Jean Lesage and the Quiet Revolution by Dale C. Thomson (review)

424 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW puttingJosephReaumeinto his cabinetand endeavouring to seethat Francophones werelesseconomically marginalized showed sufficient sensitivity .The 'bilingualschools question,' whichfirstblewup in •91•, wrecked muchof whathe and OtherOntarianshad recentlyachievedin promotinga morepluralistic understanding of thecountry. Clearly,Whitneywasa mostsuccessful politician, onewhocapturedwell over5øpercentofthepopularvoteinfourelections. Butwas heasprogressive asthe author claims?Indeed, the intellectual foundations and variablesof the so-called progressive eraarenotanalysed. He does stress Whitney's rejection of thenon-expanding Methodist church's dogmatic thrustforpublic prohibition of alcohol, amiditsgrowingurbanecommitment to liberaltheology andto social reform. HumphriesdoesadmitWhitney'sblindness onallaspects of the women's question; thepremiersimply couldnotunderstand themovement for femalesuffrage. He doesnot,however, dealwithWhitney's shortcomings with regardto sustained-yield forestconservation, and the smallbut growing preservationist lobbyisnotevenmentioned.Earlierachievements inparksand forestreserves were largely frittered awayin the face of commitmentto middle-class democracy, liberalcapitalism, unrestraineddevelopment, and cheap energy.We arestillpayingtheprice.Eventhemassive 191•,northern boundary extension isseenastotallyappropriate. But perhapsthissays moreaboutthe reviewerthan aboutthissplendid volume. The longwaitfor CharlesHumphries'Whitney hasbeenworthit. BRUCE HODGINS TrentUniversity JeanLesage andtheQuietRevolution. t)^LF. C. THOMSON. Toronto: Macmillan •984.Pp.x, 5Ol.$a9.95 Since theQuiet Revolutionbegan,commentators of all stripes havebusilyset outtocharacterize it.Foroneobserver, pessimistic overthefateoftheCatholic church,it signified 'quietapostasy,' whileanother,at the otherendof the ideological spectrum, portrayed it asa periodof 'quietdisillusion.' Stillother analysts perceived a'culturalmutation,'theendof the'MiddleAges,' theriseof a newclass, or thebeginning of a marchtowards independence. And to my farmerneighbour in L'Islet,anenthusiastic Duplessis supporter, itmeantthat hecouldnolongertelephone thelocalUnionNationale organizer toobtaina freeloadof gravelfor a muddylaneway in the spring. Although everyone appeared interested in interpretingtheQuietRevolution ,noonereallysetouttochronicle it,todescribe itsmajoraccomplishments. That, in a nutshell,isProfessor Thomson's contribution to knowledge of the field.Thomsonenjoyedaccess to Lesage's privatepapersand carriedout 'literally hundreds' of interviews.Unfortunately, with the exceptionof published materials, newspapers, andafewspeeches, theauthordoes notgive his sources. REVIEWS 425 Theplanmightappearawkward andalittleunwieldy tomanyreaders. On theonehand,Thomsonwantedtowriteabiography of Lesage andportrayhis roleasheadof theQuebecLiberalgovernment from •96o until •966. Buton theotherhand,theauthorsought todescribe 'inconsiderable detail'themajor reforms of thatgovernment. He undoubtedly feltthat,werehetointegratehis morethan3oopagesof dense,fact-packed, statistics-laden materialon the economy, education, the civilservice, federal-provincial relations, Quebec's links withFrance, andsoonintothebiographical portion, Lesage wouldsimply have been buried under the avalanche of information. Thomson's Lesage of coursehasoutstanding qualities.He isintelligent, energetic, ambitious, eloquent. His'sense of responsibility' and'hisinstinct for leadership' madehimeagertorealizehismajorobjective: 'themodernization ofQuebec.' He evenratesacomparison withChurchill.Buthehadhisfaults, too:hewas arrogant,egocentric, irascible, andoftenunabletocontrolacabinet studded withpublicity-seeking stars andfrequently racked bydissension. Moreover, Lesage's alcoholism sadlybecame moreserious astimepassed. It mightberegrettedthat,after somuchdescription, theauthorhasnot seen fittodomoreinterpreting. Hischapters rarelyhavesummaries, andeven thegeneral conclusion attheendof thebookserves mainlytodescribe Lesage's post-•966activities.Still, it is obviousthat Thomson'sview of the Quiet Revolution ishighlyfavourable.He sees it ashavingunleashed the energies andambitions of Quebec's people,'stirringrestlessly afteralmost continuous conservative leadership extending backtothefoundation of thecolony more thanthreecenturies earlier.'Thisvision probably coincides withthefavourable views of mostof Quebec's 'intelligentsia.' Of course, thereformsmodernized Quebec, improvedin manywaysthelotof Francophones, andputanendto some of thedetestable practices of theDuplessis years. But,measured against theirpromises, theycertainly hadtheirfailings too.Nowthataquartercentury haselapsed, it istimefor areinterpretation of theQuietRevolution, bothinits immediate consequences, described in Thomson's book,andin itslong-term effects. RIC•^RD jo•v.s Universitd Laval TheSmallwoodEra. Fm•Dv. RXCI{ w. Rowv.. Toronto:McGraw-HillRyerson•984. Pp.249.$34.95 It isperhaps because wehavecometoexpectsomuchof historian-statesman Frederick Rowethatthisvolumefailsto measure up to expectations. Rowe's goalis to tell the 'inside'storyand therebyrestoresomebalanceto the interpretation of theSmallwood erawhichin recentyearshasbeena fertile fieldfor revisionist scholars. To dispelvarious'myths,'Rowerecounts the events surrounding Confederation and chronicles the achievements of the Smallwood administration in industry,education, culture,andsocial welfare. ...