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Maurice Duplessis as Premier with Union National
Maurice Duplessis was Premier in the years 1944-1959. He had close ties with the catholic church. He promoted economic development and rural development. He wanted to exploit natural resources in areas like Shefferville and Gagnon. He promoted provincial autonomy and fought back when the government overstepped into areas like education and hospitals, especially since these things were led by the church. He was anti-union and supported social conservatism. -
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Baby Boom
Between 1945-1958 there was a time of economic prosperity. There was a very high birth rate at the time and low infant mortality which led to lots of population growth. A likely contributor to this was that contraception was not yet invented therefore they could not prevent pregnacy. As well with the invention of tools like the washing machine, there was more free time for people to create babies. -
Refus Global Manifesto is Published
At this time Duplessis was Premier and he promoted ties between church and state. A lot of artists and intellectuals at the time emerged as fought against this to promote secularism. 15 artists including Borduas and Riopelle came together and signed a manifesto called the Refus Global that limited the power of the church in state decisions. They wanted the state to take charge of education. -
Adoption of Fleurdelisé as Québec Flag
In 1948 Premier Duplessis created a new flag for Quebec with the Fleurdelisé in order to promote provincial autonomy. He removed the Canadian flag and puts up the new Quebec flag a symbol of Quebec autonomy on Quebec city parliament. -
Asbestos Strike
At the time working conditions were very poor. Workers were being made to work in vary unsafe places such as the asbestos mines. Asbestos is a carcinogen and has many negative effects on health as well as the equipment in the mines was unsafe. After demands for safer working conditions were ignored, workers organized a violent strike that was suppressed by police. They fought for safer working conditions, and better pay. -
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Korean War
The time of the cold war where USA and USSR were fighting to be the most powerful. They never fought directly but through a series of proxy wars. One of these wars was the Korean war. After WWII, Korea was artificially divided into North Korea (communist) and South Korea (capitalist), north Korea wanted to reunite and invaded South Korea which started a civil war. The UN sent in an armed force under American command to support South Korea, while Russia and China supported North Korea -
Arrival of television
The television started appearing in quebec in a time of economic prosperity. This created a time of mass consumerism which led to people spending more money on things to entertain themselves like televisions. This led to a lot of americanism appearing in Canada due to the exposure from the televisions as well as things like radios, and movie theatres. -
Birth Control Becomes More Accesible
In a time of increased feminism, women were fighting and protesting for equal rights, pay equity, abortion rights, access to contraception. It was also near the end of the baby boom. Contraception was starting to become more accessible so women and men could enjoy themselves without having to have a baby. -
Creation of the Department of Cultural Affairs
Quebec was working hard to promote their culture and identity, especially the french language. They wanted to promote immigration from french places to preserve the language. They opened the Department of Cultural Affairs to promote art and protect culture. They built museums, concert halls and theatres that supported Quebec culture. -
Nationalization of Electricity
The provincial government was working to control Quebec's economy and society. They wanted to promote Quebec's culture and support french Canadian businesses. A lot of crown corporations started emerging around Quebec. The government nationalized electricity by buying out all of the electric companies and merging them with Hydro-Quebec. This made hydro-Quebec a crown corporation. Lots of dams were built to ensure a reliable supply of electricity. -
Creation of the Ministry of Education
When Jean Lesage was Premier, he had a very hands on approach and wanted to support the people. One of the things they wanted to do was ameliorate the education system. they made a mandatory attendance age of 15 and created the department of education.