Director of Duty after having been one of the leaders of the Catholic youth movements, Claude Ryan (1925-2004) was best known to a wide public as leader of the Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ) at the time of the referendum in 1980. He died 20 years ago on Friday. What did he leave behind? What remains of his ideas?
Michael Gauvreau, professor of history at McMaster University, has devoted an imposing intellectual biography to Claude Ryan. Never translated into French, his work of nearly 700 pages, entitled The Hand of Godbrings to light the family origins and the ideas constituting the thought of this austere man.
Claude Ryan “defended an idea of French Canada built around an old Catholic identity and an identity that accompanied it,” explains Mr. Gauvreau in an interview with Duty. “The problem for him is that, from the 1960s, this national and social conception was refocused on Quebec without him properly measuring the effects. »
For political scientist Guy Lachapelle, author of Claude Ryan and the violence of power, the Catholic dimension appears very important in this man. “He did not make the bishops eat out of his hand, as people will say about Prime Minister Maurice Duplessis, but they did not call him “the pope of rue Saint-Sacrement” [où Le Devoir était alors installé] for nothing ! »
Its internationalist culture, inherited from Catholicism, is immediately opposed to conservative Quebec nationalism. His inability to find enough bridges between these two worlds “explains his bankruptcy as a politician,” believes Professor Gauvreau. Born into a deeply liberal family, he felt no affinity with Duplessis-style nationalism. A follower of a form of liberalism mixed with the teachings of the Church, he recognizes that the State has a regulatory role to play to ensure the maintenance and development of French Canada.
A broken hope
Claude Ryan was one of the last to hold very high – at arm’s length, so to speak – the framework of a conception of Canada which will collapse with him. In this regard, he was one of the main intellectual heirs of the concept of a binational Canada theorized by André Laurendeau.
Artist, journalist, politician and writer, André Laurendeau (1912-1968) was editor-in-chief of Duty. In his eyes, it was necessary to rethink the Canadian federation so that it embodies an attachment to two predominant cultural poles, according to the binational conception of the country carried forward since Henri Bourassa. Laurendeau revisited, from personal sociological perspectives, this old French-Canadian conception according to which Canada was a country founded on a pact between two nations.
For this vision to triumph, Canadian federalism had to admit the particularity of Quebec. In other words, federalism had to recognize this province as a particular national and cultural center, endowed with substantial resources. The turning point for this idea took place in 1967-1968, explains Claude Ryan’s biographer. “Many Quebec intellectuals still believed that this was possible. » Even the Dr Camille Laurin considered joining the Liberal Party with this in mind, notes the historian. In Quebec, Paul Gérin-Lajoie spoke of the need for recognition of a special status for Quebec. But like many others, they will lose hope in the idea of the recognition of national equality which would ensure significant powers and resources for Quebec.
This hope in a binational Canada is being undermined by the rise of a legal vision of the country embodied by the figure of Pierre Elliott Trudeau. “Claude Ryan didn’t like Trudeau very much, and Trudeau didn’t like him either,” emphasizes Guy Lachapelle. During the May 1980 referendum, Ryan nevertheless gave Trudeau the benefit of the doubt regarding his desire to reform Canadian federalism: Ryan made a bet and he lost it. “He thought he could get through it,” summarizes Mr. Lachapelle, but “Trudeau’s position on federalism lost him.”
“Ryan never believed that Quebec was a province like the others, but I believe that he understood the thinking of English speakers better than them, his own,” says Professor Gauvreau. “He said that concessions were needed from both sides. As a Catholic, he believed in the good will of people. But he did not understand that English-Canadian nationalism wanted to reduce everything to the principles of formal equality, without any recognition of the principle of distinct society. »
Nevertheless, Claude Ryan will continue to defend the principle of Canadian duality, even if his dream of a binational Canada lies on the sidelines of history. “When Ryan clings to it despite everything, the corpse is not yet cold,” explains Guy Lachapelle. Does he think a resurrection is possible? However, he will never abandon the idea that it is possible to build a Quebec state within the framework of federalism, “while somewhat ignoring the power in Ottawa,” explains Michael Gauvreau. “He felt that Ottawa’s policies were not very advantageous for Quebec,” says Mr. Lachapelle.
An entry into politics
In 1976, at the head of Duty, Claude Ryan recommends against all odds to vote for the Parti Québécois. He considered René Lévesque’s party to be a less corrupt party. At the same time, “he saw the PQ as a bringer of instability,” observes his biographer. “He feared a stagnant economy and problems with the unions,” adds Michael Gauvreau. For him, René Lévesque was not capable of managing social forces. »
In politics, “he thought he could succeed where Bourassa had failed: defending the autonomy of Quebec.” He was also convinced of embodying a principle of order and stability.
“He was not a social democrat like René Lévesque,” explains Guy Lachapelle, “but Claude Ryan believed in the importance of rights and freedoms, in respect for individuals. » He wanted to serve, as he had done within Catholic movements.
However, the new leader of the Liberal Party did not understand the way in which Lévesque identified the needs and aspirations of ordinary Quebecers. He did not see that “ordinary people are convinced by something other than the clarity of ideas, also by feelings, fears, desires,” explains Michael Gauvreau. Not to mention that “Lévesque enjoyed a charisma that Ryan did not have.”
“We often talk about the failures of the separatists,” explains Guy Lachapelle, “which generally masks the serial failures of the federalists. » However, it is “the serial failures of Quebec federalists to succeed in making Quebec a state within a state” which contributed to projecting the separatists forward, he considers.
A certain order
In the 1970s, Claude Ryan was truly consumed by the idea of “an order to defend”, explains his biographer. A classic theme that reflects a right-leaning worldview.
As party leader, he wants to not have divorced people as Liberal candidates. “That was really one of his criteria for finding a good candidate: someone who didn’t have the shame of being divorced. This was a concrete criticism of the morality of René Lévesque and many of his ministers. »
In terms of social progress, its positions remain behind those of the Catholic Church. “On the questions of abortion and other social issues, it’s not easy to follow him,” said Guy Lachapelle in an interview. Ryan was a good member of the Catholic movement, he was not the man for rapid changes. »
His thinking had been very marked by the theological thinking of Cardinal Newman, the political scientist further indicates. Attached to the Newman Center, Claude Ryan taught Catholic studies at the end of his life. He bequeathed his personal library, largely consisting of theological works, to McGill University.
What legacy?
What remains of Claude Ryan’s thoughts? “If he saw the political scene today, he would be surprised at the collapse of the Liberal Party,” says his biographer. This training, throughout his life, was “one of the essential vectors” of his society.
On the other hand, continues Michael Gauvreau, “he would not have been surprised by the type of nationalism of François Legault”, by this return “to a duplesist nationalism which does not move towards independence, which barely defends the principle of provincial autonomy.
For political scientist Guy Lachapelle, Claude Ryan remains “one of the great journalists” in the history of Quebec. He notes the strength of the editorial page of the Duty under his direction. “He knew how to weigh the pros and cons, produce analyzes and take a position. »
During the October crisis, The duty is “the only newspaper to have stood up to the defense of human rights”. Claude Ryan also had a deep interest in education, notes Mr. Lachapelle. He strongly defended the need for adult education. On the other hand, adds the political scientist, the cause he defended in the Liberal Party has been forgotten, to the extent that it was already almost dead. “He never succeeded in giving a special status to Quebec”, the materialization of this idea coming up against a political reality which was beyond him.