Encyclopedia  |   World Factbook  |   World Flags  |   Reference Tables  |   List of Lists     
   Academic Disciplines  |   Historical Timeline  |   Themed Timelines  |   Biographies  |   How-Tos     
Your Ad Here
Sponsor by The Tattoo Collection


René Lévesque
Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index

René Lévesque

René Lévesque (August 24, 1922 - November 1, 1987), was a reporter, a minister of the Quebec government (1960 - 1966), the founder of the Parti Québécois and Prime Minister of Quebec (November 15, 1976 - October 3, 1985). He was a recipient of the title of Grand Officer of the French Legion of Honor.

Table of contents
1 Biography
2 Quotes
3 Videos
4 Works
5 Articles
6 Elections as party leader
7 See also
8 External links

Biography

Origins

The eldest of four children, René Lévesque was born in a hospital in Campbellton, New Brunswick. He was raised in New Carlisle, Quebec, in the Gaspé peninsula, the son of Dominique Lévesque, an attorney, and Diane Dionne. Lévesque attended a classical college in Gaspé and at Saint-Charles-Garnier college in Quebec City. He went on to study for a law degree at Université Laval; in Quebec City. However, he did not finish, leaving the university in 1943.

War correspondent

He started working as an announcer and news writer at the CHNC radio station in New Carlisle, then as a substitute announcer for CHRC during 1941-1942 and then at CBV in Quebec City. During 1944-1945, he served as liaison officer and war correspondent for the U.S. Army in Europe. He reported from London while under regular bombardment by the Luftwaffe, and advanced with the Allied troops as they swept back the Nazis through France and Germany. Through the war, he made regular journalistic reports on the airwaves and by print. He was with the first unit of Americans to reach the Dachau concentration camp, and was profoundly touched by what he witnessed.

In 1947 he married Louise L'Heureux, with whom he would have two sons and a daughter. Lévesque worked as a reporter for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in the international service. He once more served as a war correspondent with the CBC in the Korean war in 1952. After that, he was offered a career in journalism in the United States, but decided to stay in Quebec.

Public figure

From 1956 to 1959, Lévesque became famous in Quebec by hosting a weekly television news program at Radio-Canada called Point de Mire. While working for the public television network, he became involved in the 1958 strike, which lasted 68 tumultuous days. Supported by his later bitter political rival, Pierre Trudeau, in 1959 Lévesque was arrested along with twenty-nine other strikers.

Involvement in politics

In 1960 Lévesque entered the political scene and was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Quebec in the 1960 election as a Liberal Party member. In the government of Jean Lesage, he was appointed Minister of Hydroelectric Resources and Public Works in 1960-1961 and then Minister of Natural resources from 1961 to 1965. At that time, he played an important role in the nationalization of hydro-electric companies, greatly expanding Hydro-Québec;. Lévesque helped implement the important political reforms, which were later called the Quiet Revolution. He was then appointed Minister of Family and Welfare for 1965-1966. The Liberals lost the 1966 election to the Union Nationale but Lévesque retained his own seat.

Parti Québécois leader

On October 14, 1967 Lévesque left the Liberal Party after its members refused to discuss the idea of a sovereign Quebec during its convention. He remained as the independent representative of the Montreal-Laurier riding until the 1970 election. After leaving the Liberal Party he founded the Mouvement Souveraineté-Association, which later merged with the Ralliement National of Gilles Grégoire to create the Parti Québécois in 1968. He remained leader of the Parti Québécois from 1968 until his resignation in 1985.

After failing to win a seat in his riding in the 1970 election and the 1973 election, he and his party won the 1976 election and he won a seat in the riding of Taillon. His party assumed power with 41.1 per cent of the popular vote and 71 seats out of 110; René Lévesque became premier of Quebec.

On February 6, 1977, Lévesque's car struck and killed Edgar Trottier, a homeless man who had been lying on the road. The incident gained extra notoriety when it was revealed that the female companion in the vehicle was not his wife, but a secretary named Corinne Côté. Lévesque’s marriage ended in divorce, and the following April, he married Côté.

On May 20, 1980 the PQ held the 1980 Quebec referendum on its sovereignty-association plan. The plan was rejected by 60 per cent of the voters. Lévesque conceded defeat in the referendum, but managed to lead the PQ to victory the following year in the 1981 election, even increasing the Parti Québécois's majority in the National Assembly.

Lévesque's political program contained many social-democratic goals in terms of social policies, yet some felt that the party did not manage to live up to the expectations of its voters.

Lévesque's act to govern the financing of political parties banned corporate donations and limited individual contributions to political parties to $3000. This key legislation, adopted by the Lévesque's government, ensured that the rich were unable to buy an election. A Referendum Act was passed to allow for a just representation of both options in a referendum. His Parti Québécois government also passed the controversial Charter of the French Language (the so-called Bill 101) which made French the sole official language in the province. In its first enactment, it reserved access to English public schools to children whose parents had attended English school in Quebec (all others having to attend French schools), and a regulation made it illegal for businesses to put up exterior commercial signs in a language other than French.

Following a split within his party over how much emphasis to put on sovereignty in the next election, René Lévesque resigned as leader of the Parti Québécois on June 20, 1985, and on October 3 he resigned as premier of Québec.

Heritage

A heavy smoker (an ever-present cigarette was a trademark of his), he died of a massive heart attack in 1987. Despite a perceived weakening of his sovereignist resolve in the last years of his government, he reaffirmed his belief in the necessity of independence before his death to friends and, notably, to a crowd of Université Laval students months before his passing. His state funeral and funeral procession was reportedly attended by 100 000 Quebecers. The popular love for the man was palpable when, at the carrying out of his coffin from the church, the crowd spontaneously began to applaud and sing Quebec's unofficial national anthem "Gens du Pays", replacing the first verse by "Mon cher René" ("My dear René", as it is the custom when this song is adapted to celebrate one person). Two major boulevards now bear his name, one in Montreal and one in Quebec City.

On June 3, 1999, a monument in his honour was unveiled on boulevard René-Lévesque outside the Quebec National Assembly buildings in Quebec City. The statue is very popular with tourists, who snuggle up to it, to have their pictures taken "with René", despite repeated attempts by officials to keep people from touching the artifact or getting too close to it. Some put a lighted cigarette in one of the hands of the statue before taking the group picture. This practice is less often seen now, however, as, after much controversy, the statue was moved to New Carlisle and replaced by a similar but bigger one, many finding the life-sized statue not appropriate for conveying the great importance in the nation's history. Indeed, another trademark of Lévesque was his relative and paradoxical small height, as was his unique comb-over that earned him the affectionate nickname of "Ti-Poil", meaning "little hair".

) but to sing and dance. We love you René."]]

Even today he remains an important figure of the Quebec nationalist movement and is considered sovereignty's spiritual father. After his passing, even people in disagreement with some of his convictions (like sovereignism) now generally recognize his major contribution and importance (especially in regards of the Quebec Charter of the French Language and the party financing law). Many in Quebec regard him as the father of the modern Quebec nation. He is remembered for his staunch morals and honesty, and the humanism he strove to bring to all aspects of public service. In every discussion concerning the application of laws, he would insist that regulations and the practical control of operations take into account that civil servants were above all servants of the people. He used all his power as premier to ensure that every bureaucrat did his or her duty efficiently while respecting equally each individual who came into contact with the government.

Of the things he left as his legacy, some of the most memorable and still robust are the nationalization of hydroelectricity through Hydro-Quebec, the Quebec Charter of the French Language, the party financing law, the Parti Québécois itself, the belief in the necessity for the Quebec people of the welfare state (also accomplished by the Lesage government and, although recently challenged by the Charest government, it is still the object of a large consensus in Quebec) and finally, the credibility of the sovereignist movement.

Quotes

See: Wikiquote article for all quotes.

Videos

Works

Articles

Elections as party leader

He lost the 1970 election and 1973 election, and won the 1976 election and 1981 election, and resigned in 1985.

Record note: Province of New Brunswick birth certificate registered on August 30, 1922, #1922 03 066751.

See also

External links
Preceded by:
Robert Bourassa 		List of Quebec premiers Succeeded by:
Pierre-Marc Johnson