Politics of Quebec
Encyclopedia
The politics of Quebec
are centred on a provincial government resembling that of the other Canadian
provinces
, namely a constitutional monarchy
and parliamentary democracy. The capital
of the province is Quebec City
, where the Lieutenant Governor
, Premier
, the legislature, and cabinet reside.
The unicameral legislature—the National Assembly of Quebec
—has 125 members. Government is conducted based on the Westminster model
.
The British-type parliamentarism based on the Westminster system was introduced in the Province of Lower Canada
in 1791. The following diagram represents the way the political system of Quebec works since the 1968 reform. Prior to this reform, the Parliament of Quebec was bicameral.
Lieutenant Governor
Premier
Members of the National Assembly (MNAs)
is part of a legislature based on the Westminster System
. However, it has a few special characteristics, one of the most important being that it functions primarily in French, although both English
and French are Constitutionally
official and the Assembly's records are published in both languages. The representatives of the Quebec people are elected with the first-past-the-post
electoral method.
The government is constituted by the majority party and it is responsible
to the National Assembly. Since the abolition of the Legislative Council in 1968, the National Assembly has all the powers to enact laws in the provincial jurisdiction as specified in the Constitution of Canada
.
(in French Premier ministre), the government ministers, the ministers of state and delegate ministers. The Executive Council directs the government and the civil service, and oversees the enforcement of laws, regulations and policies. Together with the lieutenant governor
, it constitutes the government of Quebec. See also Premier of Quebec
.
. Its members are appointed by the National Assembly. The Commission has been given powers to promote and protect human rights within all sectors of Quebec society. Government institutions and Parliament are bound by the provisions of the Charter. The Commission may investigate into possible cases of discrimination, whether by the State or by private parties. It may introduce litigation if its recommendations were not followed.
(Quebec Office of the French language) is an organization created in 1961. Its mandate was greatly expanded by the 1977 Charter of the French Language
. It is responsible for applying and defining Quebec's language policy pertaining to linguistic officialization, terminology and francization of public administration and businesses.
See language policies
for a comparison with other jurisdictions in the world.
The first law related to privacy protection is the Consumer Protection Act, enacted in 1971. It ensured that all persons had the right to access their credit record. A little later, the Professional Code enshrined principles such as professional secrecy and the confidential nature of personal information.
Today, the CAI administers the law framework of the Act respecting access to documents held by public bodies and the protection of personal information as well as the Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private sector.
, the Superior Court
and the Court of Appeal. The judges of the first are appointed by the Government of Quebec, while the judges of the two others are appointed by the Government of Canada.
In 1973, the Tribunal des professions was created to behave as an appeal tribunal to decisions taken by the various discipline committees of Quebec's professional orders. The current president is Paule Lafontaine.
On December 10, 1990, the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal was created. It became the first judicial tribunal in Canada specializing in human rights. The current president is Michèle Rivet.
An administrative tribunal, the Tribunal administratif du Québec is in operation since April 1, 1998 to resolve disputes between citizens and the government. The current president is Jacques Forgues.
, Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean
, Capitale-Nationale
, Mauricie
, Estrie
, Montréal
, Outaouais, Abitibi-Témiscamingue
, Côte-Nord
, Nord-du-Québec
, Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine
, Chaudière-Appalaches
, Laval
, Lanaudière
, Laurentides
, Montérégie
, and Centre-du-Québec
.
Inside the regions, there are municipalities
and regional county municipalities (RCMs).
to amend Article 93 of the Constitution Act 1867.
, guarantees for the maintenance of its language and religion under the Quebec Act
of 1774 formed part of the British North America Act. English and French were made the official languages in Quebec Courts and the provincial Legislature
. The Quebec school system was provided public funding for a dual system based on the Roman Catholic and Protestant religions. Members of other religions such as Jews or Muslim
s were required to attend school under the jurisdiction of the Protestant school board. Under the Constitution Act, 1867
the provinces were granted control of education. The religious based separate school systems continued in Quebec until the 1990s when the Parti Québécois
government of Lucien Bouchard
requested an amendment under provisions of the Constitution Act, 1982
to formally secularize the school system along linguistic lines.
and his Union Nationale party emerged out of the ashes of the Conservative Party of Quebec
and the Paul Gouin
's Action libérale nationale
in the 1930s. This political lineage dates back to the 1850s Parti bleu
of Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine
, a centre-right party in Quebec that emphasized provincial autonomy and allied itself with Conservatives
in English Canada. Under his government, the Roman Catholic
and Protestant Churches maintained the control they previously gained over social services such as schools and hospitals. The authoritarian Duplessis used the provincial police and the "Padlock Law
" to suppress union
ism and gave the Montreal-based Anglo-Scot business elite as well as British and American capital a free rein in running the Quebec economy. His government also continued to attempt to prevent circulation of books banned by the Catholic Church
, combatted communism and even tried to shut down other Christian religions like the Jehovah's Witnesses
who evangelized in French Canada. The clergy used its influence to exhort Catholic voters to continue electing with the Union Nationale and threaten to excommunicate sympathisers of liberal ideas. For the time it lasted, the Duplessis regime resisted the North American and European trend of massive State investment in education, health, and social programs, turning away federal transfers of funds earmarked for these fields; he jealously guarded provincial jurisdictions. Common parlance speaks of these years as "La Grande Noirceur
" The Great Darkness, as in the first scenes of the film Maurice Richard
.
government led by Premier Jean Lesage
, the political power of the church was greatly reduced. Quebec entered an accelerated decade of changes known as the Quiet Revolution
. Liberal governments of the 1960s followed a robust nationalist policy of "maître chez nous" (Master in our own house) that would see French-speaking Quebeckers use the state to elevate their economic status and assert their cultural identity. The government took control of the education system, nationalized power production and distribution into Hydro-Québec (the provincial power utility), unionized the civil service, founded the Caisse de Depot to manage the massive new government pension program, and invested in companies that promoted French Canadians to management positions in industry. In 1966, the Union Nationale returned to power despite losing the popular vote by nearly seven points to the Liberal Party, but could not turn the tide of modernization and secularization that the Quiet Revolution had started. Both Liberal and Union Nationale governments continued to oppose federal intrusion into provincial jurisdiction.
; it advocated recognizing Quebec as an equal and independent (or "sovereign") nation that would form an economic "association" with the rest of Canada. An architect of the Quiet Revolution, Lévesque was frustrated by federal-provincial bickering over what he saw as increasing federal government intrusions into provincial jurisdictions. He saw a formal break with Canada as a way out of this. He broke with the provincial Liberals who remained committed to the policy of defending provincial autonomy inside Canada.
in Ottawa sought to address the new political assertiveness of Quebec. He commissioned the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism
in 1963. Pearson also recruited Pierre Trudeau
, who campaigned against the violation of civil liberties under Duplessis and the economic and political marginalization of French Quebeckers in the 1950s. Trudeau saw official bilingualism in Canada as the best way of remedying this.
In 1968, Trudeau was elected Prime Minister on a wave of "Trudeaumania
". In 1969, his government instituted Official Bilingualism
with the Official Languages Act which made French and English official languages and guaranteed linguistic minorities (English-speaking in Quebec, French-speaking elsewhere) the right to federal services in their language of choice, where the number justifies federal spending. He also implemented the policy of multiculturalism
, answering the concern of immigrant communities that their cultural identities were being ignored. In 1971, Trudeau also failed in an attempt to bring home the Canadian Constitution from Great Britain at the Victoria conference when Robert Bourassa
refused to accept a deal that would not include a Constitutional veto on federal institutions for Quebec.
Trudeau's vision was to create a Constitution for a "Just Society
" with a strong federal government founded on shared values of individual rights
, bilingualism
, social democratic ideals, and, later on, multiculturalism
. As Liberal
Justice Minister in 1967, he eliminated Canada's sodomy law
stating "The state has no business in the bedrooms of the nation"; he also created the first Divorce Act of Canada. This government also repealed Canada's race-based immigration law
.
was formed in an effort to attain Quebec independence. In October 1970, their activities culminated in events referred to as the October Crisis
when the British
Trade commissioner James Cross
was kidnapped along with Pierre Laporte
, a provincial minister and Vice-Premier, who was killed a few days later. Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa
called for military assistance to guard government officials. Prime Minister Trudeau responded by declaring the War Measures Act
to stop what was described as an "Apprehended Insurrection" by the FLQ. Critics charge that Trudeau violated civil liberties by arresting thousands of political activists without a warrant as allowed by the Act. Supporters of these measures point to their popularity at the time, and the fact that the FLQ was wiped out. Independence-minded Quebeckers would now opt for the social democratic nationalism of the Parti Québécois
.
saw Parti Québécois
led by René Lévesque
win the Quebec provincial election
in 1976. The first PQ government was known as the "republic of teachers" for its high number of candidates teaching at the university level. The PQ government passed laws limiting financing of political parties and the Charter of the French Language
(Bill 101). The Charter established French as the sole official language of Quebec. The government claimed the Charter was needed to preserve the French language in an overwhelmingly anglophone North American continent.
The enactment of Bill 101 was highly controversial and led to an immediate and sustained exodus of anglophones from Quebec that, according to Statistics Canada (2003), since 1971 saw a drop of 599,000 of those Quebecers whose mother tongue
was English. This exodus of English speakers provided a substantial and permanent boost to the population of the city of Toronto, Ontario. This Quebec diaspora
occurred for a number of reasons including regulations that made French the only language of communication allowed between employers and their employees. Under pain of financial penalties, all businesses in Quebec having more than fifty employees were required to obtain a certificate of francization
[Reg.139-140] and those businesses with over one hundred employees were obliged to establish a Committee of francization [Reg.136] As well, the language law placed restrictions on school enrollment for children based on parental language of education and banned outdoor commercial signs displaying languages other than French. The section of the law regarding language on signs was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Canada
under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
, see: Ford v. Quebec (A.G.). The revised law of 1988 adheres to the Supreme Court judgment, specifying that signs can be multilingual so long as French is predominant. The maintenance of an inspectorate to enforce the sign laws remains controversial. However, most Quebeckers adhere to the sign laws, as remembrance of what Montreal looked like (an English city for a French majority) before the sign laws is still vivid.
, Premier René Lévesque
asked the Quebec people for "a mandate to negotiate" his proposal for "sovereignty-association" with the federal government. The Referendum promised that a subsequent deal would be ratified with a second referendum. Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau would campaign against it, promising a renewed federalism based on a new Canadian Constitution. Sixty per cent of the Quebec electorate voted against the sovereignty-association project. After opening a final round of constitutional talks, the Trudeau government patriated the constitution in 1982 without the approval of the Quebec government, which sought to retain a veto on constitutional amendments along with other special legal recognition within Canada. The new constitution featured a modern Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
based on individual freedoms that would ban racial, sexual, and linguistic discrimination and enshrine minority language rights (English in Quebec, French elsewhere in Canada). After dominating Quebec politics for more than a decade, both Lévesque and Trudeau would then retire from politics shortly in the early 1980s.
governed Quebec under Robert Bourassa
. The Progressive Conservatives
replaced the Liberals federally in 1984 and governed until 1993. Progressive Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney brought together all provincial premiers, including Robert Bourassa, to get the Quebec government's signature on the constitution. The Meech Lake Accord
in 1987 recognized Quebec as a "distinct society
." The Mulroney government also transferred considerable power over immigration and taxation to Quebec.
The Accord faced stiff opposition from a number of quarters. In Quebec and across Canada, some objected to it arguing that "distinct society
" provisions were unclear and could lead to attempts at a gradual independence for Quebec from Canada, and compromising the Charter of Rights. The Parti Québécois, now led by sovereignist Jacques Parizeau
, opposed the Meech Lake agreement because it did not grant Quebec enough autonomy. The Reform Party
in Western Canada led by Preston Manning
said that the Accord compromised principles of provincial equality, and ignored the grievances of the Western provinces. Aboriginal groups demanded "distinct society" status similar to Quebec's.
The Accord collapsed in 1990 when Liberal governments came to power in Manitoba and Newfoundland, and did not ratify the agreement. Prime Minister Mulroney, Premier Bourrassa, and the other provincial premiers negotiated another constitutional deal, the Charlottetown Accord
. It weakened Meech provisions on Quebec and sought to resolve the concerns of the West, and was soundly rejected by a country-wide referendum in 1992.
The collapse of the Meech Lake Accord reshaped the entire Canadian political landscape. Lucien Bouchard
, a Progressive Conservative
Cabinet Minister who felt humiliated by the defeat of the Meech Lake Accord, led other Quebec Progressive Conservatives and Liberals out of their parties to form the sovereigntist Bloc Québécois
. Mario Dumont
, leader of the Quebec Liberal Party's youth wing left Bourrassa's party to form a "soft nationalist" and sovereignist Action démocratique du Québec
party. The Progressive Conservative Party
collapsed in the 1993 election
, with Western conservatives voting Reform, Quebec conservatives voting for the Bloc Québécois
, and Ontario and Western Montreal voters putting the Liberal Party led by Jean Chrétien
into power. Jean Charest
in Sherbrooke, Quebec
was one of two Progressive Conservatives left in Parliament, and became party leader.
won the 1994 provincial election
under the leadership of Jacques Parizeau
amid continued anger over the rejection of the Meech Lake Accord. The Parizeau government quickly held a referendum on sovereignty in 1995. Premier Parizeau favoured a unilateral declaration of independence
(UDI) followed by negotiations with the federal government if sovereignty were endorsed in the referendum. Bouchard and Dumont insisted that negotiations with the federal government should come before a declaration of independence. They compromised with an agreement to work together followed by a referendum question that would propose resorting to a UDI by the National Assembly only if negotiations to negotiate a new political "partnership" under Lucien Bouchard failed to produce results after one year.
The sovereignist campaign remained moribund under Parizeau. It was only when the charismatic Lucien Bouchard
took over with a few weeks to go in the campaign with an emotional attack on federalism that support for sovereignty skyrocketed to above 50%. On October 30, 1995, the partnership proposal was rejected by an extremely slim margin of less than one per cent.
Parizeau resigned and was replaced by Bouchard. The sovereignist option was pushed aside until they could establish "winning conditions". Bouchard was suspected by hard-line sovereignists as having a weak commitment to Quebec independence. Bouchard, in turn, was ill at ease with the ardent nationalism of some elements in the Parti Québécois. He eventually resigned over alleged instances of anti-Semitism within the hard-line wing of the party, and was replaced by Bernard Landry
. Tensions between the left wing of the party and the relatively fiscal conservative party executive under Bouchard and Landry also led to the formation of the Union des forces progressistes, another social-democratic sovereignist party that later merged with other left-wing groups to form Québec solidaire
.
Mario Dumont and the Action démocratique du Québec
put the sovereignist option aside entirely, and ran on a fiscally conservative agenda. They won three consecutive byelections, and their popularity soared fleetingly in opinion polls shortly before the 2003 provincial election, in which they won only four seats and 18% of the popular vote.
The federal Liberal Party
Prime Minister Jean Chrétien
came under sharp criticism for mishandling the "No" side of the referendum campaign. He launched a hard-line "Plan B" campaign by bringing in Montreal constitutional expert Stéphane Dion
, who would attack the perceived ambiguity of the referendum question through a Supreme Court reference on the unilateral secession of Quebec
in 1998 and draft the Clarity Act
in 2000 to establish strict criteria for accepting a referendum result for sovereignty and a tough negotiating position in the event of a Quebec secession
bid.
Jean Charest
was lauded by federalists for his impassioned and articulate defense of Canada during the referendum. He left the Progressive Conservative Party
to lead the provincial Liberals (no legal relation to its federal counterpart) and a "No" campaign in the event of another referendum, and led his new party to an election victory in 2003. He was reelected as provincial Premier in the election of 2007, and again in 2008, after having called a snap election
.
Still today, the political status of Quebec inside Canada remains a central question. This desire for greater provincial autonomy has often been expressed during the annual constitutional meetings of provincial premiers with the Prime Minister of Canada. In Quebec, no single option regarding autonomy currently gathers a majority of support. Therefore, the question remains unresolved after almost 50 years of debate.
is the debate regarding the future of Quebec and the status of it as a province of Canada
. Political parties are organized along ideologies that favor independence from Canada (sovereignist or separatist) and various degrees of autonomy within Canada (federalists). Social democrats
, liberals
, and conservatives
are therefore present in most major parties, creating internal tensions.
regarding the Canadian constitution. They embrace the liberalism held by former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau
and view Canada as a bilingual, multicultural nation based on individual rights. They stress that their nationalism
is based on shared civic values, and reject nationalism defined solely on English
or French Canadian
culture. They defend the need for the federal government to assume the major role in the Canadian system, with occasional involvement in areas of provincial jurisdiction. English-speaking Quebecers, immigrants, and aboriginal groups in northern Quebec
strongly support this form of federalism. They may recognize the national status of Quebec, but only informally in the cultural and sociological sense. The traditional vehicle for "status-quo" federalists is the Liberal Party of Canada
, although elements of the Conservative Party of Canada
have adopted aspects of this position.
The leftwing, New Democratic Party
supports Quebec's right to self determination, however they are completely opposed to sovereignty and do not support the devolving of economic and political powers to Quebec's provincial government.
nationalists are nationalists who believe it is best for the people of Quebec to reform the Canadian confederation
in order to accommodate the wish of Quebecers to continue to exist as a distinct society by its culture, its history, its language, and so on. They recognize the existence of the Quebec political (or civic) nation
; however, they do not think Quebecers truly wish to be independent from the rest of Canada. Before the arrival of the Parti Québécois, all major Quebec parties were federalist and nationalist. Since then, the party most associated with this view is the Liberal Party of Quebec. On two occasions, federalist nationalists of Quebec attempted to reform the Canadian federation together with allies in other provinces. The 1990 Meech Lake Accord
and the 1992 Charlottetown Accord
were both ultimately unsuccessful.
http://www.uni.ca/dialoguecanada/trent_guide.html#2a. On the other hand, they can also be swayed by the economic and social stability seemingly afforded by Canadian federalism. Mario Dumont
is an example of a soft nationalist.
Many also view the spectre of Quebec secession as a useful negotiation tool to gain more powers within Confederation. For example, Daniel Johnson, Sr
ran on a platform of Égalité ou indépendance (Equality or independence) in the late 1960s as a way of pressing for increased powers from the federal government. Lucien Bouchard
expressed similar sentiments as a student.
and the Parti Québécois
, which its members define as a party of social democratic
tendency. The Parti Québécois organized a 1980 referendum
and a 1995 referendum
, each of which could have led to negotiations for independence had it succeeded. The No side prevailed in both, but its margin was very narrow in the second referendum (50.6% No, against 49.4% Yes). Sovereigntists find their ideological origins in the Mouvement Souveraineté-Association
, René Lévesque
's short-lived precursor to the Parti Québécois
.
, and as a de facto
colonizing agent of English Canada. Consequently, they demand complete independence for Quebec, which they view in the context of national liberation movements in Africa and the Caribbean of the 1960s. Independence is seen as the culmination of a natural societal progression, from colonization to provincial autonomy to outright independence.http://english.republiquelibre.org/manifesto-rin.html. Accordingly, they tend to favor assertive declarations of independence over negotiations, idealizing the Patriote movement
of the 1830s. Their ideological origins can be found within the Rassemblement pour l'indépendance nationale
headed by Pierre Bourgault
, a founding organization of the Parti Québécois
.
Presently, according to various polls, support for the "yes" side varies between 37% and 55%, depending on the question being asked.
for French-speaking countries. Since the 1960s, Quebec has an international network of delegations which represent the Government of Quebec abroad. It is currently represented in 28 foreign locations and include six General delegations (government houses), four delegations (government offices), nine government bureaus, six trade branches, and three business agents.
Through its civil society, Quebec is also present in many international organizations and forums such as Oxfam
, Clowns sans frontières, World Social Forum
, World March of Women, etc.
.
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
are centred on a provincial government resembling that of the other Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
provinces
Provinces and territories of Canada
The provinces and territories of Canada combine to make up the world's second-largest country by area. There are ten provinces and three territories...
, namely a constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a constitution, whether it be a written, uncodified or blended constitution...
and parliamentary democracy. The capital
Capital City
Capital City was a television show produced by Euston Films which focused on the lives of investment bankers in London living and working on the corporate trading floor for the fictional international bank Shane-Longman....
of the province is Quebec City
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...
, where the Lieutenant Governor
Lieutenant Governor of Quebec
The Lieutenant Governor of Quebec : Lieutenant-gouverneur du Québec, or : Lieutenant-gouverneure du Québec) is the viceregal representative in Quebec of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, who operates distinctly within the province but is also shared equally with the ten other jurisdictions...
, Premier
Premier of Quebec
The Premier of Quebec is the first minister of the Canadian province of Quebec. The Premier is the province's head of government and his title is Premier and President of the Executive Council....
, the legislature, and cabinet reside.
The unicameral legislature—the National Assembly of Quebec
National Assembly of Quebec
The National Assembly of Quebec is the legislative body of the Province of Quebec. The Lieutenant Governor and the National Assembly compose the Parliament of Quebec, which operates in a fashion similar to those of other British-style parliamentary systems.The National Assembly was formerly the...
—has 125 members. Government is conducted based on the Westminster model
Westminster System
The Westminster system is a democratic parliamentary system of government modelled after the politics of the United Kingdom. This term comes from the Palace of Westminster, the seat of the Parliament of the United Kingdom....
.
Political system
Lower Canada
The Province of Lower Canada was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence...
in 1791. The following diagram represents the way the political system of Quebec works since the 1968 reform. Prior to this reform, the Parliament of Quebec was bicameral.
Lieutenant Governor
- asks the leader of the majority party to form a government in which he will serve as Premier
- enacts the laws adopted by the National Assembly
- has a theoretical veto power.
Premier
- appoints the members of the CabinetCabinet (government)A Cabinet is a body of high ranking government officials, typically representing the executive branch. It can also sometimes be referred to as the Council of Ministers, an Executive Council, or an Executive Committee.- Overview :...
and the heads of public corporations - determines the date of the coming general elections
Members of the National Assembly (MNAs)
- are elected using the first-past-the-postFirst-past-the-postFirst-past-the-post voting refers to an election won by the candidate with the most votes. The winning potato candidate does not necessarily receive an absolute majority of all votes cast.-Overview:...
voting system - there are 125 Members of the National Assembly, so approximately one MNA for each 45,000 electors.
Institutions
Many of Quebec's political institutions are among the oldest in North America. The first part of this article presents the main political institutions of Quebec society. The last part presents Quebec's current politics and issues.The Parliament of Quebec
The parliament of Quebec holds the legislative power. It consists of the National Assembly of Quebec and the lieutenant governor of Quebec.National Assembly of Quebec
The National Assembly of QuebecNational Assembly of Quebec
The National Assembly of Quebec is the legislative body of the Province of Quebec. The Lieutenant Governor and the National Assembly compose the Parliament of Quebec, which operates in a fashion similar to those of other British-style parliamentary systems.The National Assembly was formerly the...
is part of a legislature based on the Westminster System
Westminster System
The Westminster system is a democratic parliamentary system of government modelled after the politics of the United Kingdom. This term comes from the Palace of Westminster, the seat of the Parliament of the United Kingdom....
. However, it has a few special characteristics, one of the most important being that it functions primarily in French, although both English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and French are Constitutionally
Constitution of Canada
The Constitution of Canada is the supreme law in Canada; the country's constitution is an amalgamation of codified acts and uncodified traditions and conventions. It outlines Canada's system of government, as well as the civil rights of all Canadian citizens and those in Canada...
official and the Assembly's records are published in both languages. The representatives of the Quebec people are elected with the first-past-the-post
First-past-the-post
First-past-the-post voting refers to an election won by the candidate with the most votes. The winning potato candidate does not necessarily receive an absolute majority of all votes cast.-Overview:...
electoral method.
The government is constituted by the majority party and it is responsible
Responsible government
Responsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability which is the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy...
to the National Assembly. Since the abolition of the Legislative Council in 1968, the National Assembly has all the powers to enact laws in the provincial jurisdiction as specified in the Constitution of Canada
Constitution of Canada
The Constitution of Canada is the supreme law in Canada; the country's constitution is an amalgamation of codified acts and uncodified traditions and conventions. It outlines Canada's system of government, as well as the civil rights of all Canadian citizens and those in Canada...
.
Government of Québec
The government of Québec consists of all the ministries and governmental branches that do not have the status of independent institutions, such as municipalities and regional county municipalities.Executive Council
The Executive Council is the body responsible for decision-making in the government. It is composed of the Lieutenant-Governor (known as the Governor-in-Council), the PremierPremier
Premier is a title for the head of government in some countries and states.-Examples by country:In many nations, "premier" is used interchangeably with "prime minister"...
(in French Premier ministre), the government ministers, the ministers of state and delegate ministers. The Executive Council directs the government and the civil service, and oversees the enforcement of laws, regulations and policies. Together with the lieutenant governor
Lieutenant governor
A lieutenant governor or lieutenant-governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction, but is often the deputy or lieutenant to or ranking under a governor — a "second-in-command"...
, it constitutes the government of Quebec. See also Premier of Quebec
Premier of Quebec
The Premier of Quebec is the first minister of the Canadian province of Quebec. The Premier is the province's head of government and his title is Premier and President of the Executive Council....
.
Quebec Ombudsman
The Quebec Ombudsman is a governmental institution responsible for handling complaints from individuals, companies and associations who believe the government of Quebec or any of its branches has made an error or treated them unjustly. The Ombudsman has certain powers defined by the Public Protector Act. The Quebec Ombudsman has a social contract with Quebecers to ensure the transparency of the state.Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission
The Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse (Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission) is a publicly-funded agency created by the Charter of Human Rights and FreedomsQuebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms
The Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms is a statutory bill of rights and human rights code passed by the National Assembly of Quebec on June 27, 1975...
. Its members are appointed by the National Assembly. The Commission has been given powers to promote and protect human rights within all sectors of Quebec society. Government institutions and Parliament are bound by the provisions of the Charter. The Commission may investigate into possible cases of discrimination, whether by the State or by private parties. It may introduce litigation if its recommendations were not followed.
Quebec Office of the French language
The Office québécois de la langue françaiseOffice québécois de la langue française
The Office québécois de la langue française is a public organization established on March 24, 1961 by the Liberal government of Jean Lesage...
(Quebec Office of the French language) is an organization created in 1961. Its mandate was greatly expanded by the 1977 Charter of the French Language
Charter of the French Language
The Charter of the French Language , also known as Bill 101 and Loi 101, is a law in the province of Quebec in Canada defining French, the language of the majority of the population, as the only official language of Quebec, and framing fundamental language rights for everyone in the province...
. It is responsible for applying and defining Quebec's language policy pertaining to linguistic officialization, terminology and francization of public administration and businesses.
See language policies
Language policy
Many countries have a language policy designed to favour or discourage the use of a particular language or set of languages. Although nations historically have used language policies most often to promote one official language at the expense of others, many countries now have policies designed to...
for a comparison with other jurisdictions in the world.
Council on the Status of Women
Established in 1963, the Conseil du statut de la femme (Council on the Status of Women) is a government advisory and study council responsible for informing the government of the status of women's rights in Quebec. The council is made of a chair and 10 members appointed by the Quebec government every four to five years. The head office of the council is in Quebec City and it has 11 regional offices throughout Quebec.Quebec Commission on Access to Information
A first in North America, the Commission d'accès à l'information du Québec (Quebec Commission on Access to Information) is an institution created in 1982 to administer the Quebec legislative framework of access to information and protection of privacy.The first law related to privacy protection is the Consumer Protection Act, enacted in 1971. It ensured that all persons had the right to access their credit record. A little later, the Professional Code enshrined principles such as professional secrecy and the confidential nature of personal information.
Today, the CAI administers the law framework of the Act respecting access to documents held by public bodies and the protection of personal information as well as the Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private sector.
Chief electoral officer of Quebec
Independent from the government, this institution is responsible for the administration of the Quebec electoral system.Judicial bodies
The principal judicial courts of Quebec are the Court of QuebecCourt of Quebec
The Court of Quebec is the Provincial Court of the Canadian province of Quebec.The Court is divided into the following areas; The Civil Division, The Criminal and Penal Division, and The Youth Division. The Chief Judge of the Court of Quebec is Guy Gagnon....
, the Superior Court
Quebec Superior Court
Quebec Superior Court is the highest trial Court in the Province of Quebec, Canada. It consists of 144 judges who are appointed by the federal government.Chief Justices : [partial listing]* Edward Bowen...
and the Court of Appeal. The judges of the first are appointed by the Government of Quebec, while the judges of the two others are appointed by the Government of Canada.
In 1973, the Tribunal des professions was created to behave as an appeal tribunal to decisions taken by the various discipline committees of Quebec's professional orders. The current president is Paule Lafontaine.
On December 10, 1990, the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal was created. It became the first judicial tribunal in Canada specializing in human rights. The current president is Michèle Rivet.
An administrative tribunal, the Tribunal administratif du Québec is in operation since April 1, 1998 to resolve disputes between citizens and the government. The current president is Jacques Forgues.
Municipal and regional institutions
The territory of Quebec is divided into 17 administrative regions: Bas-Saint-LaurentBas-Saint-Laurent
The Bas-Saint-Laurent region is located along the south shore of the lower Saint Lawrence River in Quebec.It has a population of 200,653 and a land area of 22,232.11 km² .-Subdivisions:...
, Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean
Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean
Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean is a region in Quebec, Canada. It contains the Saguenay Fjord, the estuary of the Saguenay River, stretching through much of the region...
, Capitale-Nationale
Capitale-Nationale
Capitale-Nationale is one of 17 administrative regions of Quebec, Canada. Quebec City, Quebec's centre of government, is located in this region. It has a land area of 18,638.7 km2...
, Mauricie
Mauricie
Mauricie is a traditional and current administrative region of Quebec. La Mauricie National Park is contained within the region, making it a prime tourist location. The region has a land area of 35,855.22 km² and a 2006 census population of 258,928 residents...
, Estrie
Estrie
The Estrie is an administrative region of Quebec that overlaps mostly the Eastern Townships. Estrie, a French neologism, was coined as a derivative of est, "east."...
, Montréal
Montréal (region)
Montréal is one of the administrative regions of Quebec, Canada.It is also a territory equivalent to a regional county municipality and a census division , for both of which its geographical code is 66....
, Outaouais, Abitibi-Témiscamingue
Abitibi-Témiscamingue
Abitibi-Témiscamingue is a region located in western Quebec, Canada, along the border with Ontario. It became part of the province in 1898. It has a land area of 57,674.26 km2 . As of the 2006 census, the population of the region was 143,872 inhabitants.-History:The land was first occupied...
, Côte-Nord
Côte-Nord
Côte-Nord is the second largest administrative region by land area in Quebec, Canada, after Nord-du-Québec...
, Nord-du-Québec
Nord-du-Québec
Nord-du-Québec is the largest of the seventeen administrative regions of Quebec, Canada. With , of which are lakes and rivers, it covers much of the Labrador Peninsula and about 55% of the total land surface area of Quebec....
, Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine
Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine
Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine is an administrative region of Quebec consisting of the Gaspé Peninsula and the Îles-de-la-Madeleine. It lies in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence at the eastern extreme of Quebec. The predominant economic activities are fishing, forestry and tourism.The administrative region...
, Chaudière-Appalaches
Chaudière-Appalaches
Chaudière-Appalaches is an administrative region in Quebec, Canada. It comprises most of what is historically known as the "Beauce" |the electoral district of Beauce]]). It is named for the Chaudière River and the Appalachian Mountains....
, Laval
Laval, Quebec
Laval is a Canadian city and a region in southwestern Quebec. It is the largest suburb of Montreal, the third largest municipality in the province of Quebec, and the 14th largest city in Canada with a population of 368,709 in 2006...
, Lanaudière
Lanaudière
Lanaudière is one of the seventeen administrative regions of Quebec, Canada, situated immediately to the northeast of Montreal. It has a total population of 429,053 inhabitants.-Geography:...
, Laurentides
Laurentides (region)
The Laurentides is a region of Quebec. While it is often called the Laurentians in English, the region includes only part of the Laurentian mountains...
, Montérégie
Montérégie
Montérégie is an administrative region in southwest Québec. It includes the cities of Boucherville, Brossard, Granby, Longueuil, Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Saint-Hyacinthe, Sorel-Tracy, and Vaudreuil-Dorion....
, and Centre-du-Québec
Centre-du-Québec
Centre-du-Québec is a region of Quebec, Canada. The main centres are Drummondville, Victoriaville and Bécancour. It has a land area of 6,928.78 km² and a 2006 census population of 224,200 inhabitants.-Description:...
.
Inside the regions, there are municipalities
Municipality
A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...
and regional county municipalities (RCMs).
School boards
On July 1, 1998, 69 linguistic school boards, 60 Francophone and 9 Anglophone, were created in replacement for the former 153 Catholic and Protestant boards. In order to pass this law, which ended a debate of over 30 years, it was necessary for the Parliament of CanadaParliament of Canada
The Parliament of Canada is the federal legislative branch of Canada, seated at Parliament Hill in the national capital, Ottawa. Formally, the body consists of the Canadian monarch—represented by her governor general—the Senate, and the House of Commons, each element having its own officers and...
to amend Article 93 of the Constitution Act 1867.
Recent political history
When Quebec became one of the four founding provinces of the Canadian ConfederationCanadian Confederation
Canadian Confederation was the process by which the federal Dominion of Canada was formed on July 1, 1867. On that day, three British colonies were formed into four Canadian provinces...
, guarantees for the maintenance of its language and religion under the Quebec Act
Quebec Act
The Quebec Act of 1774 was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain setting procedures of governance in the Province of Quebec...
of 1774 formed part of the British North America Act. English and French were made the official languages in Quebec Courts and the provincial Legislature
National Assembly of Quebec
The National Assembly of Quebec is the legislative body of the Province of Quebec. The Lieutenant Governor and the National Assembly compose the Parliament of Quebec, which operates in a fashion similar to those of other British-style parliamentary systems.The National Assembly was formerly the...
. The Quebec school system was provided public funding for a dual system based on the Roman Catholic and Protestant religions. Members of other religions such as Jews or Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s were required to attend school under the jurisdiction of the Protestant school board. Under the Constitution Act, 1867
Constitution Act, 1867
The Constitution Act, 1867 , is a major part of Canada's Constitution. The Act created a federal dominion and defines much of the operation of the Government of Canada, including its federal structure, the House of Commons, the Senate, the justice system, and the taxation system...
the provinces were granted control of education. The religious based separate school systems continued in Quebec until the 1990s when the Parti Québécois
Parti Québécois
The Parti Québécois is a centre-left political party that advocates national sovereignty for the province of Quebec and secession from Canada. The Party traditionally has support from the labour movement. Unlike many other social-democratic parties, its ties with the labour movement are informal...
government of Lucien Bouchard
Lucien Bouchard
Lucien Bouchard, is a Canadian lawyer, diplomat, politician and former Minister of the Environment of the Canadian Federal Government. He was the Leader of Opposition in the Canadian House of Commons from 1993 to 1996, and the 27th Premier of Quebec from January 29, 1996 to March 8, 2001...
requested an amendment under provisions of the Constitution Act, 1982
Constitution Act, 1982
The Constitution Act, 1982 is a part of the Constitution of Canada. The Act was introduced as part of Canada's process of "patriating" the constitution, introducing several amendments to the British North America Act, 1867, and changing the latter's name in Canada to the Constitution Act, 1867...
to formally secularize the school system along linguistic lines.
The Duplessis years: 1944-1959
Premier Maurice DuplessisMaurice Duplessis
Maurice Le Noblet Duplessis served as the 16th Premier of the Canadian province of Quebec from 1936 to 1939 and 1944 to 1959. A founder and leader of the highly conservative Union Nationale party, he rose to power after exposing the misconduct and patronage of Liberal Premier Louis-Alexandre...
and his Union Nationale party emerged out of the ashes of the Conservative Party of Quebec
Parti conservateur du Québec
The Parti conservateur du Québec was a political party in Quebec, Canada.-Origins:The party originated as the Parti bleu which was formed around 1850 by the followers of Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine...
and the Paul Gouin
Paul Gouin
Paul Gouin was a politician in Quebec, Canada. was the son of Lomer Gouin and the grandson of Honoré Mercier...
's Action libérale nationale
Action libérale nationale
The Action libérale nationale was a short-lived provincial political party in Quebec, Canada. It was founded during the Great Depression and led by Paul Gouin. The ALN played an important role in the foundation of the Union Nationale.-Origin and beliefs:The party was created in 1934 by...
in the 1930s. This political lineage dates back to the 1850s Parti bleu
Parti bleu
The Parti bleu was a moderate political group in Quebec, Canada that emerged in 1854. It was based on the moderate reformist views of Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine, and was a rival to the radical Parti rouge....
of Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine
Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine
Sir Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine , 1st Baronet, KCMG was the first Canadian to become Prime Minister of the United Province of Canada and the first head of a responsible government in Canada. He was born in Boucherville, Lower Canada in 1807...
, a centre-right party in Quebec that emphasized provincial autonomy and allied itself with Conservatives
Conservative Party of Canada (historical)
The Conservative Party of Canada has gone by a variety of names over the years since Canadian Confederation. Initially known as the "Liberal-Conservative Party", it dropped "Liberal" from its name in 1873, although many of its candidates continued to use this name.As a result of World War I and the...
in English Canada. Under his government, the Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
and Protestant Churches maintained the control they previously gained over social services such as schools and hospitals. The authoritarian Duplessis used the provincial police and the "Padlock Law
Padlock Law
The Padlock Law The Padlock Law (officially called "Act to protect the Province Against Communistic Propaganda") The Padlock Law (officially called "Act to protect the Province Against Communistic Propaganda") (QcFr: "La loi du cadenas" / "Loi protégeant la province contre la propagande...
" to suppress union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
ism and gave the Montreal-based Anglo-Scot business elite as well as British and American capital a free rein in running the Quebec economy. His government also continued to attempt to prevent circulation of books banned by the Catholic Church
Index Librorum Prohibitorum
The Index Librorum Prohibitorum was a list of publications prohibited by the Catholic Church. A first version was promulgated by Pope Paul IV in 1559, and a revised and somewhat relaxed form was authorized at the Council of Trent...
, combatted communism and even tried to shut down other Christian religions like the Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The religion reports worldwide membership of over 7 million adherents involved in evangelism, convention attendance of over 12 million, and annual...
who evangelized in French Canada. The clergy used its influence to exhort Catholic voters to continue electing with the Union Nationale and threaten to excommunicate sympathisers of liberal ideas. For the time it lasted, the Duplessis regime resisted the North American and European trend of massive State investment in education, health, and social programs, turning away federal transfers of funds earmarked for these fields; he jealously guarded provincial jurisdictions. Common parlance speaks of these years as "La Grande Noirceur
Grande Noirceur
The Grande Noirceur is the name that critics of Quebec premier Maurice Duplessis's regime have given to the conservative policies undertaken by the provincial government in the 1936-1939 and 1944-1959 period of Quebec history.-Rural areas:...
" The Great Darkness, as in the first scenes of the film Maurice Richard
Maurice Richard
Joseph Henri Maurice "the Rocket" Richard, Sr., was a French-Canadian professional ice hockey player who played for the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League from 1942 to 1960. The "Rocket" was the most prolific goal-scorer of his era, the first to achieve the feat of 50 goals in 50...
.
The Quiet Revolution 1960-1966
In 1960, under a new Liberal PartyParti libéral du Québec
The Quebec Liberal Party is a centre-right political party in Quebec. It has been independent of the federal Liberal Party of Canada since 1955....
government led by Premier Jean Lesage
Jean Lesage
Jean Lesage, PC, CC, CD was a lawyer and politician in Quebec, Canada. He served as the 19th Premier of Quebec from 22 June 1960, to 16 August 1966...
, the political power of the church was greatly reduced. Quebec entered an accelerated decade of changes known as the Quiet Revolution
Quiet Revolution
The Quiet Revolution was the 1960s period of intense change in Quebec, Canada, characterized by the rapid and effective secularization of society, the creation of a welfare state and a re-alignment of politics into federalist and separatist factions...
. Liberal governments of the 1960s followed a robust nationalist policy of "maître chez nous" (Master in our own house) that would see French-speaking Quebeckers use the state to elevate their economic status and assert their cultural identity. The government took control of the education system, nationalized power production and distribution into Hydro-Québec (the provincial power utility), unionized the civil service, founded the Caisse de Depot to manage the massive new government pension program, and invested in companies that promoted French Canadians to management positions in industry. In 1966, the Union Nationale returned to power despite losing the popular vote by nearly seven points to the Liberal Party, but could not turn the tide of modernization and secularization that the Quiet Revolution had started. Both Liberal and Union Nationale governments continued to oppose federal intrusion into provincial jurisdiction.
René Lévesque and "Sovereignty-Association"
A non-violent Quebec independence movement slowly took form in the late 1960s. The Parti Québécois was created by the sovereignty-association movement of René LévesqueRené Lévesque
René Lévesque was a reporter, a minister of the government of Quebec, , the founder of the Parti Québécois political party and the 23rd Premier of Quebec...
; it advocated recognizing Quebec as an equal and independent (or "sovereign") nation that would form an economic "association" with the rest of Canada. An architect of the Quiet Revolution, Lévesque was frustrated by federal-provincial bickering over what he saw as increasing federal government intrusions into provincial jurisdictions. He saw a formal break with Canada as a way out of this. He broke with the provincial Liberals who remained committed to the policy of defending provincial autonomy inside Canada.
Pierre Trudeau's Liberalism
In reaction to events in Quebec and formal demands of the Lesage government, Lester Pearson's ruling Liberal governmentLiberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
in Ottawa sought to address the new political assertiveness of Quebec. He commissioned the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism
Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism
The Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism was a Canadian royal commission established on 19 July 1963, by the government of Prime Minister Lester B...
in 1963. Pearson also recruited Pierre Trudeau
Pierre Trudeau
Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau, , usually known as Pierre Trudeau or Pierre Elliott Trudeau, was the 15th Prime Minister of Canada from April 20, 1968 to June 4, 1979, and again from March 3, 1980 to June 30, 1984.Trudeau began his political career campaigning for socialist ideals,...
, who campaigned against the violation of civil liberties under Duplessis and the economic and political marginalization of French Quebeckers in the 1950s. Trudeau saw official bilingualism in Canada as the best way of remedying this.
In 1968, Trudeau was elected Prime Minister on a wave of "Trudeaumania
Trudeaumania
Trudeaumania was the nickname given in early 1968 to the excitement generated by Pierre Trudeau's entry into the leadership race of the Liberal Party of Canada...
". In 1969, his government instituted Official Bilingualism
Bilingualism in Canada
The official languages of Canada are English and French, which "have equality of status and equal rights and privileges as to their use in all institutions of the Parliament and Government of Canada" according to Canada's constitution...
with the Official Languages Act which made French and English official languages and guaranteed linguistic minorities (English-speaking in Quebec, French-speaking elsewhere) the right to federal services in their language of choice, where the number justifies federal spending. He also implemented the policy of multiculturalism
Official Multiculturalism Act
The Canadian Multiculturalism Act is a law, which was passed in 1988, aims to preserve and enhance multiculturalism in Canada.-Background:The federal government, under Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, declared in 1971 that Canada would adopt multicultural policy. Canada would recognize and...
, answering the concern of immigrant communities that their cultural identities were being ignored. In 1971, Trudeau also failed in an attempt to bring home the Canadian Constitution from Great Britain at the Victoria conference when Robert Bourassa
Robert Bourassa
Jean-Robert Bourassa, was a politician in Quebec, Canada. He served as the 22nd Premier of Quebec in two different mandates, first from May 12, 1970, to November 25, 1976, and then from December 12, 1985, to January 11, 1994, serving a total of just under 15 years as Provincial Premier.-Early...
refused to accept a deal that would not include a Constitutional veto on federal institutions for Quebec.
Trudeau's vision was to create a Constitution for a "Just Society
Just Society
The idea of a "just society" first gained modern attention when philosophers such as John Stuart Mill asked the question, "What is a 'just society?" Their writings covered several different perspectives including allowing individuals to live their lives as long as they didn't infringe on the...
" with a strong federal government founded on shared values of individual rights
Individual rights
Group rights are rights held by a group rather than by its members separately, or rights held only by individuals within the specified group; in contrast, individual rights are rights held by individual people regardless of their group membership or lack thereof...
, bilingualism
Bilingualism in Canada
The official languages of Canada are English and French, which "have equality of status and equal rights and privileges as to their use in all institutions of the Parliament and Government of Canada" according to Canada's constitution...
, social democratic ideals, and, later on, multiculturalism
Official Multiculturalism Act
The Canadian Multiculturalism Act is a law, which was passed in 1988, aims to preserve and enhance multiculturalism in Canada.-Background:The federal government, under Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, declared in 1971 that Canada would adopt multicultural policy. Canada would recognize and...
. As Liberal
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
Justice Minister in 1967, he eliminated Canada's sodomy law
Sodomy law
A sodomy law is a law that defines certain sexual acts as crimes. The precise sexual acts meant by the term sodomy are rarely spelled out in the law, but are typically understood by courts to include any sexual act deemed unnatural. It also has a range of similar euphemisms...
stating "The state has no business in the bedrooms of the nation"; he also created the first Divorce Act of Canada. This government also repealed Canada's race-based immigration law
Immigration law
Immigration law refers to national government policies which control the phenomenon of immigration to their country.Immigraton law, regarding foreign citizens, is related to nationality law, which governs the legal status of people, in matters such as citizenship...
.
The FLQ and the October Crisis
During the 1960s, a violent terrorist group known as the Front de libération du QuébecFront de libération du Québec
The Front de libération du Québec was a left-wing Quebecois nationalist and Marxist-Leninist paramilitary group in Quebec, Canada. It was active between 1963 and 1970, and was regarded as a terrorist organization for its violent methods of action...
was formed in an effort to attain Quebec independence. In October 1970, their activities culminated in events referred to as the October Crisis
October Crisis
The October Crisis was a series of events triggered by two kidnappings of government officials by members of the Front de libération du Québec during October 1970 in the province of Quebec, mainly in the Montreal metropolitan area.The circumstances ultimately culminated in the only peacetime use...
when the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Trade commissioner James Cross
James Cross
James Richard Cross, CMG was a British diplomat in Canada who was kidnapped by the Front de libération du Québec terrorist group during the October Crisis of October 1970....
was kidnapped along with Pierre Laporte
Pierre Laporte
Pierre Laporte was a Canadian lawyer, journalist and politician who was the Deputy Premier and Minister of Labour of the province of Quebec before being kidnapped and killed by members of the group Front de libération du Québec during the October Crisis. Mr...
, a provincial minister and Vice-Premier, who was killed a few days later. Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa
Robert Bourassa
Jean-Robert Bourassa, was a politician in Quebec, Canada. He served as the 22nd Premier of Quebec in two different mandates, first from May 12, 1970, to November 25, 1976, and then from December 12, 1985, to January 11, 1994, serving a total of just under 15 years as Provincial Premier.-Early...
called for military assistance to guard government officials. Prime Minister Trudeau responded by declaring the War Measures Act
War Measures Act
The War Measures Act was a Canadian statute that allowed the government to assume sweeping emergency powers in the event of "war, invasion or insurrection, real or apprehended"...
to stop what was described as an "Apprehended Insurrection" by the FLQ. Critics charge that Trudeau violated civil liberties by arresting thousands of political activists without a warrant as allowed by the Act. Supporters of these measures point to their popularity at the time, and the fact that the FLQ was wiped out. Independence-minded Quebeckers would now opt for the social democratic nationalism of the Parti Québécois
Parti Québécois
The Parti Québécois is a centre-left political party that advocates national sovereignty for the province of Quebec and secession from Canada. The Party traditionally has support from the labour movement. Unlike many other social-democratic parties, its ties with the labour movement are informal...
.
Sovereignists elected and the Anglophone exodus
Broad-based dissatisfaction by both English and French speaking Quebecers with the government of Robert BourassaRobert Bourassa
Jean-Robert Bourassa, was a politician in Quebec, Canada. He served as the 22nd Premier of Quebec in two different mandates, first from May 12, 1970, to November 25, 1976, and then from December 12, 1985, to January 11, 1994, serving a total of just under 15 years as Provincial Premier.-Early...
saw Parti Québécois
Parti Québécois
The Parti Québécois is a centre-left political party that advocates national sovereignty for the province of Quebec and secession from Canada. The Party traditionally has support from the labour movement. Unlike many other social-democratic parties, its ties with the labour movement are informal...
led by René Lévesque
René Lévesque
René Lévesque was a reporter, a minister of the government of Quebec, , the founder of the Parti Québécois political party and the 23rd Premier of Quebec...
win the Quebec provincial election
Quebec general election, 1976
The Quebec general election of 1976 was held on November 15, 1976 to elect members to National Assembly of the Province of Quebec, Canada. It was one of the most significant elections in Quebec history, rivalled only by the 1960 general election, and caused major repercussions in the rest of Canada...
in 1976. The first PQ government was known as the "republic of teachers" for its high number of candidates teaching at the university level. The PQ government passed laws limiting financing of political parties and the Charter of the French Language
Charter of the French Language
The Charter of the French Language , also known as Bill 101 and Loi 101, is a law in the province of Quebec in Canada defining French, the language of the majority of the population, as the only official language of Quebec, and framing fundamental language rights for everyone in the province...
(Bill 101). The Charter established French as the sole official language of Quebec. The government claimed the Charter was needed to preserve the French language in an overwhelmingly anglophone North American continent.
The enactment of Bill 101 was highly controversial and led to an immediate and sustained exodus of anglophones from Quebec that, according to Statistics Canada (2003), since 1971 saw a drop of 599,000 of those Quebecers whose mother tongue
First language
A first language is the language a person has learned from birth or within the critical period, or that a person speaks the best and so is often the basis for sociolinguistic identity...
was English. This exodus of English speakers provided a substantial and permanent boost to the population of the city of Toronto, Ontario. This Quebec diaspora
Quebec diaspora
The Quebec diaspora consists of Quebec emigrants and their descendants dispersed over the North American continent and historically concentrated in the New England region of the United States, Ontario, and the Canadian Prairies...
occurred for a number of reasons including regulations that made French the only language of communication allowed between employers and their employees. Under pain of financial penalties, all businesses in Quebec having more than fifty employees were required to obtain a certificate of francization
Francization
Francization or Gallicization is a process of cultural assimilation that gives a French character to a word, an ethnicity or a person.-French Colonial Empire:-Francization in the World:...
[Reg.139-140] and those businesses with over one hundred employees were obliged to establish a Committee of francization [Reg.136] As well, the language law placed restrictions on school enrollment for children based on parental language of education and banned outdoor commercial signs displaying languages other than French. The section of the law regarding language on signs was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Canada
Supreme Court of Canada
The Supreme Court of Canada is the highest court of Canada and is the final court of appeals in the Canadian justice system. The court grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants each year to appeal decisions rendered by provincial, territorial and federal appellate courts, and its decisions...
under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada. It forms the first part of the Constitution Act, 1982...
, see: Ford v. Quebec (A.G.). The revised law of 1988 adheres to the Supreme Court judgment, specifying that signs can be multilingual so long as French is predominant. The maintenance of an inspectorate to enforce the sign laws remains controversial. However, most Quebeckers adhere to the sign laws, as remembrance of what Montreal looked like (an English city for a French majority) before the sign laws is still vivid.
1980 referendum and the Constitution Act of 1982
In the 1980 Quebec referendum1980 Quebec referendum
The 1980 Quebec referendum was the first referendum in Quebec on the place of Quebec within Canada and whether Quebec should pursue a path toward sovereignty. The referendum was called by Quebec's Parti Québécois government, which strongly favoured secession from Canada...
, Premier René Lévesque
René Lévesque
René Lévesque was a reporter, a minister of the government of Quebec, , the founder of the Parti Québécois political party and the 23rd Premier of Quebec...
asked the Quebec people for "a mandate to negotiate" his proposal for "sovereignty-association" with the federal government. The Referendum promised that a subsequent deal would be ratified with a second referendum. Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau would campaign against it, promising a renewed federalism based on a new Canadian Constitution. Sixty per cent of the Quebec electorate voted against the sovereignty-association project. After opening a final round of constitutional talks, the Trudeau government patriated the constitution in 1982 without the approval of the Quebec government, which sought to retain a veto on constitutional amendments along with other special legal recognition within Canada. The new constitution featured a modern Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada. It forms the first part of the Constitution Act, 1982...
based on individual freedoms that would ban racial, sexual, and linguistic discrimination and enshrine minority language rights (English in Quebec, French elsewhere in Canada). After dominating Quebec politics for more than a decade, both Lévesque and Trudeau would then retire from politics shortly in the early 1980s.
The Meech Lake Accord of 1987
From 1985 to 1994, the federalist provincial Liberal PartyParti libéral du Québec
The Quebec Liberal Party is a centre-right political party in Quebec. It has been independent of the federal Liberal Party of Canada since 1955....
governed Quebec under Robert Bourassa
Robert Bourassa
Jean-Robert Bourassa, was a politician in Quebec, Canada. He served as the 22nd Premier of Quebec in two different mandates, first from May 12, 1970, to November 25, 1976, and then from December 12, 1985, to January 11, 1994, serving a total of just under 15 years as Provincial Premier.-Early...
. The Progressive Conservatives
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....
replaced the Liberals federally in 1984 and governed until 1993. Progressive Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney brought together all provincial premiers, including Robert Bourassa, to get the Quebec government's signature on the constitution. The Meech Lake Accord
Meech Lake Accord
The Meech Lake Accord was a package of proposed amendments to the Constitution of Canada negotiated in 1987 by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and ten provincial premiers. It was intended to persuade the government of the Province of Quebec to endorse the 1982 Canadian Constitution and increase...
in 1987 recognized Quebec as a "distinct society
Distinct society
Distinct society is a political term especially used during constitutional debate in Canada, in the second half of the 1980s and in the early 1990s, and present in the two failed constitutional amendments, the Meech Lake Accord and the Charlottetown Accord...
." The Mulroney government also transferred considerable power over immigration and taxation to Quebec.
The Accord faced stiff opposition from a number of quarters. In Quebec and across Canada, some objected to it arguing that "distinct society
Distinct society
Distinct society is a political term especially used during constitutional debate in Canada, in the second half of the 1980s and in the early 1990s, and present in the two failed constitutional amendments, the Meech Lake Accord and the Charlottetown Accord...
" provisions were unclear and could lead to attempts at a gradual independence for Quebec from Canada, and compromising the Charter of Rights. The Parti Québécois, now led by sovereignist Jacques Parizeau
Jacques Parizeau
Jacques Parizeau, is an economist and noted Quebec sovereignist who was the 26th Premier of the Canadian province of Quebec from September 26, 1994 to January 29, 1996.-Early life and career:...
, opposed the Meech Lake agreement because it did not grant Quebec enough autonomy. The Reform Party
Reform Party of Canada
The Reform Party of Canada was a Canadian federal political party that existed from 1987 to 2000. It was originally founded as a Western Canada-based protest party, but attempted to expand eastward in the 1990s. It viewed itself as a populist party....
in Western Canada led by Preston Manning
Preston Manning
Ernest Preston Manning, CC is a Canadian politician. He was the only leader of the Reform Party of Canada, a Canadian federal political party that evolved into the Canadian Alliance...
said that the Accord compromised principles of provincial equality, and ignored the grievances of the Western provinces. Aboriginal groups demanded "distinct society" status similar to Quebec's.
The Accord collapsed in 1990 when Liberal governments came to power in Manitoba and Newfoundland, and did not ratify the agreement. Prime Minister Mulroney, Premier Bourrassa, and the other provincial premiers negotiated another constitutional deal, the Charlottetown Accord
Charlottetown Accord
The Charlottetown Accord was a package of proposed amendments to the Constitution of Canada, proposed by the Canadian federal and provincial governments in 1992. It was submitted to a public referendum on October 26 of that year, and was defeated.-Background:...
. It weakened Meech provisions on Quebec and sought to resolve the concerns of the West, and was soundly rejected by a country-wide referendum in 1992.
The collapse of the Meech Lake Accord reshaped the entire Canadian political landscape. Lucien Bouchard
Lucien Bouchard
Lucien Bouchard, is a Canadian lawyer, diplomat, politician and former Minister of the Environment of the Canadian Federal Government. He was the Leader of Opposition in the Canadian House of Commons from 1993 to 1996, and the 27th Premier of Quebec from January 29, 1996 to March 8, 2001...
, a Progressive Conservative
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....
Cabinet Minister who felt humiliated by the defeat of the Meech Lake Accord, led other Quebec Progressive Conservatives and Liberals out of their parties to form the sovereigntist Bloc Québécois
Bloc Québécois
The Bloc Québécois is a federal political party in Canada devoted to the protection of Quebec's interests in the House of Commons of Canada, and the promotion of Quebec sovereignty. The Bloc was originally a party made of Quebec nationalists who defected from the federal Progressive Conservative...
. Mario Dumont
Mario Dumont
Mario Dumont is a television personality and former politician in the province of Quebec. He was a Member of the National Assembly of Quebec , and the leader of the Action démocratique du Québec , from 1994 to 2009...
, leader of the Quebec Liberal Party's youth wing left Bourrassa's party to form a "soft nationalist" and sovereignist Action démocratique du Québec
Action démocratique du Québec
The Action démocratique du Québec, commonly referred to as the ADQ is a centre-right political party in Quebec, Canada. On the sovereignty question, it defines itself as autonomist, and has support from both soft nationalists and federalists....
party. The Progressive Conservative Party
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....
collapsed in the 1993 election
Canadian federal election, 1993
The Canadian federal election of 1993 was held on October 25 of that year to elect members to the Canadian House of Commons of the 35th Parliament of Canada. Fourteen parties competed for the 295 seats in the House at that time...
, with Western conservatives voting Reform, Quebec conservatives voting for the Bloc Québécois
Bloc Québécois
The Bloc Québécois is a federal political party in Canada devoted to the protection of Quebec's interests in the House of Commons of Canada, and the promotion of Quebec sovereignty. The Bloc was originally a party made of Quebec nationalists who defected from the federal Progressive Conservative...
, and Ontario and Western Montreal voters putting the Liberal Party led by Jean Chrétien
Jean Chrétien
Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien , known commonly as Jean Chrétien is a former Canadian politician who was the 20th Prime Minister of Canada. He served in the position for over ten years, from November 4, 1993 to December 12, 2003....
into power. Jean Charest
Jean Charest
John James "Jean" Charest, PC, MNA is a Canadian politician who has been the 29th Premier of Quebec since 2003. He was leader of the federal Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1993 to 1998 and has been leader of the Quebec Liberal Party since 1998....
in Sherbrooke, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
was one of two Progressive Conservatives left in Parliament, and became party leader.
The 1995 referendum and its aftermath
The Parti QuébécoisParti Québécois
The Parti Québécois is a centre-left political party that advocates national sovereignty for the province of Quebec and secession from Canada. The Party traditionally has support from the labour movement. Unlike many other social-democratic parties, its ties with the labour movement are informal...
won the 1994 provincial election
Quebec general election, 1994
The Quebec general election of 1994 was held on September 12, 1994, to elect members of the National Assembly of Quebec, Canada. The Parti Québécois, led by Jacques Parizeau, defeated the incumbent Quebec Liberal Party, led by Daniel Johnson, Jr.....
under the leadership of Jacques Parizeau
Jacques Parizeau
Jacques Parizeau, is an economist and noted Quebec sovereignist who was the 26th Premier of the Canadian province of Quebec from September 26, 1994 to January 29, 1996.-Early life and career:...
amid continued anger over the rejection of the Meech Lake Accord. The Parizeau government quickly held a referendum on sovereignty in 1995. Premier Parizeau favoured a unilateral declaration of independence
Declaration of independence
A declaration of independence is an assertion of the independence of an aspiring state or states. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the territory of another nation or failed nation, or are breakaway territories from within the larger state...
(UDI) followed by negotiations with the federal government if sovereignty were endorsed in the referendum. Bouchard and Dumont insisted that negotiations with the federal government should come before a declaration of independence. They compromised with an agreement to work together followed by a referendum question that would propose resorting to a UDI by the National Assembly only if negotiations to negotiate a new political "partnership" under Lucien Bouchard failed to produce results after one year.
The sovereignist campaign remained moribund under Parizeau. It was only when the charismatic Lucien Bouchard
Lucien Bouchard
Lucien Bouchard, is a Canadian lawyer, diplomat, politician and former Minister of the Environment of the Canadian Federal Government. He was the Leader of Opposition in the Canadian House of Commons from 1993 to 1996, and the 27th Premier of Quebec from January 29, 1996 to March 8, 2001...
took over with a few weeks to go in the campaign with an emotional attack on federalism that support for sovereignty skyrocketed to above 50%. On October 30, 1995, the partnership proposal was rejected by an extremely slim margin of less than one per cent.
Parizeau resigned and was replaced by Bouchard. The sovereignist option was pushed aside until they could establish "winning conditions". Bouchard was suspected by hard-line sovereignists as having a weak commitment to Quebec independence. Bouchard, in turn, was ill at ease with the ardent nationalism of some elements in the Parti Québécois. He eventually resigned over alleged instances of anti-Semitism within the hard-line wing of the party, and was replaced by Bernard Landry
Bernard Landry
Bernard Landry, is a Quebec lawyer, teacher, politician, who served as the 28th Premier of Quebec , leader of the Opposition and leader of the Parti Québécois .-Personal:...
. Tensions between the left wing of the party and the relatively fiscal conservative party executive under Bouchard and Landry also led to the formation of the Union des forces progressistes, another social-democratic sovereignist party that later merged with other left-wing groups to form Québec solidaire
Québec Solidaire
Québec solidaire is a democratic socialist and sovereigntist political party in Quebec, Canada, that was created on 4 February 2006 in Montreal. It was formed by the merger of the left-wing party Union des forces progressistes and the alter-globalization political movement Option Citoyenne, led...
.
Mario Dumont and the Action démocratique du Québec
Action démocratique du Québec
The Action démocratique du Québec, commonly referred to as the ADQ is a centre-right political party in Quebec, Canada. On the sovereignty question, it defines itself as autonomist, and has support from both soft nationalists and federalists....
put the sovereignist option aside entirely, and ran on a fiscally conservative agenda. They won three consecutive byelections, and their popularity soared fleetingly in opinion polls shortly before the 2003 provincial election, in which they won only four seats and 18% of the popular vote.
The federal Liberal Party
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
Prime Minister Jean Chrétien
Jean Chrétien
Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien , known commonly as Jean Chrétien is a former Canadian politician who was the 20th Prime Minister of Canada. He served in the position for over ten years, from November 4, 1993 to December 12, 2003....
came under sharp criticism for mishandling the "No" side of the referendum campaign. He launched a hard-line "Plan B" campaign by bringing in Montreal constitutional expert Stéphane Dion
Stéphane Dion
Stéphane Maurice Dion, PC, MP is a Canadian politician who has been the Member of Parliament for the riding of Saint-Laurent–Cartierville in Montreal since 1996. He was the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and the Leader of the Opposition in the Canadian House of Commons from 2006 to 2008...
, who would attack the perceived ambiguity of the referendum question through a Supreme Court reference on the unilateral secession of Quebec
Reference re Secession of Quebec
Reference re Secession of Quebec, [1998] 2 S.C.R. 217 was an opinion of the Supreme Court of Canada regarding the legality, under both Canadian and international law, of a unilateral secession of Quebec from Canada....
in 1998 and draft the Clarity Act
Clarity Act
The Clarity Act is legislation passed by the Parliament of Canada that established the conditions under which the Government of Canada would enter into negotiations that might lead to secession following such a vote by one of the provinces. The Clarity Bill was tabled for first reading in the...
in 2000 to establish strict criteria for accepting a referendum result for sovereignty and a tough negotiating position in the event of a Quebec secession
Secession
Secession is the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or especially a political entity. Threats of secession also can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals.-Secession theory:...
bid.
Jean Charest
Jean Charest
John James "Jean" Charest, PC, MNA is a Canadian politician who has been the 29th Premier of Quebec since 2003. He was leader of the federal Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1993 to 1998 and has been leader of the Quebec Liberal Party since 1998....
was lauded by federalists for his impassioned and articulate defense of Canada during the referendum. He left the Progressive Conservative Party
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....
to lead the provincial Liberals (no legal relation to its federal counterpart) and a "No" campaign in the event of another referendum, and led his new party to an election victory in 2003. He was reelected as provincial Premier in the election of 2007, and again in 2008, after having called a snap election
Snap election
A snap election is an election called earlier than expected. Generally it refers to an election in a parliamentary system called when not required , usually to capitalize on a unique electoral opportunity or to decide a pressing issue...
.
Still today, the political status of Quebec inside Canada remains a central question. This desire for greater provincial autonomy has often been expressed during the annual constitutional meetings of provincial premiers with the Prime Minister of Canada. In Quebec, no single option regarding autonomy currently gathers a majority of support. Therefore, the question remains unresolved after almost 50 years of debate.
The National Question
The National QuestionNational Question (Quebec)
National Question is a general term used for questions relating to nationalities, nationalism, and nations. More specifically, the term usually refers either to the various theories about dealing with national questions National Question is a general term used for questions relating to...
is the debate regarding the future of Quebec and the status of it as a province of Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. Political parties are organized along ideologies that favor independence from Canada (sovereignist or separatist) and various degrees of autonomy within Canada (federalists). Social democrats
Social democracy
Social democracy is a political ideology of the center-left on the political spectrum. Social democracy is officially a form of evolutionary reformist socialism. It supports class collaboration as the course to achieve socialism...
, liberals
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
, and conservatives
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
are therefore present in most major parties, creating internal tensions.
Canadian Liberalism
Federal Liberals largely defend Quebec's remaining within Canada and keeping the status quoStatus quo
Statu quo, a commonly used form of the original Latin "statu quo" – literally "the state in which" – is a Latin term meaning the current or existing state of affairs. To maintain the status quo is to keep the things the way they presently are...
regarding the Canadian constitution. They embrace the liberalism held by former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau
Pierre Trudeau
Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau, , usually known as Pierre Trudeau or Pierre Elliott Trudeau, was the 15th Prime Minister of Canada from April 20, 1968 to June 4, 1979, and again from March 3, 1980 to June 30, 1984.Trudeau began his political career campaigning for socialist ideals,...
and view Canada as a bilingual, multicultural nation based on individual rights. They stress that their nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
is based on shared civic values, and reject nationalism defined solely on English
English Canadian
An English Canadian is a Canadian of English ancestry; it is used primarily in contrast with French Canadian. Canada is an officially bilingual state, with English and French official language communities. Immigrant cultural groups ostensibly integrate into one or both of these communities, but...
or French Canadian
French Canadian
French Canadian or Francophone Canadian, , generally refers to the descendents of French colonists who arrived in New France in the 17th and 18th centuries...
culture. They defend the need for the federal government to assume the major role in the Canadian system, with occasional involvement in areas of provincial jurisdiction. English-speaking Quebecers, immigrants, and aboriginal groups in northern Quebec
Nord-du-Québec
Nord-du-Québec is the largest of the seventeen administrative regions of Quebec, Canada. With , of which are lakes and rivers, it covers much of the Labrador Peninsula and about 55% of the total land surface area of Quebec....
strongly support this form of federalism. They may recognize the national status of Quebec, but only informally in the cultural and sociological sense. The traditional vehicle for "status-quo" federalists is the Liberal Party of Canada
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
, although elements of the Conservative Party of Canada
Conservative Party of Canada
The Conservative Party of Canada , is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum...
have adopted aspects of this position.
The leftwing, New Democratic Party
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...
supports Quebec's right to self determination, however they are completely opposed to sovereignty and do not support the devolving of economic and political powers to Quebec's provincial government.
Federalist Quebec nationalism
The federalistFederalist
The term federalist describes several political beliefs around the world. Also, it may refer to the concept of federalism or the type of government called a federation...
nationalists are nationalists who believe it is best for the people of Quebec to reform the Canadian confederation
Canadian Confederation
Canadian Confederation was the process by which the federal Dominion of Canada was formed on July 1, 1867. On that day, three British colonies were formed into four Canadian provinces...
in order to accommodate the wish of Quebecers to continue to exist as a distinct society by its culture, its history, its language, and so on. They recognize the existence of the Quebec political (or civic) nation
Nation
A nation may refer to a community of people who share a common language, culture, ethnicity, descent, and/or history. In this definition, a nation has no physical borders. However, it can also refer to people who share a common territory and government irrespective of their ethnic make-up...
; however, they do not think Quebecers truly wish to be independent from the rest of Canada. Before the arrival of the Parti Québécois, all major Quebec parties were federalist and nationalist. Since then, the party most associated with this view is the Liberal Party of Quebec. On two occasions, federalist nationalists of Quebec attempted to reform the Canadian federation together with allies in other provinces. The 1990 Meech Lake Accord
Meech Lake Accord
The Meech Lake Accord was a package of proposed amendments to the Constitution of Canada negotiated in 1987 by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and ten provincial premiers. It was intended to persuade the government of the Province of Quebec to endorse the 1982 Canadian Constitution and increase...
and the 1992 Charlottetown Accord
Charlottetown Accord
The Charlottetown Accord was a package of proposed amendments to the Constitution of Canada, proposed by the Canadian federal and provincial governments in 1992. It was submitted to a public referendum on October 26 of that year, and was defeated.-Background:...
were both ultimately unsuccessful.
Soft nationalists
Soft nationalists can in fact switch back and forth between a desire for independence and for the recognition of Quebec nationhood within Canada. They tend to be swayed by the political climate, and are angered by signs of rejection by English Canada such as the blocking of the Meech Lake AccordMeech Lake Accord
The Meech Lake Accord was a package of proposed amendments to the Constitution of Canada negotiated in 1987 by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and ten provincial premiers. It was intended to persuade the government of the Province of Quebec to endorse the 1982 Canadian Constitution and increase...
http://www.uni.ca/dialoguecanada/trent_guide.html#2a. On the other hand, they can also be swayed by the economic and social stability seemingly afforded by Canadian federalism. Mario Dumont
Mario Dumont
Mario Dumont is a television personality and former politician in the province of Quebec. He was a Member of the National Assembly of Quebec , and the leader of the Action démocratique du Québec , from 1994 to 2009...
is an example of a soft nationalist.
Many also view the spectre of Quebec secession as a useful negotiation tool to gain more powers within Confederation. For example, Daniel Johnson, Sr
Daniel Johnson, Sr
Francis Daniel Johnson, Sr., PC was a Quebec politician and the 20th Premier of Quebec from 1966 until his death in 1968.-Background:...
ran on a platform of Égalité ou indépendance (Equality or independence) in the late 1960s as a way of pressing for increased powers from the federal government. Lucien Bouchard
Lucien Bouchard
Lucien Bouchard, is a Canadian lawyer, diplomat, politician and former Minister of the Environment of the Canadian Federal Government. He was the Leader of Opposition in the Canadian House of Commons from 1993 to 1996, and the 27th Premier of Quebec from January 29, 1996 to March 8, 2001...
expressed similar sentiments as a student.
Sovereignists
Sovereigntists are moderate nationalists who do not believe Canada to be reformable in a way that could answer what they see as the legitimate wish of Quebecers to govern themselves freely. They opt for the independence of Quebec; however, at the same time they insist on offering an economic and political partnership to the rest of Canada on the basis of the equality of both nations. The political parties created by the sovereignists created are the Bloc QuébécoisBloc Québécois
The Bloc Québécois is a federal political party in Canada devoted to the protection of Quebec's interests in the House of Commons of Canada, and the promotion of Quebec sovereignty. The Bloc was originally a party made of Quebec nationalists who defected from the federal Progressive Conservative...
and the Parti Québécois
Parti Québécois
The Parti Québécois is a centre-left political party that advocates national sovereignty for the province of Quebec and secession from Canada. The Party traditionally has support from the labour movement. Unlike many other social-democratic parties, its ties with the labour movement are informal...
, which its members define as a party of social democratic
Social democracy
Social democracy is a political ideology of the center-left on the political spectrum. Social democracy is officially a form of evolutionary reformist socialism. It supports class collaboration as the course to achieve socialism...
tendency. The Parti Québécois organized a 1980 referendum
1980 Quebec referendum
The 1980 Quebec referendum was the first referendum in Quebec on the place of Quebec within Canada and whether Quebec should pursue a path toward sovereignty. The referendum was called by Quebec's Parti Québécois government, which strongly favoured secession from Canada...
and a 1995 referendum
1995 Quebec referendum
The 1995 Quebec referendum was the second referendum to ask voters in the Canadian province of Quebec whether Quebec should secede from Canada and become an independent state, through the question:...
, each of which could have led to negotiations for independence had it succeeded. The No side prevailed in both, but its margin was very narrow in the second referendum (50.6% No, against 49.4% Yes). Sovereigntists find their ideological origins in the Mouvement Souveraineté-Association
Mouvement Souveraineté-Association
The Mouvement Souveraineté-Association was formed on November 19, 1967 by René Lévesque to promote the concept of sovereignty-association between Quebec and the rest of Canada....
, René Lévesque
René Lévesque
René Lévesque was a reporter, a minister of the government of Quebec, , the founder of the Parti Québécois political party and the 23rd Premier of Quebec...
's short-lived precursor to the Parti Québécois
Parti Québécois
The Parti Québécois is a centre-left political party that advocates national sovereignty for the province of Quebec and secession from Canada. The Party traditionally has support from the labour movement. Unlike many other social-democratic parties, its ties with the labour movement are informal...
.
Indépendentistes
Indépendentistes are fully nationalist in outlook. They view the federal government as a successor state to the British EmpireBritish Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
, and as a de facto
De facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
colonizing agent of English Canada. Consequently, they demand complete independence for Quebec, which they view in the context of national liberation movements in Africa and the Caribbean of the 1960s. Independence is seen as the culmination of a natural societal progression, from colonization to provincial autonomy to outright independence.http://english.republiquelibre.org/manifesto-rin.html. Accordingly, they tend to favor assertive declarations of independence over negotiations, idealizing the Patriote movement
Patriote movement
The Patriote movement was a political movement that existed in Lower Canada from the turning of the 19th century to the Patriote Rebellion of 1837 and 1838 and the subsequent Act of Union of 1840. It was politically embodied by the Parti patriote at the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada...
of the 1830s. Their ideological origins can be found within the Rassemblement pour l'indépendance nationale
Rassemblement pour l'indépendance nationale
The Rassemblement pour l'Indépendance Nationale was a political organization dedicated to the promotion of Quebec national independence from Canada.-History:...
headed by Pierre Bourgault
Pierre Bourgault
Pierre Bourgault was a French Canadian politician and essayist of Breton origin, as well as an actor and journalist from Quebec, Canada. He is most famous as a public speaker who advocated sovereignty for Quebec from Canada.- Profile :Bourgault was born in East Angus in the Estrie region of Quebec...
, a founding organization of the Parti Québécois
Parti Québécois
The Parti Québécois is a centre-left political party that advocates national sovereignty for the province of Quebec and secession from Canada. The Party traditionally has support from the labour movement. Unlike many other social-democratic parties, its ties with the labour movement are informal...
.
Presently, according to various polls, support for the "yes" side varies between 37% and 55%, depending on the question being asked.
Provincial
- The Parti libéral du QuébecParti libéral du QuébecThe Quebec Liberal Party is a centre-right political party in Quebec. It has been independent of the federal Liberal Party of Canada since 1955....
(PLQ) - The Parti QuébécoisParti QuébécoisThe Parti Québécois is a centre-left political party that advocates national sovereignty for the province of Quebec and secession from Canada. The Party traditionally has support from the labour movement. Unlike many other social-democratic parties, its ties with the labour movement are informal...
(PQ) - The Action démocratique du QuébecAction démocratique du QuébecThe Action démocratique du Québec, commonly referred to as the ADQ is a centre-right political party in Quebec, Canada. On the sovereignty question, it defines itself as autonomist, and has support from both soft nationalists and federalists....
(ADQ) - The Québec SolidaireQuébec SolidaireQuébec solidaire is a democratic socialist and sovereigntist political party in Quebec, Canada, that was created on 4 February 2006 in Montreal. It was formed by the merger of the left-wing party Union des forces progressistes and the alter-globalization political movement Option Citoyenne, led...
Party (QS)
Federal
- The New Democratic Party of CanadaNew Democratic PartyThe New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...
(NDP) - The Bloc QuébécoisBloc QuébécoisThe Bloc Québécois is a federal political party in Canada devoted to the protection of Quebec's interests in the House of Commons of Canada, and the promotion of Quebec sovereignty. The Bloc was originally a party made of Quebec nationalists who defected from the federal Progressive Conservative...
(BQ) - The Liberal Party of CanadaLiberal Party of CanadaThe Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
(L) - The Conservative Party of CanadaConservative Party of CanadaThe Conservative Party of Canada , is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum...
(C) - The Green Party of CanadaGreen Party of CanadaThe Green Party of Canada is a Canadian federal political party founded in 1983 with 10,000–12,000 registered members as of October 2008. The Greens advance a broad multi-issue political platform that reflects its core values of ecological wisdom, social justice, grassroots democracy and...
(GPC)
Other recognized provincial parties
- The Parti vert du Québec (Green Party/PVQ)
- The Bloc potBloc potThe Bloc Pot is a provincial political party in Quebec, Canada that is dedicated to ending cannabis prohibition. It has contested three provincial elections but it has failed to win any seats in the National Assembly of Quebec. The party was launched in 1997 by Marc-Boris St-Maurice as a way to...
- The Parti marxiste-léniniste du QuébecParti marxiste-léniniste du QuébecThe Parti marxiste-léniniste du Québec or PMLQ is a Quebec communist political party. Its orientation is Marxism-Leninism. The PMLQ is the Quebec branch of the Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada...
- The Parti démocratie chrétienne du QuébecParti démocratie chrétienne du QuébecThe Parti démocratie chrétienne du Québec is a social conservative political party in Quebec, Canada. It was founded in 2000 by Roman Catholics associated with the Centre d’Information nationale Robert Rumilly. The founding leader of the party was Gilles Noël.Its program is a combination of...
- Affiliation QuebecAffiliation QuebecAffiliationQuebec is a registered political party in Quebec, Canada. It is strongly in favour of Canadian unity and opposes Quebec nationalism and sovereignty. Aside from the party's federalist agenda, its stated mission is to "actively pursue the full rights and interests of staunch Canadians...
Historical parties
- The Parti égalité/Equality PartyEquality Party (Quebec)The Equality Party was a political party in Quebec, Canada, that promoted the use of English in Quebec on an equal basis with French. Four Equality Party members were elected to Quebec's National Assembly in 1989, as part of an anglophone reaction to changes made by the governing Liberals to...
- The Union Nationale
- The Ralliement créditiste du QuébecRalliement créditiste du QuébecThe Ralliement créditiste du Québec was a provincial political party in Quebec, Canada that operated from 1970 to 1978. It promoted social credit theories of monetary reform, and acted as an outlet for the expression of rural...
- The Bloc populaire
- The Action libérale nationaleAction libérale nationaleThe Action libérale nationale was a short-lived provincial political party in Quebec, Canada. It was founded during the Great Depression and led by Paul Gouin. The ALN played an important role in the foundation of the Union Nationale.-Origin and beliefs:The party was created in 1934 by...
- The Parti conservateur du Québec
- The Ralliement nationalRalliement nationalRalliement national was a political party that advocated the political independence of Quebec from Canada in the 1960s.It was led by former créditiste Gilles Grégoire...
- The Rassemblement pour l'indépendance nationaleRassemblement pour l'indépendance nationaleThe Rassemblement pour l'Indépendance Nationale was a political organization dedicated to the promotion of Quebec national independence from Canada.-History:...
- The Parti républicain du QuébecParti républicain du QuébecThe Parti républicain du Québec or PRQ was a political party that advocated the independence of Quebec from Canada...
- The Parti bleuParti bleuThe Parti bleu was a moderate political group in Quebec, Canada that emerged in 1854. It was based on the moderate reformist views of Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine, and was a rival to the radical Parti rouge....
- The Parti rougeParti rougeThe Parti rouge was formed in the Province of Quebec, around 1848 by radical French-Canadians inspired by the ideas of Louis-Joseph Papineau, the Institut canadien de Montréal, and the reformist movement led by the Parti patriote of the 1830s.The party was a successor to the Parti patriote...
International organizations
Quebec is a participating government in the international organization the Francophonie, which can be seen as a sort of Commonwealth of NationsCommonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
for French-speaking countries. Since the 1960s, Quebec has an international network of delegations which represent the Government of Quebec abroad. It is currently represented in 28 foreign locations and include six General delegations (government houses), four delegations (government offices), nine government bureaus, six trade branches, and three business agents.
Through its civil society, Quebec is also present in many international organizations and forums such as Oxfam
Oxfam
Oxfam is an international confederation of 15 organizations working in 98 countries worldwide to find lasting solutions to poverty and related injustice around the world. In all Oxfam’s actions, the ultimate goal is to enable people to exercise their rights and manage their own lives...
, Clowns sans frontières, World Social Forum
World Social Forum
The World Social Forum is an annual meeting of civil society organizations, first held in Brazil, which offers a self-conscious effort to develop an alternative future through the championing of counter-hegemonic globalization...
, World March of Women, etc.
.
See also
- Politics of CanadaPolitics of CanadaThe politics of Canada function within a framework of parliamentary democracy and a federal system of parliamentary government with strong democratic traditions. Canada is a constitutional monarchy, in which the Monarch is head of state...
- Political culture of CanadaPolitical culture of CanadaCanadian political culture is in some ways part of a greater North American and European political culture, which emphasizes constitutional law, freedom of religion, personal liberty, and regional autonomy; these ideas stemming in various degrees from the British common law and French civil law...
- Council of the FederationCouncil of the FederationThe Council of the Federation is a council in Canada made up of the premiers of Canada's thirteen provinces and territories. Its main function is to provide a united front amongst the provincial and territorial governments when interacting with Canada's federal government...
- État québécoisÉtat québécoisThe French term ' literally means "the Quebec State". Here "State" refers to public authority, or the state apparatus, as in "state-owned enterprise, Crown corporation"...
- Quebec general electionsQuebec general electionsThis article provides a summary of results for the general elections to the Canadian province of Quebecs unicameral legislative body, the National Assembly of Quebec...
- List of Quebec premiers
- List of Quebec leaders of the Opposition
- List of Quebec senators
- National Assembly of QuebecNational Assembly of QuebecThe National Assembly of Quebec is the legislative body of the Province of Quebec. The Lieutenant Governor and the National Assembly compose the Parliament of Quebec, which operates in a fashion similar to those of other British-style parliamentary systems.The National Assembly was formerly the...
- Political parties in Quebec
- History of QuebecHistory of QuebecQuebec has played a special role in Canadian history; it is the site where French settlers founded the colony of Canada in the 17th and 18th centuries.-Paleoindian Era :...
- Timeline of Quebec historyTimeline of Quebec historyThis article presents a detailed timeline of Quebec history. Events taking place outside Quebec, for example in English Canada, the United States, Britain or France, may be included when they are considered to have had a significant impact on Quebec's history....
- Quebec nationalismQuebec nationalismQuebec nationalism is a nationalist movement in the Canadian province of Quebec .-1534–1774:Canada was first a french colony. Jacques Cartier claimed it for France in 1534, and permanent French settlement began in 1608. It was part of New France, which constituted all French colonies in North America...
- Quebec sovereigntism
- Quebec federalism
- Quebec Charter of Human Rights and FreedomsQuebec Charter of Human Rights and FreedomsThe Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms is a statutory bill of rights and human rights code passed by the National Assembly of Quebec on June 27, 1975...
- Reference re Secession of QuebecReference re Secession of QuebecReference re Secession of Quebec, [1998] 2 S.C.R. 217 was an opinion of the Supreme Court of Canada regarding the legality, under both Canadian and international law, of a unilateral secession of Quebec from Canada....
External links
- National Assembly of Quebec
- Government of Quebec Website
- Chief Electoral Officer of Quebec
- La Politique québécoise sur le Web
- Conseil du statut de la femme
- Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse
- The Courts of Quebec Website
- Office de la langue française
- Quebec Ombudsman
- Quebec English School Boards Association
- Tribunal des professions
- Tribunal des droits de la personne
- Tribunal administratif du Québec
- L'État québécois en perspective
- Canadian Governments Compared