René Lévesque (August 24, 1922 – November 1, 1987) was a Canadian politician and journalist who served as the 23rd premier of Quebec from 1976 to 1985. He was the first Québécois political leader since Confederation to seek, through a referendum, a mandate to negotiate the political independence of Quebec. Starting his career as a reporter, and radio and television host, he later became known for his eminent role in Quebec's nationalization of hydro-electric companies and as an ardent defender of Quebec sovereignty. He was the founder of the Parti Québécois, and before that, a Liberal minister in the Lesage government from 1960 to 1966.
Lévesque was born in Campbellton, New Brunswick, on August 24, 1922. He was raised in New Carlisle, Quebec, on the Gaspé Peninsula, by his parents, Diane (née Dionne) and Dominic Lévesque, a lawyer. He had three younger siblings: André, Fernand and Alice. His father died when Lévesque was 14 years old.
Lévesque attended the Séminaire de Gaspé and the Saint-Charles-Garnier College in Quebec City, both of which were run by the Jesuits. He studied for a law degree at Université Laval in Quebec City, but left the university in 1943 without having completed the degree. One of his classmates at Laval later recounted that Lévesque had been smoking in class, and refused to apologize to the professor, Louis-Philippe Pigeon, who refused to allow him back to class. Lévesque left, saying he really only wanted to write, not practise law. He worked as an announcer and news writer at the radio station CHNC in New Carlisle, as a substitute announcer for CHRC during 1941 and 1942, and then at CBV in Quebec City.
During 1944–1945, he served as a liaison officer and war correspondent for the U.S. Army in Europe. He reported from London while it was under regular bombardment by the Luftwaffe, and advanced with the Allied troops as they pushed back the German army through France and Germany. Throughout the war, he made regular journalistic reports on the airwaves and in print. He was with the first unit of Americans to reach Dachau concentration camp.
In 1947, he married Louise L'Heureux, with whom he had two sons and a daughter. Lévesque worked as a reporter for the CBC's French-language section in the international service. He again served as a war correspondent for the CBC in the Korean War in 1952. After that, he was offered a career in journalism in the United States, but decided to stay in Canada.
From 1956 to 1959, Lévesque became famous in Quebec for hosting a weekly television news program on Radio-Canada called Point de Mire.
Lévesque covered international events and major labour struggles between workers and corporations that dogged the Union Nationale government of Premier Maurice Duplessis culminating with a great strike in 1957 at the Gaspé Copper Mine in Murdochville. The Murdochville strike was a milestone for organized labour in Quebec as it resulted in changes to the province's labour laws.
While working for the public television network, he became personally involved in the broadcasters' strike that lasted 68 tumultuous days beginning in late 1958. Lévesque was arrested during a demonstration in 1959, along with union leader Jean Marchand and 24 other demonstrators.
In 1960, Lévesque entered politics as a star candidate and was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Quebec in the 1960 election as a Liberal Party member in the riding of Montréal-Laurier. In the government of Jean Lesage, he served as minister of hydroelectric resources and public works from 1960 to 1961, and minister of natural resources from 1961 to 1965. While in office, he played a pivotal role in the nationalization of hydroelectric companies, greatly expanding Hydro-Québec, one of the reforms that was part of the Quiet Revolution.
From 1965 to 1966, he served as minister of family and welfare. Lévesque, with his friend Eric Kierans, the Quebec minister of health, was heavily involved in negotiations with the Government of Canada to fund both Quebec and federal mandates for social programs.
In a surprise, the Liberals lost the 1966 election to the Union Nationale but Lévesque retained his own seat of Laurier. Believing that the Canadian federation was doomed to fail, Lévesque began to openly champion separation from Canada as part of the Liberal platform at the upcoming party conference. Kierans, who had been elected party president, led the movement against the motion, with future premier Robert Bourassa attempting to mediate the dispute before siding with Kierans. The resolution was handily defeated, and Lévesque walked out with his followers.
Founding of the Parti Québécois
After leaving the Liberal Party, he founded the Mouvement Souveraineté-Association (MSA). In contrast to more militant nationalist movements, such as Pierre Bourgault's Rassemblement pour l'Indépendance Nationale (RIN), the party eschewed direct action and protest and attempted instead to appeal to the broader electorate, whom Lévesque called "normal people". The main contention in the first party conference was the proposed policy toward Quebec's Anglophone minority; Lévesque faced down heavy opposition to his insistence that English schools and language rights be protected.
The election of hardline federalist Pierre Trudeau as Prime Minister, and the politically damaging riot instigated by the RIN when he appeared at the St. Jean Baptiste Day parade of 1968, led to the sovereignty movement coming together. The MSA merged with another party in the Quebec sovereignty movement, the Ralliement National of Gilles Grégoire, to create the Parti Québécois (PQ) in 1968. At Lévesque's insistence, RIN members were permitted to join but not accepted as a group.
The Parti Québécois gained 25 per cent of the vote in the 1970 election, running on a platform of declaring independence if government was formed. The PQ only won six seats, and Lévesque continued to run the party from Montreal by communicating with the caucus in Quebec City.
The 1973 election saw a large Liberal victory, and created major tensions within the party, especially after Lévesque was unable to gain a seat. A quarrel with House Leader Robert Burns almost ended Lévesque's leadership shortly thereafter.
Lévesque and his party won a landslide victory at the 1976 election, with Lévesque finally re-entering the Assembly as the member for Taillon in downtown Longueuil. His party assumed power with 41.1 per cent of the popular vote and 71 seats out of 110, and even managed to unseat Bourassa in his own riding. Lévesque became premier of Quebec ten days later. The night of Lévesque's acceptance speech included one of his most famous quotations: "I never thought that I could be so proud to be Québécois."
His government's signature achievement was the Quebec Charter of the French Language (introduced in the legislature and still colloquially known as Bill 101), whose stated goal was to make French "the normal and everyday language of work, instruction, communication, commerce and business". In its first enactment, it reserved access to English-language public schools to children whose parents had attended English school in Quebec. All other children were required to attend French schools in order to encourage immigrants to integrate themselves into the majority francophone culture. Lévesque was more moderate on language than some of the PQ, including the language minister, Camille Laurin. He would have resigned as leader rather than eliminate English-language public schools, as some party members proposed. Bill 101 also made it illegal for businesses to put up exterior commercial signs in a language other than French at a time when English dominated as a commercial and business language in Quebec.