Robert Bourassa

Robert BourassaGOQ(French pronunciation:[ʁɔbɛʁbuʁasa]; July 14, 1933 – October 2, 1996) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 22ndpremier of Quebecfrom 1970 to 1976 and from 1985 to 1994. A member of theLiberal Party of Quebec, he served a total of just under 15 years as premier. Bourassa's tenure was marked by major events affecting Quebec, including theOctober Crisisand theMeech LakeandCharlottetownAccords.
Bourassa was born to aworking classfamily inMontreal, the son of Adrienne (née Courville; 1897–1982) and Aubert Bourassa, a port authority worker.Robert Bourassa graduated from theUniversité de Montréallaw school in 1956 and was admitted to theBarreau du Québecthe following year. On August 23, 1958, he married Andrée Simard (1931–2022), heiress to the powerful shipbuilding Simard family of Sorel, Quebec.Later, he studied atKeble College,University of Oxfordand also obtained a degree inpolitical economyatHarvard Universityin 1960. On his return to Quebec, he was employed at the federal Department of National Revenue as a fiscal adviser. He also worked as a professor of public finance at Université de Montréal andUniversité Laval.
Bourassa was first elected as a member of theLegislative Assembly of Quebec(MLA) for the riding ofMercierin 1966, then won theQuebec Liberal Party leadership electionon January 17, 1970. He positioned himself as a young, competent administrator. He chose "100,000 jobs" as his slogan, which emphasized that job 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.  He successfully led his party into government in the1970 election, defeating the conservativeUnion Nationalegovernmentand becoming the youngest premier in Quebec history.
One of Bourassa's first crises as premier was theOctober Crisisof 1970, in which his deputy,Pierre Laporte, was kidnapped and later murdered by members of theFront de libération du Quebec.  Bourassa requested that Prime MinisterPierre Trudeauinvoke theWar Measures Act, which allowed for search and arrest of anyone associated with, or thought to be associated with the FLQ. Bourassa also requisitioned military assistance using provisions of theNational Defence Act, which resulted in the deployment of troops to guard vital points in Montreal and assist police.  TheCanadian Armed Forceswere withdrawn on 4 January 1971, andPaul Roseand some of his accomplices were found guilty of murder later that year.
Bourassa and Trudeau often clashed over issues of federal-provincial relations andQuebec nationalism, with Trudeau opposing what he saw as concessions tosovereignism. In June 1971 he participated in an attempt at constitutional reform, theVictoria Charter,which quickly unravelled when Bourassa backed away from the proposed deal after it was strongly criticized by Quebec opinion leaders for not giving Quebec more powers.
On 8 October 1971, Trudeau announced in the House of Commons that, after much deliberation,  thepolicy of multiculturalismwould be implemented in Canada.Bourassa documented his strong opposition to Trudeau's policy in a letter which he released to the press on 17 November 1971, and stated he had "serious misgivings about the principle of the multicultural policy". The policy document tabled in the House "dissociates culture from language", which seemed to Bourassa "a questionable basis on which to found a policy". Bourassa declared that Quebec did not accept the federal government's approach to the principle of multiculturalism.
During his time in power, Bourassa implemented policies aimed at protecting the status of the French language in Quebec. In 1974, he introducedBill 22, which declared French to be the sole official language of the province.  As a result, Quebec was no longer institutionally bilingual (French and English), though the rights of anglophones were still protected under theBritish North America Acts. Many businesses and professionals were unable to operate under such requirements. Bill 22 angered Anglophones while not going far enough for many Francophones; Bourassa was vilified by both groups. In response Trudeau described Bourassa as a “mangeur de hot-dogs” (“hotdog eater”).
Bourassa initiated theJames Bay hydroelectric projectin 1971 that led to theJames Bay and Northern Quebec Agreementof 1975 with theCreeandInuitinhabitants of the region. The Bourassa government also played a major role in rescuing the1976 Olympic Gamesin Montreal from huge cost overruns and construction delays. Bourassa's government became embroiled in corruption scandals.
On 21 March 1974, workers belonging to theFédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québecunion working on the LG-2 construction site of the James Bay project rioted using their bulldozers to destroy the site they were working on while other workers set buildings afire.The riot caused $35 million in damage, and was part of an extortion attempt on the part of the union bossAndré "Dédé" Desjardins, who was known in Quebec as the "King of Construction". In response to the violence at the LG-2 site, which confirmed long-standing rumors about thuggish practices on the part of construction unions, Bourassa appointed a commission consisting of a well respected judgeRobert Cliche, a prominent Montreal labour lawyerBrian MulroneyandGuy Chevrette, the vice-president of theCentrale de l'enseignement du Québec, whose legal counsel was another prominent lawyerLucien Bouchardto investigate corruption in the construction industry in Quebec.The Cliche commission as it became known held 68 days of hearings on live TV, interviewing 279 people from the construction industry, who testified to widespread corruption and violence in the construction industry, and to the close ties between the Bourassa cabinet, the Mafia and corrupt construction union bosses.Bouchard had wanted to have Bourassa testify before the commission, but Mulroney prevented this, saying that having the Premier of Quebec testify before the commission would be a violation of "executive privilege". Nonetheless, the Cliche commission established the Quebec construction industry was dominated by a casual brutality with thuggish union bosses teaching union organizers how best to break legs.Workers who complained about corruption on the part of their bosses had their dogs murdered and their teenage children beaten up.
When the Cliche commission presented its report in May 1975, the document was described as an exposé of "an organized system of corruption without parallel in North America" as the commission noted that it was political corruption that had enabled the corruption in the construction industry.In an editorial, theMontreal Gazettewrote about the Cliche commission report: "A devastating document. For some four years, the Bourassa government worked hand in glove with gangster union leadership in the province's construction industry."The Cliche commission had little impact on the problem of corruption in the Quebec construction industry, but turned public opinion against Bourassa, whose special adviser had asked the corrupt construction unions to help the Liberals win a by-election in exchange for giving firms that employed workers in the corrupt unions exclusive contracts to work on the James Bay project.
Bourassa lost the1976 provincial electiontoRené Lévesque, leader of thesovereigntistParti Québécois, in a massive landslide brought on by the language controversy and the corruption scandals, among other things.  Bourassa himself was heavily defeated in his own riding by PQ challengerGérald Godin. He resigned as Liberal Party leader and accepted teaching positions in Europe and the United States.He remained in political exile until he returned to politics by winning theQuebec Liberal Party leadership electionon October 15, 1983. On June 3, 1985, he won aby-electioninBertrand.
Bourassa resigned as Liberal leader and exiled himself for nine years into academic obscurity. During these nine years, he spent his time overseas. In 1980, Bourassa campaigned in favour of the "no" side (which was eventually successful) of the1980 Quebec referendumon a sovereignty-association agreement with the federal government. In 1983, Bourassa was elected Liberal leader again, replacingClaude Ryan.
Bourassa led the PLQ to victory in the1985 election. However, he lost his own seat to Parti Québécois candidateJean-Guy Parent. On January 20, 1986, he was elected in a by-election in the Liberal stronghold ofSaint-Laurentafter the sitting Liberal MNA Germain Leduc resigned in his favour.
During his second term as premier, Bourassa in 1988 invoked thenotwithstanding clauseof theCanadian Charter of Rights and Freedomsto override aSupreme Court of Canadaruling that declared parts of the Charter of the French Language unconstitutional, causing some of his anglophone ministers to resign. In 1993, 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.
During theOka Crisisin 1990, Bourassa invoked the National Defence Act for the second time, requisitioning the Canadian Armed Forces to help police.
Bourassa also pushed for Quebec to be acknowledged in the Canadian constitution as a "distinct society", promising Quebec residents that their grievances could be resolved within Canada with a new constitutional deal.  He worked closely with Prime MinisterBrian Mulroneyand received many concessions from the federal government, culminating in theMeech Lake Accordin 1987 and theCharlottetown Accordin 1992.  The Meech Lake Accord failed in June 1990 when two provinces, Manitoba and Newfoundland, refused to ratify the agreement their premiers had signed. That failure revived the Quebec separatist movement.  The Charlottetown Accord was defeated in a nationwide plebiscite in 1992; it was heavily defeated even in Quebec, partly due to the perception that Bourassa had given away too much at the negotiations.
Bourassa retired from politics in 1994.  He was replaced as Liberal leader and premier byDaniel Johnson Jr., who lost an election to the sovereigntist Parti Québécois after only nine months.
In 1996, Bourassa, who had spent much of his vacation time in hot climates, died in Montreal ofmalignant melanomaat the age of 63, and was interred at theNotre Dame des Neiges Cemeteryin Montreal.
In March 2015, a section of University Street (from Notre-Dame Street to Sherbrooke Street) in the downtown core of Montreal was renamed Robert-Bourassa Boulevard.
On October 18, 2006, Montreal MayorGérald Tremblayannounced that Montreal's Park Avenue would be named after Bourassa.On November 28 theMontreal city councilvoted in favour (40–22) of renaming Park Avenue after Bourassa.If, as had been expected,Quebec's Toponymy Commissionhad approved the name change, all of Park Avenue and its continuation, Bleury, would have been renamed Robert Bourassa Avenue. This would have caused the newly named street to intersectRené Lévesque Boulevard, named after a long time political rival to Bourassa. That boulevard, in turn, had been renamed from Dorchester Boulevard in 1987, in a decision that was also not without controversy.This decision by the City of Montreal without any consultation with the people of the city caused an immediate controversy,though many of those opposed to the change considered it afait accompli.The proposal spawned substantial grass-roots opposition, both because of the lack of prior citizen input and because Park is itself a meaningful street name, associated with the city'sMount Royalpark.In addition to protests and active opposition by a committee of Montreal residents and businesses opposed to the name change, an online petition garnered more than 18,000 virtual signatures against this renaming.On February 5, 2007, Montreal mayorGérald Tremblaywithdrew his proposal to rename Park Avenue.However, there is a Robert Bourassa Blvd., located in theDuvernaydistrict ofLaval, Quebec.