This summer, René Lévesque would have been 100 years old. Until August 24th, anniversary date, The duty highlights on all its platforms the memory of the founder of the Parti Québécois, one of the greatest prime ministers in the history of Quebec.
1977 — Socio-economic summits
When the PQ came to power, tensions ran high in the labor market. Each Quebec employee has an average of nearly two strike days each year, more than double what is observed in Ontario. The creation of socio-economic summits — an initiative overseen by Bernard Landry, Minister of Economic Development — aims to calm the game between economic players. The decree of the Executive Council then presents the initiative as a means “of seeking as broad a consensus as possible” to ensure economic development. In the spring of 1977, about 130 participants will meet at the Manoir Richelieu for the first summit: bosses, politicians, unions, representatives of cooperative and agricultural circles.
1977 — Protection of French
The Lévesque government made the protection of French one of its priorities as soon as it came to power. The adoption of the Charter of the French language (“Law 101”) in 1977 made French the language of the State, the courts, education, commerce and business, but also the normal and usual language of the work. It supervises public display and commercial advertising in order to give preponderance to the language of Molière. A year later, Bud Cullen, federal Minister of Immigration, and Jacques Couture, his Quebec counterpart, signed a federal-provincial agreement on immigration. This agreement gives Quebec powers of selection in matters of immigration, particularly with regard to the language of newcomers.
1978 — Quebec automobile insurance
Passed in 1978, the Automobile Insurance Act created a no-fault insurance system. From that moment, indemnities are established by the indemnity plan of the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec. The need for this law, René Lévesque explains in Wait until I remember… for a multitude of reasons, including the fact that the indemnities did not adequately cover certain accidents: “With the result that one vehicle in five was driving without insurance, like a time bomb. “A law that almost never saw the light of day due to dissension within the cabinet of ministers. “I had remained almost alone to resist in the company of Lise Payette […] [qui] drummed up a furious campaign which won the day”.
1978 — Farmland Protection
More than 20,000 hectares of soil with high agricultural potential were eaten away by urbanization between 1964 and 1975, according to a study by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs carried out at the start of the PQ’s mandate. It was to curb this bleeding that the Minister of Agriculture, Jean Garon, introduced the Act respecting the protection of agricultural land and activities (1978) and the Act respecting the acquisition of agricultural land by non-residents (1979 ). These do not only regulate the agricultural vocation of the land, but also what takes place as activities on the arable land which represents 2% of the territory of the province. The objective: to protect the territory. The same is true of other initiatives such as the “declubing” in 1977, ie the end of the exclusive rights of private hunting and fishing clubs which then had control over part of the forest and the lakes.
1979 — Stock Savings Plan
Introduced in 1979, the Stock Savings Plan (SSP) offers Quebecers and businesses in the province the opportunity to deduct tax on their income based on their investments in the purchase of shares of companies in here. The objective is twofold: to reduce taxpayers’ bills while stimulating Quebec businesses. Jacques Parizeau, Minister of Finance, explains that the goal “is to invest in Quebec, rather than in Nassau, Florida or Alberta. Investing in Quebec will pay more. A tool among others that the Lévesque government will offer over the years to facilitate savings. In 1982, he created the Corvée-Habitation program to finance the purchase of a house at favorable interest rates. The following year, the Fonds de solidarité de la FTQ was created.
1982 — Supervision of State employees
The global recession of the early 1980s severely shook the Quebec economy. The unemployment rate exceeds 15%, inflation is moving above 10% and interest rates are hovering around 20%. In 1982, a year before the expiry of the collective agreements for 320,000 employees in the public and parapublic sector, the Lévesque government opted for the hard line. Bill 70 provides for the retroactive cancellation of promised salary increases that came into effect a few months earlier. As for him, Bill 105 imposes the working conditions of his employees for the next three years. Finally, Bill 111 forced the 80,000 teachers to return to work or face individual fines. This is the breaking point between the Lévesque government and the labor world.