All about Quebec

Quebec is a strange anomaly. It is the only French-speaking majority region in North America, a continent which is now overwhelmingly English-speaking. Quebec is not like the United States and it is not like English Canada. Quebec is Quebec. It is in some ways a defacto third country, and is unquestionably the most distinct region of Canada.

Physically, Quebec is a beautiful province, with lots of rich French culture and tradition. There is lots of French architecture, French cuisine, and French entertainment. It is however also a region deeply embroiled in a very complex political conflict with the rest of Canada, forming the crux of a crisis that is often known simply as "The Quebec Question."

Quebec is Canada's oldest Province and was originally settled by the French, who we remember were the first European settlers to arrive on the continent. Unfortunately, Quebec was colonized during the dying days of the French monarchy and as a result early Quebec society was shaped according to that regime's values and ideals. What this meant in practice was that while English Canada and the Thirteen Colonies were founded according to British principles of liberalism, individualism, and independence, Quebec was founded under the far more rigid principles of hierarchy, feudalism, and religious and political subservience.

Anyway, in the mid-18th Century the latecomer English colonists launched a series of wars against the French, and in 1763 Quebec was conquered and fell under British rule. Despite the best efforts of the British to force the French-speaking Quebec residents to assimilate into English society, the French settlers refused, and resisted what they felt was an "Anglofication" of their unique culture and heritage. They resented being forced to swear allegiance to the British monarch, participate in British-established government institutions, and generally contribute as part of an English-speaking, Protestant nation. This latter point was especially key in the highly-religious climate of the time, and elites within the Quebec Catholic Church were in particular very hostile towards any attempts by the heathen English to diminish their spiritual authority. The Quebecers believed (and many still do) that they composed an unique ethnic group within North America. It was not simply a matter of speaking a different language or praying at a different church, they were a fundamentally unique nation- or even a race- and as such deserved nothing less than full self-determination. Tensions between Anglophones, or Canadians of English descent and Francophones have formed the basis of much of Canadian history.

The process of trying to make Quebec a proper, English part of Canada continued for years, right up until the 1950's. World War II was a key turning point. The people of Quebec strongly disagreed with the idea of being drafted to fight in "the British war" and their protests led to a lengthy debate on military conscription in Canada. The issue ultimately went to a referendum, and in the end it was decided that le Quebecois could not be drafted to fight in the war because of "cultural reasons." This event, known as the "conscription crisis" was one Quebec's first major victories over the government of English Canada.

Around this time Quebec was led by a prime minister named Maurice Duplessis. He was very right-wing and a strong Francophone nationalist. His party, known as the Union Nationale marked the first time a government had been elected to rule the province that was not connected to the powerful Liberal or Conservative Party establishments in English Canada. Under Duplessis' rule animosity with the federal government grew, as the premier rode a wave of ill-will unleashed during the conscription crisis. His government made many moves to symbolically solidify Quebec nationalism as well. Most British symbols from Quebec were purged, most notably the Union Jack, which he replaced with a new, Quebec flag. Even now, the flag remains far more popular in the province than the Canadian maple leaf.

Today, however, Duplessis is mainly known for his corruption. His rule was quite authoritarian, and in order to remain in power his party had formed a strong alliance with the powerful Quebec Catholic Church. In many ways Quebec was basically a theocracy during this period. The Church ran all the schools and hospitals, and its ultra-conservative codes of morality were the unquestioned laws of the land. The Prime Minister similarly had little time for labor unions or worker strikes, and allowed his big business buddies to largely do whatever they pleased. It was really not a pleasant time for a lot of people.

Duplessis' death in 1959 brought the whole reactionary status quo down, and in the aftermath Quebec underwent a period which is now dubbed the "Quiet Revolution." During this time the Quebec people continued to pursue the process of isolating themselves from the rest of Canada and forming nationalist sentiment, but also secularizing, and socializing the state in a way that Duplessis never had. Many industries were nationalized while others simply kicked out their Anglo and Jewish bosses and returned ownership of the province's corporations to Francophones. The role of the church in daily life similarly declined, and women began to liberate themselves from their traditional roles and duties. Most of these reforms occurred under the administration of the leftist Jean Lesage, who was elected Premier in 1960. Since him, almost all of Quebec's governments have been ruled by very left-wing "social democrat" politicians of one stripe or another.

Today, people often wrongly assume Quebec is a conservative region of Canada because of its long history and traditions of cultural independence, nationalism, and Catholicism. In reality, Quebec is actually the most left-wing region of the entire North American continent. Though many still call themselves Catholics for nationalistic reasons, Church attendance is very low, and support for controversial liberal policies such as same-sex marriage and abortion remains very high. Government policy in Quebec champions the cause of the welfare state, and unions- now free from the Duplessis-era policies- hold a great deal of political power. The Quiet Revolution made an enormous change to Quebec society, and in doing so further isolated the province from the rest of Canada. Not only did they have a distinct language, history, and ethnicity, now too did they have a completely distinct set of political values.

Together, the legacy of Duplessis' nationalism and the social victories of of the Quiet Revolution led to the rise of separatism as a political force in Quebec. During the 60's the province remained mired in high unemployment, and despite the introduction of progressive economic policies, the gap between Quebec' rich and poor remained high. In this context it became more popular than ever to blame Quebec's problems on the federal government. The Canadian government was largely an "all-Anglo club" in those days, led by unilingual prime ministers and cabinet ministers who didn't understand Quebec and didn't have much interest in learning.

Feeling depressed, unloved, and ignored, increasingly large amounts of Quebecois began to believe that the obvious solution to the current turmoil was to secede from Canada, and establish a sovereign, independent Quebec nation.

As this was the 60's, separatism inevitably became tied up with radical politics. Many of the most vocal pro-separatists of the time were also Marxists, who believed that Quebec should not only separate from Canada, but also from the capitalist bourgeois order it represented. Separatist Quebec terrorism began to grow, with the leading provocateurs being the Marxist Front de Liberation du Quebec organization, more commonly known as the FLQ. They went around bombing post offices and writing death threats, generally creating an intense climate of fear. Then, in the fall of 1970, FLQ violence reached a peak, and the group kidnapped and killed the Vice Premier of the Quebec government. Prime Minister Trudeau responded by declaring Martial Law in Canada, and the Canadian military stormed into Quebec and rounded up and arrested anyone who was even marginally suspected of being FLQ and pro-separation sympathizers. This ended the terrorism, and was a popular move in much of Canada. But it also led to the arrest and harassment of many, many innocent people, did not exactly win over the hearts and minds of the Quebeckers themselves.

In 1976 Quebec elected an openly pro-separation premier, and this greatly freaked out much of Canada. For the next decade or so the province would engage in an aggressive campaign to formalize its nationalism through a series of laws and acts.

Once separatism was given a democratic mandate, Canada's prime ministers were likewise forced to shift gears from confrontation to appeasement. In the last two decades Quebec's nationalist reforms have been met with attempts by the Canadian government to make Quebec feel more "welcome" in the federation through various conciliatory gestures. The most notable of these was the Official bilingualism policy, which is quite complex so I made a new page to explain it all.

Since 1976 Quebec politics have remained polarized between the pro-separatist Parti Quebecois and the anti-separatist ("pro-federalist") Quebec Liberal Party. However things are still not as simple as they may seem. Both parties are essentially nationalist in ideology, but are divided in how they believe such goals should be achieved.

The separatists, as we discussed, want Quebec to leave Canada and become an independent country, on the grounds that this move will finally free the nation from the meddling influences of the Canadian government (of course, most Quebec separatists still want Quebec and Canada to have free trade and countless other forms of economic preferential treatment, but that's another discussion).

The federalist, non-separatist Liberal Party by contrast, wants Quebec to remain in Canada, but only if the province is given many new powers within the existing federal system. The Liberals generally want the feds to transfer all their powers of governance to the Quebec government, except over things like currency and the military. Many even want Quebec to be free to have its own foreign policy. Likewise, they want the constitution to explicitly declare Quebec a "distinct society" within Canada, on the grounds that the courts would probably interpret such language as granting free reign for Quebec to pass just about any sort of law it wanted. This whole "independent but still part of Canada" scheme is often called "sovereignty-association."

During the Prime Ministership of Brian Mulroney the Canadian government twice tried to get constitutional amendments passed that would give Quebec some degree of sovereignty-association, but both attempts were rejected by the other provinces of Canada, who hold veto over such things.

It's rather ironic that sovereignty-association is now considered the "moderate" position in the Quebec debate, as until the late 80's that was generally the plan favored by those considered "separatists."

Here is a handy list of Quebec premiers since 1970:

Then there are the infamous REFERENDUMS. There have been two referendums on Quebec separation, corresponding to the two phases of separatist rule in the province. The first one was merely about implementing a sovereignty-association plan, while the second one was on outright independence. Both failed.

Everyone expected the 1980 referendum to fail, but the 1995 one was much more uncertain. Many actually expected it to pass, and it only ended up failing by less than 1%. Both these referendums have since become a scary symbol of Quebec's blatant defiance of Canadian unity and serve as the leading representation of the realities of possible Quebec separation. Separatists generally feel the province should keep holding referendums until one passes, which means there will likely be another one someday.

To people outside Quebec, separation is almost always portrayed as a very bad, sinister thing. In the English Canadian press separatists are often described as traitors who want to "destroy Canada" and politicians are encouraged to take a hardline stance against them.

In the federal context, Quebec is the province that the Prime Minister of Canada usually focuses much of his attention on. It doesn't really matter who the prime minister is. Trudeau, Mulroney, Chretien, and Martin all came from Quebec, and thus all had a passionate interest in seeing their home province remain firmly within the Canadian Confederation. In fact, in 36 out of the last 37 years Canada has has a prime minister representing Quebec. Being able to speak French is likewise considered a key criteria for anyone with high political ambitions in Canada, and this in turn has allowed Canada's political and bureaucratic elite to contain a disproportionate amount of Quebckers, which critics argue skews both the government's priorities and approaches in dealing with the Quebec issue.

Today, lots of government money continues to be shoveled into Quebec, presumably to convince the citizenry that the Canadian government is not a cold, indifferent bogeyman, despite what the separatists may say. This causes some noticeable resentment among the other Canadian provinces. Many think the threat of Quebec separation is largely exaggerated, or a mere political scam on the part of Quebec to constantly remain the primary focus of the Federal Government.

Though they seem to have calmed down somewhat in recent years, I am sure Quebec will continue to remain in the forefront of Canadian politics for a long time to come.