A portrait of Robert Bourassa, taken during his second term as premier of Quebec (1985–1994).

Robert Bourassa (July 14, 1933 – October 2, 1996) was a politician in Quebec, Canada. He served as Liberal Premier of Quebec in two different mandates, first from May 12, 1970 to November 25, 1976, and then from December 12, 1985 to January 11, 1994. Portrait of Robert Bourassa. ... Portrait of Robert Bourassa. ... July 14 is the 195th day (196th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 170 days remaining. ... 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... October 2 is the 275th day (276th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 90 days remaining. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... Motto: Je me souviens (French: I remember) Official languages French Flower Blue Flag Iris (Iris versicolor Linné) Tree Yellow Birch Bird Snowy Owl Capital Quebec City Largest city Montreal Lieutenant-Governor Lise Thibault Premier Jean Charest (PLQ) Parliamentary representation  - House seat  - Senate seats 75 24 Area Total  - Land  - Water  (% of... The Parti libéral du Québec (Liberal Party of Quebec, although it refers to itself in English as the Québec Liberal Party), or PLQ, is a liberal political party in the Canadian province of Quebec. ... The Premier of Quebec (in French Premier ministre du Québec, sometimes literally translated to Prime Minister of Quebec) is the first minister for the Canadian province of Quebec. ... May 12 is the 132nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (133rd in leap years). ... 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1970 calendar). ... November 25 is the 329th (in leap years the 330th) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ... December 12 is the 346th day (347th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 19 days remaining. ... 1985 (MCMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... January 11 is the 11th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ...

Early life

Robert Bourassa was born in Montreal in a working class family to Aubert Bourassa, a port authority worker, and Adrienne Courville.^[1], Robert Bourassa graduated from the Université de Montréal law school in 1956 and was admitted to the Barreau du Québec the following year. On August 23, 1958, he married Andrée Simard. Later, he studied at the University of Oxford and also obtained a degree in political economy at Harvard University in 1959-60. On his return to Quebec, he was employed at the National Revenue Department as a fiscal adviser. He also worked as a professor in public finances at Université de Montréal and Laval University Motto: Concordia Salus Coordinates: Country Canada Province Quebec Founded 1642 Established 1832 City Mayor Gérald Tremblay Area    - City 366. ... The Université de Montréal (UdeM) (translated into English commonly as (the) University of Montreal) is one of six universities in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. ... The Barreau du Québec is the bar association for lawyers in Quebec. ... August 23 is the 235th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (236th in leap years), with 130 days remaining. ... 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The University of Oxford, located in the city of Oxford, England, is the oldest university in the English-speaking world. ... Political economy was the original term for the study of production, the acts of buying and selling, and their relationships to laws, customs and government. ... Harvard University (incorporated as The President and Fellows of Harvard College) is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. ... The Université de Montréal (UdeM) (translated into English commonly as (the) University of Montreal) is one of six universities in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. ... Laval University (Université Laval) is one of Canadas leading universities. ...

Political Life

First term

He was first elected as an MLA in 1966, then went on to lead the Liberal Party of Quebec on January 17, 1970. He positioned himself as a young, competent, administrator. He chose "100 000 jobs" as his slogan, which emphasized that jobs creation would be his priority. Bourassa felt the extensive hydro-electric resources of Quebec were the most effective means of completing the modernization of Quebec and sustaining job creation. His leadership in the James Bay Project (French: projet de la Baie James), which refers to the construction of a series of hydroelectric power stations in northern Quebec, would later become his most recognized feat. He successfully led his party into government in the 1970 election, defeating the conservative Union Nationale government^[2] and becoming the youngest Premier of Quebec. The Parti libéral du Québec (Liberal Party of Quebec, although it refers to itself in English as the Québec Liberal Party), or PLQ, is a liberal political party in the Canadian province of Quebec. ... January 17 is the 17th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1970 calendar). ... The Quebec general election of 1970 was held on April 29, 1970 to elect members of the National Assembly of the Province of Quebec, Canada. ... The Union Nationale was a political party in Quebec, Canada, that identified with conservative French-Canadian nationalism. ...

One of his first crises as Premier of Quebec happened during the October Crisis of 1970 in which his labour minister Pierre Laporte was kidnapped and murdered. It was Pierre Trudeau who pushed the Premier of Quebec, Bourassa, to declare a state of emergency^{[citation needed]}, which resulted in the Canadian army patrolling the streets of major cities in Quebec and in the national capital, Ottawa. After Laporte's kidnapping, Bourassa barricaded himself and his cabinet behind heavy layers of security. Military cordon in support of police taking surrender of terrorist Liberation cell, December 3, 1970 The October Crisis was a series of dramatic events triggered by two terrorist kidnappings in the province of Quebec, Canada, in October 1970, which ultimately resulted in a brief invocation of the War Measures Act... 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1970 calendar). ... Pierre Laporte (February 25, 1921 - October 1970), was a Canadian politician who was assassinated by members of the terrorist group, the Front de Libération du Québec (Quebec Liberation Front). ... Trudeau redirects here. ... Motto: Advance Ottawa/Ottawa en avant Coordinates: Country Canada Province Ontario County Established 1850 as Bytown City Mayor Larry OBrien Governing body Ottawa City Council MPs / MPPs Members of Parliament (MPs) Mauril Bélanger (LPC), Paul Dewar (NDP), John Baird (CPC), Royal Galipeau (CPC), David McGuinty (LPC),Pierre Lemieux...

Bourassa and Trudeau often clashed over issues of federal-provincial relations and Quebec nationalism with Trudeau opposing what he saw as concessions to sovereignism. Trudeau also looked down on Bourassa personally, once referring to him as a mangeur d'hot dog (a hot dog eater), though Trudeau later admitted in his TV biography that the comment was a friendly poke at Bourassa's habit of bringing this choice of food to meetings, saying that the original sentence was more like "Bourassa brought his hot dogs, we are ready to talk." Quebec nationalism is the subject of many international studies together with the contemporary nationalism of Scotland, Catalonia and other non-sovereign regions of the world. ... The Quebec sovereignty movement is a movement calling for the attainment of sovereignty for Quebec, a province of the Canadian federation. ...

During his time in power, Bourassa implemented policies aimed at protecting the status of the French language in Quebec. In 1974, he introduced Bill 22, the first legislation designed to strengthen the position of French within Quebec. However, this legislation was soon superseded by the Charter of the French Language also known as Bill 101, introduced by the Parti Québécois government that replaced him in 1976. Nonetheless, Bill 22 perhaps had a greater impact than Bill 101. By making French the official language of Quebec, that meant that Quebec was no longer institutionally bilingual (English and French). Many businesses and professionals were unable to operate under such requirements and an estimated 300,000 emigrated to neighbouring Ontario, enabling Toronto to overtake Montreal as the business capital of Canada. Bill 22 angered Anglophones while not going far enough for many Francophones; Bourassa was vilified by both groups and lost the 1976 election in a landslide. 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... The Official Language Act of 1974, also known as Bill 22 is an act of the National Assembly of Quebec which made French the sole official language of Quebec, a province of Canada. ... The Charter of the French Language (also known as Bill 101 and Loi 101) is a framework law in the province of Quebec, Canada, defining the linguistic rights of all Quebecers and making French, the language of the majority, the sole official language of Quebec. ... 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ... Motto: Concordia Salus Coordinates: Country Canada Province Quebec Founded 1642 Established 1832 City Mayor Gérald Tremblay Area    - City 366. ...

Bourassa initiated the James Bay hydroelectric project in 1971 that led to the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement of 1975 with the Cree and Inuit inhabitants of the region. The Bourassa government also played a major role in rescuing the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal from the huge cost overruns and construction delays incurred by the mismanagement of the project by mayor Drapeau's administration. However, Bourassa was accused of simply throwing money to bail out the Montreal Olympics without taking the much-needed steps of providing additional oversight, and his government became embroiled in corruption scandals that led to his 1976 defeat. The James Bay Project (in French, projet de la Baie James) refers to the construction of a series of hydroelectric power stations on the La Grande River in northwestern Québec, Canada, and the diversion of neighbouring rivers into the La Grande watershed. ... The James Bay And Northern Quebec Agreement was Canadas first modern Aboriginal land claim settlement, approved in 1975 by the Cree and Inuit of northern Quebec, and later slightly modified in 1978 by the Northeastern Quebec Agreement, through which Quebecs Naskapi Indians joined the treaty. ... The Cree are an indigenous people of North America whose people range from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean in both Canada and the United States. ... For other uses, see Inuit (disambiguation). ... The 1976 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad, were held in 1976 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. ... Motto: Concordia Salus Coordinates: Country Canada Province Quebec Founded 1642 Established 1832 City Mayor Gérald Tremblay Area    - City 366. ... Jean Drapeau, mayor of Montréal Jean Drapeau CC , GOQ (February 18, 1916 – August 12, 1999) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as mayor of Montréal from 1954 to 1957 and 1960 to 1986. ... 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ...

Bourassa lost the 1976 Quebec provincial election to René Lévesque, leader of the separatist Parti Québécois. When Bourassa lost his own seat in the National Assembly, he described himself as "having his head chopped off, with people still looking for it." Bourassa remained in political exile until 1983 when he returned to provincial politics. He resigned as Liberal Party leader, and accepted teaching positions in Europe and the United States. He subsequently returned to politics as Liberal leader on October 15, 1983, and regained the office of premier in the 1985 election. The Quebec general election of 1976 was held on November 15, 1976 to elect members to National Assembly of the Province of Quebec, Canada. ... René Lévesque (pronounced ) (August 24, 1922 – November 1, 1987) was a reporter, a minister of the government of Quebec, Canada, (1960 – 1966), the founder of the Parti Québécois political party, and 23rd Premier of Quebec (November 25, 1976 – October 3, 1985). ... Quebec The Quebec sovereignty movement is a movement calling for the attainment of sovereignty for Quebec, a province of the country of Canada. ... The Parti Québécois or PQ is a political party that advocates national sovereignty for the Canadian province of Quebec and secession from Canada, as well as social democratic policies and has traditionally had support from the labour movement. ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... October 15 is the 288th day of the year (289th in leap years). ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... In the Quebec general election on December 2, 1985, the Quebec Liberal Party under Robert Bourassa defeated the incumbent Parti Québécois under Pierre-Marc Johnson. ...

Second term

In his second term, he invoked the notwithstanding clause of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to override a Supreme Court ruling that declared parts of the Charter of the French Language unconstitutional, causing some English-speaking ministers in his government to resign. A few years later, however, he introduced modifications to the language charter. These compromises reduced the controversy over language that had been a dominant feature of Quebec politics over the previous decades. The majority of Quebecers reached a consensus on accepting the new status quo. Section Thirty-three of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is part of the Constitution of Canada. ... The Charter, signed by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in 1981. ... The Supreme Court of Canada (French: Cour suprême du Canada) is the highest court of Canada and is the final court of appeal in the Canadian justice system. ...

Bourassa also pushed for Quebec to be acknowledged in the Canadian constitution as a "distinct society", promising Quebecers that their grievances could be resolved within Canada with a new constitutional deal. Early in his first time in office, he participated in an early attempt at constitutional reform, the Victoria Charter of 1971, which quickly unravelled when Bourassa backed away from the proposed deal after it was strongly criticized by Quebec opinion leaders for not protecting Quebec's traditional veto power on constitutional amendments. In his second time in office, he worked closely with federal Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and received many concessions from the federal government, culminating in the Meech Lake Accord and the Charlottetown Accord. When both of these accords failed to be ratified, the constitutional reform efforts collapsed, reviving the separatist movement. The Victoria Charter was a set of proposed amendments to the Constitution of Canada in 1971. ... 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1971 calendar). ... Martin Brian Mulroney, PC, CC, GOQ, LLD (born March 20, 1939), was the eighteenth Prime Minister of Canada from September 17, 1984, to June 25, 1993 and was leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1983 to 1993. ... The Meech Lake Accord was a set of failed amendments to the Constitution of Canada negotiated in 1987 by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and the provincial premiers, including Robert Bourassa, premier of Quebec. ... The Charlottetown Accord was a package of constitutional amendments, proposed by the Canadian federal and provincial governments in 1992. ...

Final years

Bourassa retired from politics in 1994 in poor health and having lost the popularity that had returned him to the premier's office. He was replaced as Liberal leader and premier by Daniel Johnson, Jr., who lost an election to the separatist Parti Québécois after only nine months. 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ... Daniel Johnson, Jr. ...

In 1996, he died in Montreal of skin cancer at the age of 63, and was interred at the Cimetière Notre-Dame-des-Neiges in Montreal, Quebec. 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... Motto: Concordia Salus Coordinates: Country Canada Province Quebec Founded 1642 Established 1832 City Mayor Gérald Tremblay Area    - City 366. ... Skin cancer is a malignant growth on the skin, which can have many causes, including repeated severe sunburn or long-term exposure to the sun. ... Front entrance, Cimetière Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Founded in 1854, Cimetière Notre-Dame-des-Neiges is a 343-acre (1. ...

Quotations

• No matter what anyone says and no matter what anyone does, Quebec is, today and forever, a distinct society, free and capable of assuming its destiny and development. (listen) (watch excerpts of original speech) (watch English dubbing) Speech given on June 22, 1990, at the National Assembly, in the wake of the Meech Lake Accord's demise.

On June 22, 1990, Robert Bourassa, Premier of Quebec, Canada, gave to the National Assembly of Quebec a speech on the end of the Meech Lake Accord. ...

Posthumous Homage

• A statue and a memorial of Bourassa was unveiled in front of the National Assembly on October 19, 2006. [1]
• The city of Quebec intends to ask the government about renaming highway Du Vallon, a major road in Quebec city, after Bourassa. [2]

The Quebec Parliament Building at night The National Assembly of Quebec (French: Assemblée nationale du Québec) is the name for the legislative body of the province of Quebec, Canada which was defined in the Canadian constitution as the Legislative Assembly of Quebec (lassemblée législative de...

Parc Avenue Controversy

• On November 28 the Montreal city council voted in favour (40-22) of renaming Parc Avenue after Bourassa, as announced on October 18, 2006 by Montreal mayor Gerald Tremblay. [3]
• If, as expected, Quebec's Toponymy Commission approves the name change, all of Parc Avenue and its continuation, Bleury down to Viger will be renamed Avenue Robert Bourassa. This will cause the newly named street to cross René Lévesque Boulevard, named after a long time political rival to Bourassa.
• This decision by the City of Montreal without any consultation with the people of the city has caused an uproar and a lot of controversy, especially as Parc is itself an historical street name, associated with the city's beloved Mount Royal park.[4]
• There was an online petition against this renaming. The petition is now closed
• The STM's Parc metro station (and AMT commuter rail station) will remain "Parc" due to a moratorium on renaming metro stations. ^[3]

Gérald Tremblay (1942- ) is a Canadian (Quebecois) politician and the mayor of the city of Montreal. ... Toponymy is the taxonomic study of toponyms (place-names), their origins and their meanings. ... René Lévesque (pronounced ) (August 24, 1922 – November 1, 1987) was a reporter, a minister of the government of Quebec, Canada, (1960 – 1966), the founder of the Parti Québécois political party, and 23rd Premier of Quebec (November 25, 1976 – October 3, 1985). ... Alternate uses: Mount Royal (disambiguation) Mount Royals eastern slope, with the cross and the monument to Sir George-Étienne Cartier, seen from avenue du Parc Mount Royal (French: Mont Royal) is a mountain on the Island of Montreal, immediately north of downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada, the city to which... The Société de transport de Montréal or Montreal Transit Corporation is the agency that operates buses and the Métro in the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. ... Parc is a station on the Montreal Metro Blue Line. ... The Agence métropolitaine de transport (AMT) or (English: Metropolitan Transportation Agency) (AAR reporting mark AMT) is the umbrella organization that plans, integrates, and coordinates public transportation services across Canadas Greater Montreal Region, including the Island of Montreal, Laval (ÃŽle Jésus), and communities along both the North Shore...

See also

• Robert Bourassa's speech on the end of the Meech Lake Accord
• Politics of Quebec
• List of Quebec Premiers
• Quebec general elections
• Timeline of Quebec history
• Prime Minister nicknaming in Quebec
• Les Boubou Macoutes

The Meech Lake Accord was a set of failed amendments to the Constitution of Canada negotiated in 1987 by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and the provincial premiers, including Robert Bourassa, premier of Quebec. ... This is an article about the government and politics of Quebec, Canada. ... This is a list of the Premiers of Quebec, Canada since Confederation (1867). ... This is a list of Quebec general elections since Canadian confederation in 1867, when Quebec was created as one of the Canadas provinces. ... This article presents a detailed timeline of Quebec history both as part of the British Empire and the Dominion of Canada. ... A peculiar custom of Quebecers is to give nicknames to their politicians (and some personalities), quite especially their Premiers. ... Les Boubou Macoutes was the popular nickname of special inspectors who knocked on doors of suspected welfare cheats in Quebec during the second government of Premier Robert Bourassa, in the 1990s. ...

References

1. ^ (French) Robert BOURASSA. Assemblée Nationale (French). Retrieved on 2006-08-31.
2. ^ Downey, Donn. Former premier fought for Quebec, A14. The Globe & Mail, October 3, 1996.
3. ^ (French) Holà aux changements de nom des stations de métro. Retrieved on 2006-11-28.

2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... August 31 is the 243rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (244th in leap years), with 122 days remaining. ... ... October 3 is the 276th day of the year (277th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... November 28 is the 332nd day (333rd on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ...

External links

• National Assembly biography (in French)
• The Trickster: Robert Bourassa and Quebeckers 1990-1992 JF Lisée book on Bourassa available online on Google Print.
• CBC Digital Archives: Robert Bourassa: Political Survivor

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Premiers of Quebec

Chauveau | Ouimet | de Boucherville | de Lotbinière | Chapleau | Mousseau | Ross | Taillon | Mercier | de Boucherville | Taillon | Flynn | Marchand | Parent | Gouin | Taschereau | Godbout | Duplessis | Godbout | Duplessis | Sauvé | Barrette | Lesage | D. Johnson | Bertrand | Bourassa | Lévesque | P. Johnson | Bourassa | D. Johnson, Jr. | Parizeau | Bouchard | Landry | Charest