Before becoming an independentist, the former premier of Quebec, Jacques Parizeau (1930-2015), was a federalist, and had always been. It was during a long cross-Canada rail journey in 1967 that Mr. Parizeau was struck by the obvious: the possibility of making Quebec an independent country.
Obviously, it wasn’t just the author of the famous Harry Potter series, JK Rowling, who was brilliantly inspired by a train journey: the one nicknamed “Mister” was too. He also recounted the details of this story in the introduction to his book. For a sovereign Quebec (VLB, 1997).
Before that year, the only text that the young economist, a graduate of the London School of Economics, had written on the subject of “separatism” was at the request of André Laurendeau, then editor-in-chief of the Duty. In 1961, in fact, after the publication of the political essay by the independence activist Marcel Chaput, Why I am a separatistthe newspaper’s editorial board considered that it was “high time to engage in a critical examination of the separatist idea.”
In the process, four studies produced by different specialists, “French-Canadian academics,” were published, each offering their point of view according to their given expertise. Responding to the newspaper’s invitation, Jacques Parizeau offered his economic analysis “as a technician,” Monsieur finding himself “at the antipodes of this kind of concern.”
Mr. Parizeau’s text appeared on the front page of DutyFriday, November 24, 1961, accompanied by a photo of the author, then aged 31.
Intellectual straitjacket
In 1967, however, Jacques Parizeau had been an advisor to the Office of the Premier of Quebec for several years, working with Daniel Johnson Sr. among others. It was in this context that he was “invited to give a lecture in Banff on the perennial problem of Canadian federalism.”
So there he was, in October 1967, boarding a “train to the West,” “with the endless forests of northern Ontario as a backdrop.” Having been too busy in the weeks leading up to his speech, Mr. Parizeau had not had time to prepare his speech or even to jot down some ideas on paper. But he comforted himself by telling himself that “over the three days of the journey, [il aura] peace and all the time needed for [s]and prepare.” And that’s what he did.
Once on board the train, Mr. Parizeau began the work of preparing for his conference in Alberta. By drawing up, among other things, “the list of powers that Quebec should agree to hand over to Ottawa,” he began to write the first lines of his speech: “The first paragraphs of my conference in Banff still reflected a federalist point of view. The long technical analysis that I am writing while crossing the Prairies is freeing me from the intellectual straitjacket that has been mine for so many years.” Long live the Prairies! one feels like exclaiming when reading this passage.
Now freed from the dominant federalist “intellectual straitjacket”, Jacques Parizeau never looked back. On the contrary. The further this journey progressed, the clearer his thinking became. And as he approached his destination, the outcome of his speech emerged clearly, an inevitable and final resolution: “On arriving in the Rockies, the conclusion falls, inescapable: deep down, Quebec will perhaps become an independent country.”
Visionary
It was incredibly while crossing Canada that Jacques Parizeau became a sovereignist, revealing himself first to himself. From then on, there was no longer any doubt in his eyes: “A people, a nation, a country must have a government, a real one.” “If, therefore, for Quebecers, it is unthinkable that their real government be in Ottawa, then let it be in Quebec!”
Further, Mr. Parizeau adds: “I became a sovereignist to ensure that a real government is established in a real country, a country where people are responsible for themselves and where leaders cannot absolve each other of their responsibilities.”
A true visionary and an illustrious economist of international reputation, Jacques Parizeau saw the many advantages, particularly socio-economic, that the independence of Quebec would bring to the Quebec people.
A brilliant and particularly intelligent man, Jacques Parizeau was without a doubt one of the greatest builders of modern Quebec. Born on August 9, 1930, Jacques Parizeau would have celebrated his 94e anniversary today. In his memory, it would be high time to (re)board this train for the independence of Quebec in order to have a real country, led by a real government.
More than anything, Monsieur ardently desired the emancipation of the Quebec people, the recognition of the Quebec nation, yes, the realization of a sovereign Quebec. “We spit in our hands and start again.”