1942: Quebec

The conscription issue continued to overshadow all others in Quebec during 1942. Opposition to conscription in Quebec is traditional. It provoked serious political difficulties in World War I and has constantly plagued the Dominion Government of Prime Minister Mackenzie King. In fact, it was largely because of Quebec's opposition that the Prime Minister promised before the 1940 general elections that he would never resort to conscription for overseas service in this war. In the plebìscite held on Apr. 27, 1942 on the Prime Minister's request for release from this commitment, Quebec alone of Canada's provinces voted against the proposal. Whereas the vote in Canada as a whole was better than three to two in favor of releasing Mr. King from his promise, Quebec voted against conscription by nearly three to one. In Montreal the vote was fairly even: 191,000 voting 'yes' and 202,000 'no.' But in the city of Quebec there were only 12,000 votes in favor of conscription as against 41,000 opposed. In some of the rural parliamentary districts the 'no' majority was as high as 30 to 1 and 40 to 1.

The rift between Quebec and the remainder of the country over the conscription issue was widened on May 11 by the resignation from the Cabinet of P. J. A. Cardin, Minister of Public Works and Transportation and leader of the French-Canadian Liberals. Although previously only eleven of Quebec's sixty-four Liberal members had openly opposed conscription, it was feared that the majority of the province's representatives would follow Cardin's lead. By the end of July, however, when the conscription measure came up for a vote in Parliament, Cardin went a long way toward healing the breach that had developed by declaring that when the overseas military service law was passed, Quebec would obey it. Although opposition has persisted, the law has generally been accepted. An undoubted factor in tempering the opposition was the naming, on Oct. 7, of three prominent French-Canadians — Maj. Gen. L. R. LaFlèche, Ernest Bertrand, and Alphonse Fournier — to represent Quebec in the Dominion Government. At the same time Thomas Vien, Liberal member of the House from Montreal Outremont, was appointed to the Senate.

Liberals captured both Quebec seats contested in the Parliamentary by-elections held on Feb. 9. In Quebec, Louis St. Laurent, newly appointed Minister of Justice, won by a 3,873 majority from Paul Bouchard of the Canada party. In St. Mary, Montreal, Gaspard Fauteux won easily. Two other by-elections were contested on Nov. 30. In the Outremont district of Montreal, Major General LaFlèche, the new Minister of War Services, won easily on an all-out war platform, but in Charlevoix-Saguenay the Liberal candidate was defeated by an independent.

In one of several prosecutions of prominent leaders under the Defense of Canada regulations, Rene Chaloult, a Liberal member of the Quebec Legislative Assembly, was released on Aug. 3 after trial for a bitter attack against the Government contained in a speech delivered in Montreal on May 19. In rendering the decision, Judge Archambault condemned the speech as a clear violation of the law but pointed out that there was 'possible doubt as to the lack of good faith.'

Figures issued early in 1942 showed the population of Quebec to be 3,319,640 in 1941 as against 2,874,774 in 1931, a gain of 442,986. Under Section 51 of the British North America Act, Quebec retains sixty-five seats in the House of Commons, and the size of the House was adjusted downward because the population growth of the country as a whole was less than that of Quebec.

1941: Quebec

The whole-hearted cooperation of Quebec's French Canadian population in the war effort continued to be one of the most striking results of the war on Canadian life. Prior to the war, it will be recalled, Quebec was ruled by a native fascist group headed by ex-Premier Duplessis which was all but in open revolt against the Dominion Government. It was widely predicted that the province would not support the Dominion in the event of a war with Germany. Yet throughout 1941, except for minor difficulties, Quebec demonstrated complete loyalty to the Crown.

Although public opinion in Quebec continued to oppose conscription for overseas service, the province provided more than its share of volunteers. In the great two-month campaign for recruits for the overseas army which ended in mid-July, Quebec contributed well over a seventh of the total number of men recruited throughout the country and exceeded its quota by some 20 per cent. This somewhat unexpected response on the part of Quebec went a long way toward quieting the demand for conscription which had arisen in the other provinces. Quebec also participated fully in the various war loans.

As against this there were some indications earlier in the year of renewed activity by a small but vocal group of French Canadian nationalists. A considerable amount of literature appeared from time to time expressing unqualified approval of the Vichy government of France and stressing separatist aims for the French Canadian minority. Thierry D'Argelieu, General de Gaulle's official representative in Canada, was poorly received in Quebec despite the fact that he is a Roman Catholic priest and possesses an excellent war record. Marshal Pétain's action in restoring the ancient rights held by the Roman Catholic clergy has made a deep impression on Catholic Quebec and provided a severe handicap to the de Gaullists.

Late in July a well-organized group of some 300 oppositionists seized the huge $150,000,000 plant of the Aluminum Company of Canada at Arvida, Quebec. There had been no labor dispute, and the men had made no demands; it was purely a political move. Although troops quickly regained control of the plant, it is estimated that four weeks' production was lost.

Apart from this one incident, however, there were no instances of organized sabotage, and there can be no question of the loyalty of the overwhelming majority of the population — Catholic and Protestant alike. Cardinal Villeneuve, the Catholic leader, has repeatedly stressed the need for unity. In the political field, credit must be given chiefly to Ernest Lapoint, Minister of Justice in Mackenzie King's War Cabinet, who died on Nov. 26, 1941, for bringing the province into line. It was Lapoint who engineered the electoral campaign which unseated Duplessis in 1940 and placed the Liberal Adelard Godbout in power. Lapoint also is given a large share of the credit for the success of the recruiting drives in Quebec.

Perhaps the outstanding political development of the year was the sponsorship by Premier Godbout of a comprehensive program of educational reform. The program calls for compulsory and free instruction of all children, coordination of the primary and secondary schools, establishment of a system of vocational guidance, and the elimination of Greek in the secondary schools in favor of technical or other useful subjects. It is hoped that this program will do much toward reducing illiteracy in the province and toward increasing the standard of living through the training of more skilled workers.

1940: Quebec

Quebec threw its resources behind Great Britain's war effort with surprising unanimity in 1940, considering what many felt to be its pro-Axis sympathies of a few years back. Following the defeat of the Duplessis Government in October, 1939, on the issue of conscription, the province readily accepted compulsory military service when it was put into effect in the early fall of 1940. The one important exception was Mayor Camillien Houde of Montreal. Mayor Houde, who had previously created a sensation by giving a pro-Fascist speech while in office, announced that he would defy the national registration law which called for general registration on August 19, 20, and 21. Acting with unusual vigor, the Canadian Government took him into custody on August 5 and hustled him off to an internment camp where he will presumably be held for the duration of the war. Leading French-Canadian newspapers and officials almost unanimously commended the Dominion Government's action, and no further important opposition to conscription was encountered. A new mayor was elected on December 9.

In the March national parliamentary elections, Liberals obtained 61 out of the Province's 64 seats, and candidates favorable to the Liberals won the remaining three seats. By action of the provincial legislature, all Quebec by-elections were postponed until the next legislative session because of the war. Royal assent was given to the bill postponing the elections when the first session of the legislature was prorogued on June 22 by the new Lieutenant Governor Sir Eugene Fiset. The legislature also passed by a large majority a bill introduced by Premier Adelard Godbout granting women for the first time the right to vote in provincial elections. Woman suffrage had been one of the secondary issues in the 1939 provincial elections.

Gold production for the first ten months of 1940 at the Siscoe Gold Mines amounted to $1,628,279 from 180,528 tons of ore, as compared with $1,987,692 from 179,114 tons of ore in the corresponding period of 1939. The McWatters Gold Mines produced $136,267 in the third quarter of 1940. Most of the gold mines failed to keep up with their 1939 record.

1939: Quebec

The political struggle which had been under way in Quebec for several years between the provincial semi-fascist movement led by Premier Duplessis and the Dominion Government culminated on Oct. 25, 1939, in a general provincial election which was won by the pro-Dominion groups. Few campaigns in Canadian history have been more bitter. Confident that Canada's entrance into the European War had strengthened his hand in his struggle with Ottawa, Duplessis dissolved the provincial legislature and called an election a year earlier than necessary. His party — the Union Nationale — waged its campaign primarily on the issue of conscription, hoping thereby to capitalize on the anti-war sentiment which undoubtedly exists in Quebec in this war as it did in 1914-18. The rejuvenated Liberal Party, under the leadership of Adelard Godbout, circumvented Duplessis's tactics by also coming out strongly against conscription — which had never even been proposed at Ottawa. Mr. Godbout was aided by Quebec's three representatives in the Dominion Cabinet — Ernest Lapoint, Minister of Justice; P. J. A. Cardin, the Minister of Public Works; and Postmaster-General C. G. Power. The three Dominion Ministers argued that a Liberal Cabinet was likely to have far more weight at Ottawa, if the issue of conscription ever came up, than would a hostile Duplessis government. As a token of their sincerity they staked their seats in the Dominion Cabinet on the outcome of the election. Defeat for the Liberals, therefore, would have meant a cabinet crisis in Ottawa with unpredictable consequences.

Although a Duplessis victory had been expected in many quarters, the results showed a landslide for the Liberals. The Union Nationale's tremendous majority of 71 of the 86 seats in the previous legislature was completely wiped out, and the Liberals captured 68 seats in the new legislature. Duplessis himself was reelected by a scant majority, while seven of his Cabinet ministers were defeated. The third party in the election, the Action Liberale National, received about 5 per cent of the total vote. Mayor Houde of Montreal was returned as an independent.

While the war issue was paramount in the campaign, it is probable that the poor fiscal record of the Duplessis Government contributed to its defeat. To a degree, also, the results may reflect reaction against his notorious Padlock Law, whereby Liberal and Labor sympathizers were victimized along with Communists in a measure allowing the Government to padlock any private dwelling, hall, or meeting house which contained 'Communist' literature — the term 'Communist' being left purposely undefined. The results indicate that the support of the Catholic Church, largely responsible for his dramatic victory three years previously, had been mostly withdrawn from Duplessis at this election. Some observers believe that the visit of King George and Queen Elizabeth in May and June was a factor in swinging the province from its extreme anti-British stand.

On Nov. 8, a Liberal Ministry headed by Adelard Godbout took the oath of office. The new Cabinet consisted of: Premier and Minister of Agriculture and Colonization — Adelard Godbout; Minister of Roads and Public Works — T. D. Bouchard; Minister of the Treasury — J. A. Mathewson; Attorney-General — Wilfrid Girouard; Minister of Lands and Forests, Games, and Fisheries — Pierre Emil Cote; Minister of Municipal Affairs, Trade and Commerce — Oscar Drouin; Minister of Labor and Mines — Edgar Rouchette; Provincial Secretary and Minister of Health — Henri Grouix, and six ministers without portfolios.

Conflict between Quebec's provincial government and the Dominion Government raged almost without ceasing in the months prior to the outbreak of the war. At the opening of the Quebec legislature in January, the province reaffirmed its opposition to any amendment to the Canadian constitution which would strengthen the Ottawa government. Later Duplessis accused the Federal Government of being 'accomplices' of the Communists because radical literature had been distributed by the Dominion mails contrary to the spirit of the Padlock Law. A lull in the bickering occurred during the enthusiastic reception given to the King and Queen — although some critics accused the Quebec government of being less than sincere in its welcome. In July a long-standing dispute between the provincial authorities and the Dominion over the handling of relief culminated in the temporary stoppage of all work relief projects. Provincial officials blamed the Federal Government for having released no funds since April, while the Dominion insisted that the Province follow the Federal policy of using relief funds for direct relief rather than more expensive work projects so that no one might go hungry. A compromise was finally worked out under which Federal funds were obtained and work relief minimized. During the electoral campaign, Duplessis accused the Dominion Government of using its war power to censor the Union Nationale on the air. Indirect threats of secession were uttered by Union Nationale ministers as a possibility in the event that conscription were adopted.

Although the fiscal affairs of the Province were in a serious condition as the year ended. Quebec shared with the rest of Canada a high degree of prosperity in its mining industry. The Quebec Bureau of Mines estimated the gold production of the Province for the first nine months of the year at 720,285 ounces, worth $25,487,865, as against 641,365 ounces valued at $22,447,775 in the corresponding period of 1938. Production of silver for the first eight months totaled 756,590 ounces as compared with 729,157 ounces in the 1938 period.

1938: Quebec

Elections.

Premier Maurice Duplessis maintained his hold over Quebec politics during 1938 in spite of violent criticism of his policies from other parts of Canada. Four by-elections have been held since the first Duplessis victory on Aug. 17, 1936, and all have been won by his newly formed Union Nationale party. The last two, held on November 2, resulted in Duplessis triumphs despite the fact that they were held in constituencies where opposition to his Padlock Law was the greatest. The only exception to this string of Duplessis victories was the triumph of Cammillien Houde, a bitter foe of Duplessis, in the December elections for mayor of Montreal. Houde won in a bitterly fought contest by a plurality of 20,612 over Charles A. Gascon.

Legislation.

Throughout the year the Premier sought to make the utmost political capital out of an anti-Communist campaign in a province where genuine Communism has been almost non-existent. The Padlock Law has been enforced with unexpected severity, not only against Communists but against Liberal opposition groups. In the first nine months in which the law was in effect, November 1937 through July 1938, more than 300 raids were made under the law. These continued throughout the year. Among the organizations threatened was the Montreal Youth Council, which includes among its 16,000 members such diverse organizations as the Y.W.C.A. and the Young Communists League. Efforts on the part of the Montreal Civil Liberties Union and other Liberal groups to have the Padlock Law declared unconstitutional proved of no avail. In July, the Dominion Cabinet refused to act on the principle of the law, but held out hope of redress where specific injustice could be proved.

Meanwhile, the Premier has pushed ahead with his program for the gradual establishment of a Catholic corporate state similar to that envisaged in the Papal encyclical, Quadragesimo Anno. The Fair Wages Board, established under the Fair Wages Act of 1937, issued ordinances during the year specifying minimum wages in the textile industry, in small towns and rural sections, and other industries not covered by the general minimum wage and hour rules issued Dec. 28, 1937, which affected some 670,000 workers. Application of the Workmen's Wage Act of 1937 to the disadvantage of the workers led to increased cooperation between the Catholic syndicates and the international unions against the Government's policies.

Political Conflict.

Conflict between Duplessis and the Liberal Government of the Dominion was almost continuous throughout the year. Duplessis flatly refused to recognize the authority of the Rowell Commission which was established for the specific purpose of settling jurisdictional disputes between the federal and provincial governments. On Dec. 11, two members of the Dominion Cabinet — Norman Rogers, Minister of Labor, and C. D. Howe, Minister of Transport — charged that the 'unnatural political alliance' between Premiers Duplessis and Hepburn of Ontario had as its purpose the ousting of Prime Minister Mackenzie King and the establishment of a government at Ottawa 'which would be largely controlled by the provincial governments at Toronto and Quebec.' The Duplessis government, in harmony with the Quebec tradition, has consistently resisted all efforts of the Mackenzie King Cabinet to extend the British North America Act to permit greater Dominion authority, such as that to enact a Federal scheme of unemployment insurance.

Finances.

A report by Martin Fisher, Provincial Treasurer, showed ordinary revenues of $53,344,034 for the year ending June 30, 1938. This was more than $1,000,000 more than in the previous year and highest in the province's history. Ordinary expenditures totaled $50,335,747, leaving a surplus on the ordinary budget of $3,008,287. In addition, however, the province spent $16,156,096 in unemployment relief which was not included in the budget. Taking this into account, there was a deficit of $13,147,809 for the year.