The Quiet Revolution was a period of tremendous social and economic change in Quebec society that redefined the role of Quebec and French Canadians within the Confederation of Canada. The underlying belief in Quebec during the Quiet Revolution was that French Canadians played a subordinate role in socio-political and socio-economic matters in Canada and that reform of Quebec society was only attainable through the utilisation of Quebec to drive change. Jean Lesage, the elected Liberal Premier of Quebec in 1960, dispelled “Le Grande Noirceur” that the Union Nationale had previously disseminated in Quebec society and which had left Quebec behind the rest of Canada in education, health, and jobs. The Union Nationale, led by Maurice Duplessis,
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The Liberals believed education should be a right for all citizens, as opposed to a luxury for the few elite. Lesage made education his top priority, as he believed that education played a central role in the modernization of Quebec and would serve as an instrument of liberation for French Canadians. The Quebec government established the Royal Commission of Inquiry on Education, known as the Parent Commission, to determine the educational needs of the population and the steps necessary to achieve these requirements. Between 1963 and 1966, the Parent Commission composed a prodigious five-volume report. On March 16, 1964, legislation founded on the Parent Commission was passed as Bill 60. Although the law retained the principle of denominational schools, the Bill dismantled the infrastructure of the Ministry of Public Instruction and established a provincial Ministry of Education led by cabinet minister Paul Gerin-Lajoie that was the height of the secularization movement in Quebec. In September 1964, Gerin-Lajoie introduced "Operation 55" through which the number of Catholic school boards was reduced from 1 500 to 55, and the number of Protestant school boards was set at nine. In 1960, only 57 percent of the 13 to 16-year-old age group attended school, whereas in 1965, this figure had rose to 80 percent as a result of the Parent educational initiatives. Quebec’s preeminent …show more content…
The Quiet Revolution emboldened Quebec society and transformed Quebec from the least taxed Canadian province to the most taxed and heavily indebted province within a period of six years, seeing the debt in Quebec rise by more than 300 percent. The energies and hopes released by the Quiet Revolution disturbed the foundation of Canada and is still felt today in the nationalist movement and in the multitude of reforms of society accomplished during the revolution. Some Quebec nationalists, such as René Levesque elaborated on some of the precepts of the Quiet Revolution, to create the Parti Québécois and other nationalist and social movements. The unparalleled changes brought about during the Lesage regime transformed Quebec from a stagnant province during the Duplessis era to a leader of change and reform in
The Liberals believed education should be a right for all citizens, as opposed to a luxury for the few elite. Lesage made education his top priority, as he believed that education played a central role in the modernization of Quebec and would serve as an instrument of liberation for French Canadians. The Quebec government established the Royal Commission of Inquiry on Education, known as the Parent Commission, to determine the educational needs of the population and the steps necessary to achieve these requirements. Between 1963 and 1966, the Parent Commission composed a prodigious five-volume report. On March 16, 1964, legislation founded on the Parent Commission was passed as Bill 60. Although the law retained the principle of denominational schools, the Bill dismantled the infrastructure of the Ministry of Public Instruction and established a provincial Ministry of Education led by cabinet minister Paul Gerin-Lajoie that was the height of the secularization movement in Quebec. In September 1964, Gerin-Lajoie introduced "Operation 55" through which the number of Catholic school boards was reduced from 1 500 to 55, and the number of Protestant school boards was set at nine. In 1960, only 57 percent of the 13 to 16-year-old age group attended school, whereas in 1965, this figure had rose to 80 percent as a result of the Parent educational initiatives. Quebec’s preeminent …show more content…
The Quiet Revolution emboldened Quebec society and transformed Quebec from the least taxed Canadian province to the most taxed and heavily indebted province within a period of six years, seeing the debt in Quebec rise by more than 300 percent. The energies and hopes released by the Quiet Revolution disturbed the foundation of Canada and is still felt today in the nationalist movement and in the multitude of reforms of society accomplished during the revolution. Some Quebec nationalists, such as René Levesque elaborated on some of the precepts of the Quiet Revolution, to create the Parti Québécois and other nationalist and social movements. The unparalleled changes brought about during the Lesage regime transformed Quebec from a stagnant province during the Duplessis era to a leader of change and reform in