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Quiet Revolution
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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 (État-providence) and a re-alignment of Quebec's politics into federalist and separatist factions.
The provincial government took over the fields of health care and education, which had been in the hands of the Roman Catholic Church.
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Encyclopedia
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 (État-providence) and a re-alignment of Quebec's politics into federalist and separatist factions.
The provincial government took over the fields of health care and education, which had been in the hands of the Roman Catholic Church. It created ministries of Education and Health, expanded the public service, and made massive investments in the public education system and provincial infrastructure. The government allowed unionization of the civil service. It took measures to increase Québécois control over the province's economy and nationalized electricity production and distribution.
Origins
The Quiet Revolution began with the reforms enacted by the Liberal provincial government of Jean Lesage which was elected in the July 1960 provincial election. It is generally accepted to have ended before the October Crisis of 1970, but Quebec's society has continued to change dramatically since then.
Many events are said to have been precursors of the Quiet Revolution. Among them are the Asbestos miners' strike of 1949, the Maurice Richard Riot of 1955, the CBC strike of 1958-59, the signing of the Refus Global by les Automatistes and the publication of Les insolences du Frère Untel, which criticized the dominance of the Roman Catholic Church, which provided most of the province's schools and health care institutions.
The government of Quebec was controlled by conservative Maurice Duplessis, leader of the Union Nationale. Electoral fraud and corruption were commonplace in Quebec. Though the Catholic Church was not unanimously supportive of Duplessis, as some Catholic Unions and members of the clergy including Montreal Archbishop Joseph Charbonneau criticised Duplessis, the bulk of the small-town and rural clergy supported the premier, sometimes quoting the Union Nationale slogan Le ciel est bleu, l'enfer est rouge (Heaven is blue, hell is red — referring to the colours of the Union Nationale (blue) and the Liberals (red)). Radio Canada, the newspaper Le Devoir and political journal Cité Libre were intellectual forums for critics of the Duplessis government.
Because of the small population of Quebec – and Canada as a whole – capital for investment was regularly in short supply. As such, the province's natural resources were mainly developed by foreign investors. As an example, iron ore was explored for and its mining developed by the U.S.-based Iron Ore Company of Canada. Until the second half of the 20th century, the majority of Francophone Quebec workers lived below the poverty line and did not join the executive ranks of the businesses of their own province. Msgr Felix Leclerc described this phenomenon, writing, "Our people are the waterboys of their own country."
In many ways, Duplessis's death in 1959, very soon followed by the sudden death of his successor Paul Sauvé, served as a trigger for the Quiet Revolution. Within a year of Duplessis's death, the Liberal party was elected with Jean Lesage at its head. The Liberals had campaigned under the slogans Maîtres chez nous (Masters of our own house), a phrase coined by Le Devoir editor Andre Laurendeau and Il faut que ça change (Things have to change).
Secularization
The Commission Parent was established in 1961 to study the education system and to bring forth recommendations, which eventually led to the adoption of several reforms, the most important of which was secularization of the education system. Although schools maintained their Catholic or Protestant character, in practice they became secular institutions. Other reforms included mandatory school attendance until the age of 16 and free instruction until the 11th grade.
Despite the Union Nationale's return to power in 1966, the reforms continued. In 1967, CEGEPs were created to offer post-secondary professional public education everywhere in the province. In 1968 the government created the Université du Québec network to achieve similar goals for university-level education.
With the diminishing role of the Church in society, which coincided with the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, the birthrate among Francophones began to drop significantly, with the rate of divorce rising. Proclamations against the use of birth control by the Church largely went ignored.
Economic reforms
Seeking a mandate for its most daring reform, the nationalisation of the province's electric companies under Hydro-Québec, the Liberal party called for a new election in 1962. The Liberal party was returned to power with an increased majority in the National Assembly of Quebec and within six months, René Lévesque, Minister of Natural Resources, enacted his plans for Hydro-Québec.
More public institutions were created to follow through with the desire to increase the province's economic autonomy. The public companies SIDBEC (iron and steel), SOQUEM (mining), REXFOR (forestry) and SOQUIP (petroleum) were created to exploit the province's abundant natural resources. The Société générale de financement (General financing corporation) was created in 1962 to encourage Quebecers to invest in their economic future and to increase the profitability of small companies. In 1963, in conjunction with the Canada Pension Plan the government of Canada authorized the province to create its own Régie des Rentes du Québec (Quebec Pension Plan); universal contributions came into effect in 1966. The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec was created in 1965 to manage the considerable revenues generated by the RRQ and to provide the capital necessary for various projects in the public and private sectors.
A new labour code (Code du Travail) was adopted in 1964. It made unionising much easier and gave public employees the right to strike. It was during the same year that the Code Civil (Civil Code) was modified to recognise the legal equality of spouses. In case of divorce, the rules for administering the Divorce Act were retained using Quebec's old Community property matrimonial regime until 1980, when new legislation brought an automatic equal division of certain basic family assets between spouses.
Nationalism
While visiting Montreal for Expo 67, General Charles de Gaulle proclaimed Vive le Québec libre! in a speech at Montreal City Hall, which gave the Quebec independence movement further public credibility. In 1968, the sovereignist Parti Québécois was created, with René Lévesque as its leader. A small faction of Marxist separatists began terrorist actions under the name Front de Libération du Québec.
Important figures
See also
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