The name of René Lévesque resounds not only in the ulterior motives of politicians, the thoughts of separatists and the writings of historians. The echo of the man Quebecers nicknamed without malice Ti-Poil reverberates on the names of streets, boulevards, highways, even the names of waterways. He remains to this day the most honored Premier of Quebec in our towns and villages.
It is to believe that he holds the role of father of the nation. Like Lenin, whose name adorns the central thoroughfare of all Russian cities, “René-Lévesque Boulevard” exists in Saguenay, Gaspésie, Québec, Sherbrooke, Montréal and on both banks of the Saint -Laurent in the metropolitan area. Only Gatineau seems to resist its posthumous aura, as only a park and a small off-center street pay homage to it.
In all, his name comes up 42 times in Quebec, according to the list of the Commission de la toponymie, far ahead of the prime ministers who were his contemporaries. René Lévesque writes his name deeper in the history book than his great rival, Robert Bourassa.
Beware of the illusion of number in toponymy, nevertheless underlines the renowned geographer Henri Dorion. “The number of times a name appears does not always mean that one personality is more prized or honored than another, because place names have a natural tendency to multiply. » For example, « the name of “Quebec” was originally a city. But since then, dozens and dozens of toponyms have used Quebec in their name.
This is how the René-Lévesque house, in New Carlisle, is located on the street of the same name. Or that the René-Lévesque pavilion in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu is located in the homonymous park. Same refrain for the René-Lévesque highway which runs along the cities of the South Shore, adjoining a promenade and a monument to his effigy.
The names of public places serve as landmarks in space, but also in time. These reminders of the past reflect the importance given to such and such a part of history, explains Mr. Dorion “At home, we favor political figures. In France, for example, we honor a lot the characters of the artistic world, of the literary world. Over there, it is more varied in this respect. »
In any case, “it is almost always men” who are honoured, which recalls the sex of the story.
The cartography of the memory of René Lévesque transports us to the eponymous electoral district, on the North Shore, a merit reserved for a very small number of prime ministers. This radically transpartisan designation recalls its role in the erection of dams and reservoirs that criss-cross the territory. Even the offices of Élection Québec, in the national capital, bear the name of this democrat.
To all credit, all honor, the hydroelectric complex on La Grande-Rivière, in the Nord-du-Québec region, has been renamed Robert Bourassa, himself nicknamed the “father of James Bay”.
The time of baptism plays into the act of commemoration. The “old” prime ministers have the advantage of time. Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau and Lomer Gouin find their surnames today in the four corners of Quebec, not for their great legacy, but because they had the appropriateness to die before times marked by multiple building sites. .
The Dorchester case
It is good practice to wait a year after the death of an honorable character before dedicating a toponymic posterity to him. This rule was only informal in the case of René Lévesque.
Barely fifteen days after the last breath of the first PQ leader, the City of Montreal and its then mayor, Jean Doré, got under way to consecrate the deceased. They set their sights on Dorchester Boulevard (which, incidentally, was formerly called Grand chemin de la Haute Folie).
The path was all mapped out. Hydro-Québec and Radio-Canada — two institutions marked by the life of the late Prime Minister — have taken up residence there. It is an east-west axis symbolically quick to reconcile the two Canadian solitudes. What’s more, a first attempt to rename this artery had failed a few years earlier. Jean Drapeau had proposed in 1976 to turn it into Boulevard Alphonse-Desjardins, “a symbol of the economic and social renewal of Quebecers”. In short, everything was in place for “René-Lévesque” to become a link in Montreal.
A battlefield has opened up for the political imagination. René-Lévesque Boulevard was to cross Westmount, an English bastion. A line will eventually be drawn. The odonym will not cross the borders of this district, where Dorchester still has its place of memory.
Everything will be formalized on December 13, 1988, the same day that Dominion Square becomes Dorchester Square.
Robert Bourassa also got his Montreal section a few years later, in 2014, right downtown. We first thought of renaming Avenue du Parc, but without success. The chosen option gives a nod to history. The two lanes of Boulevard Robert-Bourassa separate just as they cross Boulevard René-Lévesque.