Politics of Quebec in the 1930s - Essay Example

March 11, 2009 Politics of Quebec in the 1930’s The 1930’s brought to Quebec great turmoil. The world was reeling from the economic and social effects of the Great Depression. People were questioning values they had always accepted as truth. “Questioning the system and the desire for change were (then) part of the general climate” (Linteau, Durocher, Robert, Ricard, Chodos 1991). Politics were suddenly of great concern for the average man, advocating major changes in political, economic, and social organization (Linteau 90). Change was desired and commonplace. There was a shift in the power held by long standing political parties to the newer, more reformist views of the new parties. There were two federal elections held in the 1930’s and there was a change in government in each election. (Linteau 93). The 1930 election between Prime Minister Mackenzie King’s liberal government and R.B. Bennett, the new conservative leader (Linteau 90) was the precursor to change that was rapidly approaching Quebec. There were very different platforms from each candidate; Bennett based his campaign on finding ways to fight the depression. Bennett promised to bring relief to the unemployed and increase exports (Linteau 1991) leading Bennett’s Conservative victory. King’s Liberal party showed no preparation or awareness of how serious the upcoming election was, appearing “ill prepared to deal with more increasingly difficult circumstances” (Linteau 1991). The victory was short lived however, as the immense scope of the economic problems of the Depression were more than his government seems equipped to handle. His failure to bring about the solutions he had promised made him an unpopular scapegoat. In 1932 he formed the Relief Act which was meant to help people who were unemployed by providing grants for municipal works projects. During the 1930’s there were a number of new parties formed. The older more established parties, such as the Liberals who had been in power since 1897 appeared to be old and stagnant. 1932 brought the formation of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) a democratic socialist party. It gained supporters nationwide, but Quebec did not seem to favor the party (Linteau 1991). Another party that fared better in Quebec was the ALN, or Action Liberale Nationale. It grew out of the younger activists of the liberal party. Their program was supported by pressure groups and youth movements toward the social doctrine of the church (Linteau 1991). They were encouraged and inspired by the ideas of the Programme de Restauration Sociale (Linteau 89). Just before the 1935 election, the ALN split with the Liberal party. Acknowledging it could not beat the incumbent liberal party, it formed a reluctant union with the Conservatives (Linteau 1991). This new party was to turn into Maurice Duplessis’s Union Nationale. Just before the 1935 election, Bennett surprised politicians by making some major economic initiatives which did little to help his cause. Disillusionment with the traditional parties guided voters toward the newer parties such as the CCF, Social Credit, ALA, and Reconstruction party (Linteau 1991). The liberals still managed to come out of the election with a large majority in the House of Commons (Linteau 1991). This laid the platform for a more involved government, which did not fully commence until after World War II. During the 1930’s emergency action was more necessary than before, a notable example is the unemployment rate which skyrocketed to as high as 14.9% of the total budget in 1935 (Linteau 1991). In the beginning, the government provided work programs, when that ceased to be enough, they began implementing welfare and food assistance. Toward the end of the decade, both forms of assistance, welfare and work programs were being supported by the government. This caused Quebec to begin to operate under a deficit to meet the growing demands of unemployment. “Overall the provincial debt doubled between 1930 and 1936 then doubled again between 1936 and 1939” (Linteau 1991). Canadas unemployment rate rose dramatically from 13 percent in 1930 to 26 percent in 1933, and net income fell from $417 million to $109 million in the same period (Mills). The increase in spending was mostly to either assist the unemployed, or to create projects to employ them. By the end of the Great Depression close to 250 million dollars were pumped into Quebec either through public works projects or direct relief initiatives (Linteau 1991) mostly as part of the Canadian New Deal plan proposed by R.B Bennett. The plan met with great resistance, but there were some ideas that were accepted and implemented. Also prominent in the 1930’s was Maurice Le Noblet Duplessis’s rise to power, fall from grace, and then reemergence as a great leader of Quebec. He was first elected as a Conservative member of Trois-reiveres in 1927 (Paulin 2005). Confirmed as leader of the Quebec conservative party in 1933; he attracted disillusioned liberals put-off by Taschereau’s politics. Two weeks before the 1935 election, he formed an alliance with Paul Gouin of the ALN as co leaders (Paulin 2005). “After the election, Duplessis used the weakness of Gouin’s leadership… and a variety of maneuvers to emerge as the undisputed leader of a new party, the Union Nationale” (Linteau 1991). Duplessis then forced out Taschereau in June 1936 by exposing corruption in Taschereau’s government. (Paulin 2005) another election was held in August 1936 won convincingly by Duplessis (Linteau 1991). Duplessis created both the Farm Credit program and the first old age pension in 1936 as well. In 1937, he passed an Act Respecting Communist Propaganda, (an Act of the province of Quebec), known as the Padlock Law which forbids the use of one’s home to propagate Communism (Paulin 2005). For all of his popularity during the election, Duplessis disappointed Quebec once in power. Duplessis’s lofty campaign promises of reform led way to courting big business and the powerful Catholic Church once he was in office. (Mills) He also cracked down on the Union movements and promised to "defend" Quebec against the intrusion of the federal government into its constitutionally defined jurisdictions. (Paulin 2005) This stance against the Federal government coincided with Ontario’s leader, Mitchell Hepburn. They worked together to defend provincial jurisdiction and oppose King’s plan for unemployment insurance. (Mills) Their belief was that the power should reside with the provincial governments, while the responsibility should reside with the federal government. Labor unions were another matter of interest in the 1930’s. When considered in the context of economic meltdown it is easy to see how they became so. Men were hard pressed to feed and clothe their families and desperate for work. In 1931 there were four basic factions vying for worker’s allegiance. The Trades and Labour Congress of Canada (TLC) included nearly two thirds of Quebec union members (Linteau 1991).The other third belonged to either the Canadian and Catholic Confederation of Labour, the All-Canadian Congress, or the Worker’s Unity League which was linked to the Communist party (Linteau 1991). The deciding factors on choosing your union alliance was divided based on answers to several questions. The first problem was in organization. There were two basic sides to this problem; the first maintained that larger organizations that might employ a mixture of skilled and non-skilled workers should be able to form an industry union. This was in direct conflict with the traditional craft unions (Linteau 1991). There was also controversy pertaining to the International Unions which were mainly American. Some trade unionists believed that Quebecers would be better served by a Canadian union (Linteau 1991). The third decisive factor pertaining to mainly Quebec was religion. The Catholic unions had a larger following in Quebec than in many other areas. Membership increased during wartime at the end of the decade along with the economic upturn. In the mid- 1930’s, Liberal Prime Minister of affairs, William Lyon Mackenzie King established the Royal Commission on Dominion-Provincial Relations, better known as the Rowell-Sirois Commission in order to look into the question of constitutional jurisdiction. (Linteau 1991). The stubborn refusal to allow the Federal government to make decisive action combating the effects of the Depression was a debate that lasted the entire decade. It was argued about who would bear the financial burden in helping the unemployed, in the end there were some programs, mostly work camps which were strictly limited based on residency (Mills). In 1938, Liberal Prime Minister of affairs, William Lyon Mackenzie King extended a trade agreement originally established with the USA in 1935 to include Great Britain. Also of note to Canadians was the Statute of Westminster which was enacted in December 11, 1931. This was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which established a status of legislative equality between the self-governing dominions of the British Empire and the United Kingdom (Bélanger). This statute allows Canada equal legislative power as Great Britain; allowing Canada to operate independently. After the First World War, in which the colonies played such an important role, it could no longer be argued that they could not or should not govern themselves. Completing the decade of the 1930’s, after years of building fears Canada declares war on Germany on September 10, 1939 one week to the day after Great Britain. With the passing of the War Measures Act, the federal government assumed most of the responsibilities that were being debated in the Rowell-Sirois Royal Commission. The tension between the Duplessis-Hepburn alliance and the Federal government dissolved in the face of World War. Duplessis announced an election for October of 1939. He was hoping to position himself as a true defender of Quebec. After the failure of the Union Nationale party to bring about the change promised, the Liberals again regained power with the election of Liberal Adelard Godbout. His promise of non-conscription won over many Quebecers. Among other reformist acts, he granted Quebec women the provincial vote. In summary, during the 1930’s in Quebec there was great political unrest. The depression caused turmoil and no one party seemed to have all of the answers. New parties were created, old parties were abandoned and there was a debate and shift in the federal vs. provincial power. Spending was forced to drastically increase, due to the demands of the unemployed. It also became apparent that major restructuring up to the federal level was necessary. Traditionally accepted beliefs that poverty was an effect of laziness were proven to not always be necessarily correct. Many were willing and searching for work that they were unable to find due to the economic downturn. In order to further prevent the tragedy of the depression from occurring again, the government was forced to acknowledge that they must take some responsibility for economic oversight. While the Quebec after World War II was not the same as before, it was more prepared to meet the needs of it’s populous due to the lessons learned in this rough transitionary period. Bibliography Bélanger, Claude: “The Statute of Westminster (1931)” Marinopolis College, Department of History updated 26 February 2001, Accessed 10 March 2009 http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/quebechistory/federal/1931.htm Linteau, Paul-André; Durocher, René; Robert, Jean-Claude; Ricard, François; Chodos, Robert; Quebec since 1930 James Lorimer & Company 1991 Mills, Sean 1919-1945 “Depression and War” Musee McCord Museum by EduWweb retrieved March 31, 2009 http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/eduweb/texts/summary/1919-1945/#_Toc36373764 Paulin, Marguerite; Maurice Duplessis; powerbroker, polictician XYZ Publishing, 2005 Duplessis campaigning in the 1952 election Pages 4, 20, of Maurice Duplessis: powerbroker politician has pictures : google book link http://books.google.com/books?id=S_rMj41JqwMC&dq=Maurice+Duplessis\&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=h-TX6lNv1H&sig=xSFKTkT34irUMUFe7PlK10poHx0&hl=en&ei=LznSSZ3ePIaEtwfy45GTBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=5&ct=result#PPA4,M1 R.B. Bennett Pg 92 of Quebec since 1930 has a picture of Louis-Alexander Taschereau Pg 95 of Quebec… has RB Bennett Read More