Similarities Between Quebec And Quebec's Political Culture

POG 310 - TAKE HOME ESSAY

COMPARING ALBERTA’S AND QUEBEC’S POLITICAL CULTURE

PREPARED FOR PROFESSOR C.FANELLI

BY IAN HERNANDEZ

RYERSON UNIVERSITY

DECEMBER 14TH, 2015

INTRODUCTION

Political culture in Quebec and Alberta is often seen as monolithic, the former being nationalistic and the latter conservative. This is an understandable view given the dominance of these ideologies in these provinces. However, this view is also problematic because it holds that political change is stagnant and that these ideologies will continue to dominate long into the future. It also suggests that different political ideology is not popular among the citizens of Quebec and Alberta. Nevertheless, important questions are

Often a struggle between Quebec's liberals and nationalists who want a sovereign Quebec- led to a dynamic and interesting political culture in Quebec. Though a battle of Federalists and Nationalists was prevalent in much of Quebec, ignoring other factors identity politics does not explain its culture adequately. However, given that Nationalism played an important role in forming the political culture of Quebec- the factors leading to this tide of nationalism must be examined. Political tension rose to an all-time high, with the assassination of a minister in 1970 by nationalist terrorists, we will examine how the political elites created and exacerbated this tension (Heintzmen, 1983). Nationalism was a prevalent ideology, as the populist Bloc Quebecois gained significant traction by promoting the idea of independent identity from the rest of Canada (Heintzmen, 1983). With the growing frustration among Quebecois of the Languages Act of 1969 and other forces, Bloc Quebecois was able to leverage this growing frustration among the public to promote their political cause (Heintzmen, 1983). Nationalism during the Quiet Revolution was rather prominent, though the liberals held power in the 1960s- Maurice Duplessis orchestrated the support of saving the French culture, which was very appealing to the rural base (Heintzmen, 1983). At the time, the social culture of “French-Canadian Nation” was characterized by Christian tradition- in other words it reflected conservative nationalism (Heintzmen, 1983). The Quiet Revolution, however, slowly emerged to end the nationalists grip on social institutions resulting in significant social and political cultural