The Quiet Revolution

The Quiet Revolution The purpose of this paper is to analyze the aspects of The Quiet Revolution on Quebec, and how the changes implemented by Lesage made Quebec the province it is today. The Quiet Revolution was only quiet at name; it triggered many conflicts that appeared in Quebec. The province began to move away from Catholic Church with the help of nationalists, leaving Quebec reformed and quite different from how it was before the 1960’s. Before the Quiet Revolution, Quebec was majorly formed of rural population.

They believed that rural was much better than urban, but due to large families and the lack of good land, it pushed most Quebeckers to move to the cities. By 1921, half of Quebec’s population was urbanized. Manufacture industries of textile and shoes located in Quebec, were attracting many Quebeckers to work. The schools of Quebec were owned by the Catholic Church, and were mostly run by priests, nuns and brothers. The Quiet Revolution was a period between 1960 and 1966; it was mainly a period of political, social and economic change (Winston Knoll Collegiate).

The Union Nationale party was in power since 1944, it held conservative outdated values. The election of June 1960 was the beginning of revolutionary changes that were about to happened in Quebec. The election of June 22nd 1960, when the Liberal Party of Quebec ran by Jean Lesage finally won 51. 5% against Union Nationale. “The main issue of the election was indicated by the Liberal slogan, “It’s time for a change”(The Canadian Encyclopedia, 2012)”. The government under Lesage began new era with open debates, changing the political electoral map so each urban area would be well represented.

The government changed the voting age from 21 to 18. Lesage by increasing loans, made the budget grow from $745 million to $2. 1 billion in less than six years. The Baby Boom generation that had reached adolescence put a lot of pressure on Quebec’s poor educational system; the role of Catholic Church was quite criticized and abolished pushing the government into creating a department of education, the Parent Report created a school system available to the entire population.

One of the major accomplishments by the government in the economic sector was the nationalization of private electricity companies, an idea that was introduced by Rene Levesque, a minister of natural resources. The government of Jean Lesage encouraged industrialization, promoting investments and guaranteeing economic benefits through the buy-Quebec policy, all these objectives were met when Hydro-Quebec became the symbol of success and economic resources. The creation of “caisse de depot et placement du Quebec” triggered the creation of the Quebec pension plan, which immediately grew to billion dollars.

Quebec’s favorite slogan that had huge improvements was the “maitres chez nous” (masters in our own house) which promoted and influenced federal-provincial relations. The demands that were imposed by Lesage were largely met. “Lesage forced the federal government to accept Quebec’s withdrawal from several cost-sharing programs and to compensate Quebec fiscally (The Canadian Encyclopedia, 2012)”. Therefore Quebec was the only province that had the right to withdraw. Thus, the conflicts then rose between the English Canadians and the French Canadian. The federal Pearson Liberal government established the Royal Commission on bilingualism and biculturalism, which warned that Canada was passing through the greatest crisis in its history (The Quiet Revolution Changed Quebec Forver). Pearson liberal party to gain more strength and credibility hired three wise men; Jean Marchand, Gerard Pelletier and Pierre Eliott Trudeau. Quebec was gaining power and these changes made many different French Canadian nationalists for example; FLQ (Front de liberation du Quebec) believed that Quebec is a distinct society and worship separatism, which resulted in terrorism.

In 1966, when Quebec faced elections they were confident of triumph, but the Union National had add changes to its image attracted more conservative voters and since the Quiet Revolution never really influenced the rural areas. On June 5th of 1966 the Union National won the elections against the Liberals. Although, the liberal party was elected in 1960 and defeated in 1966, Jean Lesage in 6 years of power had accomplished forceful changes; the French language took more place and importance in Canada, the welfare state; including the pension plan, Medicare and Hydro Quebec.

The Quiet Revolution was an important point of reference in Quebec’s history; all governments elected in Quebec never omit to mention the importance and the positive consequences that it brought to Quebec. Words: 770 References 1. The Quiet Revolution changed Quebec Forever, http://www. llss. sd73. bc. ca/socials11/materials/chapter8/quiet_revn_changed_que_forever. pdf 2. October Crisis, The Quiet Revolution, http://www. historyofrights. com/flq1. html 3. The Canadian Encyclopedia, 2012 http://www. thecanadianencyclopedia. com/articles/quiet-revolution