René Lévesque: Charismatic Leader
()
About this ebook
René Lévesque entered provincial politics in 1960 when Jean Lesage persuaded him to join his Liberal dream team. In 1968 he founded the Parti Québécois (PQ). Under the PQ banner, Lévesque served as premier from 1976 to 1985.
Marguerite Paulin
Marguerite Paulin teaches at McGill University and also produces and hosts a radio program. She is also the author of René Lévesque (XYZ Publishing, 2004).
Related to René Lévesque
Titles in the series (38)
Emily Carr: Rebel Artist Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5John Diefenbaker Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEmma Albani: Victorian Diva Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJacques Plante Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Phyllis Munday Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMarshall McLuhan Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSamuel de Champlain Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGeorge Grant Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5René Lévesque: Charismatic Leader Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWilfrid Laurier Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNellie McClung Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tom Thomson: Artist of the North Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5James Wilson Morrice: Painter of Light and Shadow Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lucille Teasdale Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDavid Thompson Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWilliam Lyon Mackenzie King: Dreams and Shadows Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMaurice Duplessis Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGabrielle Roy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJohn Grierson Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMazo de la Roche Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWilliam C. Van Horne: Railway Titan Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Vilhjalmur Stefansson: Arctic Adventurer Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSusanna Moodie Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5James Douglas: Father of British Columbia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLouis Riel: Firebrand Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSimon Girty: Wilderness Warrior Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Joey Smallwood: Schemer and Dreamer Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRobertson Davies: Magician of Words Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Prince Edward, Duke of Kent: Father of the Canadian Crown Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related ebooks
Samuel de Champlain Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMindscapes of Montreal: Quebec's Urban Novel, 1960-2005 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Story of Hawaii: History, Customs, Mythology, Geography & Archaeology Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsQuebec City and its area Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Drop in the Ocean: Lawrence MacEwen and the Isle of Muck Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Frommer's EasyGuide to Montreal and Quebec City 2015 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAntonine Maillet : Les trésors cachés - Our Hidden Treasures: Les trésors cachés - Our Hidden Treasures Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Okanagan Valley, Kootenays, Kamloops, Glacier National Park & Eastern British Columbia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Beaver Hall Group and Its Legacy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Innocents Abroad Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Quebec City: Architects, artisans, and builders Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsApollo 11 Goodwill Messages Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Tallest Tower: Eiffel and the Belle Epoque Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSummary of The Hardest Job in the World: The American Presidency by John Dickerson Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOne Step in a Poppy Field: The Inspirational Story of Lance Corporal Cayle Royce MBE Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKerrigan in Copenhagen: A Love Story Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Kokoschka Capers: A Megan Crespi Mystery Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Montreal from A to Z: An Alphabetical Guide: Alphabet City Guide Books, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe American in Paris - Vol. I Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsImperial Wine: How the British Empire Made Wine’s New World Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVoyages of Peter Esprit Radisson Being an Account of His Travels and Experiences Among the North American Indians, from 1652 to 1684 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings50 Favs of the '60S '70S '80S Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLake Redemption Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMaurice Duplessis Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Night Canada Stood Still Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWilfrid Laurier Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLosing Our Voice: Radio-Canada Under Siege Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJacques Plante Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5First Person: A Biography of Cairine Wilson Canada's First Woman Senator Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFree at Last: Quebec 2007 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Political Biographies For You
The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Disloyal: A Memoir: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Profiles in Courage: Deluxe Modern Classic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mein Kampf Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Freezing Order: A True Story of Money Laundering, Murder, and Surviving Vladimir Putin's Wrath Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fear: Trump in the White House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Benjamin Franklin: An American Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A World Without Jews Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Enough Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Putin's People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took On the West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The First Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lincoln's Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His Greatness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Washington: The Indispensable Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Malcolm X: A Graphic Biography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Autobiography of Calvin Coolidge Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Community: Seven Principles for Belonging Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nelson Mandela Biography: The Long Walk to Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Five Presidents: My Extraordinary Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Watergate: A New History Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Lincoln Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill America's 16th President--and Why It Failed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for René Lévesque
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
René Lévesque - Marguerite Paulin
Illustration: Francine Auger
René Lévesque, 1922–1987
Archeves nationales du Québec
à Montréal/P18, S1, D159
Marquerite Paulin
Marguerite Paulin is host and producer of a radio program in Montreal on which she interviews writers. She holds a doctorate, has been a lecturer for ten years at McGill University, and has also taught CEGEP. She has published fiction and essays and has written three other biographies for XYZ’s Les grandes figures
series: Félix Leclerc, Louis-Joseph Papineau, and Maurice Duplessis.
The translator: Jonathan Kaplansky
Jonathan Kaplansky works as a literary translator in Ottawa; he completed Master’s degrees in Translation at the University of Ottawa and in French Language and Literature at McGill. He has translated work by Hélène Rioux, Robert Dickson, Sylvie Massicotte, and Hervé Dumont and also translated the biography Samuel de Champlain: Father of New France for the Quest Library series.
THE QUEST LIBRARY
is edited by
Rhonda Bailey
The Editorial Board is composed of
Lynne Bowen
Janet Lunn
T.F. Rigelhof
Editorial correspondence:
Rhonda Bailey, Editorial Director
XYZ Publishing
P.O. Box 250
Lantzville BC
V0R 2H0
E-mail: xyzed@shaw.ca
In the same collection
Ven Begamudré, Isaac Brock: Larger Than Life.
Lynne Bowen, Robert Dunsmuir: Laird of the Mines.
Kate Braid, Emily Carr: Rebel Artist.
Kathryn Bridge, Phyllis Munday: Mountaineer.
William Chalmers, George Mercer Dawson: Geologist, Scientist, Explorer.
Judith Fitzgerald, Marshall McLuhan: Wise Guy.
lian goodall, William Lyon Mackenzie King: Dreams and Shadows.
Stephen Eaton Hume, Frederick Banting: Hero, Healer, Artist.
Naïm Kattan, A.M. Klein: Poet and Prophet.
Betty Keller, Pauline Johnson: First Aboriginal Voice of Canada.
Michelle Labrèche-Larouche, Emma Albani: International Star.
Wayne Larsen, A.Y. Jackson: A Love for the Land.
Francine Legaré, Samuel de Champlain: Father of New France.
Margaret Macpherson, Nellie McClung: Voice for the Voiceless.
Dave Margoshes, Tommy Douglas: Building the New Society.
Raymond Plante, Jacques Plante: Behind the Mask.
T.F. Rigelhof, George Grant: Redefining Canada.
Arthur Slade, John Diefenbaker: An Appointment with Destiny.
Roderick Stewart, Wilfrid Laurier: A Pledge for Canada.
John Wilson, John Franklin: Traveller on Undiscovered Seas.
John Wilson, Norman Bethune: A Life of Passionate Conviction.
Rachel Wyatt, Agnes Macphail: Champion of the Underdog.
René Lévesque
MARGUERITE PAULIN
René Lévesque
CHARISMATIC LEADER
Copyright © 2003 Marguerite Paulin and XYZ éditeur
English translation copyright © 2004 Jonathan Kaplansky and XYZ Publishing.
All rights reserved. The use of any part of this publication reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system without the prior written consent of the publisher – or, in the case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency – is an infringement of the copyright law.
National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Paulin, Marguerite, 1955-
René Lévesque : charismatic leader
(The Quest library ; 23)
Translation of: René Lévesque : une vie, une nation.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-894852-13-3
1. Lévesque, René, 1922–1987. 2. Québec (Province) – History – Autonomy and independence movements. 3. Parti québécois. 4. Québec (Province) – Politics and goverment – 1976–1985. 5. Prime ministers – Québec (Province) – Biography. 6. Journalists – Québec (Province) – Biography. I. Title. II. Series: Quest library ; 23.
FC2925.1.L5P3813 2004 971.4’04’092 C2004-941416-X
Legal Deposit: Fourth quarter 2004
National Library of Canada
Bibliothèque nationale du Québec
XYZ Publishing acknowledges the support of The Quest Library project by the Canadian Studies Program and the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP) of the Department of Canadian Heritage. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of the Government of Canada.
The publishers further acknowledge the financial support our publishing program receives from The Canada Council for the Arts, the ministère de la Culture et des Communications du Québec, and the Société de développement des entreprises culturelles.
Chronology: Michèle Vanasse
Index: Darcy Dunton
Layout: Édiscript enr.
Cover design: Zirval Design
Cover illustration: Francine Auger
Photo research: Michèle Vanasse
Printed and bound in Canada
International Rights: André Vanasse, tel. (514) 525–2170 # 25
E-mail: andre.vanasse@xyzedit.qc.ca
By the same author
Félix Leclerc: Filou, le toubadour. Montreal: XYZ, Les grandes figures
series, 1998.
Louis-Joseph Papineau: Le grand tribun, le pacifiste. Montreal: XYZ, Les grandes figures
series, 2000.
Maurice Duplessis. Le Noblet, le petit roi. Montreal: XYZ, Les grandes figures
series, 2002.
Since I’ve been working alongside him, René Lévesque appears to me to understand and feel deeply the contradictions of the Quebecer, at once compelled to break free and yet prevented from doing so. That’s why he vacillates between darkness and light, impatience and confidence, tenderness and harshness, the middle ground and the extreme, in conversation with himself or with others.
CAMILLE LAURIN
For Mother,
for Alexis, my nephew,
for Iain Davidson
Thanks to:
André Vanasse
Michèle Vanasse
Xavier Gélinas
Contents
1 I Don’t Want to Destroy Canada
2 The Real Quiet Revolution
3 The Son of Maître Lévesque, Esquire
4 Seeing the War First Hand
5 A Passion for Communicating
6 Minister in the Lesage Government
7 Breaking Through the Wall of Fear
8 The Moment of Truth
9 … an old tree forgotten in the plains
Chronology of René Lévesque (1922–1987)
Bibliography
Archives nationales du Québec a Montréal/E6, S7, SS1, P810015, #31A.
René Lévesque at a press conference at à construction site in Longueuil in 1981.
1
I Don’t Want to Destroy Canada
"My dear friends, if I have understood you well…" René Lévesque attempts to silence his supporters gathered together at the Paul Sauvé Centre. Two women stand behind him, in the background: Corinne Côté, his wife, and Lise Payette, Minister Responsible for the Status of Women and the only cabinet member present at this occasion. Wearing black, as if symbolically in mourning.
From the bleachers to the floor, signs reading oui
alternate with Fleur-de-lis flags. In the distance, a few voices strike up Mon cher René, c’est à ton tour,
and spontaneously thousands of supporters join in the Gilles Vigneault song to pay homage to their leader’s courage. Lévesque smiles sadly.
At a little before eight o’clock on May 20, 1980, the referendum results are official: 59.6 per cent of Quebecers have said no.
Some two million Quebecers refuse to give the government a mandate to negotiate a new political accord with the federal government.
It is a bitter defeat: over half the population has just rejected sovereignty-association. The leader of the Parti Québécois (PQ) assesses the extent of his power: before him, impassioned men and women await but one word to invade the streets of Montreal. One sign and they would force open the doors of the arena to show their sadness and disappointment.
René Lévesque had rewritten his speech several times. A democrat, the sovereigntist leader accepts the voters’ decision. Now they have to live together, despite the fact that voters are divided. They must make peace with their opponents, with those who believe in federalism. The Parti Québécois leader again asks for silence. His voice rises above the shouting crowd:
My dear friends… If I’ve understood you clearly, you’ve just said
Till the next time…"
The supporters roar their approval: they want to resume the struggle as soon as possible. The battle has been lost, but not the war.
Lévesque then spontaneously invites those present in the room to join in the the most beautiful of Quebec songs.
And, slightly off key, he strikes up Gens du pays,
the song the crowd had begun to sing earlier. The time for sadness has passed: solidarity has overridden rancour and bitterness. Leader of the PQ government since November 15, 1976, René Lévesque is, first and foremost, premier of all Quebecers. After four years in power, he is thinking of the next provincial election he must soon call.
René Lévesque wants to bring opposing forces together, and he is the man for the job.
The referendum campaign had started long before it was officially called in March 1980.
Three years earlier, shortly after coming into power, René Lévesque had taken on a new responsibility: governing within Canadian Confederation while promoting the Parti Québécois’ sovereigntist option.
It all would have been simpler if a vote for us had meant a vote for independence,
he regretted.
It was Claude Morin who proposed gradualism in 1972: win the election and then hold a referendum on Quebec sovereignty. After all,
he claimed, the time is ripe for negotiation and consensus. The international community will never recognize our political status if we only scrape by to win.
René Lévesque also believed it necessary to consult the people before changing the country’s constitution. At the November 1974 convention of the Parti Québécois, the referendum passed two to one. From then on, they aimed for the majority of the National Assembly. But members were divided. Lévesque had to exert influence so that the resolution could pass, which displeased some, certain of whom even tore up their membership cards.
It was the first crisis that had the potential to completely ruin us,
Lévesque confessed.
After the Parti Québécois was elected on November 15, 1976, René Lévesque returned to the very essence of the Sovereignty-Association Movement that he had founded nine years earlier. Today,
he said, I value this union more than ever!
It was a point of honour he set for himself. A sovereign Quebec must establish an economic partnership with Canada. On the strength of this faith, he curtailed the radical wing of the Parti Québécois that wanted to declare immediate independence. Lévesque was wary of idealists who didn’t accept the ground rules of democracy.
They’re nitpicking troublemakers!
he said. With left-wingers like these we’ll rot from within.
From early 1977 on, the leader of the PQ needed to contain the aftershock. Lévesque had a heavy load to carry. One false move could endanger the entire party.
Any discussion among the party members – the Péquistes – inevitably resulted in a debate about the party’s options. Should they hold the referendum in the first year of the mandate? No. The leader’s response was unequivocal. Lévesque had other projects near to his heart, including passing a law on political party financing.
"There will be no more secret