| I | INTRODUCTION |
Québec, largest province of Canada. Québec is located
in the eastern part of Canada and extends north from the United States border to
Hudson Strait and east from the shores of Hudson Bay to the region of Labrador.
Québec is nicknamed La Belle Province (The Beautiful Province) because of
the splendor and diversity of its landscape and architecture. The site of the
first permanent French settlement in North America, Québec is unique among the
Canadian provinces in that the vast majority of its population is of French
descent and speaks French as a first language. To many French Canadians, Québec
is far more than a province; it is a cultural homeland.
The province’s enormous size and geographical
variety have resulted in a wide range of climates and economic activities, and a
wide distribution of population. Québec’s landscape is divided into three major
regions: the Canadian Shield, the St. Lawrence Lowlands, and the Appalachian
Region.
The Canadian Shield, which lies in the
northern part of the province, makes up the overwhelming majority of Québec’s
territory. This region is sparsely inhabited as cold temperatures and
permafrost (permanently frozen ground) make it unsuitable for
agriculture. However, the Canadian Shield and the southeastern Appalachian
Region are rich in natural resources. As a result, mining, forestry, and
hydroelectric power production predominate in those areas. The St. Lawrence
Lowlands, sandwiched between the other two regions, form the agricultural,
industrial, and commercial center of Québec. The province’s population is
largely concentrated in this region, which is where most of Québec’s largest
cities are located.
Québec is the oldest province in Canada,
settled by the French in the 1600s. It was one of the four original provinces
that united in 1867 to form the Dominion of Canada. Its capital, Québec City, is
the oldest city in Canada, and its largest city, Montréal, is the second largest
metropolitan area in the country after Toronto, Ontario.
| II | PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY |
Québec is located in eastern Canada. It is
bordered on the west by the province of Ontario, James Bay, and Hudson Bay; on
the east by the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the province of Newfoundland and
Labrador; on the north by Hudson Strait and Ungava Bay; and on the south by the
province of New Brunswick and the states of New York, Vermont, New Hampshire,
and Maine. Québec covers an area of 1,542,056 sq km (595,391 sq mi), including
176,928 sq km (68,312 sq mi) of inland fresh water. This huge territory has a
triangular shape and occupies approximately one-sixth of Canada’s landmass. At
its greatest extreme, the province measures 1,957 km (1,216 mi) from north to
south and 1,687 km (1,048 mi) from east to west. Québec’s territory includes the
Magdalen Islands and Anticosti Island, both in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
| A | Natural Regions |
Québec is divided into three natural
regions: the Canadian Shield in the north; the Appalachian Region in the south
and southeast; and, between these two regions, the St. Lawrence Lowlands, see
Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Lowlands.
About 90 percent of Québec’s territory lies
on the Canadian Shield. Geologically, this area consists of an underlying layer
of hard rock from Precambrian times, the earliest geologic era, that has been
subjected to prolonged erosion. The Canadian Shield is a vast, somewhat rough,
and low-lying plateau that contains small rounded hills, interior plains and
valleys, and numerous lakes, rivers, and marshes. Elevations range from sea
level at James Bay and Hudson Bay to more than 1,500 m (5,000 ft) in the Torngat
Mountains along the Québec-Labrador border. The Torngat range includes Mount
d’Iberville, Québec’s highest peak, which rises 1,652 m (5,420 ft). On the
southern edge of the Canadian Shield, northeast of Québec City, elevations are
lower, but several peaks still exceed 1,160 m (3,810 ft). Although the region is
rich in minerals and forestland, the vast majority of its land is not
agriculturally productive. Wind and water have worn away much of its soil,
although there are pockets of soil suitable for cultivation scattered
throughout. In many places, the rocks are devoid of soil; in others, bedrock
juts through the podzolized, or nutrient deficient, soil.
Geologically, the Appalachian Region is
part of the Appalachian Mountains that extend from the Gaspé Peninsula in the
southeastern part of the province south to Alabama in the United States. It
includes the Magdalen Islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The topography of the
region is characterized by parallel alignments of long, narrow ridges and
valleys with pockets of fertile land. Although most of the sharp mountains that
once characterized the area have been smoothed by erosion, elevations can still
be imposing. In the Gaspé Peninsula, the Notre Dame Mountains merge into the
Shickshock Mountains, which contain Québec’s second highest peak, Mount
Jacques-Cartier (1,268 m/4,160 ft).
The St. Lawrence Lowlands are the heart of
Québec in terms of agriculture, commerce, and population. This narrow region of
fertile land looks like a triangular-shaped basin with its apex around Québec
City. These lowlands straddle the St. Lawrence River, the third longest river in
Canada after the Mackenzie and the Yukon. Geologically the lowlands are composed
of eroded sedimentary rocks and are fractured by faults. In the southwest part
of the lowlands, the topography is remarkably level. It consists of a large
plain that is only about 30 m (100 ft) high at Montréal. From Mount Royal (234
m/768 ft) in Montréal a series of isolated hills made up of igneous rock, known
as monadnocks, extends eastwards into the Appalachian Region; these are called
the Monteregian Hills. On the north shore of the St. Lawrence, the plain narrows
and extends only a short distance beyond Québec City, where it is 90 m (300 ft)
high. On the river’s south shore, the lowlands reach as far as Matane, in the
Gaspé Peninsula. The northeast part of the St. Lawrence Lowlands includes
Anticosti Island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
| B | Rivers and Lakes |
During the last recorded ice age, glaciers
covered the entire province of Québec. The glaciers receded when the climate
began to warm about 18,000 years ago. This deglaciation is largely responsible
for the formation of the thousands of lakes for which Québec is famous. Among
the largest are Lakes Mistassini, Eau-Claire, Saint-Jean, and Bienville, which
are all located in the Canadian Shield. Québec also has many artificial lakes
that serve as reservoirs for hydroelectric facilities. The Caniapiscau and the
Manicouagan, also in the Canadian Shield, are two of the largest artificial
lakes.
Québec’s most important river is the St.
Lawrence River, which flows northeast from Lake Ontario to the North Atlantic
Ocean. The St. Lawrence is 1,300 km (800 mi) long and traverses the entire
province, connecting the Atlantic Ocean with the Great Lakes. From Montréal to
Québec City, the river is seldom less than 1 km (0.6 mi) wide. Upstream from
Montréal, it broadens into Lakes St.-Louis and Saint-François and downstream
into Lake Saint-Pierre. At Québec City, the river widens to several kilometers
and becomes a tidal estuary, or an arm of the sea. It opens into the Gulf of St.
Lawrence. One of Canada’s most important commercial waterways, the St. Lawrence
serves as a major route for ships traveling to the interior of North America.
Most of the province’s chief ports lie along the St. Lawrence, which is also an
important source of hydroelectric power.
The most important tributaries north of
the St. Lawrence are the Ottawa, the Saint-Maurice, and the Saguenay rivers.
Québec’s fur trade, timber industry, and early rural settlement developed along
these rivers. Further east and north, the Manicouagan, Outardes, and Betsiamites
rivers are known for their large hydroelectric facilities. Tributaries south of
the St. Lawrence include the Richelieu, the Saint-François, and the Chaudière
rivers, which are only a few hundred kilometers long. The Rimouski and Matane
rivers, also south of the St. Lawrence, are popular areas for recreation and
salmon fishing. In the Canadian Shield, the longest rivers are the Rupert,
Eastmain, Grande Baleine, and La Grand-Rivière, which is the site of a huge
hydroelectric complex.
| C | Coastlines |
Québec has two systems of saltwater
coastline. One is in the west and in the north, along James Bay, Hudson Bay,
Hudson Strait, and Ungava Bay. The other coastline is in the southeast along the
Gulf of St. Lawrence. Since prehistoric times, aboriginal peoples have used
these two coastlines for fishing, hunting, gathering food, and trading. In the
colonial period seafaring vessels of all kinds linked the colony with the
outside world. When the wheat and timber trade developed in Québec during the
19th century, ships carried these products to Europe. Whaling also became
important to the province’s economy, and large fishing companies developed along
the Gaspé Peninsula in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The most intensive use of the
coastlines came after World War II (1939-1945). Boomtowns, new ports, and
railroads were built along the lower north coast of the Gulf of St. Lawrence,
followed by huge hydroelectric projects in the James Bay area in the 1970s and
1980s.
| D | Climate |
Québec has a number of different climates
because of its huge area. In the far north, near Hudson Strait, the province has
an arctic climate, with frigid winters, brief annual thaws, and constant
permafrost. Most of the Canadian Shield and the St. Lawrence Lowlands east of
Lake Saint-Pierre have a subarctic climate, characterized by long, cold winters
and relatively short, warm summers. In the south, there is a humid continental
climate with cold winters and hot, muggy summers. The average July temperatures
in Montréal range from a high of 26°C (79°F) to a low of 15°C (60°F) and in
Kuujjuak in the far north from a high of 17°C (62°F) to a low of 11°C (52°F).
January temperatures in Montréal range from -6°C (22°F) to -15°C (5°F) and in
Kuujjuak from -19°C (-2°F) to -28°C (-19°F).
The annual precipitation in southern Québec
ranges from 900 to 1,200 mm (35 to 45 in), but the figure decreases to about 500
mm (20 in) and even less toward the north. At least a quarter of the province’s
annual precipitation falls in the form of snow. Near Montréal the growing season
may last as long as 150 days, while to the north near Lac Saint-Jean it is only
about 100 days. In the higher areas of the Gaspé Peninsula and in the north, the
growing season is less than 80 days.
| E | Plant and Animal Life |
The province is divided into four types of
environmental zones, each with its own distinct landscape. In the extreme north
is tundra, a treeless region, where mosses, lichens, and low shrubs are the
typical ground cover. South of the tundra is the taiga, which is predominately
covered by sphagnum peat marshes and lichens. Although also largely unforested,
it does have small coniferous trees. The boreal forest extends from the taiga to
about the latitude of Québec City. It consists of larger coniferous trees, such
as balsam fir, black spruce, white spruce, hemlock, and jack pine. The temperate
forest lies south of the boreal forest. Its mixed and deciduous forests contain
species such as fir, spruce, pine, sugar maple, birch, elm, and oak.
Québec’s forests teem with wildlife.
Mammals found there include black bear, woodland caribou, moose, deer, beaver,
mink, marten, red fox, and otter. Birds of the forest include ruffed grouse,
hermit thrush, Canada jay, woodpecker, and a variety of warblers and ducks. The
polar bear makes its home in the far north, as do the barren-ground caribou,
arctic fox, and lemming. Birds of the far north include the snowy owl and
ptarmigan. Whales, seals, and other sea mammals inhabit Québec’s coastal waters,
as do saltwater fish such as cod, herring, and salmon. The province’s lakes and
rivers contain salmon, trout, bass, pike, pickerel, and whitefish, as well as
geese, ducks, loons, and other waterfowl.
| F | Natural Resources |
Québec has many natural resources including
fertile soils, vast mineral deposits, extensive forestland, and plentiful and
powerful water supplies. While farmland represents just 3 percent of the
province’s total land territory, excellent agricultural soils are found in the
St. Lawrence Lowlands. Early European colonists settled in that area. In the
Canadian Shield and the Appalachian Region, where rural settlement expanded from
the 19th to the mid-20th century, soils are poorer. Notable exceptions in the
Canadian Shield are the fertile regions around Lac Saint-Jean in the south and
the Clay Belt of the southwest, near Lake Abitibi.
Forest products were the second of Québec’s
natural resources to be developed. During the 17th and 18th centuries forests
supplied wood for shipbuilding and domestic uses. In the early 19th century
Québec began to develop its timber industry, and wood became a key export to
Britain. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries Québec’s vast forestland
provided trees to feed its burgeoning pulp and paper industries. Today, forests
cover 62 percent of Québec.
Québec is a vast reservoir of mineral
resources. The Canadian Shield, in particular, is rich in minerals and has some
of the world’s largest deposits of metallic minerals. The mining of gold,
copper, and asbestos became important in the second half of the 19th century,
particularly in the Eastern Townships, located east of Montréal in the
Appalachian Region. The asbestos mines located there made Canada a world leader
in asbestos production. Québec’s mining industry exploded in the 1900s when gold
and copper were discovered in the Abitibi region. Later, massive iron ore
deposits were discovered along the central part of the Labrador border and in
northern Québec near Ungava Bay. The main areas of Québec’s mining industry are
northern Québec, the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region, and the north coast of the
Gulf of St. Lawrence. Mining in the St. Lawrence Lowlands is largely limited to
building materials such as granite and limestone.
Québec’s fourth natural resource, water,
has become one of its most important. Besides being used for fishing and
transportation, water was also developed as a source of energy. The first
water-powered mills appeared during the colonial period. After 1815 they
multiplied and became a common feature in the rural landscape and along the
Lachine Canal near Montréal. In the late 19th century, when electricity became a
new source of energy, waterpower was harnessed to generate electricity. Dams
were built and electricity-generating plants were developed to supply energy to
large mills. Most of these mills were for pulp and paper production. With
technological improvements, new power stations were built, along with new power
lines, which transmitted electricity over long distances.
| G | Conservation |
Both the federal and the provincial
governments in Canada are responsible for developing and enforcing regulations
to protect the environment and fight against pollution. During the 1970s, Québec
adopted laws to protect agricultural land, improve urban planning, and reforest
timber areas. In the early 1980s Québec’s ministry of the environment launched a
variety of programs to assess the environmental impacts of economic development.
The ministry worked to improve the quality of drinkable water, to protect
freshwater reserves, and to ensure the proper disposal of wastewater, domestic
garbage, industrial discharge, and hazardous materials.
In 1989 Québec adopted legislation that
authorized the government to designate certain plant and animal species as
endangered species. Although the government designated numerous plant species as
endangered, it only designated its first endangered animal species, the copper
redhorse fish species, in 1999. The designation of an endangered animal species
in Québec does not require the government to protect the species’ habitat; for
example, the government chose not to implement regulatory habitat protection for
the copper redhorse. However, the Québec government does restrict hunting and
fishing. Citizens of Québec have formed hundreds of environmental organizations
that are active in protecting natural resources and wildlife, including Les
Amis de la Terre (The Friends of the Earth), Canards Illimité (Ducks
Unlimited), and La société pour vaincre la pollution (The Society to
Fight Against Pollution).
Québec has several problems with pollution.
Because of its location at the northeast corner of North America, winds from the
southwest carry pollution to the province. Acid rain has seriously damaged
numerous lakes and some forestlands, with maple trees the hardest hit. About
half of the sulfur compounds that cause acid rain originate at power plants and
industrial sites in the United States, a quarter originate in Ontario, and a
quarter originate within Québec. In addition, large parts of the St. Lawrence
River are polluted by fertilizer runoff and toxic industrial discharges despite
federally enforced regulations to improve the quality of the water.
| III | ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES |
Until the middle of the 19th century,
economic activities in Québec were based on primary resources such as land,
fish, timber, and fur-bearing animals. Although these activities are still
important, Québec’s economy has become increasingly industrial and diversified,
aided by its wealth of mineral resources and waterpower. Manufacturing and
mining industries began developing in the mid-1800s and early 1900s. During the
late 19th and early 20th centuries aluminum production and pulp and paper
industries were developed. Throughout the 20th century service industries, which
include trade, finance, retail, and tourism, experienced rapid growth.
| A | Employment and Labor |
The labor force in Québec was 4.1 million
in 2006, compared with 5.6 million in Ontario and 14.3 million in all of Canada.
The unemployment rate was 8.4 percent in Québec, compared with 6.5 percent in
Ontario and 7 percent in Canada. Many factors contributed to the province’s high
unemployment rate. International competition caused a decline in important
industries such as textiles and footwear, which affected traditional
manufacturing cities such as Montréal. Government cutbacks in health and
education also led to layoffs and decreased job opportunities.
The service sector was the province’s
largest employer, representing 75 percent of the total workforce. Manufacturing
employed 17 percent of the workforce; construction 5 percent; agriculture 1
percent; and forestry, fishing, and mining 1 percent.
| B | Economic Sectors |
In 2004 the primary sector, which
includes agriculture, forestry, fishing, and mining, accounted for 2.6 percent
of the GDP. The secondary sector, which includes manufacturing and construction,
accounted for 35 percent of the GDP, and the tertiary, or service, sector
accounted for 62.4 percent of the GDP.
| B1 | Agriculture |
Farmland occupies 3 percent of the
province’s total land area. In 2006 Québec had 30,700 farms, the average size of
which was 113 hectares (279 acres). Most of Québec lies on the Canadian Shield,
which generally has poor soil. While limited quantities of hay, grass, and oats
are grown on the Canadian Shield, few of its areas have soils rich enough to
permit dairying, cattle raising, or cultivating vegetables. The exceptions are
the areas around Lakes Saint-Jean and Abitibi. The main farming region is the
St. Lawrence Lowlands, where the soils are fertile and the growing season
relatively long. This area produces an abundance of dairy products, grains,
tobacco, fruits, and vegetables.
Dairying is the leading agricultural
activity in Québec. It is especially important adjacent to the St. Lawrence
River near Ontario, along the lower Ottawa River, and east and north of
Montréal, in the Eastern Townships and the Mauricie-Bois-Francs areas,
respectively.
Hogs are the province’s second most
important agricultural product, followed by cattle. Hog and cattle raising are
particularly important in the rural areas around Montréal and Québec City.
Poultry and eggs are also significant agricultural products.
Corn, hay, and oats—used mostly as feed
for animals—are the province’s most important field crops. Potatoes are the
leading vegetable; Québec is one of Canada’s leading potato producers. Most
potatoes are grown on farms located north of Montréal and around Québec City.
Some of the province’s most important fruit crops are apples, strawberries,
raspberries, and blueberries. Québec is a major producer of maple sugar and
syrup.
The fur trade has historically been
vital to Québec’s economy. Although no longer a dominant industry, it continues
to be important, especially in Ungava in the northern part of the province.
Farm-raised mink brings Québec its greatest income from fur. The primary animals
trapped are marten, beaver, muskrat, fox, and fishers. Fur processing and the
production of fur goods are also important activities.
| B2 | Forestry and Fishing |
Québec has the largest forested land
area of the Canadian provinces. However, of its 846,000 sq km (326,600 sq mi) of
forestland, only 62 percent is productive and accessible. Most of the forestland
is owned by the provincial government, which issues timber licenses to lumber
companies.
Forestry is largely concentrated in the
Canadian Shield and the Appalachian Region. The most productive forests are in
northern Québec, Abitibi-Temiscamingue, and the areas around the Saguenay River
and Lac Saint-Jean. Abundant stands of fir, spruce, and other softwoods help
make the province a world leader in pulp and paper production. Although
softwoods predominate, some birch and other hardwoods are cut and used mostly
for construction. Other forest products include Christmas trees, which are
farmed in the Laurentides and the Eastern Townships.
Deep-sea fishing has traditionally
supported about ten times as many people as inland fishing, which is largely
recreational. Although fishing is not considered a significant economic activity
in most of Québec, it is still a major source of income and jobs in some areas,
including the Magdalen Islands and the tip of the Gaspé Peninsula. The upper St.
Lawrence River is also an important area for fishing. Some of Québec’s most
valuable catch includes cod, lobster, shrimp, and crab. Since the late 1980s,
however, overfishing has been a problem. Many fish-processing factories closed
as the catch declined, and this left many people in Québec’s fishing industry
unemployed.
| B3 | Mining |
The leading metallic minerals in Québec
are iron ore, gold, and copper. Asbestos and peat are the principal nonmetallic
minerals, and stone and cement are the leading structural minerals. Among the
major mining centers are the north coast of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where much
of the province’s iron ore originates; the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region in the
northwest, which has a store of precious metal deposits such as gold and copper;
and northern Québec near Ungava Bay, which is a significant mining region for
nickel, copper, and cobalt. The asbestos mines in the Eastern Townships have
made Québec a world leader in asbestos production.
| B4 | Manufacturing |
Although the historical significance of
manufacturing has declined in Québec, particularly as communications and service
industries have become increasingly important, it is still a key economic
activity. The main categories of industrial production in Québec include pulp
and paper products; machines, electrical equipment, and audio-visual devices;
and petroleum and coal products. Industries that produce nuclear reactors,
mechanical parts, and aluminum products are also significant.
Most of the manufacturing plants in
Québec are located in the densely populated south. The Montréal area is the
industrial heart of Québec and is among Canada’s leading manufacturing centers.
Mauricie-Bois-Francs, north of Montréal, and Chaudières-Appalaches, southeast of
Québec City, are also important industrial regions. The province’s ample and
inexpensive hydroelectric power has helped other areas, such as those along the
Saint-Maurice and Saguenay rivers north of the St. Lawrence, to become leading
pulp and paper producers or aluminum centers. One of the world’s largest
aluminum plants is located in the Saguenay Valley.
| B5 | Services |
Service industries grew rapidly at the
end of the 20th century to become one of the largest sectors of Québec’s
economy. They employ the largest number of workers in Québec and account for the
largest percentage of the GDP. Many service industries have offices in Montréal
and Québec City, but many are also located in other cities, including
Chicoutimi, Hull, Trois-Rivières, and Sherbrooke. Québec’s leading service
industries include community, business, and personal services; finance,
insurance, and real estate; wholesale and retail trade; transportation and
communication; and government.
The tourist industry is an important
part of Québec’s economy. Tourists are drawn by the scenic beauty of Québec’s
natural landscape and by its French culture and history.
Wholesale and retail trade is also a
major contributor to Québec’s economy. Food, machinery, cars, and clothing are
the main sources of revenue in this sector. Québec’s exports include wood,
aluminum, aircraft, telecommunications equipment, newsprint, and electricity.
Québec imports cars and trucks, telecommunications and electronic devices, and
aircraft motors. Québec’s major trading partners include the United States, the
United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, and France. Québec also trades with the other
Canadian provinces. Its main partners are Ontario, Newfoundland and Labrador,
and New Brunswick.
| C | Infrastructure |
| C1 | Energy |
With no known commercial deposits of
coal, petroleum, or natural gas, Québec turned toward water power as an
alternative source of energy. In the late 1990s, 50 percent of the energy used
in Québec came from electricity produced in hydroelectric or nuclear facilities,
while refined petroleum products accounted for 49 percent. The remainder came
from electricity produced in thermal plants burning oil.
The province’s extensive water
resources allow it to produce hydroelectric power relatively inexpensively.
Today, Québec is a leading producer of hydroelectric power in North America.
Most of the province’s hydroelectricity is generated by Hydro-Québec, a
provincial government-owned corporation that operates more than 50 hydroelectric
power plants and is one of the largest producers of electricity in Canada.
One of Canada’s largest power plants is
Hydro-Québec’s La Grande 2 installation on the La Grande River, which flows into
James Bay. Other major Hydro-Québec plants include two more on the La Grande;
the Beauharnois installation on the St. Lawrence River; the Manic facilities on
the Manicouagan River; the installation at Carillon on the Ottawa River; and
stations on the Bersimis River. Hydro-Québec also operates several thermal and
nuclear power plants in the lowlands region. See also James Bay
Project.
Québec imports its oil, gas, and coal
from other provinces and countries, and it has many depots, pipelines, and oil
refineries. The province sells electricity to the United States and to other
Canadian provinces, including Ontario and New Brunswick; it also buys
electricity from these places when necessary.
| C2 | Transportation |
Québec’s transportation facilities are
mostly concentrated in the southern part of the province. Montréal is the
transport hub of the region—and of the country—and is the focal point of
Québec’s road, rail, air, and sea transportation network.
Highways and railroads in Québec are
concentrated in the St. Lawrence Lowlands between Québec City, Montréal, and the
Eastern Townships. There are 26,000 km (16,156 mi) of highways. The Trans-Canada
Highway traverses Québec for 640 km (400 mi) along the south bank of the St.
Lawrence River between New Brunswick and Ontario. The Laurentian Autoroute links
Montréal with resort areas in the Laurentian Mountains. Autoroute 40 connects
Montréal and Québec City through Trois-Rivières on the north shore of the St.
Lawrence River. Autoroute 10 connects Montréal and Sherbrooke in the Eastern
Townships.
Québec has an extensive network of
mainline and secondary railroad track in operation, mostly belonging to the
Canadian National Railway and the Canadian Pacific Railway. Largely concentrated
in the St. Lawrence Lowlands, branch lines of these railways run to western
Canada, the Atlantic provinces (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward
Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador), and points in the United States. VIA
Rail Canada, a federal government corporation that manages passenger service on
the two national railways, is based in Montréal; it provides service within the
province and to Ontario and the Maritime provinces (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia,
and Prince Edward Island). Other railroads built by mining companies extend into
the northern, coastal, iron-producing areas and are used mostly to carry
freight. There are also minor lines connecting local communities throughout the
region.
Québec has several airports, the
largest of which are located in the St. Lawrence Lowlands. Montréal-Trudeau
International Airport is the province’s main airport for domestic and
international flights and is one of Canada’s busiest airports. A second
international airport, Mirabel, is located north of Montréal and is primarily
used for air cargo. The Jean Lesage International Airport near Québec City is
also a busy terminal for domestic flights and has some international charters.
Québec is served by Air Canada, which is based in Montréal, and by several other
airlines.
The St. Lawrence Seaway, a major
transportation development connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean,
opened in 1959. The seaway cuts through the heart of commercial and industrial
Québec, and several of its major locks and canals lie within the province.
Because the seaway’s channel is deep enough to permit oceangoing ships access to
the interior of North America, some Québec ports have lost their historic role
as transshipment points to inland and Great Lakes harbors. However, commerce has
grown, and Montréal’s strategic position on the St. Lawrence River has enabled
its port, in particular, to remain one of the busiest on the continent. The Port
of Montréal plays an important role in transporting goods—including grains,
petroleum, and general cargo—between Canada and the rest of the world. Other
leading ports include the Port of Québec in Québec City and ports at Sept-Îles
and Trois-Rivières, which also lie along the St. Lawrence River.
| C3 | Communications |
Québec has many prestigious
newspapers. The most influential daily newspapers in Québec are located in
Montréal, which is home to Le Devoir, La Presse, Le Journal de
Montréal, and the English-language Gazette. Québec City’s chief
papers are Le Soleil and Le Journal de Québec. The province also
has many weekly newspapers, most of which are published in French. In the late
1960s the government founded Radio-Québec, which was soon expanded to include
television broadcasting and was renamed the Québec Broadcasting Bureau. Other
major television stations include Radio-Canada (French) and Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation, or CBC (English), both owned by the federal
government, and Télémétropole (French), CFCF (English), and CKMI (English),
which are private. Most of these stations are located in Montréal, except for
CKMI, which is in Québec City. There are also numerous radio stations in the
province that broadcast in either French or English. Except for Radio-Canada,
most are private.
In 1997, 28 percent of households in
Québec had a personal computer at home, up from 10.5 percent in 1992. This
compared to 36 percent for Canada as a whole. Only 8.2 percent of Québec
households used the internet in 1997, compared to 13 percent for all of
Canada.
| IV | THE PEOPLE |
Québec is Canada’s second most populous
province after Ontario. According to the 2001 national census, Québec had a
population of 7,237,479. This represented an increase of almost five percent
over the 1991 figure of 6,895,963. The province represents about a quarter of
the total population of Canada, although this proportion has been decreasing,
largely because of demographic changes in Québec that began occurring in the
1960s.
| A | Population Patterns |
Québec’s population is distributed
unevenly, and much of northern Québec is sparsely settled. Historically,
Québec’s population has been concentrated in the south, including the St.
Lawrence Lowlands, the southern fringe of the Canadian Shield, and the
Appalachian Region. Although Québec was predominantly rural until the early
1900s, it rapidly urbanized during the 20th century. By 2001 Québec’s population
was 80 percent urban, making Québec one of Canada’s most urbanized provinces.
The vast majority of people live in urban areas along the St. Lawrence River,
with almost half of the total population living in the Montréal metropolitan
region. The overall population density in 2006 was 6 persons per sq km (14 per
sq mi).
In the late 20th century Québec’s annual
population growth decreased because of demographic trends, particularly a
falling birth rate. While the birth rate in Québec previously had been among the
nation’s highest, it dropped dramatically after the 1960s and was lower than the
national average by the end of the century. For example, the average birth rate
in Québec was 31.5 per 1,000 inhabitants in 1951 compared with 27.2 per 1,000
for Canada as a whole. By 2006–2007 Québec’s birth rate had dropped to 10.9 per
1,000 inhabitants, compared with 10.7 per 1,000 for Canada.
Immigration to Québec also slowed in the
latter part of the 20th century. Generally fewer than 30,000 people immigrated
to Québec each year, compared with about 90,000 to Ontario. Québec has also
fared poorly when it comes to internal migration, with more people moving out of
the province to other parts of Canada than moving into it. From 1971 to 1991,
Québec lost an average of 20,000 people per year to internal migration.
Many people have left Québec because of
its high unemployment rate. Immigration to the province is low partly because of
cultural and linguistic factors. Many large immigrant communities are located in
Toronto, so new immigrants to Canada often prefer to move there. Immigrants who
do not speak English may also be discouraged by Québec’s language laws, which
require children who are not already proficient in English to attend a
French-language school. These laws make it more difficult for immigrants to
learn English in Québec than in other provinces. For immigrants who come to
Canada wishing to improve their economic situation, English is generally a more
attractive language than French, as it provides access to more job opportunities
throughout the country.
| B | Principal Cities |
Québec’s largest city is Montréal. The
city’s population was 1,039,534 in 2001. The population of its larger
metropolitan area was 3,666,300 (2006). Montréal’s metropolitan area includes
Québec’s second largest city, Laval (population, 368,709), which occupies an
island, Île Jésus (Jesus Island), northwest of Montréal. The province’s
capital and third largest city is Québec City, which had a population of 169,076
in 2001, with its metropolitan area population totaling 723,300 (2006 estimate).
The province’s other large cities include Longueuil (229,330), a residential and
industrial suburb of Montréal; Gatineau (242,124), an industrial city on the
Ottawa River; and Sherbrooke (147,427), a trading and manufacturing center
located east of Montréal.
| C | Ethnic Groups and Languages |
While some 65 percent of the people in
Québec declared themselves of Canadian origin, 13 percent claimed French origin
in the 2001 census. Only 2 percent of Québec residents were of British descent,
a smaller percentage than in other provinces. Indigenous peoples make up 1.5
percent.
During most of the 20th century
Europeans—particularly Eastern Europeans, Italians, Germans, and Greeks—were the
largest immigrant groups to Québec. However, a shift occurred in the 1960s and
1970s when the major flows of immigrants came from the Caribbean (Haiti), South
and Central America (Chile and El Salvador), and Southeast Asia. Most of the new
arrivals were refugees who, like the majority of Québec’s nonindigenous ethnic
population, concentrated in the Montréal area. Ethnic minorities make up over 30
percent of the Montréal area’s population.
As ethnic minorities have increased in
the Montréal area, ethnic tensions have become more of an issue. Much of this
has revolved around linguistic issues. French speakers fear that the dominance
of their language is threatened by the presence of immigrants who do not speak
French, particularly those who wish to learn English rather than French. Many of
these immigrants, in turn, feel their language rights are infringed upon by laws
passed in the 1970s and 1980s that restrict the use of languages other than
French in the workplace, government, and schools. Until recently, many ethnic
groups were also poorly represented in municipal organizations. The government
responded to this inequity in the last few decades by committing to hire more
visible minorities, such as people of color or of Asian origins, in the civil
service.
Québec has 11 indigenous nations, with a
total population of about 67,000, including over 7,000 Inuit. The ten First
Nations belong to two linguistic families, the Algonquian, which include the
Crees, Malecites, Abenakis, and Algonquins, and the Iroquoian, which include the
Huron-Wendats and Mohawks. The Inuit are part of the Inuit-Aleut (Eskimaleut)
linguistic family. Most of the province’s indigenous population lives in one of
over 50 communities and land reserves (land set aside by the government
for the First Nations) throughout the province; others live mainly in the
Montréal area. Many First Nations communities are located in the north, but
there are also several major reserves in the St. Lawrence Lowlands. These
include the Mohawk reserves of Kahnawake, Akwesasne, and Kanesatake (also known
as Oka) near Montréal; the Abenaki community of Odanak near Trois-Rivières; and
the Huron-Wendat community, Wendake, located north of Québec City. The Inuit
live mostly in the far north, on the shores of Hudson and Ungava bays. In the
Inuit territory, known as Nunavik, there are no reserves; the Inuit live in
villages that have municipal status.
Québec is an overwhelmingly
French-speaking province in a predominantly English-speaking country. In the
2006 census, 79 percent of Québec residents declared themselves Francophone,
meaning they consider French to be their first language and speak it at home.
Anglophones, people who consider English to be their first language and speak it
at home, made up 7.7 percent of the population and 0.6 percent responded by
choosing both French and English as their mother tongues. Allophones, people
whose mother tongue is any language other than French or English, made up 11.9
percent of the population.
Although Canada is officially bilingual,
Québec adopted French as its sole official language in 1974. Besides French and
English, the most common languages spoken in Québec are Italian, Chinese,
German, Spanish, Portuguese, and Punjabi. Québec’s indigenous peoples generally
use their own languages and speak either French or English as a second
language.
Although Québec is primarily
French-speaking, it has been growing more diverse. In the 1990s the numbers of
French- and English-speakers declined, while those speaking other languages
increased. Montréal has fewer French-speakers than the rest of the province
because much of Québec’s foreign-born population is concentrated there. Montréal
is also home to about 80 percent of Québec’s English-speaking population.
Therefore, while more than 95 percent of Québec City’s population consider
French their native tongue, only two thirds of Montréal’s population declare
French to be their maternal language. See also Ethnic Groups in
Canada.
| D | Religion |
The first Europeans to settle in
present-day Québec were French Roman Catholics. As a result, the Roman Catholic
Church has had a strong influence in Québec. Until the late 1960s the church
controlled the province’s educational system and many of its health and social
services, including hospitals. In the 1960s, during a period known as the Quiet
Revolution, reforms by Québec’s Liberal Party government under Premier Jean
Lesage greatly reduced the role of the church in provincial affairs. The
overwhelming majority of Québec’s population is still Roman Catholic, totaling
83 percent in the 2001 census. No other religion could claim more than 1.5
percent of the population.
| E | Social Issues |
One of Québec’s social issues is the aging
of its population. While this trend is occurring in many industrial nations, it
is happening especially rapidly in Québec, largely because of the low birth rate
and increased life expectancy. Especially significant is the increase in the
number of people who are over 80. As the province’s population grows older,
people begin to focus on issues such as social services for the elderly, the
choice of retirement age, and the financial situation of retirees.
In the latter part of the 20th century,
Québec also had to adjust to high divorce rates, changing roles of women, and
changing family structures. The government enacted low-cost daycare for all
children and enforced compulsory child support and alimony payments. It also
addressed income disparities between men and women with the Pay Equity Act
(1997). Sexual abuse and criminal violence were also of concern to residents of
Québec. Government measures that sought to address these issues included the
Youth Protection Act (1979), which protects and helps youth who have been
mistreated or abused, and programs that provide legal, medical, moral, and
financial support to crime victims in Québec.
Another social issue in Québec is the low
standard of living among certain groups. This is an issue particularly for
Québec’s indigenous population, especially in the north. Some indigenous people
find it difficult to adapt to the provincial education system. Colleges and
universities are usually located in the southern part of the province, and they
may seem culturally and socially foreign and be too expensive. Resulting
educational disparities, as well as discrimination and other factors, may
contribute to the especially high rate of unemployment among the indigenous
population. Urban and newly arrived immigrant groups have also experienced high
unemployment and financial difficulties. For these populations, lack of fluency
in French or English may make employment more difficult, while government
cutbacks in the 1980s, particularly to the welfare system, have reduced the
amount of financial assistance they receive.
Québec has also been plagued by linguistic
tensions between its French- and English-speaking populations. When the birth
rate of the Francophone population declined and the French language in Montréal
became diluted, the Québec government adopted legislation to protect and impose
the French language. The government passed the 1977 Charter of the French
Language (Bill 101), which tightly restricted the use of English in the
province. It also created the Law on Bilingual Advertising (1988), which
stipulated that public signs, posters, and commercial advertising must be either
solely in French or that French must be predominant. The English-speaking
community strongly criticized both laws, and tensions between Anglophones and
Francophones in the province greatly increased. Although the use of French is
declining in Montréal due to new immigrants, the language has been strengthened
overall in Québec, and a certain degree of linguistic peace has been achieved.
See also French Canadian Nationalism.
| V | EDUCATION AND CULTURAL LIFE |
| A | Education |
Under Québec’s Education Act of 1988,
preschool, elementary, and secondary education is free to the province’s
residents. Education is compulsory between the ages of 6 and 16. The education
system is made up of four levels: elementary education, which includes
preschool; secondary education; college education; and university education. The
provincial government finances most of the system, but its general
administration is decentralized. Public elementary and secondary schools are
managed by local school boards; colleges and universities are independently
managed. There is also a small network of private preschool, elementary, and
secondary schools.
At all levels, teaching is generally done
in either French or English, with French being by far the more common language
of instruction. Some schools in indigenous communities use their native
language. Since 1998 local school boards have been divided along linguistic
lines, with separate boards for English- and French-language schools. There are
also a few school boards for indigenous students. Prior to that time, school
boards were split along denominational lines, with a majority of Catholic and a
handful of Protestant school boards.
In the first half of the 20th century, much
of Québec’s French-speaking population had a low level of schooling. Since then,
the province has made a major effort to raise educational levels. In the early
1960s, the government took control of the school system from the Catholic
Church. It created a ministry of education in 1964 to oversee the development
and delivery of the province’s educational services. Less than a decade later a
revised education system was in place, with universal access to an improved
network of secondary schools and a new intermediate level of education between
secondary schools and university known as CEGEPs (Collèges d’enseignement
général et professionnel, or Colleges of General and Occupational
Education).
The federal and provincial governments
provide the bulk of funding for Québec’s universities, but the universities are
independent legal bodies and highly autonomous. The province’s universities set
their own procedures, although they consult and cooperate with the ministry of
education. The majority of the province’s universities conduct courses in
French. Université du Québec, a French-language institution with no official
religious affiliation, was established in 1968. It operates campuses in several
locations, including Montréal, Trois-Rivières, Rimouski, Hull, Rouyn-Noranda,
and Chicoutimi. Also, its Télé-Université in Sainte-Foy offers distance
learning. Other French-language institutions include Université de Montréal in
Montréal; the Université de Sherbrooke in Sherbrooke; and the Université Laval
in Québec City, which grew out of a seminary originally established in 1663.
Québec’s English-language institutions are Bishop’s University in Lennoxville
and McGill University and Concordia University in Montréal.
| B | Libraries and Museums |
The first public library in Canada was the
Québec Library, which was established in Québec City in 1779 largely through the
efforts of Sir Frederick Haldimand, the British governor of Québec. There are
now more than 900 public libraries in the province. Montréal’s municipal library
has several branches and is known for its collection of works on Canada.
Montréal is also home to the Bibliothéque Nationale du Québec (National
Library of Québec), which is administered by the provincial government and
serves as a depository for all publications published in Québec. The parliament
buildings in Québec City house the National Assembly Library, where various
parliamentary papers, public documents, books, charters, and other materials are
stored. There are also many academic libraries in Québec. Among the most
distinguished are those of Université Laval and McGill University, which are
also major depositories for old books and maps.
Québec also has many museums. The Musée
canadien des civilisations (Canadian Museum of Civilization) in Hull
contains valuable collections on Canadian and indigenous history. The Musée
de la civilisation (Museum of Civilization) in Québec City presents original
expositions on Québec history and folklore, along with many exhibits from other
countries. Also in Québec City are the Musée de l’Amérique Française
(Museum of French America), a historical museum that focuses on the development
of French culture in North America, and the Musée du Québec (Québec
Museum) which houses a large collection of art by Québec artists dating from the
17th century to the present.
In Montréal, the galleries of the Musée
des beaux-arts de Montréal (Montréal Museum of Fine Arts) display paintings
by European masters and contemporary Canadian artists. The city’s Musée d’Art
Contemporain (Museum of Contemporary Art) showcases the works of
20th-century and present-day Québec artists, while the Musée de la
Pointe-à-Callière displays artifacts of the city’s early settlement. Other
museums in Montréal include the McCord Museum of Canadian History and the
Montréal Biodôme, with its replication of four major ecosystems found in the
Americas. The Cosmodôme, in Laval, features a space education center and Space
Camp Canada, a camp for children and adults that seeks to promote an interest in
space science and general science through experiments and simulated experiences
of space exploration. There are also numerous regional museums throughout the
province.
| C | Arts |
The arts are an important part of cultural
life in Québec. Theater, literature, and music are among the most lively areas.
In the mid- and late 20th century, these arts were influenced by new forms of
Québec nationalism. Cultural activities and artistic expression became one of
the ways to maintain and express a distinct Québec cultural identity. The
provincial government was instrumental in promoting this identity. It created
several new institutions, without which the arts would not have had the success
they now enjoy. The most important of these institutions has been the ministry
of cultural affairs, created in the early 1960s. The ministry provides valuable
financial and moral support for the literary and performing arts, including
funding for numerous museums; libraries; and theatrical, ballet, and musical
companies. The ministry also works to develop regional cultural centers within
the province.
One of the oldest orchestras in Canada,
L’Orchestre Symphonique de Québec (Québec Symphony Orchestra), was
founded in 1902 by the composer Joseph Vezina. It is based in the Grand Théâtre
in Québec City. Place des Arts is the main performing arts center in Montréal.
It hosts performances by the Montréal Metropolitan Opera, Les Grands Ballets
Canadiens, L’Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal (Montréal Symphony
Orchestra), the Montréal String Quartet, and several theatrical companies,
including Le Rideau Vert, Le Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, the Jean Duceppe Theatre
Company, and Carbonne 14. It also serves as home to Canada’s National Theatre
School
Québec has produced many internationally
renowned artists, novelists, poets, and singers. Among these are authors
Gabrielle Roy, Anne Hébert, and Marie Claire Blais, as well as the
English-language writers Mordecai Richler, Hugh MacLennan, and Leonard Cohen,
who is also a musician. In cinema, Denys Arcand, Fréderick Back, François
Girard, and many others have won prestigious awards, and in theater dominant
figures include the playwrights Michel Tremblay and Robert Lepage. In dance
Louis Robitaille and Annick Bissonnette are recognized along with artists
performing in dance troupes such as O Vertigo and La La La Human Steps. Renowned
classical musicians include pianist Louis Lortie, violinist Angèle Dubeau, and
opera singers Richard Verreau and Joseph Rouleau. Québec is known for its
chansonniers, or folksingers, who are often identified with Québec’s distinct
society. Félix Leclerc, Gilles Vigneault, and Pauline Julien are three of the
province’s best-known folksingers. Popular singers, including Céline Dion and
Roch Voisine, have also achieved international recognition.
| VI | RECREATION |
Québec has long been a popular vacation
spot, combining scenic beauty with a colorful history and a unique cultural
heritage. Millions of people come to Québec each year to see the diversity of
the landscape, which offers something for nearly everyone. People are drawn to
the plants and wildlife of the Gaspé Peninsula, the Saguenay River, and the
Charlevoix region northeast of Québec City. In addition the province is known
for the rustic charm of the Eastern Townships and the appeal of the many
secluded lakes in the provincial parks. Québec City and Montréal, with their
historic landmarks and French-inspired cuisine, have a European feel that is
unique among North American cities.
| A | National and Provincial Parks |
Québec has many national parks. Among the
province’s largest national parks are La Mauricie National Park in the
Saint-Maurice Valley; Forillon National Park on the Gaspé Peninsula; and the
Mingan Archipelago National Park Reserve, a cluster of islands in the strait
north of Anticosti Island. The Park Marin du Saguenay-Saint-Laurent is a popular
destination for people who come to watch the beluga whales in the lower St.
Lawrence River. The national historic parks of Fort Chambly, near Montréal, and
Fort Lennox, on Île-aux-Noix near Saint-Jean, contain old fortifications. Other
notable parks include Sir Wilfrid Laurier House National Historic Park, at
Laurentides, the birthplace of the first French-Canadian prime minister of
Canada; and the Cartier-Brébeuf National Historic Park in Québec City, once the
winter quarters of 16th-century French explorer Jacques Cartier. National
Battlefields Park, also in Québec City, was the site of the 1759 Battle of the
Plains of Abraham, where the British defeated the French in the decisive event
of the French and Indian War.
Québec also has many provincial parks and
wildlife reserves. Gaspésie Park and La Vérendrye Wildlife Reserve are noted
fishing areas, while Laurentides, Mont Tremblant, and Mount Orford provincial
parks are popular resorts for skiing. The Cap Tourmente National Wildlife Area,
near Québec City, attracts hundreds of thousands of snow geese in migration
season.
| B | Other Places to Visit |
Tourism is a year-round industry in
Québec. Montréal and Québec City are among the province’s most popular tourist
destinations. Montréal offers a unique blend of old and new. Historic Old
Montréal contains landmark buildings, such as Saint Sulpice Seminary, which
dates back to the 17th century. The modern central business district is a
thriving commercial and cultural center with world-class shopping, restaurants,
and theater. Those seeking a break from the downtown bustle can head to the park
atop Mount Royal, which rises 234 m (768 ft) above Montréal and offers
spectacular views of the city.
Québec City is the only fortified, or
walled, city in North America north of Mexico. The city’s quaint old quarters,
with its narrow winding streets and old stone buildings, along with the
impressive National Assembly (Québec’s provincial legislature) buildings, make
it one of the most beautiful cities in North America. The city’s rich history is
reflected in structures such as the Citadel, a fortress that dominates the city,
and religious institutions including Québec Seminary, which was built in
1663.
The province’s religious shrines, such as
Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré Basilica near Québec City and Saint Joseph’s Oratory in
Montréal, receive hundreds of thousands of tourists and pilgrims each year. The
lush countryside of Île d’Orléans (Island of Orléans), Charlevoix, and
the Eastern Townships are perfect for scenic drives. Tourists who like wild
nature and wide open spaces may visit the Gaspé Peninsula, the Saguenay, the
north coast, or northern Québec. The mountains of the Laurentians and the
Appalachians are also scenic places to visit, especially in early fall or
winter.
| C | Sports, Recreation, and Annual Events |
Québec’s major sports franchises include
the Montréal Canadiens ice hockey team, the Montréal Expos baseball team, and
the Montréal Alouettes, a Canadian Football League team. Despite an avid
sports-loving population, Québec has had problems keeping its professional
franchises because the provincial government is unwilling to provide the
extensive economic support necessary to keep a team in the city’s relatively
small market. The Québec Nordiques ice hockey team was sold in 1995 and
relocated to Denver as the Colorado Avalanche. Similarly, the Expos franchise
saw attendance dwindle steadily at Olympic Stadium, but there was no support to
build a new ballpark. In 2005 the team moved to Washington, D.C., and became the
Washington Nationals.
Québec’s mountains, parks, long
coastlines, and lakes and rivers provide ideal conditions for hiking, camping,
mountain climbing, hunting, fishing, swimming, golfing, and boating, as well as
for skiing, ice hockey, and other winter sports. A number of popular ski resorts
are situated in the Laurentian Highlands located north and south of Montréal and
surrounding Québec City. The most famous are Saint-Sauveur, Mont-Tremblant, and
Mont-Orford in the Montréal region, as well as Mont-Sainte-Anne and Stoneham in
the vicinity of Québec City.
The province also hosts numerous
festivals, many of which are in Montréal and Québec City. In summer, tourists
flock to Montréal for the Montréal International Jazz Festival, the Montréal
World Film Festival, and the Just For Laughs International Comedy Festival.
Québec City hosts the Québec Summer Festival, which features music and theater,
and the world renowned Québec Winter Carnival, which takes over the city for two
weeks every February. Many other cities also host festivals, such as the Winter
Carnival in Chicoutimi. Each June 24th the province celebrates the feast day of
its patron saint, Saint John the Baptist.
| VII | GOVERNMENT |
Québec’s government is based on the
British parliamentary system, in which the executive is chosen from, and
responsible to, the legislature. The lack of a strict division between executive
and legislative functions is known as a fusion of powers. This contrasts with
the separation of powers that exists in the United States, where the executive
and legislative are completely separate branches of government.
When the British Parliament passed the
British North America Act (now known as the Constitution Act) in 1867, Québec
became one of the four original provinces of the Dominion of Canada, along with
Ontario, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. The act gave Canada a constitutional
monarchy, in which the British monarch was also Canada’s sovereign, or head of
state. The new constitution established Canada as a federal state, meaning
political power was divided between two levels of government: the Canadian
Parliament based in Ottawa, Ontario, and separate legislatures in each of the
provinces.
As in each province, Québec’s government
comprised a federally appointed lieutenant governor, who represented the
sovereign; an upper house, the legislative council, which was appointed by the
lieutenant governor; and a lower house, the legislative assembly, which was
elected by the people. Like all the Canadian provinces, Québec abolished its
legislative council in 1968. The legislative assembly then became known as the
Assemblée Nationale (National Assembly).
Québec is represented in the Canadian
Parliament by 75 elected representatives in the House of Commons and by 23
senators in the Senate, who are appointed by the federal government. Canada’s
constitution grants the federal government all the powers that it does not
explicitly grant to the provincial governments. The federal government’s areas
of jurisdiction include external trade and traffic, taxation for general
purposes, postal service, censuses, national defense, currency and coinage,
indigenous peoples’ affairs, criminal justice, and federal penitentiaries. The
provinces have authority over areas such as health, education, municipal
institutions, taxation for local purposes, civil justice, provincial prisons,
local trade, natural resources, administration of public lands, and railroads.
(The provincial government may choose to allocate some of these powers to the
municipal governments.)
The federal and provincial governments
have joint jurisdiction over only a few areas, notably agriculture and
immigration. Over the years, some federal and provincial functions began to
overlap. The federal government has often become involved in provincial programs
by helping to fund them. This has caused tensions between the two levels of
governments—in particular in the areas of health, education, culture, and labor.
French-speakers in Québec have continually sought to renegotiate the balance of
power defined by the Canadian Constitution to give Québec greater
authority.
| A | Provincial Government Organization |
Québec’s provincial government consists
of the lieutenant governor, the premier and Cabinet, and the National
Assembly.
| A1 | Lieutenant Governor |
The nominal head of the Québec
provincial government is the lieutenant governor, appointed by the federal
government. The lieutenant governor represents the British monarch in the
provincial government and has a largely ceremonial role. The lieutenant governor
must give royal assent to all legislation passed by the National Assembly in
order for it to become law. In practice, the lieutenant governor almost always
acts on the advice of the premier and the Cabinet.
| A2 | Premier and Cabinet |
The premier and the Cabinet form the
executive branch in the provincial government. Following a provincial election,
the lieutenant governor calls upon the leader of the political party with the
greatest number of elected members in the legislature to become the premier and
to form a government. The premier then chooses cabinet ministers, who usually
head provincial government departments. The premier generally selects the
cabinet ministers from among his or her own party. Because the premier and the
Cabinet are drawn from the legislature, they have both executive and legislative
powers. The premier and the Cabinet remain in office as long as they retain the
confidence of a majority in the legislature. If the legislature withdraws its
confidence, the premier and Cabinet must resign, and either a new government is
formed or a new election is called. The premier and the Cabinet conceive and
draft almost all of the proposed legislation, or bills, that the legislature
considers.
| A3 | National Assembly |
The provincial legislature, called the
National Assembly, is a unicameral, or one-chamber, body. Its 125 members
are popularly elected from the same number of ridings, or electoral
districts. A general election is held every five years, or at shorter intervals
if the lieutenant governor, at the request of the premier, dissolves the
assembly before then. Any Canadian citizen aged 18 or older who has lived in
Québec for at least six months prior to an election, and who is not legally
disqualified, is eligible to vote in provincial elections. The National Assembly
studies and adopts or rejects bills in areas that are under provincial
jurisdiction. It also supervises government activities. Assembly members can
question the premier and cabinet ministers about government policies. In
parliamentary committees, members of the National Assembly can also scrutinize
government proposals.
| B | Judiciary |
Québec’s highest court is the Court of
Appeal, which is presided over by a chief justice. Second in importance is the
Superior Court, a trial court for criminal and civil cases. The federal
government appoints Court of Appeal and Superior Court judges. The provincial
government appoints judges of lower courts, including provincial and municipal
courts. Québec, similar to all provinces, is responsible for both criminal and
civil laws, but differs from the other provinces in that it has retained a
system of civil law based on the French civil law rather than on English common
law. Under the Québec civil code, cases are decided on the basis of written
statutes that have been drafted by legislative bodies. This differs from the
common-law system, where judges decide cases by referring to previous judicial
decisions. The system of criminal law is uniform throughout all the provinces,
including Québec. In place of the federal Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the
provincial police force in most provinces, Québec has its own provincial police
force, La Sûreté du Québec, to enforce provincial laws.
| C | Political Parties |
Many political parties are active in
Québec. The two most important are the Liberal Party and the Parti Québécois
(PQ), which alternated as the majority party in the National Assembly in the
late 20th century. Politicians of French descent have generally controlled both
parties in Québec.
The Liberal Party runs candidates on
both the national and provincial levels. It has worked to promote French
Canadian interests within the Canadian federation. Québec Liberals have
generally advocated that Québec remain part of Canada, but that the federal
government have a reduced role in the province’s affairs. Under the leadership
of Premier Robert Bourassa (1970-1976; 1985-1994), the Liberal Party worked with
the federal government to propose a set of reforms to Canada’s constitution. The
last of these reforms sought to acquire for Québec a special status of “distinct
society,” with greater authority in the federation than other provinces.
However, the reforms, known as the Meech Lake Accord (1987) and the
Charlottetown Accord (1992), were never ratified.
In contrast, the Parti Québécois argues
that Québec’s best interest is to separate from the rest of Canada. The PQ was
founded on the objective of sovereignty-association, an envisioned union whereby
Québec would be independent from the rest of Canada but would remain its
economic partner, with a common monetary system, free trade, and other special
agreements. Formed in 1968 by René Lévesque, a former member of Premier Jean
Lesage’s Liberal Cabinet, the party quickly gained enough support to win control
of the provincial government in 1976. However, when the PQ government held
referendums in 1980 and 1995, asking Québec voters to approve the negotiation of
sovereignty-association, the people rejected the notion (although by only a
slight margin in 1995).
Following a narrow victory in the 1998
provincial election, the PQ delayed holding another referendum. Instead, it
concentrated on finding remedies for Québec’s economic problems, such as
reducing the deficit and reorganizing education and health and social services.
Although the PQ is a provincial party, a federal counterpart, the Bloc
Québécois, was formed in 1990 and quickly became a political force in national
politics. See also French Canadian Nationalism.
Fledgling political parties were also
formed in the 1980s and 1990s. They include the Action Démocratique du Québec
and the Equality Party. Former Liberal Party ministers founded the Equality
Party to protest the Liberal government’s handling of the Anglophone community,
particularly with regard to language rights in the wake of Bill 22 (1974), which
made French the official language of Québec. The influence of the federal
Conservative Party, which dominated the provincial government in the late 1800s,
had dwindled to almost nothing by the end of the 20th century. A realigned party
made important gains in the 2006 national elections, however, which helped
return the Conservatives to power in Canada.
| D | Local Government |
The inhabited areas of Québec are
divided into municipalities. The municipal system in Québec was implemented in
the mid-1800s. Municipalities are governed by councils consisting of an elected
mayor and aldermen (municipal councilors). The largest municipalities are
the municipalités régionales de comtés (MRC; regional county
municipalities). They were created in 1979 in order to improve urban and
regional planning. Local municipalities within the MRCs include cities, towns,
townships, and rural municipalities. Municipal governments generally have
jurisdiction over services such as road systems, public sanitation, building
codes, and parks and libraries.
| E | Social Services |
The Québec government is responsible for
health and social services. The province finances them through its two main
sources of revenue: federal transfer payments and provincial income taxes.
During the mid-1980s the government cut back on health and social
services—including cutting subsidies to colleges and universities and lowering
financial support to people in need—largely in an attempt to decrease provincial
deficits. The ministry of health and social services, a provincial government
department, manages Québec’s health and social services system. The government
also established regional health and social services boards to oversee services
within regions and adapt the system to meet each region’s unique needs.
The provincial social service system
encompasses hundreds of public and private establishments, including hospitals,
community centers, child and youth protection centers, residential and extended
care centers, and centres locaux de services communautaires (CLSC; local
community services centers). Among the services offered are free and universal
health insurance, including medication coverage; daycare programs for preschool
children; home-visitation programs for the elderly and infirm; and special
services and centers for people in need, including handicapped people, the
elderly, dependent children, people requiring physical therapy, and people
suffering from long-term illnesses.
| VIII | HISTORY |
| A | Early Inhabitants |
The first inhabitants of Québec were
descendents of hunters who crossed the Bering Strait some 40,000 years ago and
spread throughout North and South America. Inuit began arriving in northern
Québec about 4,000 years ago. They slowly spread along the shores of Hudson Bay,
Hudson Strait, and Ungava Bay to the Labrador coast. About 3,000 years ago,
ancestors of the modern Algonquians entered from the west, crossed the Canadian
Shield, and continued into the Maritime provinces. They developed cultures from
3,000 to 500 years ago, in the areas south of and inland from the territory
occupied by the Inuit.
At the time of European contact in the
16th century, indigenous populations in the area that is now Québec were divided
into three broad linguistic groups: the Iroquoian in the St. Lawrence Lowlands
and the Appalachians; the Algonquian in the Canadian Shield and the
Appalachians; and the Eskimo-Aleut in the Arctic. Tribes within these groups had
their own dialects, customs, and folklore. Tribal subsistence patterns were
dictated by the seasons and geographic location. In Inuit and Indian tribes,
food came from hunting fish, birds, and land and sea mammals, and from gathering
nuts, berries, and other food. Tribes that inhabited the St. Lawrence Lowlands
also raised corn, beans, and squash. On the Canadian Shield, where soil and
climate conditions prevented agriculture, people obtained corn through
trade.
| B | Exploration |
While the Vikings may have explored the
Gulf of St. Lawrence around 1,000 ad, it was not until the 1500s
that Europeans seriously began to explore the area that is now Québec. King
Francis I of France commissioned French explorer Jacques Cartier to explore the
northeastern part of North America in search of gold and to establish France’s
claim to the territory. After landing in the Gaspé Peninsula in 1534, Cartier
erected a cross on the shore and took possession of the land for France. During
his voyage, and in another voyage the following year, Cartier explored the Gulf
of St. Lawrence and sailed up the river to the indigenous villages of Stadacona
(now Québec City) and Hochelaga (now Montréal).
France did not colonize the area
immediately. Deeply embroiled in several wars during the 16th century, France
ignored its new possession, leaving the St. Lawrence Valley to private traders,
fishers, and whalers who visited but did not settle. France did not resume
official exploration until the early 17th century, after its wars had ended. At
the same time, large felt hats for men had become stylish in Europe and created
a demand for beaver fur, which was abundant in Québec. France turned to its new
territory to pursue the very profitable fur trade and ship the pelts back to
Europe (see Fur Trade in North America).
France began to colonize the area,
which it called New France, in 1608 when French explorer Samuel de Champlain
established a trading post at present-day Québec City. Indigenous peoples
brought their furs from the west to the trading post to trade with the French.
The site of the post became the first permanent European settlement in Canada.
Situated near a narrows of the St. Lawrence River, the settlement derived its
name from the Algonquian word kebek, meaning “where the river narrows.”
Champlain was appointed lieutenant of the viceroy of New France in 1612. To
maintain the settlement and develop the fur trade, he entered into alliances
with indigenous peoples, including the Huron, Algonquin, and Montagnais. He
agreed that France would provide military support when they invaded the
territory of their enemies, the Iroquois. Thus began a bitter conflict between
the French and the Iroquois that resulted in nearly 100 years of sporadic
warfare.
New France grew considerably during the
remainder of the 17th century. Explorers expanded the territory from south of
Hudson Bay in the north to the Gulf of Mexico in the south, and from the Gulf of
St. Lawrence in the east to the Rocky Mountains in the west.
| C | Colonial Status |
| C1 | The French Regime |
Although the profitable fur trade
drew French adventurers to the interior, New France had difficulty attracting
farmers willing to settle there. In order to attract colonists, Cardinal
Richelieu, minister to King Louis XIII of France, organized the Company of One
Hundred Associates in 1628. The French government empowered the company to grant
seigneuries, or large estates in New France, to seigneurs, men who would
act as agents to settle the land. Seigneurs would subdivide their land and find
tenants to farm it in exchange for paying the seigneur a small fee. The
seigneurial system is considered one of the most distinctive features of the old
social order in Québec. The Company of One Hundred Associates was not as
successful as it hoped and was unable to fulfill its promise to bring 4,000
settlers to New France within 15 years.
Before 1650 almost 75 percent of the
immigrants who came to New France returned to France. After 1650 the fur trade
expanded, and it enticed more than half of the immigrants to stay in the colony,
some to work for fur merchants, but most to work as farmers. All but a few lived
in the vicinity of Québec City or newly formed settlements at Trois-Rivières
(1634) and Montréal (1642). New France grew rapidly after 1650. During the
initial settlement of New France, the Roman Catholic Church became firmly
entrenched in the colony because most of the French settlers were Catholic. The
French monarchy also wished to promote the official religion of France in its
North American colony and did not allow Protestants to settle in New France
after 1627.
The new settlements quickly were
caught up in wars with the Iroquois over control of the fur trade. As a result,
King Louis XIV of France turned his attention to his struggling colony in North
America. In 1663 he abolished the Company of One Hundred Associates and made New
France a royal colony under control of the crown rather than the company. France
dispatched its troops to quell the Iroquois and set up a new government in the
colony. It placed the colony under the rule of a governor, who represented royal
authority and commanded the military; an intendant, who oversaw the colony’s
administration; and an appointed Sovereign Council, which served as adviser to
the governor and as the highest court in the colony. The government did not
include any representative institutions.
The first intendant, Jean Baptiste
Talon, strongly encouraged agriculture and industry, including the construction
of a shipyard and a tannery. He also took measures to increase immigration,
using penalties and bonuses to encourage early marriages and settlement by
members of the French troops at the end of their tour of duty. Single women,
called filles du roi (daughters of the king), were brought over
from France as brides for settlers, and the king paid their passage and
dowries.
Despite its efforts to settle its
colony, France still struggled in the fur trade. By the mid-1600s, the Iroquois
had thoroughly disrupted France’s trade with the Hurons, and in 1670 England
granted a trade monopoly for the area around Hudson Bay to the Hudson’s Bay
Company. These two events forced the French to build an ever-expanding chain of
forts in the west to hold onto their share of the fur trade. The 1670s and 1680s
were years of constant peril for the colony. The Iroquois launched a series of
destructive raids against French settlements. The best known was the Lachine
Massacre of 1689, in which the Iroquois destroyed a settlement on Montréal
Island. In 1701 France finally signed a peace settlement with the Iroquois.
Although France reached peace with
the Iroquois, it began to compete with Britain for supremacy in North America in
the late 1600s. Québec became a major theater for the Anglo-French rivalry
because of its strategic position in North America. At the end of Queen Anne’s
War (1702-1713), France signed the Peace of Utrecht, in which it ceded vast
territories to Britain. These included the Hudson Bay territory; Newfoundland;
and Acadia, comprising present-day Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward
Island, and parts of Québec and New England.
The next few decades were relatively
peaceful, and New France developed rapidly. It increased its agriculture and
industry, promoted shipbuilding, and established an iron mine and ironworks.
Colonial towns became more important. However, the colony still had few new
French immigrants; many French peasants were reluctant to emigrate, particularly
because France had much more arable land than its North American colony. In
addition, the French government stopped encouraging colonization in the late
1600s, partly because it was a financial drain and also because men were needed
in France to fight in its European wars. Thus, New France barely had 50,000
people in 1754 when France and Britain again battled for control of North
America in the French and Indian War.
Despite initial French victories, the
war culminated in the siege and capture of Québec City by the British in 1759.
British troops, led by General James Wolfe, defeated the troops of French
General Louis Joseph Marquis de Montcalm de Saint-Véran in a decisive battle on
the Plains of Abraham during which both generals lost their lives. Although the
French won the Battle of Sainte-Foy the following spring, the British moved
against Montréal. To avoid further bloodshed, the city capitulated, and the
British military took control of New France in 1760. According to the
capitulation acts, all inhabitants were given the right to return to France.
Those who did were mostly important bureaucrats representing the king or
merchants representing French companies.
| C2 | The British Regime |
Under the Treaty of Paris, which
ended the war in 1763, France officially ceded New France to Britain. The same
year, Britain issued the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which created the province
of Québec from the inhabited portion of New France located in the lower St.
Lawrence Valley. Britain wanted to transform its new territory into a British
colony. To do this, Britain gave instructions to its first governor, James
Murray, to introduce British institutions, including an elected assembly that
would be open only to Protestants. However, Murray recognized that the
French-speaking majority would be barred from such an assembly, as almost all
French-speakers in the colony were Roman Catholic. Murray refused to set up
traditional British institutions that did not make sense in Québec, and he
allowed certain French laws and customs in the courts. His actions appeased the
agrarian French-speaking inhabitants and enraged British merchants, who demanded
and obtained his recall. His successor, Sir Guy Carleton, followed the same
policy. By the 1770s it was clear that Britain’s goal of transforming Québec
into a British colony had failed, as the colony retained most of its French
character.
Growing unrest in the 13 American
colonies to the south convinced Britain to grant political concessions in Québec
in order to ensure the loyalty of the French population. In 1774 British
Parliament passed the Québec Act, which institutionalized many of the
administrative policies of Murray and Carleton. The act reestablished the French
legal code in civil matters; preserved the seigneurial system of landholding;
guaranteed free practice of the Catholic faith; and removed restrictions
prohibiting Catholics from holding public office. Although it reinforced
Britain’s control over the colony, the people of Québec came to see the act as
the Magna Carta of French-Canadian liberties.
The act also expanded Québec’s
boundaries, restoring to the province the land between the Mississippi and Ohio
rivers that the Royal Proclamation had set aside for indigenous peoples. The
restored land was a valuable fur-trade area. When Britain granted the land to
Québec, it angered American settlers, who saw it as rightfully theirs. The
Québec Act was one of many actions of the British government that contributed to
the American Revolution (1775-1783).
When the American Revolution began in
1775, American troops captured Montréal and laid siege to Québec City. They
received little support from residents of Québec, and British forces drove them
out the following year. When the American colonies secured independence in 1783,
Québec experienced an influx of English-speaking immigrants. Refugees from the
13 colonies who were loyal to Britain, called United Empire Loyalists, fled to
Québec. These Loyalists and other British settlers began petitioning for the
repeal of the Québec Act, which did not provide the British legal code, an
elected assembly, or the landholding system that they expected.
In response to these demands, Britain
passed the Constitutional Act of 1791, which divided Québec into two colonies:
the mostly British Upper Canada (present-day Ontario) and the mostly French
Lower Canada (present-day Québec). Britain gave both colonies new constitutions
and institutions that preserved their cultural heritages. Québec retained its
seigneurial system, French civil law, and the rights of the Catholic Church.
Both colonies were also given political structures that maintained strong
imperial control. In Québec, the British government appointed executive and
legislative councils from among the upper clergy, rich seigneurs, important
merchants, and bureaucrats.
At the same time, each colony was
given an elected legislative assembly. Although the assembly had little power
compared to the executive and legislative councils, it quickly became a place of
political and ethnic confrontation. Much of this unrest focused on the fact that
the assembly, which had a French-speaking majority, had no control over
government appointments to the predominantly British executive and legislative
councils. Despite these conflicts, Lower Canada remained loyal to Britain during
the War of 1812 when the United States declared war on Britain and invaded Upper
Canada. The assembly voted to help fund the British military and to raise a
militia to defend Canada.
From 1792 to 1840 Lower Canada
changed economically. Although the province’s French-speaking majority remained
largely agrarian, some people became involved in other activities, including the
timber and transportation industries. Those people who feared these changes
thought that farming, not trade and commerce, was conducive to maintaining
traditional French Canadian values. At the same time, the number of
English-speaking settlers rapidly increased, as many people emigrated from the
British Isles. The Anglophone community began to have a larger role in the
colony’s economy, and an active English-speaking community of merchants in
Montréal, called the Montréalers, worked to increase trade. Determined that the
St. Lawrence River should remain the major trade route into the interior of the
continent, they dug canals, improved the harbor, and made major investments in
milling and shipbuilding. As a result of their efforts, Montréal replaced Québec
City as the area’s leading trade center.
Britain’s goal of transforming Québec
into a British colony had failed, and the colony retained most of its French
character. In 1834 the popular Patriote Party and its leader Louis Joseph
Papineau led a battle in the elected legislative assembly to secure a greater
voice for French Canadians in the government. The Patriotes sent Britain a list
of demands, called the Ninety-two Resolutions, which included demands that the
legislative council be elected and that the members of the executive council be
chosen by the assembly. The Montréalers opposed the Patriotes’ actions because
they feared that French Canadian influence would hinder economic development.
The British government also opposed the demands because it was unwilling to
surrender any power.
In 1837 Britain rejected the
Patriotes’ demands, and a series of mass protests broke out that soon turned
into armed rebellions, known as the Rebellions of 1837. In November 1837, after
the government issued warrants to arrest Patriote leaders, some 800 armed
Patriotes confronted British troops at Saint-Denis in the Richelieu Valley. The
Patriotes won the battle, but they were defeated days later in nearby
Saint-Charles and Saint-Eustache. Similar insurrections against colonial rule in
Upper Canada were also crushed. Patriote leaders took refuge in the United
States, where secret brotherhoods, called Frères Chasseurs (Hunter’s
Lodges), were established.
After the rebellions, Britain
proclaimed martial law in Québec. The constitution was suspended, and the
legislative assembly was replaced by a special council that ruled from 1838 to
1841. Some 800 Patriotes were arrested. More than 100 were court-martialed, and
nearly as many condemned to death. In the end, 12 Patriotes were hanged, and
more than 50 were deported to Australia. The British government commissioned
John George Lambton, 1st earl of Durham to serve as governor-general of Canada
and to investigate the cause of the rebellions. In his 1839 report he
recommended that Lower and Upper Canada be united to help assimilate French
Canadians and to prevent future clashes between French and British interests.
The report also recommended the establishment of self-government in Canada.
Britain rejected that recommendation, but passed a bill uniting Upper and Lower
Canada into one colony.
Britain’s Act of Union of 1840 united
Lower and Upper Canada as the Province of Canada with a single government and
changed the names of the sections to Canada East and Canada West, respectively.
Although the mostly French-speaking Canada East had a larger population,
English-speaking Canada West was granted an equal number of seats in the elected
legislative assembly. As part of the attempt to assimilate French Canadians,
English was made the only official language of the colony. A governor-general
appointed by the monarch ruled the colony and was expected to seek the support
of the elected legislative assembly (but did not require it). The colonists soon
protested the governor-general’s power. Reformers in Canada East, led by
Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine, and in Canada West, led by Robert Baldwin, joined
forces in demanding that the governor-general take the assembly’s advice when
making official appointments. As a result of this alliance, the British
government capitulated. Governor-General Lord Elgin was dispatched to Canada
with orders to appoint government officials who were supported by the majority
party in the legislative assembly and to approve their policies. Thus, in 1848
responsible government was finally achieved.
With responsible government, French
Canadians had the voting power to ensure that French institutions and traditions
would continue. The legislative assembly recognized the French language and the
influence of the Catholic Church in education and social policies. Thus, uniting
Upper and Lower Canada failed to assimilate French Canadians and actually helped
preserve French and British entities, each with their own laws, institutions,
and language. However, it became increasingly difficult to govern these two
entities under one legislature. To solve this problem, a federal system was
proposed, with separate governments for each province and a central government
responsible for areas of common interest. In order to better promote economic
development and military defense, leaders from Canada East and Canada West
supported a larger federation of all of Britain’s North American colonies. In
1867 the British Parliament passed the British North America Act (now known as
the Constitution Act, 1867), which created a federation known as the Dominion of
Canada. The federation comprised four provinces: Québec (formerly Canada East),
Ontario (formerly Canada West), New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.
| D | Confederation |
Confederation, as the creation of
Canada was known, gave Québec and the other provinces a centralized government
to control, among other things, banking, finance, transportation, and defense.
French Canadian political leaders, including Sir George-Étienne Cartier, were
adamant that provincial authority, as written into the new constitution, be
strong enough to ensure that Québec could promote its cultural distinctiveness.
Therefore, the province was given exclusive control over institutions such as
education and civil law. The French language was also safeguarded; according to
the British North America Act, either French or English could be used in the
Parliament of Canada, in the legislature of Québec, and in any court of Canada.
Although Confederation established French Canadians as a minority in an
increasingly English-speaking nation, it also gave them a provincial homeland,
Québec, and the right to control their own development. French Canadian
nationalism was now a permanent feature in the political arena. As a result,
French Canadian autonomy became a divisive issue that threatened Canada’s
future.
During the years immediately following
Confederation, Québec maintained its rural character, although it faced new
challenges. As manufacturing expanded and industrial production became more
mechanized, the demand for factory workers increased. Large numbers of Québec
residents, in search of economic opportunities, left the countryside for the
cities on the St. Lawrence River and the factory towns of New England.
The Catholic Church feared that French
Canadian culture, language, and religion would be subsumed under this new
capitalist, urban industrial society, which it viewed as predominantly British.
The church equated French Canadian values with traditional Catholic values. It
rejected urbanization and industrialization as promoting individual interests
over community and family ties and materialist desires over religious values. As
a result, Québec’s religious elite responded by encouraging agriculture,
believing it to be the only area of the economy not under British control. Rural
settlement was promoted, mainly in the Canadian Shield where French Canadians
could best be protected from urban temptations. Many people went to these
agricultural frontiers. However, even in remote areas, agrarian life was
challenged by opportunities in forestry and developing pulp and paper
industries. By the early 20th century, large mechanized enterprises such as
textile and shoe factories had become an important sector in Québec’s
economy.
After Confederation, the Catholic
Church grew enormously in size and power in Québec. It gained many privileges
during the second half of the 19th century, including control over education,
health services, and charitable institutions. New dioceses were established
across the province, and new parishes were created, greatly expanding the
church’s presence and influence in private as well as public life.
In 1885 an event occurred that divided
British and French Canadians. Louis Riel, the Western Canadian leader of the
Métis, a people of mixed indigenous and European (mainly French) ancestry, was
hanged following the Northwest Rebellion, an armed resistance against Canadian
federal authorities. To British Canadians, Riel was a rebel and a murderer. To
French Canadians he was the defender of a small, oppressed community of French
descent, whose way of life was being threatened by new British settlements in
the west. The Riel case served as the rallying cry for Liberal leader Honoré
Mercier in the 1886 provincial election. When he became Québec’s premier,
provincial rights and autonomy became the creed of French Canadian
nationalists.
| E | The 20th Century |
At the beginning of the 20th century,
Québec industrialized rapidly. Montréal became a leading manufacturing center,
and Québec City became an important center for textile, clothing, leather, and
shoe factories. Textile towns, such as Valleyfield, Saint-Jérôme, and
Sherbrooke, grew in population. Most of this development was a result of cheap
labor, as large numbers of people quit agriculture and moved to the cities. By
1911 almost half the province’s population lived in urban areas. Most new
industries followed a pattern of English-speaking managers supervising
French-speaking workers; this pattern inflamed nationalist sentiment.
At Confederation, Québec became part of
an expanding Canadian state and British Empire. As new, predominantly
English-speaking provinces joined Canada, and as Britain sought to expand its
power abroad, Québec felt that it was an increasingly isolated French province
within a British federation. While many English-speaking Canadians offered
wholehearted economic and military support to Britain during the Boer War
(1899-1902) in southern Africa and during World War I (1914-1918), French
Canadians were less enthusiastic about participating in what they viewed as
Britain’s imperialist crusades. When Canadian Parliament, led by the
Conservative Party, implemented conscription (compulsory military
service) in late 1917, riots occurred in Montréal and Québec City. Only 60
percent of drafted men in Québec reported for duty. At the next federal
election, held in December, Québec voted against the Conservatives.
Québec continued to industrialize
rapidly during the 1920s. The Liberal Party, which controlled the Québec
government until the mid-1930s, promoted economic expansion and big business,
partly as a means to reduce immigration to the United States. They made strong
efforts to attract U.S. capital and encouraged exploitation of the province’s
natural resources, particularly its hydroelectric potential, forests, and
minerals.
The Great Depression had severe effects
on the Québec economy. Unemployment, bankruptcies, social distress, and hunger
were common in the province. Authorities responded with provincial programs that
encouraged people to move to rural areas and take up farming. In the mid-1930s
Maurice L. Duplessis, the former head of the Conservative Party and leader of
the new Union Nationale political party, came to power in Québec.
Known as Le Chef (The Chief) to
his followers, Duplessis and his Union Nationale ruled Québec’s government from
1936 to 1939. He was a firm believer in maintaining traditional agrarian values,
and he built his political base from rural communities. He encouraged programs
such as farm credit, rural electrification, and subsidies to those who had
resettled in rural areas. Numerous unemployed urban workers participated in the
rural resettlement programs, with many sent to Abitibi in 1937 and 1938.
Duplessis capitalized on rural suspicions of urban life and fear of communism to
pass antilabor bills and to act against unions, political groups, and religious
minorities such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
In 1939 Duplessis’s government was
defeated by the Liberals, despite arguing against conscription during World War
II (1939-1945). The new premier, Adélard Godbout, initiated many reforms that
had long been demanded, such as women’s suffrage, mandatory schooling, and the
creation of Hydro-Québec, a publicly owned hydroelectric utility. Duplessis was
reelected in the 1944 election, largely because of the conscription issue. In
1954 he established a provincial income tax to enable future finance ministers
revenue to shape independent provincial policies. Duplessis encouraged foreign
investment, had excellent relations with the Catholic Church and the
English-speaking business community, and maintained antilabor attitudes.
Duplessis presided over a period of
postwar economic prosperity. The rebuilding of Europe after the war and the
growing market for consumer goods created strong demands for Québec’s natural
resources. This demand led to the rapid development of mining, particularly of
precious metals and iron ore, in Abitibi, Shefferville, and along the north
coast. Québec also continued to urbanize. Its urban, industrial society was at
odds with the traditionalism and church control that characterized the province
under Duplessis’s government. During the Duplessis tenure, education was a
privilege for the elite and was aimed more at training doctors, nuns, and
priests than engineers, scientists, business leaders, and other professionals
needed for a modern economy. Although trade unions existed, they were largely
Catholic and conservative. Québec needed social reforms, but most would come
only after Duplessis’s death in 1959.
| F | Recent Developments |
From 1960 to 1966 Québec underwent a
period of major social change known as the Quiet Revolution. Among the most
important trends were the decline of the Catholic Church and the growing
secularization of Québec society. Also significant were the greatly increased
role of the government in economic, social, and cultural development and the
emergence of a new nationalism that aimed to improve the economic position of
French-speakers in Québec and to protect their cultural heritage.
Using the slogan Maîtres chez
nous (Masters in our own house), Jean Lesage and the Liberal Party came to
power in 1960. Lesage and his government were determined that French Canadians
break through the economic stronghold held by English-speakers in the province.
They turned to the one tool controlled by the French majority, the provincial
government. The Lesage government quickly implemented several reforms to advance
industrialization in Québec and to put the province’s institutions in step with
the scientific and technological advances of the 20th century.
The government brought the electricity
sector under provincial control, incorporating private hydroelectric facilities
into Hydro-Québec, which became a symbol of Québec’s success. It also launched
large hydroelectric projects. Along with a ministry of cultural affairs, the
government created a ministry of education which took control of education from
the church. The government also took over the church’s traditional role as
provider of health and social services, and instituted a new, more generous
system. Finally the government created a large civil service to manage these
changes. The service sector became a key element in the Québec economy. Over
time, a strong French Canadian middle class emerged in finance, commerce,
engineering, and communications. Montréal became a vast metropolitan area,
hosting the World’s Fair Expo ’67 and later the Summer Olympic Games in 1976.
As Québec rapidly changed during this
time, the Québécois, as French-speaking Québec residents became known,
gained a new sense of identity. Even though the Liberals narrowly lost the 1966
provincial elections to the Union Nationale, Premier Daniel Johnson continued
with the same policies. However, tensions between the federal and provincial
governments regarding Québec’s place in the federation increased. Québec signed
various cultural and financial agreements with France, and in 1967 French
president Charles de Gaulle visited Québec. While speaking in Montréal, de
Gaulle invoked the slogan Vive le Québec libre! (Long live free Québec!),
which incensed the federal government and inflamed the independence movement in
Québec. Groups that advocated Québec’s separation from Canada, which had begun
forming in the early 1960s, quickly transformed into political parties. In 1968
two of these movements united to form the Parti Québécois (PQ) under the
leadership of René Lévesque. That same year, Pierre Trudeau became Canada’s
fourth prime minister from Québec.
While Trudeau, a staunch federalist,
was arguing in favor of a Canadian union with equal rights for French- and
English-speakers, Lévesque was seeking to make Québec politically independent.
If the Parti Québecois was elected, Lévesque promised to hold a provincial
referendum on sovereignty-association, the idea that Québec should become
politically independent but retain economic ties to Canada. Although he made his
party agree to fulfill this goal through democratic steps, some extremist groups
were less patient and engaged in terrorist actions, including planting bombs in
Montréal. In 1970, in what became known as the October Crisis, members of the
Front de Libération du Québec (FLQ; Québec Liberation Front)
kidnapped a British trade commissioner, James Cross, and then kidnapped and
killed the Québec minister of labor, Pierre Laporte. At the request of Québec’s
new Liberal premier, Robert Bourassa, the federal government imposed martial law
in the province; this decision caused much controversy.
Nationalist sentiment continued to grow
and, in 1974, Bourassa’s government responded by making French Québec’s only
official language. This legislation (Bill 22) failed to satisfy nationalist
groups, however, who felt it did not go far enough in enforcing the use of
French. Anglophones and other ethnic groups, on the other hand, felt that the
law violated their constitutional language rights and responded by withholding
their traditional support for the Liberals in the 1976 provincial election.
During this same time period, the
province was also coping with controversy surrounding the rights of its
indigenous peoples. Since the late 1950s economic developments in the Canadian
Shield had been changing conditions in aboriginal homelands. In 1971 Bourassa
announced the James Bay Project, a huge hydroelectric power development in
northern Québec. The region’s Cree and Inuit nations feared that the project
would flood their traditional hunting and fishing grounds, so they took the
Québec government to court to stop the project. They claimed aboriginal
title (Indian land ownership in the absence of a treaty). In 1975 the
parties signed the James Bay and Northern Québec Agreement, which was a landmark
agreement. In return for large financial compensation and the right of
self-government, the indigenous groups surrendered their claims to the
territory. Nonetheless, there continued to be contention over future
developments at James Bay.
In 1976, riding the growing wave of
nationalist sentiment, Lévesque’s Parti Québécois swept the provincial
elections. In 1977 the government adopted the controversial Charter of the
French Language, also known as Bill 101. The law reasserted the status of French
as Québec’s official language and, more significantly, tightly restricted the
use of English in the province. Bill 101 declared the French language to be the
only official language of the government, the legislature, and the courts; it
also made French the predominant language of the workplace and, with a few
exceptions, the only language allowed on signs and billboards. The act also
severely restricted access to English-language schools; one provision required
children of parents who had been educated outside Québec to attend
French-language schools, igniting an uproar among the province’s
English-speaking and immigrant populations. This provision was overturned a few
years later by the Supreme Court of Canada. In the wake of Bill 101, many
Anglophones left Québec.
Four years later, in 1980, Lévesque
fulfilled his campaign promise and held a referendum proposing that his
government be granted a mandate to negotiate with Canada for
sovereignty-association. Voters rejected his proposal but elected him premier
again in 1981. The national debate over Québec’s status in the union continued,
and, under Prime Minister Trudeau, the federal government drafted constitutional
reforms. In 1982 the British North America Act was patriated, or brought
under complete Canadian control (until then, the British government had some
authority over Canada’s constitution). The government also added a charter of
individual rights, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and a new
procedure that was intended to make it easier to pass constitutional amendments.
Québec responded negatively to the new
constitution. It wanted the new constitution to recognize and preserve the
province’s unique culture. Québec feared that the constitution would enable the
courts to overrule provincial laws protecting the French language, and it was
dissatisfied with the degree of provincial autonomy it allowed. For example,
prior to the new constitution, unanimous consent from the provinces was required
to amend the constitution. This allowed Québec or any other province to have
veto power over any amendment. In the new constitution, however, an amendment
would pass if seven provinces representing at least 50 percent of the population
supported it. Québec refused to sign the constitution, the only province to do
so.
The federal government made two
subsequent attempts to end the constitutional crisis—the Meech Lake Accord and
the Charlottetown Accord. In 1984 newly elected Prime Minister Brian Mulroney
vowed to amend the constitution to “bring Québec back to the fold.” In 1986
Bourassa, once again the premier of Québec, outlined the conditions under which
the province would ratify the constitution. In addition to expanding the scope
of provincial jurisdiction and various other demands, Bourassa asserted that the
constitution must recognize Québec as a “distinct society.” The Meech Lake
Accord required approval by the federal Parliament and all ten provincial
legislatures within three years. A large proportion of Canada’s English-speaking
population opposed the agreement, particularly the “distinct society” clause
that was seen as giving preferential treatment to Québec. However, eight
provinces, including Québec, ratified the accord. Still the accord died in 1990,
when Newfoundland and Labrador and Manitoba did not approve it. Following this
defeat, support for Québec sovereignty reached new heights. Mulroney’s
government continued to seek accommodations, which resulted in the Charlottetown
Accord. Put to the people in a national referendum in October 1992, this accord
was also defeated.
In 1994 the Parti Québécois regained
control of the provincial government, and Jacques Parizeau became premier. In
1995 the government held a second referendum on secession from Canada. Once
again, the people of Québec defeated the referendum, although by just over a 1
percent margin. Following the failed referendum, Parizeau resigned and was
replaced as premier in January 1996 by Lucien Bouchard, founder of the national
Bloc Québécois.
That same year, the Canadian government
asked the Supreme Court of Canada for an advisory opinion on whether Québec
could secede from Canada. The court issued its opinion in 1998, stating that
Québec does not have the right to secede on its own. However, the court also
stated that if a “clear majority” of Québec residents voted to secede on a
“clear question,” Canada would have to amend its constitution and negotiate the
terms of secession. In 2000 the federal parliament passed the so-called clarity
law, a measure giving the federal House of Commons the authority to determine
what is a clear referendum question and what constitutes a clear majority. Under
the law, the federal government is obliged to begin negotiations on Quebec’s
secession if both the referendum question and majority are deemed clear.
In the November 1998 provincial
election, the Parti Québécois faced the Québec Liberal Party, under the new
leadership of Jean Charest. Although the PQ won the majority of seats in the
National Assembly, the election was extremely close. Debates during the campaign
indicated that Québec residents were more concerned with economic problems—such
as the provincial deficit, high unemployment, and government cutbacks to
education and health and social services—than with constitutional matters.
In 2001 Bouchard resigned as premier
and as leader of the PQ after failing to invigorate the drive toward an
independent Québec. He was succeeded in both roles by Québec’s deputy premier
Bernard Landry, a longtime advocate of secession. In 2003 Charest’s Liberals
defeated the PQ, making him the new premier of Québec. This victory was seen as
an indication that secession was no longer a main priority for the province and
its citizens.
In March 2007 provincial elections, the
Liberals made the strongest showing, taking 48 of the 125 seats in the National
Assembly. The Action Démocratique du Québec stunned political observers and the
party’s own leadership with the second-strongest showing, winning 41 seats, up
from five in the previous assembly. The party’s leader, Mario Dumont, had
predicted a gain of ten seats. The Parti Québécois, now under the leadership of
André Boisclair, came in third with 36 seats. The results of the election seemed
to be another indication that Québec voters were tiring of the independence
movement.
At the beginning of the 21st century
Québec faced many challenges. Among them were improving the province’s economic
situation, deciding the future of its social programs, and settling the
constitutional and linguistic problems that divide the province and the rest of
Canada.
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