Some Aspects of the Weaknesses of Quebec: A Geographical View

theses and official and semi-official studies dealing with the later history of economic relations between Canada and the West Indies. An extensive treatment of trading relations is M. A. Mcintyre's CanadaWest Indies Trade, 1961 (Oxford University thesis). 2. At present, neither bananas nor citrus are marketed by the West Indies in Canada. 3. Studies in Regional Economic Integration, Volumes I and II, Institute of Social and Economic Research, University of the West Indies, 1967. Dialogue: SOME ASPECTS OF THE WEAKNESSES OF QUEBEC: A GEOGRAPHICAL VIEW MAURICE J. SCARLETT In the August 1966 issue of this journal, Philippe Garigue discussed the strengths and weaknesses of Quebec at the present time. Since what he said, and what he left unsaid, are both important for policy making decisions in the province, and since, to those in other disciplines than his, the same problems look entirely different , perhaps a geographer may be permitted his version of the situation. Demographically, there can be no disagreement , Quebec contrasts with Ontario; and certainly the way in which Ontario's total population has, since 1850, outstripped that of Quebec by a million is significant. M. Garigue omits to mention that the explanation of this difference must take account of the heavy emigration, both to other provinces and to the United States,. of both French- and English-language Quebecers . Exactly what sort of people have emigrated is not easy to determine, and any exact quantified view must forever remain a dream; but such must not lead us into the error of discussing Quebec or any other populations purely in terms of their numbers. What matters as much is the Iournal of Canadian Studies 4. Report of the Tripartite Economic Survey of the Eastern Caribbean, April, 1966. 5. Social and Economic Studies, University of the West Indies, (forthcoming September, 1967). 6. Dollars refer throughout to Canadian dollars unless otherwise stated. 7. The base year for this calculation is 1956. This avoids the high prices of the Korean boom, 1950-53, the depressed conditions of 1958-59 and the high sugai prices of 1963. quality, both innate and developed, of those who go and those who stay - initiative, courage, imagination, mathematical aptitude, may be beyond exact measurement, but it would be as mistaken to ignore them as to suppose they do not exist. Technical competence is almost equally difficult to assess; and common measures, like the number of years spent in school, or the level of examinations taken or passed, represent extremely crude values of doubtful significance. Especially is this true in Quebec, where education under the French school system has traditionally been less oriented to science and technology than elsewhere; particularly for the elite of the classical colleges. In proportion to total populations in 1951 the French-speaking had more than their share of ministers of religion, judges and magistrates , teachers and veterinarians. By contrast the population of British ethnic origin had more than double their proportional share of a wide range of professions. With 13.7% of the Quebec labour force, they had over 60% of the electrical engineers, of mining engineers and chemists, and almost 60% of mechanical engineers. When one considers that ethnic groups other than French or British accounted for 14.6% of electrical engineers, 15.9% of mechanical engineers and 17.8% of mining engineers it is apparent how lopsided ethnically has been Quebec's higher technological staffing. However, if French Canadian education had been more firmly oriented to the technological needs of society, the incentive to migrate into the province would have 31 been lessened for many of the non-French immigrant minority. (The figures are taken from P. Allen, Occupations et origines ethniques, Revue Actualite Economique, 1962.) What price has French-speaking Quebec paid for diverting so many of her best brains into the church, the law and medicine, and away from engineering? How far has she suffered from a traditional rural policy of encouraging settlement on the land, irrespective of intellectual competence and according to the dictates of a social-religious order? Under this policy one son, frequently the ablest, inherits the family farm, whether or not it is, or can be made into, a viable economic unit. Can it...