Québec: The Quiet Revolution

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Since 1944, Québec was ruled by the Union Nationale party almost uninterruptedly from 1936 until 1960. This period was later going to become known as the Duplessis Era, named after Maurice Duplessis, the founder of Union Nationale, who was elected to five terms of office, the last four of them consecutive, adding up to more than 18 years as Premier of Québec. The Duplessis government was extremely conservative, disapproving the formation of trade unions because of its communists ideologies and isolating Québec as much as possible from the rest of Canada. The Union Nationale government was supported by the Catholic Church, that had full control over the education of the French Canadian province. After two decades under the ruling of Union Nationale, …show more content…
Since Lesage’s election until Robert Bourassa’s term that ended in 1976, the provincial government implemented a series of actions that caused major social, political and economic changes in Québec. This period of intense changes would later become known as the Quiet Revolution.
Lesage’s government had the intention to reestablish the French Canadian nationalism preserving Québec’s cultural heritage, believing that Quebecers could develop as modern Canadians without losing their identity, leading to reforms that would greatly change Québec’s culture and education. The first reform on the field was marked by the creation of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs in 1961. Its role was to help affirm cultural identity, foster the development of artistic creation, and promote access to and participation of citizens in cultural life, being involved in all sectors of the arts. Adjoined to the preservation of the Québecois cultural heritage, the reestablishment of education in Québec was a primary goal to premier Jean Lesage. The …show more content…
In his economic reform, one of Lesage’s first actions was the creation of the Société Générale de Financement du Québec (SGF) in 1962, that was a state-operated holding company that aimed the promotion of regional francophone businesses and the diversification of Québec’s industrial production base, since at least 80% of Quebec’s economy belonged to English Canadian and American corporations (Dickinson & Brian Young, 1992). The SGF was to act as the financial arm of the Government of Québec and reduce the province’s dependence on foreign capital, increasing its economic independence. In contemplation of the provincial economic sovereignty, the dependence of Québec to foreign energy companies was an obstacle. Premier Jean Lesage, under the strong influence of the Member of National Assembly René Lévesque, decided to finish the process of nationalization of energy initiated by the liberal Adélard Godbout in 1944, that had seen no progress during the Duplessis Era. In 1963, all hydroelectric facilities in the province were incorporated into the existing network of Hydro-Québec. The biggest challenge after the nationalization was to keep up with the growing demand rate for energy, that was of 7% a year (Bolduc, Hogue & Larouche, 1989), meaning that Hydro-Québec would have to double its generating capacity every ten years. As a direct consequence of the nationalization
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