Robert Bourassa

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Robert Bourassa
A portrait of Robert Bourassa, taken during his second term as premier of Quebec (1985–1994).
22nd and 25th Premier of Quebec
In office May 12, 1970 – November 25, 1976
Preceded by	Jean-Jacques Bertrand
Succeeded by	Rene Levesque
In office December 12, 1985 – January 11, 1994
Preceded by	Pierre-Marc Johnson
Succeeded by	Daniel Johnson Jr.
Born	July 14, 1933 Montreal, Quebec
Died	October 02 1996 (aged 63) Montreal, Quebec
Political party	Quebec Liberal Party
Profession	fiscal adviser, teacher, lawyer

Robert Bourassa (July 14, 1933 – October 2, 1996) was a politician in Quebec, Canada. He served as Liberal Premier of Quebec in two different mandates, first from May 12, 1970 to November 25, 1976, and then from December 12, 1985 to January 11, 1994.

Contents 1 Early years and Education 2 Political Life 2.1 First term 2.2 Second term 3 Final years 4 Quotations 5 Posthumous Homage 6 Parc Avenue Controversy 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Early years and Education

Robert Bourassa was born in Montreal in a working class family to Aubert Bourassa, a port authority worker, and Adrienne Courville.^[1] Robert Bourassa graduated from the Université de Montréal law school in 1956 and was admitted to the Barreau du Québec the following year. On August 23, 1958, he married Andrée Simard. Later, he studied at the University of Oxford and also obtained a degree in political economy at Harvard University in 1959-60. On his return to Québec, he was employed at the National Revenue Department as a fiscal adviser. He also worked as a professor in public finances at Université de Montréal and Laval University.

[edit] Political Life

[edit] First term

He was first elected as an MLA in 1966, then went on to lead the Liberal Party of Quebec on January 17, 1970. He positioned himself as a young, competent, administrator. He chose "100 000 jobs" as his slogan, which emphasized that jobs creation would be his priority. Bourassa felt the extensive hydro-electric resources of Quebec were the most effective means of completing the modernization of Quebec and sustaining job creation. His leadership in the James Bay Project (French: projet de la Baie James), which refers to the construction of a series of hydroelectric power stations in northern Quebec, would later become his most recognized feat. He successfully led his party into government in the 1970 election, defeating the conservative Union Nationale government^[2] and becoming the youngest Premier of Quebec.

One of his first crises as Premier of Quebec happened during the October Crisis of 1970 in which his labour minister Pierre Laporte was kidnapped and murdered. It was Pierre Trudeau who pushed the Premier of Quebec, Bourassa, to declare a state of emergency^{[citation needed]}, which resulted in the Canadian army patrolling the streets of major cities in Quebec and in the national capital, Ottawa. After Laporte's kidnapping, Bourassa barricaded himself and his cabinet behind heavy layers of security.

Bourassa and Trudeau often clashed over issues of federal-provincial relations and Quebec nationalism with Trudeau opposing what he saw as concessions to sovereignism. Trudeau also looked down on Bourassa personally, once referring to him as a mangeur d'hot dog (a hot dog eater), though Trudeau later admitted in his TV biography that the comment was a friendly poke at Bourassa's habit of bringing this choice of food to meetings, saying that the original sentence was more like "Bourassa brought his hot dogs, we are ready to talk."

During his time in power, Bourassa implemented policies aimed at protecting the status of the French language in Quebec. In 1974, he introduced Bill 22, the first legislation designed to strengthen the position of French within Quebec. However, this legislation was soon superseded by the Charter of the French Language also known as Bill 101, introduced by the Parti Québécois government that replaced him in 1976. By making French the official language of Quebec, Quebec was no longer institutionally bilingual (English and French). Many businesses and professionals were unable to operate under such requirements and an estimated 300,000 emigrated to neighbouring Ontario, enabling Toronto to overtake Montreal as the business capital of Canada. Bill 22 angered Anglophones while not going far enough for many Francophones; Bourassa was vilified by both groups and lost the 1976 election in a landslide.

Bourassa initiated the James Bay hydroelectric project in 1971 that led to the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement of 1975 with the Cree and Inuit inhabitants of the region. The Bourassa government also played a major role in rescuing the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal from the huge cost overruns and construction delays incurred by the mismanagement of the project by mayor Drapeau's administration. However, Bourassa was accused of simply throwing money to bail out the Montreal Olympics without taking the much-needed steps of providing additional oversight, and his government became embroiled in corruption scandals that led to his 1976 defeat.

Bourassa lost the 1976 Quebec provincial election to René Lévesque, leader of the separatist Parti Québécois. When Bourassa lost his own seat in the National Assembly, he described himself as "having his head chopped off, with people still looking for it." Bourassa resigned as Liberal Party leader, and accepted teaching positions in Europe and the United States. He remained in political exile until 1983 when he returned to provincial politics. He subsequently returned to politics as Liberal leader on October 15, 1983, and regained the office of premier in the 1985 election.

[edit] Second term

In his second term, he invoked the notwithstanding clause of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to override a Supreme Court of Canada ruling that declared parts of the Charter of the French Language unconstitutional, causing some English-speaking ministers in his government to resign. A few years later, however, he introduced modifications to the language charter. These compromises reduced the controversy over language that had been a dominant feature of Quebec politics over the previous decades. The majority of Quebecers reached a consensus on accepting the new status quo.

Bourassa also pushed for Quebec to be acknowledged in the Canadian constitution as a "distinct society", promising Quebecers that their grievances could be resolved within Canada with a new constitutional deal. Early in his first time in office, he participated in an early attempt at constitutional reform, the Victoria Charter of 1971, which quickly unravelled when Bourassa backed away from the proposed deal after it was strongly criticized by Quebec opinion leaders for not protecting Quebec's traditional veto power on constitutional amendments. In his second time in office, he worked closely with federal Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and received many concessions from the federal government, culminating in the Meech Lake Accord and the Charlottetown Accord. When both of these accords failed to be ratified, the constitutional reform efforts collapsed, reviving the separatist movement.

[edit] Final years

Bourassa retired from politics in 1994 in poor health and having lost the popularity that had returned him to the premier's office. He was replaced as Liberal leader and premier by Daniel Johnson, Jr., who lost an election to the separatist Parti Québécois after only nine months.

In 1996, he died in Montreal of skin cancer at the age of 63, and was interred at the Cimetière Notre-Dame-des-Neiges in Montreal, Quebec.

[edit] Quotations

• No matter what anyone says and no matter what anyone does, Quebec is, today and forever, a distinct society, free and capable of assuming its destiny and development. (listen) (watch excerpts of original speech) (watch English dubbing) Speech given on June 22, 1990, at the National Assembly, in the wake of the Meech Lake Accord's demise.

[edit] Posthumous Homage

• A statue and a memorial of Bourassa was unveiled in front of the National Assembly on October 19, 2006. [1]
• The city of Quebec has renamed highway Du Vallon, a major road in Quebec city, after Bourassa in late 2006.

[edit] Parc Avenue Controversy

• On October 18, 2006 Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay announced that Montreal's Parc Avenue would be named after Bourassa.[2]
• On November 28 the Montreal city council voted in favour (40-22) of renaming Parc Avenue after Bourassa.[3]
• If, as had been expected, Quebec's Toponymy Commission had approved the name change, all of Parc Avenue and its continuation, Bleury, would have been renamed Avenue Robert Bourassa. This would have caused the newly named street to intersect René Lévesque Boulevard, named after a long time political rival to Bourassa. That boulevard, in turn, had been renamed from Dorchester Boulevard in 1987, in a decision that was also not without controversy.[4]

• This decision by the City of Montreal without any consultation with the people of the city caused an immediate controversy[5], though many of those opposed to the change considered it a fait accompli[6].
• The proposal spawned substantial grass-roots opposition, both because of the lack of prior citizen input and because Parc is itself a meaningful street name, associated with the city's Mount Royal park.[7]
• In addition to protests and active opposition by a committee of Montreal residents and businesses opposed to the name change, an online petition garnered more than 18,000 virtual signatures against this renaming. The petition is now closed
• On February 5, 2007, Montreal mayor Gerald Tremblay withdrew his proposal to rename Parc Avenue.^[3]

[edit] See also

• Robert Bourassa's speech on the end of the Meech Lake Accord
• Politics of Quebec
• List of Quebec Premiers
• Quebec general elections
• Timeline of Quebec history
• Prime Minister nicknaming in Quebec
• Les Boubou Macoutes

[edit] References

1. ^ (French) Robert BOURASSA. Assemblée Nationale (French). Retrieved on August 31, 2006.
2. ^ Downey, Donn. Former premier fought for Quebec, A14. The Globe & Mail, October 3, 1996.
3. ^ Montreal mayor drops plan to rename Parc Avenue. Retrieved on February 6, 2007.

[edit] External links

• National Assembly biography (in French)
• The Trickster: Robert Bourassa and Quebeckers 1990-1992 JF Lisée book on Bourassa available online on Google Print.
• CBC Digital Archives: Robert Bourassa: Political Survivor

Preceded by Jean-Jacques Bertrand	Premier of Quebec 1970-1976	Succeeded by René Lévesque
Preceded by Pierre-Marc Johnson	Premier of Quebec 1985-1994	Succeeded by Daniel Johnson, Jr
Preceded by Jean Lesage	Leader of the Quebec Liberal Party 1970-1976	Succeeded by Gérard D. Lévesque
Preceded by Gérard D. Lévesque	Leader of the Quebec Liberal Party 1983-1994	Succeeded by Daniel Johnson, Jr.