René Lévesque
René Lévesque (August 24, 1922 - November 1, 1987), was a reporter, a minister of the Quebec government (1960 - 1966), the founder of the Parti Québécois and Prime Minister of Quebec (November 15, 1976 - October 3, 1985). He is a recipient of the title of Grand Officer of the French Legion of Honor.
Biography
Origins
The eldest of four children, René Lévesque was born in a hospital of Campbellton, New Brunswick. He was raised in New Carlisle, Quebec, in the Gaspe peninsula, the son of Dominique Lévesque, an attorney, and Diane Dionne. Lévesque attended a classical college in Gaspé and the Saint-Charles-Garnier College in Quebec City. He went on to study for a law degree at Laval University in Quebec City. However, he did not finish, leaving the university in 1943.
War correspondent
He started working as an announcer and news writer at the CHNC radio station in New Carlisle, then as a substitute announcer for CHRC during 1941-1942 and then at CBV in Quebec City. During 1944-1945, he served as liaison officer and war correspondent for the U.S. Army in Europe. He reported from London while it was under regular bombardment by the Luftwaffe, and advanced with the Allied troops as they swept back the Nazis through France and Germany. Through the war, he made regular journalistic reports on the airwaves and by print. He was with the first unit of Americans to reach the Dachau concentration camp, and was profoundly touched by what he witnessed.
In 1947 he married Louise L'Heureux, with whom he would have two sons and a daughter. Lévesque worked as a reporter for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in the international service. He once more served as a war correspondent with the CBC in the Korean war, in 1952. After that, he was offered a career in journalism in the United States, but decided to stay in Quebec.
Public figure
From 1956 to 1959, Lévesque became famous in Quebec for hosting a weekly television news program at the SRC called Point de Mire. While working for the public television network, he became involved in the 1958 strike, which lasted 68 tumultuous days. Supported by his later bitter political rival, Pierre Trudeau, Lévesque was arrested in 1959, along with twenty-nine other strikers.
Involvement in politics
In 1960, Lévesque entered the political scene and was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Quebec in the 1960 election as a Liberal Party member. In the government of Jean Lesage, he was appointed Minister of Hydroelectric Resources and Public Works in 1960-1961 and then Minister of Natural resources from 1961 to 1965. At that time, he played an important role in the nationalization of hydroelectric companies, greatly expanding Hydro-Québec. Lévesque helped implement the important political reforms, which were later called the Quiet Revolution. He was then appointed Minister of Family and Welfare for 1965-1966. The Liberals lost the 1966 election to the Union Nationale but Lévesque retained his own seat.
Parti Québécois leader
On October 14, 1967 Lévesque left the Liberal Party after its members refused to discuss the idea of a sovereign Quebec during its convention. He remained as the independent representative of the Montreal-Laurier riding until the 1970 election. After leaving the Liberal Party, he founded the Mouvement Souveraineté-Association, which later merged with the Ralliement National of Gilles Grégoire to create the Parti Québécois in 1968. He remained leader of the Parti Québécois from 1968 until his resignation in 1985.
After failing to win a seat in his riding in the 1970 election and the 1973 election, he and his party swept the 1976 election, even beating the sitting Premier Robert Bourassa in his own riding. Lévesque won his own seat in the riding of Taillon. His party assumed power with 41.1 per cent of the popular vote and 71 seats out of 110; René Lévesque became Premier of Quebec. His biographer, Pierre Godin, has spoken of an air of fiesta in the streets of Montreal on that historical night. The night of Lévesque's acceptance speech saw one of his most famous quotes: I never thought that I could be so proud to be Quebecer.
On February 6, 1977, Lévesque's car fatally struck Edgar Trottier, a homeless man who had been lying on the road. The incident gained extra notoriety when it was revealed that the female companion in the vehicle was not his wife, but a secretary named Corinne Côté. Lévesque’s marriage ended in divorce (the couple was already estranged for some time), and the following April, he married Côté.
Lévesque's Act to govern the financing of political parties banned corporate donations and limited individual contributions to political parties to $3000. This key legislation, adopted by the Lévesque's government, ensured that the rich were unable to buy an election. A Referendum Act was passed to allow for a just representation of both options in a referendum. His Parti Québécois government also passed the Charter of the French Language (also known as Bill 101) which made French the sole official language in Quebec. In its first enactment, it reserved access to English public schools to children whose parents had attended English school in Quebec (all others having to attend French schools), and a regulation made it illegal for businesses to put up exterior commercial signs in a language other than French. Lévesque's political program contained many social democratic goals in terms of social policies. Some leftist militants did however feel that the party did not manage to live up to all of their expectations.
On May 20, 1980 the PQ held, as promised before the elections, the 1980 Quebec referendum on its sovereignty-association plan. The plan was approved by 40 per cent of the voting population. Lévesque conceded defeat in the referendum, but called upon the perseverence of the sovereigntist militants with the famous À la prochaine (until next time) of his concession speech. He then led the PQ to victory the following year, in the 1981 election, even increasing the Parti Québécois's majority in the National Assembly of Quebec.
One of the major parts of his second mandate was the repatriation of the Canadian constitution, about which he was criticised for having been tricked by Pierre Trudeau and the English Canadian Premiers. While he was asleep in Gatineau, the deal to repatriate the consitution was concluded on the other side of the river, in Ottawa, without him. It reduced the powers of the National Assembly of Quebec and, to this day, no Quebec Premier of any political side has signed the Canadian constitution. Also, the recession brought the government to actions that upset the union labor members, a core part of the PQ and sovereignty followers. Following a split within his party over how much emphasis to put on sovereignty in the next election (Lévesque suggested not to make it the object of the election, something that angered the most orthodox side of the party and militant base), René Lévesque resigned as leader of the Parti Québécois on June 20, 1985, and on October 3 he resigned as Premier of Québec.
Legacy
A heavy smoker, he died of a massive heart attack in 1987. Despite a perceived weakening of his sovereigntist resolve in the last years of his government, he reaffirmed his belief in the necessity of independence before his death to friends and, notably, to a crowd of Université Laval students months before his passing. His state funeral and funeral procession was reportedly attended by 100 000 Quebecers. The popular love for the man was palpable when, at the carrying out of his coffin from the church, the crowd spontaneously began to applaud and sing Quebec's unofficial national anthem Gens du pays, replacing the first verse by Mon cher René (My dear René, as it is the custom when this song is adapted to celebrate one person). Two major boulevards now bear his name, one in Montreal and one in Quebec City.
On June 3, 1999, a monument in his honour was unveiled on boulevard René-Lévesque outside the Quebec National Assembly buildings in Quebec City. The statue is very popular with tourists, who snuggle up to it, to have their pictures taken "with René", despite repeated attempts by officials to keep people from touching the artifact or getting too close to it. Some put a lighted cigarette in one of the hands of the statue before taking the group picture. This practice is less often seen now, however, as, after much controversy, the statue was moved to New Carlisle and replaced by a similar but bigger one, many finding the life-sized statue not appropriate for conveying the great importance in the nation's history. Indeed, a trademark of Lévesque was his relative and paradoxal small height.
He remains today an important figure of the Quebec nationalist movement and is considered sovereigntism's spiritual father. After his passing, even people in disagreement with some of his convictions (like sovereigntism) now generally recognize his major contribution and importance (especially in regards of the Quebec Charter of the French Language and the party financing law). Many in Quebec regard him as the father of the modern Quebec nation. .
Of the things he left as his legacy, some of the most memorable and still robust are the nationalization of hydroelectricity through Hydro-Quebec, the Quebec Charter of the French Language, the party financing law, the Parti Québécois itself, the belief in the necessity for the Quebec people of the welfare state (also accomplished by the Lesage government and, although recently challenged by the Charest government, it is still the object of a large consensus in Quebec) and finally, the credibility of the sovereigntist movement.
Personality
He is remembered for his staunch morals and honesty, for his humility, and the humanism he strove to bring to all aspects of public service. In every discussion concerning the application of laws, he would insist that regulations and the practical control of operations take into account that civil servants were above all servants of the people. He used all his power as premier to ensure that every bureaucrat did his or her duty efficiently while respecting equally each individual who came into contact with the government. He was a man capable of great tact and charm, but that could also be stout and coleric when defending beliefs, ideals or morals essential to him, or when lack of respect was perceived (for example, when he was famously snubbed by François Mitterand at their first meeting). He was also a proud Gaspésien (from the Gaspe peninsula) and had hints of the local accent.
Considered in present times as a major defender of the Quebec people, Lévesque was, before the sixties, more interested by international affairs than Quebec matters. The popular image of Lévesque is marked by his ever-present cigarette and his paradoxal small physical height, as well as by his unique comb-over that earned him the affectionate nickname of Ti-Poil, meaning Lil' hair. It has been said more than once that, as he spoke to someone, he gave the feeling that she or he was the most important person in the world. Lévesque was seen as a remarkable, passionate and emotional public speaker, but those close to him have described him, while quite emotional deep down, as having difficulty espressing his emotions in private, saying that he was comfortable in front of a crowd of thousands, but not with one person.
While many Quebec intellectuals (especially sovereigntists) are much inspired by the French philosophy and high culture, Lévesque was a reknown lover of the United States of America (and the English-speaking world). This love brought him to the American troops in the Second Great War. While in London, his admiration for Britons grew because of what he saw as their admirable courage in the face of the German bombardments. He was a faithful reader of the New York Times (the best newspaper in the world, he stated) and took his vacations to New England every year. He has also stated that, if there was one role model to be named for him, it would be American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (this can be seen as ironic because of Roosevelt's letter to Mackenzie King that was arguably little sympathetic to the Quebecois).
Consequently, he was disapointed with what has been called by historians a cold response of an American public of economical elites to his first speech in New York City, as leader of the Quebec State (in which he compared Quebec's march towards sovereignty to the American Revolution). His first speech in this function in France was however a lot more successful, which did teach him to appreciate the French intelligentsia and culture much better.
Portrayal
Lévesque was notably portrayed in the television series bearing his name, René Lévesque. A new series is in preparation and is due to come out in 2005.
Quotes
See: Wikiquote article for all quotes.
- There is a time when quiet courage and audacity become for a people at the key moments of its existence the only form of adequate caution. If it does not then accept the calculated risk of the great steps, it can miss its career forever, exactly like the man who is afraid of life.
- On the plaque in front of his statue on the hill of the National Assembly of Quebec.
- I never thought that I could be so proud to be Quebecer. (listen) (watch whole original speech) (listen English dubbing) (read speech)
- Victory speech, 1976 Quebec election.
- If I understood you well, you are saying: until next time. (listen) (watch whole original speech) (watch English dubbing)
- Concession speech, 1980 Quebec referendum.
- But I have confidence that one day... there's a normal rendez-vous with history that Quebec will hold, and I have confidence that we shall be there, together, to witness it. (listen) (watch whole original speech) (watch English dubbing)
- Concession speech, 1980 Quebec referendum.
Videos
- CBC video archive on René Lévesque (in English)
- CBC video archive on the constitution patriation (in English)
- SRC video archive on René Lévesque and the PQ (in French)
- SRC video archive on the 1980 referendum (in French)
Bibliography
- Option-Québec (1968)
- La passion du Québec (1978)
- Oui (1980)
- Attendez que je me rappelle (1986) (title means Allow me to remember; official name of translation is Memoirs)
Further reading
- For an Independent Quebec by René Lévesque (published in the journal Foreign Affairs in July, 1976) [1]
- René Lévesque and the Parti Québécois in Power by Graham Fraser
Elections as party leader
He lost the 1970 election and 1973 election, and won the 1976 election and 1981 election, and resigned in 1985.
See also
- Politics of Quebec
- List of Quebec Prime Ministers
- List of Quebec general elections
- Timeline of Quebec history
- Quebec nationalism
- Quebec sovereigntism
- Independentism around the world
- Politician nicknaming in Quebec
External links
- National Assembly biography (in French)
- SRC dossier on the constitution saga (in French)
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Preceded by: | List of Quebec premiers |
Succeeded by: |