Quebec A Chronicle 1968-1972

Publisher:  James Lewis & Samuel, Toronto, Canada
Year Published:  1972
Pages:  166pp   ISBN:  0-88862-025-x
Resource Type:  Book
Cx Number:  CX7594

A documentary record of the most crucial events of a four-year period in Quebec, including the first stirrings of rebellion in the industrial towns, the heroism of the Mouvement de Liberation du Taxi and the 'Lapalme guys', the drama of the October Crisis of 1970.

Abstract: 
-


Table of Contents

Foreword
I The Failure of the Quiet Revolution
II Cabbies and Mail-Truck Drivers: 'Vous allez fighter'
III October 1970: The Santo Domingo of Pierre Elliot Trudeau
IV Michel Chartrand's Thirty-Year Conspiracy
V October 1971: Labour Comes to the Fore
VI Spring 1972: The Strike as Political Weapon
Afterword
Postscript
Appendix 1 Major Names in the Text
Appendix 2 Major Organizations in the Text
Appendix 3 Major Dates in Recent Quebec History


Excerpts:


This book is very much an interim report, a report that of necessity has no conclusion, and we hope that what it lacks in comprehensiveness and analytical depth it makes up for in immediacy. For each chapter is based on articles written for the Last Post magazine at the time of the events the chapter describes.

The Last Post has developed simultaneously with the Quebec situation, and our best issues have often coincided with landmark events in Quebec. Our very first issue featured an article ("Quebec: Into the Streets," which forms the basis of Chapter 1) written in Montreal during the turbulent autumn of 1969, an article that had to be constantly updated almost until press time to take account of new developments. That set a pattern that has been repeated several times since - during the War Measures Act crisis of 1970, the La Presse conflict of 1971, and the Common Front strike of 1972.

Patronage and corruption, which had never disappeared altogether, were back in full flower. Governments reverted to their pre-1960 role of welcomers of foreign capital and keepers in place of the native population.... Unlike the defeat of the Union Nationale by the Lesage Liberals in 1960, the defeat of a latter-day Union Nationale government by the Bourassa Liberals in 1970 seemed merely the exchange of one gang for another. It was the traditional pattern: the government changed, virtually everything else remained the same.

Still, there were elements in the political situation that were distinctly not traditional. For while the regime appeared stagnant and archaic, the opposition was growing, vibrant and constantly in flux. At first it took the form of small political groups, student demonstrations, bombings, nationalist agitation; but by the 1970s it had reached into every level of society in Quebec, every aspect of politics, every facet of popular culture.

American capital came into Quebec on its own terms, and the wages of the French worker stayed well below that of his English counterpart. This was reflected in the educational system, or rather systems.

Thus, the English commercial and industrial bosses and the branch managers of American capital maintained their domination over the French population by supporting native class of rois negres (former Le Devoir editor Andre Laurendeau's phrase in comparing the Quebec bourgeoisie to the black African chiefs who served colonialism).

For two years Quebec experienced a period of rising confidence, as labour leaders, students, and technocrats defined the needs of their own particular sectors. Confidence peaked with the 1962 election. It was fought on the issue of whether or not to nationalize the hydro electric power companies. Natural Resources Minister Rene Levesque fought for nationalization and won. Lesage broke out the election slogan that raised eyebrows in Ottawa: Maitres Chez Nous - Masters in Our Own House.

Not only are the Quebecois, 83 per cent of the population, not Masters in their Own House, they are servants. And poorly paid ones at that.

The MLP, along with the earlier Parti Pris group, produced most of the new wave of left-wing thinkers in the province. Intellectually, the Parti Pris group was to have the most serious influence on the development of the left.

It was a heady period for Quebec radicals. There were abundant issues, demonstrations and bombings. There were serious political groups, political groups that were filled with crazies, and political groups that were simply amusing. The Quebec student union, UGEQ, with strong anarchist tendencies, was at its peak.

The task of both the PQ and the extra-parliamentary left was made easier by a crumbling and inept government in Quebec city.
Two weeks after Johnson's death, the lid blew off in the CEGEPs, Quebec's network of government-run community colleges. Creation of the CEGEPs had been one of the most important educational reforms of the sixties. It had been one of the chief recommendations of the Parent Report, a weighty, historic document commissioned by the Lesage government almost immediately upon taking office.

In September 1968, sixteen new CEGEPs were added to the seven opened a year earlier. But on October 8,1968, CEGEP Lionel-Groulx, in the Montreal suburb of Ste-Therese was occupied; within a few days the revolt had spread throughout the system, as students struck, occupied their buildings, and forced the schools to close. Two weeks later, 10,000 CEGEPiens were in the streets demanding a less repressive education, a new French-language university, and jobs.

Larger and larger portions of the population started to become involved-bus drivers, miners, construction workers, teachers and nurses. Central Council of the Confederation of National Trade Unions, led by Michel Chartrand.

There was one other serious new force building up. By the time a provincial election was called for April 29, 1970, Rene Levesque Parti Quebecois had a membership of 41,000; it would grow to 85,000 by election day. A poll taken for the Montreal daily La Presse three weeks before the election showed the PQ with the support of almost a quarter of the population and less than one percentage point behind the front running Liberals. Many of the rest were undecided. The last attempts to dismiss the PQ as a fringe group were laid to rest.