René Lévesque
René Lévesque ( ) (
August 24,
1922 –
November 1,
1987) was a
reporter, a
minister of the government of
Quebec,
Canada, (
1960 –
1966), the founder of the
Parti Québécois political party, and 23rd
Premier of Quebec (
November 25,
1976 –
October 3,
1985). He was the first French-Canadian political leader since confederation to attempt, through a referendum, to negotiate political independence for Québec. Lévesque was a recipient of the title ''Grand Officer of the
French Legion of Honour.
Origins
The eldest of four children, René Lévesque was born in the Hotel Dieu Hospital in
Campbellton, New Brunswick. He was raised in
New Carlisle, Quebec, in the
Gaspé peninsula by his parents, Dominic Lévesque, a lawyer, and Diane Dionne. Lévesque attended a classical college in the Gaspé and the Saint-Charles-Garnier College in
Quebec City. He studied for a law degree at
Université Laval in Quebec City, but left the university in
1943 without having completed the degree.
War correspondent
He worked as an announcer and news writer at the radio station
CHNC in New Carlisle, as a substitute announcer for CHRC during
1941 and
1942, and then at CBV in Quebec City. During
1944–
1945, he served as a 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 in 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's French Language sector in the international service. He once more served as a war correspondent for the CBC in the
Korean War in
1952. After that war, he was offered a career in journalism in the United States, but decided to stay in Quebec.
Public figure
|
Lévesque interviews Canadian Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson in Moscow for Radio-Canada |
From
1956 to
1959, Lévesque became famous in Quebec for hosting a weekly television news program at the
Radio-Canada (the French-language counterpart of the CBC) 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 29 other strikers.
Involvement in politics
In
1960, Lévesque entered politics 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 served as Minister of Hydroelectric Resources and Public Works from
1960 to
1961, and Minister of Natural Resources from
1961 to
1965. While in office, he played an important role in the nationalization of
hydroelectric companies, greatly expanding
Hydro-Québec, one of the reforms that was part of the
Quiet Revolution.
From
1965 to
1966 he served as Minister of Family and Welfare. 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 another
sovereigntist party, 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. 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 ten days later.
The night of Lévesque's acceptance speech included one of his most famous quotations: "I never thought that I could be so proud to be Quebecer."
|
René Lévesque on election night, 1973. |
On
February 6,
1977, Lévesque's car fatally struck Edgar Trottier, a homeless man who had been lying on the road. It was alleged that Lévesque had been driving while intoxicated. 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 had already been 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 $3,000. This key legislation was meant to prevent wealthy citizens and organizations from having a disproportionate influence on the electoral process. A
Referendum Act was passed to allow for a province-wide vote on issues presented in a
referendum.
His Parti Québécois government also passed the
Quebec Charter of the French Language (also known as "Bill 101"), whose goal was (and still is) to make French the common language of all Quebecers at a time when the language of the English minority dominated the economic scene. In its first enactment, it reserved access to English-language public schools to children whose parents had attended English school in
Quebec. All other children were required to attend French schools in order to encourage immigrants to integrate themselves to the majority French culture. Bill 101 also made it illegal for businesses to put up exterior commercial signs in a language other than French at a time when English dominated as a commercial and business language in Quebec (while more than 80% of the population was of French origin).
Lévesque's social policies were based on
social democratic principles. Some leftist Quebecers, however, were disappointed that his government did not live up to their expectations.
On
May 20,
1980, the PQ held, as promised before the elections, the
1980 Quebec referendum on its
sovereignty-association plan. The result of the vote was 40% in favour and 60% opposed (with 86% turnout). Lévesque conceded defeat in the referendum, but
his concession speech called upon sovereigntist militants to persevere
À la prochaine fois! (until next time).
Lévesque led the PQ to victory in the
1981 election, increasing the party's majority in the
National Assembly of Quebec and increasing its share of the popular vote from 41.1 to 49 per cent.
A major focus of his second mandate was the
repatriation of the Canadian constitution. Lévesque was criticized by some in
Quebec who said he had been tricked by Canadian Prime Minister
Pierre Trudeau and the
English-Canadian provincial premiers. To this day, no Quebec premier of any political side has endorsed the 1982 constitutional amendment.
The PQ government's response to the recession of the early
1980s angered labour union members, a core part of the constituency of the PQ and the sovereignty movement.
A split within the party over how much emphasis to put on sovereignty in the next election led to Lévesque's resignation as leader of the Parti Québécois on
June 20,
1985, and as premier of Québec on
October 3. Lévesque had argued that the party should not make sovereignty the object of the election, which angered the strongest supporters of sovereignty within the party.
A heavy smoker, he died of a massive
heart attack in
1987 at the age of 65.
Legacy
Despite a perceived weakening of his sovereigntist resolve in the last years of his government, he reaffirmed his belief to friends and notably, to a crowd of Université Laval students months before his passing, in the necessity of independence.
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 with
Mon cher René (
My dear René), as 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 Parliament Building in Quebec City. The
statue is 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 monument or getting too close to it.
This practice is less often seen now, however, as the statue was moved to New Carlisle and replaced by a similar, but bigger one. This change resulted from considerable controversy. Some believed that the life-sized statue was not appropriate for conveying his importance in the history of
Quebec. Others noted that a trademark of Lévesque was his relative small stature.
Lévesque 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 importance to the history of Quebec. 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 completing the nationalization of
hydroelectricity through
Hydro-Québec, the
Quebec Charter of the French Language, the political party financing law, and the Parti Québécois itself. Furthermore, his government was the first in Canada to include the protection of homosexuals in Quebecs' Bill of Rights ("Charte des droits de la personne") in
1977. He also continued the work of the
Lesage government in creating a
welfare state, in which social needs were taken care of by the state, instead of the Catholic Church (as in the
Duplessis era) or the individual. Particularly within the Parti Québécois, Lévesque is still regarded as a symbol of democracy and tolerance, and of the credibility of the sovereigntist movement.
He was a man capable of great tact and charm, but that could also be stout and choleric 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 Mitterrand at their first meeting. He was also a proud
Gaspésien (from the Gaspé peninsula), and had hints of the local accent.
Considered in present times as a major defender of the Quebec people, Lévesque was, before the
1960s, more interested by international affairs than
Quebec matters. The popular image of Lévesque is marked by his ever-present cigarette and his small physical stature, as well as by his unique
comb over that earned him the affectionate
nickname of Ti-Poil, literally, "Lil' Hair", but more accurately translated as "Baldy". 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 passionate and emotional public speaker. Those close to him have described him, while quite emotional deep down, as having difficulty expressing 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 renowned lover of the
United States of America (and the
English-speaking world). This love brought him to the American troops in the Second World 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, and took his vacations in
New England every year. He has also stated that, if there had to be one role model for him, it would be American President
Franklin Delano Roosevelt. This is somewhat ironic:
Roosevelt's 1942 letter to Canadian Prime Minister
William Lyon Mackenzie King about Quebecers showed little sympathy to the
Québécois people and its
diaspora.
Lévesque was disappointed with what has been called by historians a cold response by the American economic elite to his first speech in
New York City as
Premier of Quebec, in which he compared Quebec's march towards sovereignty to the
American Revolution. His first speech in this function in France was, however, more successful, leading him to a better appreciation of the French
intelligentsia and of
French culture.
Lévesque was notably portrayed in the
television series bearing his name. He was also portrayed in an episode of
Kevin Spencer, a Canadian cartoon show. In it, his ghost attempted a camaraderie with Kevin because of their similarities in political beliefs, as well as the fact that the title character, like Rene's ghost claims "smokes five packs a day".
A song by
Les Cowboys Fringants named
Lettre a Lévesque on the album
La Grand-Messe was dedicated to him. They have also mentioned the street bearing his name in the song called
La Manifestation.
*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.
*If I understood you well, you are saying: until next time. (
listen) (
watch whole original speech) (
watch English dubbing)
**Concession speech.
*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.
*Question of the 1980 referendum on independence. (
read) (
listen)
*
CBC Digital Archives: René Lévesque's Separatist Fight (in English)
*
CBC Digital Archives: Charting the Future: Canada's New Constitution (in English)
*
Radio-Canada video archive on René Lévesque and the PQ (in French)
*
Radio-Canada video archive on the 1980 referendum (in French)
Option-Québec (1968)
La passion du Québec (1978)
Oui (1980)
Attendez que je me rappelle (1986) (although the title means 'Wait for me to remember'; the title of the English-language version was
Memoirs)
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
He lost the
1970 election and
1973 election, and won the
1976 election and
1981 election, and resigned in
1985.
*
Politics of Quebec*
List of Quebec premiers*
Quiet Revolution*
Quebec general elections*
List of Gaspésiens*
History of Quebec*
Quebec nationalism*
Quebec sovereigntism*
Separatism*
Night of the Long Knives (1981)*
Politician nicknaming in Quebec*
National Assembly biography (in French)
*
Radio-Canada dossier on the constitution saga (in French)
*
CBC Digital Archives: René Lévesque's Separatist Fight
