Québec Separatism

FRENCH-CANADIAN SEPARATISM is a reflection of the uneasy position of French-speaking Québec in English-speaking Canada. Its historical roots date at least to the 1840s. Whether based on nationalist or economic motives, it seeks to restore special status and pride by either establishing total equality with English Canada or by actually separating and establishing a new sovereign nation.

Québec was largely independent from 1791 to 1841, at least it was free of other Canadian influences and direction. Confederation lessened Québec's status within Canada and fueled Québécois resentment. English Canada exacerbated the situation by executing Louis Riel in 1885 for leading the Metis uprising in the northwest and removing the Metis. The Manitoba Schools Question of 1890 eventually led to the end of Frenchlanguage schools in Manitoba, further rankling French Canadians, who already felt slighted by the Metis crisis.

During the 1890s, French Canada was urbanizing and industrializing. Industrialization ended the French Canadian myth of the special Roman Catholic mission and the almost Jeffersonian cult of the virtuous agriculturalist. Québécois were increasingly obsolete and archaic in the modern industrial urban world. By 1921, Québec led the provinces in urbanization and industrialization. Government support of laissez-faire economics allowed abuses and excesses of French Canadian workers by owners, who tended to be English, Canadians, or Americans. The language of the businesses was English.

The pivotal events occurred under the leadership of Premier Maurice Duplessis. Economically conservative and strongly nationalist, Duplessis led Québec from 1936 to 1939 and from 1944 to 1959. He lost the 1939 election after challenging central government power over the provinces in wartime. He opposed much that came from Ottawa, the capital, after 1944 in education and social programs. He was anti-trade unions, proCatholic, and in favor of foreign investment. He was a founder of the Union Nationale (UN). But Québec continued urbanizing and industrializing in the late 1940s and 1950s. A French-speaking middle class emerged, and more students finished high school and entered college. When Duplessis died in 1959, the province was ready for a political change to match the economic and social ones. Jean Lesage and the Québec Liberal Party took power in June 1960 and began the Quiet Revolution, reforms that eliminated the corruption that had spread during the Duplessis era. The government removed the Catholic Church from secular involvement; invested in education, social infrastructure, and economic development; nationalized and consolidated the power companies; established a provincial pension; and created an investment capital fund.

[Page 366]In 1966, the Liberals lost power to the Union Nationale. Québécois labor and intellectual leaders believed that the economic problems of Québec were the result of the confederation. The only solution to the problems was either alteration or severing of ties with the central government and the English-speaking provinces. The UN and the Liberals polarized as public opinion hardened on their fringes. The parties accepted federalism, but differed on the degree of central control. The two parties shared the center while left extremists demands ranged from special status for Québec to outright separation and independence. A splinter group of the Liberals in Montreal were separatists, and their efforts laid the foundation for the secessionist Parti Québécois (PQ). The PQ, under Rene Levesque, a converted Liberal, won 24 percent of the vote in 1970, and outdated electoral districts allowed the Liberals to take 72 of 95 seats. The Liberals continued to work for reform of the constitution.

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