In 1959 a French-speaking worker in Montreal often earned less than an English-speaking worker with the same job, worked for a company owned by English Canadians or Americans, and might have to speak English to a boss. Most of Quebec's schools, hospitals and social services were run by the Roman Catholic Church, and the provincial government did little to change things. Twenty years later, Quebec had a powerful, modern provincial government, French was the official language of work and business, and a party seeking independence was in power. How did Quebec change so much, so fast, and what did it mean for Canada?
The Duplessis era: la Grande Noirceur?
Maurice Duplessis and his Union Nationale party governed Quebec from 1936 to 1939 and again from 1944 until his death in September 1959. Duplessis defended provincial autonomy against Ottawa, praised rural and traditional values, left education and social services to the Church, and welcomed American and English-Canadian investment in mines and forests with low taxes and few rules. His government was strongly anti-union and anti-communist; the Padlock Act (1937) let police lock buildings used to spread "communism", a term used broadly against critics. Opponents later called these years la Grande Noirceur (the Great Darkness). Some historians now argue the label is too simple: Quebec was industrializing and urbanizing fast in the 1950s, and new ideas were already spreading.
- The Asbestos Strike (1949): about 5,000 asbestos miners in the Eastern Townships walked out in February 1949 over wages and dust that made workers sick. Duplessis sided with the American-owned companies and sent provincial police. The four-and-a-half-month strike united unions, students, journalists and some Church leaders against the government. Young intellectuals involved, such as Pierre Elliott Trudeau and union leader Jean Marchand, later became national figures.
- Refus global (1948): a manifesto by artist Paul-Émile Borduas and others attacked the Church's control of society and called for artistic and personal freedom.
- The Richard Riot (March 17, 1955): when NHL president Clarence Campbell suspended Montreal Canadiens star Maurice "Rocket" Richard for the rest of the season, fans rioted in Montreal. Many French Canadians saw the suspension as an English-Canadian authority humiliating their hero, a sign of deeper resentments.
The Quiet Revolution (from 1960)
After Duplessis died, Jean Lesage's Liberals won the election of June 22, 1960, promising that it was "time for a change". The years of rapid reform that followed are called the Quiet Revolution (la Révolution tranquille): "quiet" because it came through elections and laws rather than violence, a "revolution" because it transformed Quebec society. Its central idea was that French-speaking Quebecers should use their provincial government, the one government they controlled as a majority, to take charge of their own economy and future.
| Reform | What changed | Why it mattered |
|---|---|---|
| "Maîtres chez nous" and Hydro-Québec | With the slogan "Masters in our own house", the Liberals won the November 1962 election on a plan to buy out private electric companies; Hydro-Québec took them over on May 1, 1963, with René Lévesque as minister | Francophone engineers and managers ran a giant enterprise in French; cheap power drew industry |
| Education | A Ministry of Education was created in 1964, taking control of schools from the Church; new public CEGEPs (colleges) and the Université du Québec followed | Prepared French-speaking Quebecers for careers in business, science and engineering |
| Social services | The provincial state took over hospitals and welfare from Church institutions | Quebec became a secular, modern welfare state; Church influence declined sharply |
| Economic tools | The Quebec Pension Plan (1966) and the Caisse de dépôt et placement (1965) invested Quebecers' savings | Built a francophone business class and gave Quebec its own economic levers |
Nationalism takes different paths. The Quiet Revolution produced a new identity: people increasingly called themselves Québécois rather than French Canadians, linking identity to the territory of Quebec. Ottawa responded with the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism (1963–1969) and the Official Languages Act (1969), which made English and French the official languages of the federal government. Visiting Expo 67, French President Charles de Gaulle cried "Vive le Québec libre!" from Montreal's city hall balcony (July 24, 1967), thrilling separatists and angering Ottawa. In 1967 René Lévesque left the Liberals to promote sovereignty-association (political independence combined with an economic partnership with Canada), and in 1968 he founded the Parti Québécois (PQ). A small minority took a violent path: the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ), from 1963, set off bombs, mainly in Montreal and mostly in English-speaking areas, mailboxes and federal targets, killing several people by 1970.
The October Crisis, 1970
- October 5: an FLQ cell kidnaps British trade commissioner James Cross in Montreal and demands the release of jailed FLQ members, money and the broadcast of its manifesto.
- October 10: another cell kidnaps Quebec's labour minister, Pierre Laporte.
- October 13: asked how far he would go, Prime Minister Trudeau tells a reporter, "Just watch me."
- October 16: at the request of Quebec's government and Montreal's mayor, Ottawa invokes the War Measures Act, the only time it was used in peacetime. Civil liberties are suspended; the army patrols Montreal and Ottawa; 497 people are arrested, most of them released without charges.
- October 17: Laporte is found dead.
- December 3: Cross is released after about two months in exchange for safe passage to Cuba for his kidnappers; Laporte's kidnappers are arrested in late December.
The PQ in power: Bill 101 and the 1980 referendum
Language became the central battleground. Robert Bourassa's Liberal government made French Quebec's official language with Bill 22 in 1974. Then, on November 15, 1976, Lévesque's Parti Québécois won power, shocking much of English Canada. In August 1977 it passed Bill 101, the Charter of the French Language: French became the language of work, government, the courts and commerce; most commercial signs had to be in French only; and most children of immigrants had to go to French-language schools. Many francophones saw Bill 101 as protection for a minority language in an English-speaking continent; many anglophones and allophones (people whose first language is neither English nor French) saw it as an attack on their rights, and tens of thousands of anglophones and some corporate head offices left Montreal, many for Toronto. On May 20, 1980, the PQ asked Quebecers for a mandate to negotiate sovereignty-association. About 85 per cent of voters turned out, and the No side won with 59.56 per cent against 40.44 per cent for Yes. Trudeau had promised "renewed federalism" if Quebecers voted No, a promise that led directly to patriation of the constitution in 1982 (see the last lesson in this unit).