Quebec referendum, 1980

The 1980 Quebec referendum was the first referendum in Quebec on the place of Quebec within Canada and whether Quebec should pursue a path toward sovereignty. The referendum was called by Quebec's Parti Québécois (PQ) government, which strongly favoured secession from Canada. See also 1995 Quebec referendum.

In 1979, the Quebec government made public its constitutional proposal in a white paper entitled "Québec-Canada: A New Deal. The Québec Government Proposal for a New Partnership Between Equals: Sovereignty-Association". The province-wide referendum took place on Tuesday, May 20, 1980, and the proposal to pursue secession was defeated by a 59.56 percent to 40.44 percent margin.

The question

The question posed on the ballot was:

"The Government of Quebec has made public its proposal to negotiate a new agreement with the rest of Canada, based on the equality of nations; this agreement would enable Quebec to acquire the exclusive power to make its laws, levy its taxes and establish relations abroad — in other words, sovereignty — and at the same time to maintain with Canada an economic association including a common currency; any change in political status resulting from these negotiations will only be implemented with popular approval through another referendum; on these terms, do you give the Government of Quebec the mandate to negotiate the proposed agreement between Quebec and Canada?"

The original French text was:

«"Le Gouvernement du Québec a fait connaître sa proposition d’en arriver, avec le reste du Canada, à une nouvelle entente fondée sur le principe de l’égalité des peuples ; cette entente permettrait au Québec d'acquérir le pouvoir exclusif de faire ses lois, de percevoir ses impôts et d’établir ses relations extérieures, ce qui est la souveraineté, et, en même temps, de maintenir avec le Canada une association économique comportant l’utilisation de la même monnaie ; aucun changement de statut politique résultant de ces négociations ne sera réalisé sans l’accord de la population lors d’un autre référendum ; en conséquence, accordez-vous au Gouvernement du Québec le mandat de négocier l’entente proposée entre le Québec et le Canada?»

The participants

Federalists

Campaigning for the "No" side were those favouring the status quo and reformists opposed to the secession of Quebec. The president of the No Committee was Claude Ryan.

Other key federalists:

* Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau (Liberal Party of Canada)
* Federal Justice Minister Jean Chrétien
* Speaker of the House of Commons Jeanne Sauvé

Sovereignists

Campaigning for the "Yes" side were those in favour of the Quebec's government's proposal Canada. The president of the Yes Committee was René Lévesque.

Other key sovereignists:

* Finance Minister Jacques Parizeau
* Cultural Development Minister Camille Laurin
* Women Status Minister Lise Payette

The campaign

Initially, polls hinted at a possible victory for the "Yes" side. While the election of Pierre Trudeau energized the federalists, relations between him and the former Le Devoir editor and now Liberal Leader, Claude Ryan, were frosty - dating back to the FLQ Crisis. Nonetheless, the two agreed that a modus vivendi would need to be worked out as the stakes were too high to permit personal disagreement to assist the sovereigntists. Trudeau and Ryan were also helped by a political and public relations disaster that the Pequistes themselves created.

In a major gaffe on March 9, Cabinet minister Lise Payette denounced women supporters of the "No" side as "Yvettes" (the name of a docile young girl in an old school manual). She went so far as calling Claude Ryan's wife, Madeleine, an "Yvette". This backfired spectacularly as the "Yvettes", led by Madeleine Ryan, held a number of political rallies in response to her remarks.

The first of those rallies happened on March 30 when a group of 1,700 women held the "brunch des Yvettes" at the Château Frontenac in Quebec City. The major rally occurred at the Montreal Forum on April 7 when 14,000 women denounced the minister's declarations about women and manifested their support for the "No" side. This was the first major rally for the "No" side in the campaign. This would be followed by many more smaller rallies particularly by women groups.

At the National Assembly, Lise Payette would eventually apologize for her remarks.

During a major rally for the "No" side on May 14, six days before the vote, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau promised to reform the Canadian Constitution if the "No" side won. Many people interpreted this as a promise to change the constitution to satisfy traditional Quebec demands. He asked the Quebec people to vote no, but warned the rest of Canada that a no vote did not mean that all was well and nothing would change.

The results

Expenses [Lévesque, Michel and Martin Pelletier (2005). "Les référendums au Québec : bibliographie", Québec: Bibliothèque de l’Assemblée nationale du Québec, page 15 ( [http://www.assnat.qc.ca/fra/Bibliotheque/publications/thematiques/btHs.pdf online] )]

Maximum amount authorized by referendum law: $2,122,257 ( $0.50 / voter x 4,244,514 voters)

NO Committee:
* State subside ($0.25 / voter): $1,061,128.50
* Amount received by political parties: $987,754.04
* Contributions by voters: $11,572.60
* Total fund: $2,060,455.11
* Total committed and discharged expenditure: $2,060,455.00

YES Committee:
* State subside ($0.25 / voter) : $1,061,128.50
* Amount received by political parties: $683,000.00
* Contributions by voters: $305,118.05
* Total fund: $2,049,246.55
* Total committed and discharged expenditure: $2,047,834.00

Effects

In his concession speech Lévesque said, "If I've understood you well, you're telling me 'until next time'." The victory speech given by Claude Ryan was widely perceived to be similarly ungracious.

Despite the referendum loss, the PQ government was re-elected in the 1981 provincial election. Meanwhile, the federal government of Pierre Trudeau renewed its efforts to patriate the Canadian Constitution and succeeded in doing so in 1982, outmanoeuvring Lévesque to gain the support of the premiers of other Canadian provinces in the so-called Kitchen Compromise.

During much of the 1980s, Quebec sovereignty was perceived as a dead issue, and Lévesque himself put the issue on the back burner, opting instead for the "beau risque" of trying to work towards a deal with the Mulroney government. This led to a split in the Parti Québécois which led to Lévesque's resignation from politics in 1985 and eventually paved the way for Jacques Parizeau and the second sovereignty referendum of 1995.

However, for about 15 years, the ball had been in the federalist court. On two occasions, federalist politicians did attempt to find a solution to the Quebec question. However, both the 1987 Meech Lake Accord and the 1992 Charlottetown Accord ultimately failed to gather the support of the majority of Quebecers (and, in the case of the latter, from the majority of Canadians outside Quebec).

Notes

References

* Government of Québec (1979). "Québec-Canada: A New Deal. The Québec Government Proposal for a New Partnership Between Equals: Sovereignty-Association", Québec: Éditeur officiel du Québec, 118 p. ( [http://english.republiquelibre.org/Qu%C3%A9bec-Canada:_A_New_Deal._The_Qu%C3%A9bec_Government_Proposal_for_a_New_Partnership_Between_Equals:_Sovereignty-Association online] )
* DGEQ. " [http://www.dgeq.qc.ca/fr/tableaux/Referendum_1980_8483.asp Référendum du 20 mai 1980] ", in the site of the "Directeur général des élections du Québec", updated March 20, 2006
* Lévesque, Michel and Martin Pelletier (2005). "Les référendums au Québec : bibliographie", Québec: Bibliothèque de l’Assemblée nationale du Québec ( [http://www.assnat.qc.ca/fra/Bibliotheque/publications/thematiques/btHs.pdf online] )
* " [http://archives.cbc.ca/IDD-1-73-1938/politics_economy/1980_referendum/ À la prochaine fois: The 1980 Quebec Referendum] ", in "The CBC Digital Archives". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. [11 TV clips, 14 radio clips]