quebec’s national time clock seemed to have been reset from the old traditional magnet to be decisively in step with the most progressive to be found in anyplace. This showed how the outlook of Quebec had moved from just a small province to a province being recognized internationally (l 1998). Nationalism Nationalism survived well throughout the period of Quite Revolution. The process of questioning the social order most importantly resulted to the redefinition of the role as well as the place of French Canadians in Canada (reau 2005). Increasing demand and quest for change was heard everywhere: for biculturalism, for bilingualism, for the equality in Confederation and for the respect of autonomy of Quebec and its citizens. The tokenism that was adopted by Duplessis during his reign and other past governments was rejected. The concept of French Canadian was erased from people mind and the new concept of the Quebecois was introduced. The Quebecois, governed for so long by “Negro-Kings” in the interest of foreign powers, political and economical, had to become master of their destiny. However, as the state become more and more involved in the creation of a nation, rather than the ethic group as previously seen, it focused the nationalism more on collective goals for all of Quebec and less on ethnocentric. Quebecois also gave rise to an influential separatist movements and even terrorists manifestations, both of which were attributed to the desire for social change and the ideology of nationalism. The government took measure to expand Quebecois control of the Quebec’s economy. This led to the nationalization of the Quebec’s electric companies under Hydro-Quebec took place. After Quite Revolution The period of the Quiet Revolution came to an end October 1970, with the October Crises. However, Quebec’s society has continued enjoy advance change. Several currents within Quebec since the beginning of the Quite Revolution have caused the spirit of collective identity contained in Quebecois. These include feminists writing, critiques of the notion of nationalism, immigrant writing and creation of native texts in French. All these currents have been achieved through post-modernism with its valorization of the split, the heterogeneous, the mixed, and its critique of hegemony. Feminist writing is a more profoundly the notion of national identity based on homogeneity. However much it may be challenged today in its contributions and assumptions, the Quite Revolution was like a rebirth of the Quebec and the Quebec’s history. It was incredible time to be young, to be possessed with ideals, to live, to have a wish of doing things, to have a mark in the world’s growth, to be a Quebecois.  . Notes 1. Bothwell, Robert. Canada and Quebec: One Country, Two Histories. Vancovour: UBC Press, 1998. 2. Audrey Wipper, Oswald Hall. Work: The Sociology of Work in Canada : Papers in Honour of Oswald Hall. New Yok: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP, 1994. 3. Die, Marguerite Van. Religion and Public Life in Canada: Historical and Comparative Perspectives. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2001. 4. Gauvreau, Michael. The Catholic Origins of Quebec's Quiet Revolution, 1931-1970. New York: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP, 2005. 5. Nick Auf Der Maur, Robert Chodos. Quebec: a Chronicle 1968-1972: A Last Post Special. Toronto: James Lorimer & Company, 1972. 6. Hurley, Erin. National Performance: Representing Quebec from Expo 67 to Celine Dion. toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2010. 7. Behiels, Michael Derek. Prelude to Quebec's Quiet Revolution: Liberalism Versus Neo-Nationalism, 1945-1960. London : McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP, 1885. Read More