Quebec under Free Trade : Making Public Policy in North America

2. Quebec in North America: Historical and Socio-Political Dimensions

Quebec in North America : Historical and Socio-Political Dimensions Anne-Marie Cotter Concordia University This chapter will examine Quebec and its relationship with the United States and Canada over the centuries, from the 1700s until today. The author demonstrates that Quebec has sought through the years to forge its own identity, first within Canada and then alongside Canada on the international scene. While the relationship with Great Britain has never been a strong one, Quebec has turned to the United States, developing strong economic, political and social ties. Nationalism has moved Quebec away from Canada, to the point that it is now seeking a separate status, and continentalism, through foreign investment, trade and emigration, has moved Quebec closer to the United States to form international ties. Nationalism is defined as an "ideological movement for the attainment and maintenance of autonomy, cohesion and individuality for a social group deemed by some of its members to constitute an actual or potential nation" (Smith, 1976 : 1). A nation exists where a significant number of people consider themselves to be one and behave accordingly (Balthazar, 1993 : 93). Anthony Smith has stated that "all the evidence suggests that we shall be witnessing many more ethnic upsurges and nationalist movements in the decades to come" (Smith, 1983 : xxxvi). Quebec, like many other countries, is therefore following an international pattern, as it moves towards independence. Quebec, in trying to forge an identity within North America and the world, has tried to emphasize its goals : Quebecers have been a distinct people in North America for over four centuries, and wish to be seen for themselves and not through the Canadian prism ; Quebec is not a traditional society, but a modern industrial one with close ties to the United States ; Quebecers cannot be compared with the groups of recent immigrants in the United States, since they 26 Quebec under Free Trade have always spoken French and constitute a growing majority in the home society ; the French language of Quebec occupies a role in international relations ; and Quebecers are North Americans like all the others, adapted to their non-European society and sharing American mass culture and values (Thompson : 234). FROM PRECONQUEST TO CONFEDERATION : THE DEVELOPMENT OF QUEBEC Right from the early days, Quebec has been different from the rest of North America. The roots of what was once new France, and is now Quebec, were very different from those of the United States. Quebec was not formed by dissident groups seeking refuge, but was financed by ruling administrators of the French Court (Guindon, 1988 : 5). The inhabitants were soldiers, businessmen in the fur trade and immigrants with their own elites comprising the colonial administrators and the clergy (Guindon : 5). "The system of social institutions traditional to French Canadians was built upon rural society, financed by its economics, controlled by its own ethnic elite with a cultural flavour of its own." (Guindon : 17.) The traditional elites were the commanding institutions in French Canadian society, and the clergy especially was powerful and exercised ascendancy over the political and commercial spheres (Guindon : 19). During the American Revolution, the loyalties of the French Canadians and their clerical elite were pledged in exchange for political concessions, guaranteeing the preservation of the French language and the Catholic religion (Guindon : 45). Thus, the tradition of political guarantees for the cultural survival of French Canadians as a community was begun (Guindon : 45). The American severance provided the impetus that led the British Canadian nationalists to forge British North America (Guindon : 45). However, from the outset, French Canadians wanted their own separate identity. From Conquest to Confederation, the British took over the political and economic institutions, and the country witnessed a massive exodus of the middleclass entrepreneurs and political administrators of New France, with only the farmers and priests remaining (Guindon : 52). The future Quebec was a rural society with a clerical elite concerned with ethnic and religious survival (Guindon : 52). Interaction with the English political elite was mediated by the French elite in self-sufficient rural parishes (Guindon : 53). Quebec Nationalism Nationalism initially served to establish Quebec and preserve its French language and Catholic religion. Canada had an autonomous relationship with Britain and was un-American (Oliver, 1991 : 213). It wanted a separate identity, Quebec in North America : Historical and Socio-Political Dimensions 27 with little emphasis on ethnic or cultural ties. Contrary to the French-Canadian brand of nationalism, it wanted the preservation of...