A+The+1980+Quebec+Referendum

=__The Quebec Referendum__=

The Quebec Referendum of 1980 was a crucial time in history. A referendum is vote about a certain issue. In this referendum only the citizens of Quebec were allowed to vote. The Canadian federal government could not intefere with this referendum as well as people or governmental representatives from other provinces. The question of the referendum in Quebec was: Should Quebec seperate from Canada or not? This question was brought up because some citizens of Quebec wanted independance and they wanted to have control over their own affairs without another government interfering. After the referendum was finished the votes were tabulated and the results were..............

[|The issue]

Information discussed

1. Important people and their goals 2. Information about the Referendum 3. Powerpoint on Quebec Referendum 4. Videos on Quebec Referendum 4. Pictures related to the Referendum


 * Contents

1. Rene Levesque 2. Parti Quebecois 3. Levesque vs. Trudeau 4. Referendum Question 5. Effect on Quebec 6. Oui vs. Non 7. The Result 8. After the Referendum ||

Rene Levesque
Levesque, Rene, journalist, premier of Quebec 1976-85. A minister on Jean Lesage's Liberal team, he resigned in 1968 and founded the PARTI QUEBECOIS, whose main objective became Quebec sovereignty and the creation of a new form of association with Canada.

Increasingly critical of his party's stand on constitutional issues and of its relations with the federal government, Levesque sat as an independent MNA in 1967 and quit the party for good in November 1967 to found the Mouvement Souverainete-association, which in October 1968 became the Parti Québecois. Having managed to unite the various groups promoting independence and a new political status for Quebec, Levesque's party won 23.2% of the vote in the 1970 elections. In 1973 the PQ became the official Opposition. Levesque was twice defeated in Laurier and Dorion, but on 15 November 1976 he won in Taillon. Campaigning successfully in this election against the unpopular Liberal government of Robert BOURASSA, the PQ promised a referendum on SOVEREIGNTY-ASSOCIATION. The PQ won a majority of 71 seats, a result that dismayed the rest of Canada.

During its first term the new government passed several progressive measures concerning automobile insurance, rezoning of agricultural lands and the abolition of secret electoral funding. One of the most important pieces of legislation was BILL 101, which formalized the status of French as the official language of Quebec. On 20 May 1980 the long-awaited referendum took place after an emotional campaign led on the Non side by Liberal Opposition leader Claude RYAN and federal Cabinet minister Jean CHRETIEN and on the Oui, by Levesque and his ministers. Levesque suffered a major personal defeat when the sovereignty-association proposal won only 40 percent of the vote. Against all expectations the PQ was re-elected in 1981 but it suffered another defeat during the 1981-82 constitutional negotiations when the other 9 provinces accepted terms rejected by all parties in the Quebec National Assembly. In 1982 and 1983 Levesque's government met with considerable opposition and public disapproval when it attempted to reduce public spending to solve its grave financial problems.

In November 1984 a serious crisis affected the PQ government when Levesque announced his intention of not fighting the next election on the issue of independence while maintaining sovereignty-association as the party's official raison detre. Several ministers resigned in protest but the party reaffirmed Levesque's leadership at a special convention in Jan 1985. In June 1985 he resigned and resumed a broadcasting and journalism career. His Memoirs have sold more than 250 000 copies.

Rene Levsque

Parti Quebecois
The Parti Quebecois is a Quebec nationalist party, formed in 1968 through a union of 2 movements, a SOVEREIGNTY-ASSOCIATION movement in the Mouvement Souverainete-Association and the Rassemblement pour independance national. The MSA itself had been the result of an earlier fusion, for it allied itself with the forces of the Ralliement national, led by the former Creditiste federal member of Parliament Gilles Gregoire.

Parti Quebecois symbol

Trudeau vs. Levesque
Rene Levesque was determined to follow up his 1977 electoral victory by introducing a referendum on sovereignty-association for Quebec. He hoped to resolve age-old conflicts by simply taking Quebec out of Canada.

Trudeau believed that the federal government could deal more effectively with language and other rights issues if Canada had control of its own Constitution. He was committed to do just that. Only one of these two strategies could prevail.

[|Trudeau vs Levesque]

Rene Levesque and Pierre Trudeau

Referendum question
The first referendum in Quebec was on May 20, 1980. The question was if Quebec should separate from Canada? 59.56 percent of the voters wanted to stay with Canada while 40.44 percent of the voters wanted to separate from Canada

The question posed on the ballot was: "The Government of Quebec has made public its proposal to negotiate a new agreement with the rest of Canada, based on the equality of nations; this agreement would enable Quebec to acquire the exclusive power to make its laws, levy its taxes and establish relations abroad — in other words, sovereignty — and at the same time to maintain with Canada an economic association including a common currency; any change in political status resulting from these negotiations will only be implemented with popular approval through another referendum; on these terms, do you give the Government of Quebec the mandate to negotiate the proposed agreement between Quebec and Canada"

The original French text was: « Le Gouvernement du Québec a fait connaître sa proposition d’en arriver, avec le reste du Canada, à une nouvelle entente fondée sur le principe de l’égalité des peuples ; cette entente permettrait au Québec d'acquérir le pouvoir exclusif de faire ses lois, de percevoir ses impôts et d’établir ses relations extérieures, ce qui est la souveraineté, et, en même temps, de maintenir avec le Canada une association économique comportant l’utilisation de la même monnaie ; aucun changement de statut politique résultant de ces négociations ne sera réalisé sans l’accord de la population lors d’un autre référendum ; en conséquence, accordez-vous au Gouvernement du Québec le mandat de négocier l’entente proposée entre le Québec et le Canada ? »

[|The question]

Effect on Quebec
The people in Quebec who wanted to separate from Canada were called separatists and soverereignists said that the people of Quebec would be prosper well if they were in charge of the their economic, cultural and social development. The current federal system at that time would not satisfy Québec’s need to govern their own province from the rest of Canada. The population of Quebec was polled and only the Francophone Quebecers wanted to have a Quebec nation and the others wanted to stay with Canada. The Francophone Quebecers political class felt they had democratic power over a state of their own, but in the Canadian federation it has no constitutional power in order for the Quebec government in order to be the effective national government of Quebecers. `

Oui vs Non
Quebec separation would place French speaking communities outside of Quebec at risk. The Oui side of the referendum led by Rene Levesque wanted the power to make their own laws, levy taxes and grant citizenship. The Non side led by Claude Ryan highlighted achievement of Canadian Federation and it advantages for Quebec, but he also wanted changes in Canada’s structure. In the 1980 federal election Trudeau won a majority and campaigned for the Non side of the referendum.

The Referendum question was not simple; many people thought that it was written like this to get the highest possible Oui vote. It asked voters if Quebec should negotiate a “proposed agreement Quebec an Canada” not for a mandate to separate from Canada.

In the first week it looked like the Oui side would win. Rene Levesque planned his events carefully and was on the front page news when he spoke. Ryan was hesitant and gave negative speeches on his schedule. The media ignored him. Jean Chrétien, who was an ally of Trudeau, organized Federal politicians to visit Quebec and advise people to vote Non. Also citizens from other provinces got involved, one example was many people signed a “We Love you Quebec” petition. Also two other events turned the referendum in the Non side’s favour. First Parti Quebecois cabinet minister Lise Paynette called woman who supported the Non side Yvettes which was slang for dumb housewives. Many women organized against the PQ’s because of this. Secondly Trudeau made three speeches in Quebec which we considered his finest.

Claude Ryan

The Result
The voter turnout was very high at 82 percent and emotions across Canada were intense. When all the votes were counted the Non side won with 59.4 percent of the vote. When defeated, Levesque accused the Non side of using unfair scare tactics. Is dream and many francophone voters had been crushed, still he told his supported that they should never give up and that their time will come.

[|The result]

After the Referendum
Trudeau knew that the Oui side would never give up and that English Canada should not take a “no” vote as a sign of everything being fine and going back to like it was before. He and his party wanted change and they would put their seats in the House of Commons on the line to get it. The change that matter most to Trudeau was the New Constitution and the Non vote gave him the need and opportunity to achieve it.

[|Pierre Trudeau]



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