POLI 204
April 12, 2010
The Thunderous Reverberations of a Quiet Revolution
Quebec and Canada have always had a unique province-country relationship since the British North America Act of 1867. The local French-speakers, being a conquered people, have had to deal with the predicament of being a minority in their country and continent, and the years ever since the Quiet Revolution exemplify this notion. As noted by Pierre Anctil, “l'État du Québec servirait de rampe de lancement a partir de 1960, sous l'impulsion dynamique du gouvernement libéral de Jean Lesage, a un ensemble de reformes connu sous le nom de Révolution tranquille.” (189). Due to the changes and sovereign ideas brought about by the “Révolution tranquille”, a unified Canada will only be conceivable once the nationalist movement absolves. A Hartzian approach will aid in understanding the pre-revolution status of Quebec. To be able to comprehend the views of both the Canadian Federalist and the Quebec sovereigntist, a historical overview must be performed. Ever since General Wolf's victory over General Montcalm at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, the French speaking population of Lower Canada and what is now Quebec, have lived the lives of a conquered people. This fact has, throughout the years, prevented the gelling of the French and the English into one nation. As set out by Lord Durham in 1839, the situation in Quebec has, for the longest time, been seen as "two nations warring in the bosom of a single state". Louis Hartz argues, in his approach, that French Canada could be considered a fragment of Feudal Europe. Quebec, before the revolution, fit the bill of this description, in that the Church acted like a weak monarchy, having control over the most important aspects and institutions of a French Canadian's life. However, the Quiet Revolution would go on to bring about, as its name