Quebec Strategy Suffers Setback
It was the moment when a bad week for the Liberal government's Quebec strategy got worse.
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Create AccountIt was the moment when a bad week for the Liberal government's Quebec strategy got worse.
Finally, the question. It is not long: only 41 words in French, 43 in English. Nor is it as clear as Jacques Parizeau always promised it would be. It is, in fact, cloaked in ambiguity, carefully crafted to obscure the full magnitude of the decision that awaits Quebec's 4.9 million voters.
The Saskatchewan Medical Care Insurance Bill was introduced in the Legislature 13 Oct 1961, and received royal assent 17 Nov 1961, after Woodrow S. LLOYD had replaced Douglas as premier. It was to come into force April 1, but this was amended, later, to 1 July 1962.
In one stump speech after another during the 28-day Saskatchewan election campaign, Premier Roy Romanow returned to the same refrain. "Don't judge me against perfection," he urged voters. "Judge me against the alternatives.
On the plans which he had prepared for the construction of the Hôtel du Parlement de Québec (Québec's parliament buildings), Eugène-Étienne Taché took the initiative to inscribe, under the provincial coat of arms above the main door, a MOTTO of his own invention: Je me souviens (I remember).
Two significant Aboriginal rock art sites in southwestern Saskatchewan were excavated during the early 1990s. These were the Herschel Petroglyph Site 95 km southwest of Saskatoon, and the Swift Current Creek Site just north of Canada No. 1 highway as it passes the city of Swift Current.
This article was originally published in Maclean’s magazine on June 23, 1997. Partner content is not updated.
These days, the classrooms and corridors of Matthew Elementary School in Bonavista, Nfld., are like a shrine to John Cabot.Perhaps it should have been surprising. After all, it has been fashionable so far this year to elect Conservative provincial governments, with Tories winning in Manitoba and Ontario.
It took only days for Lucienne Robillard to launch the fight of her political career - and a new job as the federal Liberal government's voice in Quebec.
In 1867 many Nova Scotians were reluctant to endorse CONFEDERATION. In the elections of Sept 1867 anti-Confederates captured 36 of 38 seats in the local legislature, and 18 of 19 seats in the Dominion Parliament.
The Québec referendum of 1980, on the Parti Québécois government’s plans for sovereignty-association, was held in fulfilment of a promise that the party had made to do so, during the 1976 election campaign that brought it to power. In this referendum, the government asked the people of Québec to give it a mandate to “negotiate a new constitutional agreement with the rest of Canada, based on the equality of nations.” When the votes were counted, nearly 60% of Quebecers had voted against this plan, and it was thereby rejected. If the “Yes” side had won, the results of the negotiations would have been submitted to a second referendum. The 1980 referendum was followed by constitutional negotiations that have left an indelible mark on the Canadian political scene.
The Quiet Revolution (Révolution tranquille) was a time of rapid change experienced in Québec during the 1960s. This vivid yet paradoxical description of the period was first used by an anonymous writer in The Globe and Mail.
Most adult Canadians earn their living in the form of wages and salaries and are therefore associated with the definition of "working class." In Québec, working people and unions have played an essential role in the province's development.
Refus global was a manifesto published in 1948 and signed by 16 figures from Quebec’s artistic community. It challenged the traditional values of Quebec. The manifesto also fostered an opening-up of Quebec society to international thought. (See also Quiet Revolution.)
When the Canadian Confederation was established in 1867, provisions were made for the creation of a provincial government in Québec, the only region with a majority French-speaking population. This distinctive identity has exerted a profound influence on all facets of Québec’s history and continues to fuel debate about the province’s future.
Canada’s fifth province, Manitoba entered Confederation with the passing of the Manitoba Act on 12 May 1870. The Assiniboine, Dakota, Cree and Dene peoples had occupied the land for up to 15,000 years. Since 1670, it was part of Rupert’s Land and was controlled by the Hudson’s Bay Company. The Canadian government purchased Rupert’s Land at the behest of William McDougall, Manitoba’s Father of Confederation. No residents of the area were consulted about the transfer; in response, Louis Riel and the Métis led the Red River Resistance. It resulted in an agreement to join Confederation. Ottawa agreed to help fund the new provincial government, give roughly 1.4 million acres of land to the Métis, and grant the province four seats in Parliament. However, Canada mismanaged its promise to guarantee the Métis their land rights. The resulting North-West Resistance in 1885 led to the execution of Riel. The creation of Manitoba — which, unlike the first four provinces, did not control its natural resources — revealed Ottawa’s desire to control western development.
Despite hosting talks about Confederation, Prince Edward Island did not join the Dominion of Canada until 1873, when a crippling debt forced it into the national fold as the country's seventh province.
Held on 30 October 1995, the referendum on Québec sovereignty was settled by a narrow victory for the “No” camp — as had been the case in the 1980 referendum.
The following article is an editorial written by The Canadian Encyclopedia staff. Editorials are not usually updated.