100 years of René Lévesque | René Lévesque, the unifier

On each anniversary, on each election campaign, there is no shortage of it: regardless of the inclination, the members of Quebec’s great political family are inspired, each in their own way, by a piece of René Lévesque’s heritage. For progressives and separatists, the inspiration is obvious. But what about other labels?

Judith Lachapelle
The Press

social democrat

“It does not surprise me that people of all kinds of currents claim to be René Lévesque”, says Martine Tremblay, his chief of staff in the early 1980s. Former Liberal minister, unifier of the independence movement, head of a government who chained progressive reforms at breakneck speed, René Lévesque remains to this day the most striking politician in the minds of Quebecers of all political persuasions. Perhaps precisely because he didn’t like labels. René Lévesque was certainly not “on the right”. But was he “on the left”? “I’ve never really heard him define himself that way,” reflects former minister Louise Beaudoin, whom he had appointed general delegate in Paris.

When she accompanied him on an official trip to France in the 1980s, their interlocutors identified him with socialism or Gaullism. “I remember at one point he said something like, ‘If you want to label us, then we’re social democrats,’” she said. “But he also insisted on pragmatism. The former politician Pierre Duchesne specifies that Lévesque “was someone who was respectful of the rhythm of the population”. “He was aware that Quebec society — we can still see it today — is a consensual society that doesn’t like jostling and that moves slowly. »

Conservative

Without being “on the right”, René Lévesque still applied conservative tax measures when it came to dealing with the economic crisis of 1982. The most controversial is certainly the 20% reduction in wages imposed on civil servants in 1983. “It may look like an anti-union decision that may please conservatives,” says M^me Beaudouin. “But he did it because he was pragmatic. He considered that the collective interest required it. »

When he founded the Mouvement Souveraineté-Association, Lévesque “went to find people from both the right and the left,” recalls Pierre Duchesne. The National Rally (RN), “they were conservatives, right-wingers, but nationalists”, like its future ministers Marc-André Bédard and Jean Garon.

Socially, the man also had values ​​perceived as conservative today, especially on the issue of abortion. “He took a long time before agreeing to talk about defending the right to abortion,” says Martine Tremblay. “But it was also his government that dropped the charges against Dr. Morgentaler and opened the first therapeutic abortion clinics. »

Feminist

Louise Beaudoin can’t help bursting out laughing. Feminist, René Lévesque? Once again, you have to put yourself in the context of the time: a feminist man, that was not said. The feminists were Idola Saint-Jean, Thérèse Casgrain, Claire Kirkland-Casgrain, Madeleine Parent, Léa Roback, Simonne Monet-Chartrand…

And especially Minister Lise Payette, who piloted the major auto insurance reform, a model for the young women who gravitated around the cabinet at that time, like Pauline Marois and Louise Beaudoin. She also recalls that René Lévesque appointed her Quebec delegate in Paris when she was under 40 in the early 1980s. on these issues, but at least he didn’t resist,” said Louise Beaudoin.

Martine Tremblay remembers hearing him condemn sexist remarks. “He wanted to increase the presence of women in places of power, and it annoyed him a lot to see what difficulties he had to deal with to recruit them. »

Ecologist

His government created the Ministry of the Environment and the Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement (BAPE). It gave access to the territory by abolishing private hunting and fishing clubs, and laid the foundations of the SEPAQ network of parks and reserves. He tackled the scourge of acid rain. Was René Lévesque an ecologist? “I think he was pro-environment, but at the time, these issues did not have the degree of urgency of today,” says Martine Tremblay. “He was very concerned about not harming economic development. »

One of its most precious legacies, in this era of global warming, obviously remains its bet in hydroelectricity. “A great choice! exclaims Pierre Duchesne. “A gift from heaven! adds Louise Beaudoin. “He was certainly very aware of this extraordinary advantage in all respects, including the environmental advantage of hydroelectricity over oil,” she says. But to go from there to saying that he had become aware, 50 years in advance, of the climate change that we see today… No, I don’t think so. »

American

René Lévesque loved the United States — it was alongside the American army that he worked as a war correspondent in 1944-1945. Shortly after the Parti Québécois was elected in 1976, he traveled to New York to explain his sovereignty program to the economic elite, as Americans commemorated the bicentennial of their own revolution. “I must confide to you how struck I was by the similarity that I found between the psychological climate that we feel today in Quebec and that described by the numerous publications that have recalled the state spirit that reigned here two centuries ago,” he told his audience. “At that time, many of the inhabitants of the 13 colonies were far from convinced of the merits of the independence project. »

The parallel is not really appreciated by the English-Canadian press… “We are also in a period when relations between Canada and the United States are not very good”, recalls the author and political scientist from the University Concordia Guy Lachapelle. “There was anti-Americanism in English Canada. The American politics of the time, such as the adoption of consumer protection laws, or the problems of financing political parties, will also inspire the leader of the Parti Québécois.