Quebec: Social Change and Political Crisis by Dale Posgate, and Kenneth McRoberts (review)

510 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW on 'the selfish whimsof the majorcities'(5o). The inevitableconclusion isthat the municipalpoliticians did notservetheir constituents well,wishing instead to maintaintheirlocalpowerfiefdoms . The second majorturningpointwasthecommitment bytheDouglas ccFgovernmentafterthewartodevelop aprovince-wide integrated system. Whilethegovernment 's commitment was less aggressive thanitmighthavebeenandnotunmarked by compromises withthecities resulting ininequities andinefficiencies, thefactremains that with the purchase of the Reginapowerutilityin •964 the provincefinally attainedan efficientandintegratedprovincialpowerand gassystem that encompassed bothrural andurbanareas. Professor Whiteamasses extensive technical detailin defenceof hisposition which, whileundoubtedly strengthening hisargument, makes for ratherheavy reading.A moresubstantial criticism couldbemadeof theauthor's somewhat cursory treatment of the abjectfailureof the Saskatchewan pressto defendtheinterests of provincial residents.All through the bookis evidenceof politicalpartisanship, inadequate reporting,anddubious editorializing in supportof narrowfactional interests that delayed forsolongthedevelopment ofreliable andefficient powerintheprovince. It issafetosaythattheconsumers of Saskatchewan deserved morethantheyreceived from their press.Giventhe currentcriticisms by the pressof the inadequacy of government policies atalllevels, itispertinenttoaskhowmanyofthese inadequacies areduetothepartisan interests of theselfsame press. Power for aProvince obviously gives nodefinitive answer, butitcertainly raises thequestion. PAUL PHILLIPS University ofManitoba Quebec: SocialChange andPoliticalCrisis.I)^i•wPOSe;aTE and •CwNNwTI-I •tCROBWRVS. Toronto,McClelland& Stewart,•976. Pp.viii,2•6. $4.95. In thisnewvolumein theCanadain Transitionseries, DalePosgate andKenneth McRoberts, bothassistant professors of politicalscience at York University,setout not onlyto bringusup to dateon the so-called Quebec'problem'but also,more importantly,to placetheir discussion in an historical and theoretical perspective involvingpoliticalmodernization andsocial andeconomic change. Their success in fulfillingthese twoobjectives, andparticularly thelatterone,makes thisbookoneof thebesttohaveappearedonQuebecin thepastdecade. In agreement withmoststudents of theperiod,theauthorsaffirmtheexistence of a 'lag'in politicalmodernization in pre-•96o Quebec.'The responsibilities of the Quebec government werenotexpanded tothedegree thatonewouldexpect, given thelevels of [social andeconomic] development,' theyexplain(89).Partoftheblame lieswiththenationalists: onlya minorityamongthemattempted to focus attention upontherealeconomic andsocial problems oftheirdayandeventhose fewgenerally failed (asAndr•-J. B•langer pointsout in hisApolitisme des ide'ologies qudbdcoises) to envisage recourse topolitical solutions, thusmakingiteasier forMaurice Duplessis to abandon rapidlythe•,i•Nprogramme aftercomingto powerin •936. (The reader REVIEWS 511 should recall, however,that other provincial'reformers' of the period, such as AberhartinAlbertaandHepburnin Ontario,changed theirspots quiteasrapidlyas Duplessis!) In additiontothenationalists, thegoverning •lite mustbearconsiderable responsibility forthe'lag'since itobviously was notcommitted topolitical modernization - and this is a considerable understatement. According toPosgate andMcRoberts, theQuietRevolution wascharacterized on the ideologicallevel by a 'long-avoidedreconciliation with socialand economic development.' Wesuspect, however, thatfurtherresearch maydemonstrate thatthe 'd•sormais'of PaulSauv•and the 'C'estle tempsquegachange'of the Liberalsin •96owerelargelysymbolic, sincegreatchanges, evenin therealmof ideology, had beenoccurringatleastsincetheSecond World War. What isnoteworthyisthatthe stateitselfnowembraced the newspiritof change,althoughthe Liberalswerefar fromguessing whatwouldresultwhentheyopenedPandora's box.The authorslink thechanges of thisperiodtotheinterests of certaincomponents of Quebecsociety, suchasthebureaucratic middleclass andtheeconomic •lite, andtheydemonstrate howthe newnationalism, insteadof inhibitingstateaction,nowstronglyencouragedit . For thoseattemptingto understandthecomplexities of present-day Quebec,the mostimportantresultof the Quiet Revolution,asideof coursefrom the newemphasis on ther61eof thestate,wastheethnicandsocial conflictthatit engendered. Bothethnicdivisions and class divisions, althoughfar from overlapping neatlyas sometheorists wouldhaveit, stirredupdiscontent withparticularpoliticalpartiesas wellaswiththepoliticalsystem itself.The Partiqu•b•coisgrewoutof thisdiscontent but suchconflictcouldin turn, particularlyif the •,q decidesto water down its programmeto attracta wider clientele,destroyor seriously weakenthe party. AlreadyMichelChartrandandothershavespokenoutin favourof thecreationof a genuineworking-class partythatwouldserveasavehiclefor socialism insteadof for whattheyterm,withconsiderable disdain, thebourgeois social democracy of the•,q. And while the left stresses the need for radicalization, more conservativeelements in the•'qmightwellcometofeelthatthesocial questions of ourera(themultiplicity of strikes, thepoorqualityof mass education) haveprimacyoverthenationalquestion; theymightstillsucceed in comingtogether withlike-minded federalists to form a Third Forcealthough atthiswriting,inAugust•976,such apossibility seems highly unlikely. In contrastto manyardent partisans of independence, the authorsentertainno notions of historical determinism: separatism isnotinevitable, theysay.Butitistheir opinionthat,'giventhesense of separateness of theQu•b•cois andtheeffectrs of modernization, independence is a distinctpossibility' (2•). And even if the struggleshouldfail, the authorswarnus,'the Canadianpoliticalsystem will most likelycontinueto be facedwith the deepalienationof a largesegment of Quebec Francophones, acondition sufficient to'frustrate thepolitical goals ofmany English Canadians' (x97). Scant treatment isaccorded tothewayinwhichEnglish Canada should reacttothe new Quebecand, indeed,suchis not the purposeof the book. Still, the authors declarethat'if federalism istosurvive, it mustcometotermswiththeproblemof the 512 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW newQuebec andnotrestonobsolete assumptions' (212).The readermustguess the meaningof those words.The authorsalsowarnthat'if English Canadians refuseor fail to recognize the validityof the Qu•b•coispointof view,then the prospects of resolving theQuebec problem arebadlyharmed'(11).Havingwitnessed thebitter disputeoverthe optionaluseof Frenchin conversations betweenFrench-speaking pilotsandFrench-speaking controllers in theprovince of Quebecandhavingseen muchevidence intheEnglish-speaking press of 'fatigue' withtheQuebec question, onecanhardlyaffordtobeoptimistic inthisregard. RICHARD JONES Universitd Laval TheWheel...