III.

First Premiership

During his first period as premier, Bourassa worked to promote economic growth in Québec. He encouraged the development of the province’s enormous hydroelectric resources, spearheading the massive James Bay Project. But Bourassa was severely tested on other fronts.

Six months after assuming office, Bourassa was confronted with the October Crisis. A separatist terrorist organization, the Front de Libération du Québec, kidnapped British trade commissioner James Cross and kidnapped and killed Québec labor minister Pierre Laporte. Bourassa asked the federal government for assistance, and Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau declared martial law, suspending many civil liberties in Québec. While polls indicated that most Québec residents supported Bourassa’s hardline opposition to the terrorists, some criticized him for ceding control of the crisis to the federal government.

In 1974 Bourassa successfully promoted Bill 22, which made French the sole official language of Québec. The bill also limited access to English-language schools and expanded the use of French in the workplace. It was intended to pacify the growing movement of people who wanted Québec to secede from Canada and become independent. Although many Québec Francophones claimed that the bill was too weak, Québec Anglophones and other ethnic groups were infuriated that the government had abandoned linguistic equality. The bill also increased tensions between Bourassa and Trudeau.

During Bourassa’s first period in office, he was regularly challenged by Trudeau. Bourassa supported keeping Canada united and was opposed to Québec independence, but he wanted special status for Québec. At a 1971 constitutional conference in Victoria, British Columbia, Bourassa vacillated on whether to accept a new constitutional agreement for Canada. After demanding a special status for Québec, Bourassa withdrew his government’s support a week later. Trudeau perceived Bourassa’s argument for increased decentralization of federal powers and greater provincial autonomy as a lukewarm defense of federalism.

After his 1976 defeat, Bourassa resigned from the Liberal leadership and spent time in Brussels studying the European Union. He returned to Québec with a new passion for federalism, believing that if Europe with all its diversity could be united, then the problems threatening to divide Canada could surely be resolved. In 1980 Québec held a referendum asking voters to give the provincial government a mandate to negotiate with the federal government the terms for a sovereignty-association arrangement. Bourassa played an active role as champion of the successful “No” side during the referendum campaign. He regained leadership of the Liberal Party in 1983 and led the party to victory in the 1985 and 1989 elections.