Rene Levesque's Kevo

Rene Levesque as the Quebec Premier who attempted to break-up Canada. In 1980, he was at the head of a Quebec nationalist movenment that sought to separate Quebec from Canada. Using a referendum to achieve this end, his Parti Quebecois proposed what they labeled Sovereignity-Association, where Quebec would have become politically independent from, while retaining financial ties to, the rest of Canada. The nationalist cause was quelled In this referendum, losing by a 60 to 40 percent .

During his time as Premier of Quebec, he was jeered around English Canada for passing Quebec's Bill 101, which mandated that provincial government, education, and business be conducted only using the French language. Bill 101 had the side effect of causing many English-speaking residents of the province to leave the province, especially to Toronto, which became Canada's most powerful city as a result. He managed to prevail over the extreme elements in his party, and was essentially a moderate on the separation issue, and later persuaded a majority in the Parti Quebecois that the pursuit of independence should be set aside to aide in restoring Quebec's economy.

Before he began a political career in Quebec, Levesque dropped out of law school during World War II and went to New York to avoid being drafted into the Canadian Army. Strangely, however, after arriving in New York, he joined the U.S. Office of War Information, attached to the United States Seventh Army, working as a war correspondent. He was featured in broadcasts to German-occupied France, and was an interpreter between American and Free French forces. Levesque also covered the Korean War as a radio reporter, and was later a radio commentator with the French-language service of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Eventually he became one of Quebec's most influential commentators, and was head of the French network's radio and televison news service,

Levesque did not enter politics until the 1959 Radio-Canada producers' strike against the Canadian government. At that time he joined Jean Lesage to be a member of Quebec's Liberal Party. When Lesage's party won the 1960 election, Levesque became one of his cabinet ministers, responsible for nationalizing Quebec's hydroelectric power industries.

By the mid-1960s, however, Levesque left the liberal party over the issue of Quebec's future in Canada. In 1967, Levesque left the liberals to form the nationalist Parti Quebecois (PQ). After nine years of growing party support, parliamentary victory finally occured, and Levesque became Quebec's premier in 1976. Future Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, then a Montreal law professor, was one of the Quebec intellectuals that fought fervently with Levesque for much of the next 20 years over the sovereignty issue.

In addition to the 1980 referendum, and Bill 101, Levesque's administration was responsible for legislating no-fault car insurance, a zoning law preserving much of Quebec's farmland, and for the abolition of secret electoral financing. Despite his attempt to break up the Canadian federation, many English-speaking political leaders believed that he had performed a valuable national service by making the rest of Canada acknowledge Quebec's culural and political aspirations. As the 1980s wore on, however, his popularity was diminshed by his own government's 1982 austerity measures, which sought to correct overspending on provincial social programs of the past. This program of reduced spending and sacrifice caused a financial crisis in Quebec. As a result of his flagging popularity, and the quelling of the separatist feeling in Quebec, Levesque retired from politics in 1985. For two years he returned to radio as a commentator and wrote his memoirs. At the age of 65, in 1987, he died of a heart attack at his Montreal home.
Climb to Fame
In 1980, as Premier of Quebec, he held a failed referendum on the seperation of Quebec from Canada. Was Perre Trudeau's French Canadian Nemesis throughout the 1970's and 1980's.
Work History
(1976 to 1985) Premier of Quebec

(1967-76) As leader of the Parti Quebecois, fought for Quebec seperation from within and without Quebec National Assembly

(1967) Helped found the Separatist Parti Quebecois

(1966-1967) After splitting with the Lesage liberals over Quebec's role in Canada, began to look for support for a Quebec separatist party.

(1960-66) Cabinet minister, from Taillon Riding, responsible for nationalizing Quebec's hydroelectric power industries, Mnister of family and social welfare, Minister natural resources, Minister public works and hydraulic works, with Jean Lesage's Quebec Liberal party.

(1953-1959) Host of Point de Mire, an international events current affairs Quebec televison program.

(1956-59) head of the CBC's French network's radio and televison news service

(1946-52) Free-lance journalist and a CBC radio commentator during the Korean War in Korea.

(1940-45) Served with the U.S. Office of War Information as a war correspondent in Europe He covered the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp, among other major events.
Affiliations
Parti Quebecois