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Quebec Federalism
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... MacDonald’s vision of Canada existing as a federalist nation, Quebec has been at the forefront of preserving this ideal. Quebecers have been faithful to a non-American form of decentralized federalism and truly believe it to be in the best interest of Quebec and Canada as a whole. It has been widely accepted that Quebec has been the biggest supporter of the old British parliamentary system among all of the Canadian provinces and, subsequently, the biggest supporter of Canadian federalism. It is also believed that this support of federalism has, ironically, alienated Quebec from the rest of Canada. Even though Quebec has been at odds with the rest of Canada for over a century, it was Pierre Trudeau’s Liberals who heightened the tension between French and English Canada when he introduced a quasi-American federalist state. As English Canada accepted this new sense of idealism, Quebec condemned it. ... As this is true, it has been maintained that Quebec’s ultimate goal is to “keep alive their basic identity as well as their allegiance to Canada.”
In the early 1960s, a revolution was growing in Quebec referred to as the “Quiet Revolution.” It was an attempt to reform Quebec’s political, social, cultural and economic institutions. ... At the time, the commercial section of Montreal (Quebec’s most populous city) was largely English, which made it hard for francophones to set up businesses. ... Ironically, one of CBC’s most popular shows in Quebec was “Point de Mire” with René Lévesque, who was one of the architects of the Quiet Revolution and the separatist party: Parti Québécois (PQ).
It was the federalist government’s creation of the CBC, which was intended to harmonize Canada, which sparked the Quebec hostility towards the federal government. The CBC helped build a new Quebec culture and economic programs that were essentially non-existent before. The Quebec government created an economic power controlled by French speaking Quebecers including: Quebec Deposit, General Investment Society, Investment Fund, and Hydro-Quebec. These new injections into Quebec’s society gave the province’s morale and attitude a new vitality. Quebec now wanted Canada’s sovereign power (the federal government) to be divided. Quebec claimed to “hold a ‘different people’ and, thus, aimed to share political power with Ottawa in the framework of the Canadian state. ... Though, they did believe that while they shared the same values as the rest of Canada, they also wanted some change within the Canadian government that would allow for Quebec to possess “substantial degrees of self-government over matters essential to their identity. ... If all of the other Canadian provinces wanted as much power as Quebec did, Canada’s political system would be considered to be an example of asymmetrical federalism. This “special status” power sought by Quebec has never been popular in English Canada.
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Paper Information
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Title: Quebec Federalism
Words: 2286
Rating: None
Pages: 9.1
submitted by: aibrough
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