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Maurice Duplessis as Premier with Union National
Prime Minister: William Lyon Mackenzie King.
Maurice Duplessis was Premier in the years 1944-1959. He had close ties with the catholic church. He promoted economic development and rural development. He exploited natural resources in areas like Shefferville and Gagnon. He promoted provincial autonomy and fought back when the government overstepped into areas like education and hospitals, especially since these things were led by the church. He was anti-union and supported social conservatism. -
Act to promote rural electrification
Duplessis was interested in developing rural areas, mostly because they made up a huge portion of his voters.
He created many policies to modernize agriculture such as the act to promote rural electrification.
This helped with the economy as well as the agricultural sector. -
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Baby Boom
Between 1945-1958 there was a time of economic prosperity. There was a very high birth rate at the time and low infant mortality which led to lots of population growth. A likely contributor to this was that contraception was not yet invented therefore they could not prevent pregnacy. As well with the invention of tools like the washing machine, there was more free time for people to create babies. This led to lots of development of things like schools to meet the need of the excess children. -
Adoption of Fleurdelisé as Québec Flag
In 1948 Premier Duplessis created a new flag for Quebec with the Fleurdelisé in order to promote provincial autonomy. He did this because he did not like how the federal government had been stepping in on provincial jurisdiction. He removed the Canadian flag and put up the new Quebec flag a symbol of Quebec autonomy on Quebec city parliament. (Class Notes, DUPLESSIS AND THE PROVINCIAL AUTONOMY) -
Refus Global Manifesto is Published
At this time Duplessis was Premier and he promoted ties between church and state. A lot of artists and intellectuals at the time emerged as fought against this to promote secularism. 15 artists including Borduas and Riopelle came together and signed a manifesto called the Refus Global that limited the power of the church in state decisions. They wanted the state to take charge of education. This was the start to many changes impacting society like secularization. (Class Slides, p. 14) -
Asbestos Strike
Duplessis Era
Working conditions were very poor. Workers were being made to work in vary unsafe places such as the asbestos mines.
Asbestos is a carcinogen and has many negative effects on health as well as the equipment in the mines was unsafe.
After demands for safer working conditions were ignored, workers organized a violent strike that was suppressed by police.
They fought for safer working conditions, and better pay.
This led to this strike being illegal to support owners. -
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Majority of Immigrants Come from Italy
There were 5 premiers throughout this time:
Maurice Duplessis, Paul Sauvé, Jean Lesage, Daniel Johnson Sr., Jean-Jacques Bertrand
As well as 4 PMs
Louis St. Laurent, John Diefenbaker, Lester B. Pearson, Pierre Elliott Trudeau
There was a large increase in immigration to Canada and Quebec from many other countries especially from Italy. This led to a large increase in the diversity of Montreal and contributed to the formation of many different cultural communities.
(Class Slides, p. 17) -
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Korean War
PM: Lauren
The time of the cold war where USA and USSR were fighting to be the most powerful. They never fought directly but through a series of proxy wars. One of these wars was the Korean war. After WWII, Korea was artificially divided into North Korea (communist) and South Korea (capitalist), north Korea wanted to reunite and invaded South Korea which started a civil war. The UN sent in an armed force under American command to support South Korea, while Russia and China supported North Korea -
Arrival of television
It was a time of economic prosperity meaning there was more money being spent and a demand for entertainment. The television started appearing in quebec in a time of economic prosperity. This created a time of mass consumerism which led to people spending more money on things to entertain themselves like televisions. This led to a lot of americanism appearing in Canada due to the exposure from the televisions as well as things like radios, and movie theatres. (Reflections, p. 217) -
Québec Introduces Provincial Income Tax (Fiscal Autonomy)
During Duplessis' time he was very determined to promote the french catholic culture of Quebec society Therefore he fought back against federal intervention in provincial jurisdictions.
One of the ways he did this was by creating Quebec’s very own income taxes so he could promote autonomy. This caused the federal government to reduce its taxes from quebec.
These things helped promote Quebec’s independence from Canada. -
Birth Control Becomes More Accesible
In a time of increased feminism, women were fighting and protesting for equal rights, pay equity, abortion rights, access to contraception. It was also near the end of the baby boom. Contraception was starting to become more accessible so women and men could enjoy themselves without having to have a baby. it led to a decrease in birth rate.
(Class Notes, Changing Attitudes) -
Rise of Consumer Society in Quebec
Post war Canada was in a time of economic prosperity. With low prices and high wages people were able to spend more money. People had easy access to credit and the ability spend money on things. People spent money on material goods as well as nights out. This led to inventions like the washing machines. These gave people even more free time for spending. This partially led to the high rates of natural increase as people were happy and had free time. (Notes, Handwritten) -
Election of Jean Lesage’s Liberal Government
After Duplessis' times of darkness Jean Lesage was appointed premier. He was a liberal who promoted the welfare state. Unlike Duplessis he cared about supporting the people of quebec. Jean Lesage led a large-scale modernization process. The government wanted to give the state a broader and more important position. Lesage's time was labelled the quiet revolution and was the start of much advancement in quebec. (Reflections, p. 224) -
Rise of Americanism
Duplessis had brought in a lot of americans to invest in the economy
There was also a rise in media exposure due to creation of television
This was promoting americanism through things like radio, television, and advertisement
This led to the economy being much more into freedom, material comfort, individualism, and economic success. -
Creation of the Department of Cultural Affairs
English was more popular than french. Quebec was working hard to promote their culture and identity, especially the french language. They wanted to promote immigration from french places to preserve the language. They opened the Department of Cultural Affairs to promote art and protect culture. They built museums, concert halls and theatres that supported Quebec culture. This led to more french culture. -
Nationalization of Electricity
The provincial government was working to control Quebec's economy and society. They wanted to promote Quebec's culture and support french Canadian businesses. A lot of crown corporations started emerging around Quebec. The government nationalized electricity by buying out all of the electric companies and merging them with Hydro-Quebec. This made hydro-Quebec a crown corporation. Lots of dams were built to ensure a reliable supply of electricity. This created many jobs for people. (Ref., p 228) -
Creation of the Ministry of Education
When Jean Lesage was Premier, he had a very hands on approach and wanted to support the people. One of the things they wanted to do was ameliorate the education system. they made a mandatory attendance age of 15 and created the department of education. They published a report that recommended major reforms. These reforms were enacted over the next couple years. (Reflections, p. 226) -
Decline in birth rate
In the 1960s, There was an increase increase of women in the workforce this meant women had other focusses and less interest in having families, there was an increased use of contraceptives, and the increase in marriages later in life, meaning less fertile years.
These events led to a drop in the birth rate. Meaning less children being born.
The drop in birth rate marked the end of the baby boom. -
Expo 67
The Quiet revolution was a time of modernization in Quebec. They became more open to diversity and other cultures. The Expo 67 was a world fair that allowed quebecers to discover more cultures. It also allowed visitors and immigrants to discover more about Canada and Quebec's culture. It helped to promote diversity in quebec and openness to cultures. It also put Canada on the map and allowed it to promote its technology. (Reflections, p. 234) -
Passage of Bill 63 – Language Rights Debate
As many people were angry about the increase in anglophone power the government decided to step in.
The union national passed the act to promote french language in Quebec, otherwise known as Bill 63.
This made it so parents could choose the language they wanted their children to study in and introduced french second language classes in anglophone schools
It led to a lot of anger in the francophone community because they thought that it was lacking. -
October Crisis
It was a period of time where many Quebecois people wanted to separate from Canada. A group formed called the Front de Liberation formed and they believed the only way to get sovereignty was with radical acts. They kidnapped British Diplomat James Cross and Liberal minister Pierre Laporte. The federal government enacted the war measures act. Laporte was found dead. Some members of FLQ were arrested while others were give safe passage to Cuba in exchange for Cross's safety. (Reflections, p.258) -
First Oil Crisis Begins
Arab-Israeli war broke out which led to OPEC raising prices of oil to weaken non-Arab countries that supported Israel.
This caused people to have less access to oil and created an economic downturn.
There was an increase in cost of transportation and goods.
Quebec and a lot of other places entered a period of inflation and economic instability. -
Superfrancofête – Cultural Affirmation in Québec
In a time of promoting French culture, many people were passionate about promoting quebec culture. One of these events was the Festival International de la Jeunesse Francophone or Superfrancofete. It was a festival that celebrated francophone delegates and artists. It allowed people to promote their culture and traditions. This event helped to promote French nationalism with French recently being deemed the only official language of quebec. -
Bill 22 – French as Québec’s Official Language
The Bourassa government passed the official language act, otherwise known as Bill 22 after the Report of the commission of inquiry on the position of the French language and language rights in Quebec.
The act made french quebecs only official language and limited access to english schooling.
This led to an increase in quebec nationalism.
This helped promote Quebecoise culture and french language. -
Second Oil Crisis
At the end of the 70s there was an economic downturn and a rise in unemployment.
Iran was a major oil producer so when they had an oil crisis it created a new wave of inflation.
A phenomenon of industrial relocation started, many companies were moving to countries with lower wages. This created job loss for quebecers.
The rise in unemployment led to tax losses for the government and slowed economic growth.
In order to maintain services the governments had to increase taxes and go into debt. -
Bill 101 – The Charter of the French Language
Quebec had many french immigrants, but they also had a lot of anglophone immigration and the majority of allophones were integrating into the anglophone community.
Therefore the government introduced The Charter of The French Language, otherwise known as Bill 101.
This Bill made it so children of immigrants were required to attend school in french until after High School and all public and commercial signs had to be in French.
This helped to protect the French language.