Allan Emrys Blakeney, PC, OC, SOM, QC, FRSC (September 7, 1925 – April 16, 2011) was the tenth Premier of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan from 1971 to 1982, and leader of the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party (NDP).^[1]

Life and career[link]

Born in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, Blakeney took his law degree at Dalhousie Law School, and was a Rhodes Scholar at Queen's College, Oxford, where he played for the Oxford University Ice Hockey Club.^[1]

On returning to Canada, he became a senior civil servant in Saskatchewan before entering politics in 1960 and serving as a cabinet minister in the governments of Tommy Douglas and Woodrow S. Lloyd.^[1] As minister of health, he played a crucial role in the introduction of Medicare.^[2]

NDP leader[link]

In 1970, Blakeney succeeded Lloyd as leader of the Saskatchewan NDP, which was then in opposition. Historically, his election as leader has been interpreted as a victory of the provincial NDP's "establishment" over its extreme left-wing Waffle faction, because Lloyd was trying to move the party more to the political left, which meant he supported the Waffle Manifesto at the October 1969 Federal NDP convention in Winnipeg.^[3] As well, Lloyd backed The Waffle's right to debate issues after the convention which disturbed many of his MLAs, who eventually forced him to resign in March 1970.^[3]

Premier[link]

In the 1971 provincial election, Blakeney led the party to power, defeating Ross Thatcher's Liberal government.

Blakeney's government practised state-led economic intervention in the economy.

The farmers were a high priority, as globalization began transforming agriculture, weakening the traditional family farm through consolidation, mechanization, and corporatization. The NDP promised a "revitalized rural Saskatchewan," and Blakeney's introduced programs to stabilize crop prices, retain transportation links, and modernize rural life. Looking back he lamented his lack of success: "We were, it seems, King Canute trying to hold back the tide."^[4]

His government created a Crown corporation in the potash industry in an attempt to further diversify the province's agrarian economy and threatened expropriation of private potash mines within the province.^[1] Blakeney pointed out that the sums paid for these mines were slightly in excess of their appraised "book" value. However, the mere threat of expropriation created a political firestorm that involved even the U.S. government.^[5]

Blakeney also created a state-owned oil and gas corporation (SaskOil) to handle oil exploration and production.^[1] The private oil industry had essentially abandoned Saskatchewan following the NDP's imposition of extremely high royalty rate policy of the early 1970s. Prime Minister Trudeau's policies (to centralize control in Ottawa) outraged Blakeney, and he moved closer to Alberta's position of open hostility. Blakeney joined Alberta Progressive Conservative Premier Peter Lougheed in a fight for provincial rights over minerals, oil and gas.^{[1] [6]}

Blakeney played an important role in the federal-provincial negotiations that led to the 1982 patriation of the Canadian constitution.^[1]

Defeats in 1982, 1986[link]

Blakeney's government was defeated in the 1982 provincial election, in its attempt to win a fourth successive term. It was defeated by the Progressive Conservative Party, led by Grant Devine.^[1]

Once in opposition, Blakeney continued to lead the party up to the 1986 provincial election. Though the party not only recovered many seats but also gained more votes overall than Devine's Progressive Conservatives, he fell short of defeating the government and resigned in 1987 to be succeeded by Roy Romanow.^[1]

On April 30, 1992, he was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada for his work as Premier of Saskatchewan, his enormous contribution to the field of public administration and as a key player in introducing the first comprehensive public medical health care plan in Canada.^[2] In 2000, he was awarded the Saskatchewan Order of Merit. In 2001, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. Blakeney is also a past president of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.

Death[link]

As a private citizen Blakeney served as a consultant to the Romanow government in the 1990s when they sold the former state owned government corporation to Occidental Petroleum. Then Blakeney served on the board of directors of the successor corporation.

Blakeney died on April 16, 2011 at his home in Saskatoon of complications from cancer.^[7]

Federal NDP leader Jack Layton dedicated the rest of his federal election campaign to Blakeney, who died about halfway through the campaign.^[8] About 600 people attended his memorial, including federal NDP leaders Jack Layton and Ed Broadbent, former provincial premiers Roy Romanow, Lorne Calvert, Peter Lougheed, Ed Schreyer, Bill Davis, and Bob Rae, as well the current Saskatchewan premier Brad Wall.^[9]

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Allan Blakeney. An Honourable Calling: Political Memoirs (University of Toronto Press, 2008) 258 pp. ISBN 978-0-8020-9891-7.
• Gruending, Dennis (1990). Promises to keep: a political biography of Allan Blakeney. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan: Western Producer Prairie Books. ISBN 0-88833-324-2. http://catalogue2.torontopubliclibrary.ca/uhtbin/cgisirsi/x/0/0/5/3?searchdata1=1485132{CKEY}&searchfield1=GENERAL^SUBJECT^GENERAL^^. 
• McLeod, Thomas; Ian McLeod (2004). The Road to Jerusalem (2 ed.). Calgary: Fifth House. ISBN 1-894856-48-1. http://catalogue2.torontopubliclibrary.ca/uhtbin/cgisirsi/x/0/0/5/3?searchdata1=760685{CKEY}&searchfield1=GENERAL^SUBJECT^GENERAL^^. 

v t e Premiers of Saskatchewan Scott · Martin · Dunning · Gardiner · Anderson · Gardiner · Patterson · Douglas · Lloyd · Thatcher · Blakeney · Devine · Romanow · Calvert · Wall

Trent Wotherspoon is a Canadian politician. He was elected to represent the electoral district of Regina Rosemont in the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan in the 2007 election. He is a member of the New Democratic Party.

Wotherspoon was elected in November 2007 and is the opposition critic for Finance, SaskPower and SaskEnergy, as well as chair of the Public Accounts committee, and committee member for Crown and Central Agencies and Saskatchewan’s Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.

Wotherspoon was born and raised in northwest Regina. He earned a Bachelor of Education, business and math after-degree program, and has taken graduate studies in educational administration and undergraduate studies in business administration. Prior to entering politics, he developed and managed within the community an innovative and nationally recognized and modeled youth justice program for young offenders of “highest-risk” upon release from custody.

As an educator with Regina Public Schools, Wotherspoon assisted in the development and delivery of a new campus for adult students. He also led the development and delivery of a holistic vocational adaptation program for students displaying severe violent behaviours and that functioned lower cognitively. Previously, he worked with Ranch Ehrlo Society delivering addictions and behavioural treatment.

He has background in business as an entrepreneur, through business studies and as a past director with the Business Improvement District for the City of Regina’s Warehouse District.

External links[link]

• Trent Wotherspoon

This article about a Saskatchewan politician is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Bradley James Allan (born in 14 February 1973, Melbourne, Australia) is an Australian martial artist, action choreographer, actor and stunt performer. He worked in the Hong Kong film industry as a member of the Jackie Chan Stunt Team and now choreographs action scenes in Hollywood films.

Biography[link]

Allan studied Wushu from the age of 14, spending two years learning under Beijing Wushu Team members Liang Chang-xing and Tang Lai-wei, compatriots of actor Jet Li.^[1] He is trained in gymnastics as well as a number of martial arts including karate, aikido, boxing and kickboxing. He later spent time at the Shanghai Institute of Sport and learned Mandarin. In 1993, he made his first film appearance in the unofficial sequel film Drunken Master III, after which, he returned to Australia. He briefly joined the Australian stunt team New Generation Stunts

He appeared in the Australian team at the 4th World Wushu Championships in Rome, in November 1997.^[2] Later that year, he heard Jackie Chan was filming Mr. Nice Guy in Melbourne and knew some of the Australian crew. He was invited to demonstrate his martial arts style for action director Cho Wing. Allan made a brief appearance in the film and was signed for a role in Chan's next Hong Kong film, Who am I? (1998), where he would double for Ron Smoorenburg and Michelle Ferre. He was subsequently invited to join Chan's stunt team, 'Sing ga ban', as their first non-Asian member.^[1] Allan progressed through the stunt team, and ultimately became team leader.

In the 2000s, in addition to being a member of Chan's stunt team, Allan gained action choreography / direction roles in major Hollywood films including The Chronicles of Riddick and Hellboy II: The Golden Army.^[3]

Filmography[link]

Films[link]

Television[link]

Stunts and other works[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Bradley James Allan at the Internet Movie Database

This article about an Australian actor or actress is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Ryan Meili is a medical doctor who ran for the leadership of the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party in 2009 placing second with 44.93% of the vote.^[1]

Meili lives and works in Saskatoon’s core community of Riversdale. He is a family physician at WestSide Community Clinic and SWITCH * [1]

A Healthy Society[link]

Meili is the author of A Healthy Society: how a focus on health can revive Canadian democracy, released by Purich Publishing in April 2012.

Drawing on his experiences as a family physician in the inner city of Saskatoon, Mozambique, and rural Saskatchewan, Dr. Meili argues that health delivery too often focuses on treatment of immediate causes and ignores more fundamental conditions that lead to poor health. Income, education, employment, housing, the wider environment, and social supports: far more than the actions of physicians, nurses, and other health care providers, it is these conditions that make the greatest difference in our health. Brought to life by patient stories, A Healthy Society explores a number of specific health determinants, and ends in a discussion of democratic reforms that could help reshape the way we organize ourselves to create a truly healthy society.

A Healthy Society features a foreword by former Saskatchewan premier Roy Romanow and supportive quotes from Council of Canadians Chairperson Maude Barlow, former Saskatchewan premier Lorne Calvert, author and physician Gabor Maté, social determinants of health expert Dennis Raphael economist Armine Yalnizyan, and Manitoba MP Niki Ashton.

Early life and education[link]

He grew up on a family farm near Courval, Saskatchewan, land which is still farmed by his brother. He attended Vanier Collegiate in Moose Jaw before going on to the University of Saskatchewan where he studied Human Anatomy and Languages.

After finishing his first degree, Meili travelled to Central America to experience life in the developing world. In 1999 he co-organized a project called Limbs and Light for Latin America which raised money to purchase a school bus which they then filled with prosthetic limbs for landmine victims and drove to Nicaragua.

Medical Training[link]

Meili entered the College of Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan in September 2000 and graduated in 2004. He completed his residency at the Westwinds Primary Health Centre in Saskatoon in June 2007.

Advocacy[link]

While in medical school, he became involved in health care advocacy. At the time of the Royal Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada, also known as the Romanow Commission, he helped found a student group called Health Professionals for Medicare dedicated to educating the public about the benefits of a single-payer, publicly funded health care system. He remains passionate about this issue and is presently vice-chair of the national advocacy group Canadian Doctors for Medicare.

He also works for the College of Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan. As the head of the Division of Social Accountability, he’s responsible for helping ensure that Saskatchewan’s future doctors are equipped to meet the health needs of the diverse communities they will serve. Among Ryan’s focuses are aboriginal, international, rural, and inner-city health.

Meili is perhaps best known for his role as a co-founder of SWITCH, the Student Wellness Initiative Toward Community Health. Ryan helped spearhead this student-run, interdisciplinary, inner-city clinic, whose mandate is to bring students from nursing, medicine, social work, physiotherapy, pharmacy, nutrition, and numerous other disciplines together to serve the residents of Saskatoon’s core communities. Ryan was also the clinic’s first coordinator, and continues to work there as a supervising doctor.

In 2001, Meili was arrested during a peaceful protest at the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City. He received an absolute discharge and the conviction was erased after one year.^[2]

Campaign for the Leadership of the Saskatchewan NDP[link]

Meili entered the race for the leadership of Saskatchewan's NDP party on February 5, 2009. He was the fourth and final declared candidate joining former Deputy Premier Dwain Lingenfelter; current MLA Deb Higgins and former party president, Yens Pedersen. Meili ran on a platform of party renewal: "Meili said he hopes his entry into the race helps revive the NDP. 'If the NDP is allowed to die, only to be resuscitated every 20 years . . . then we’re not building a healthy society."^[3] His policies placed him in the progressive wing of the party.

Innovative Use of Web 2.0 Technology[link]

As part of his campaign, Meili released a series of professionally produced campaign videos on both his web site and on YouTube. He has also announced a week-long "money bomb" the first of its kind in Canadian politics.

Dr. Chanchal Bhattacharya, an Alberta political scientist who studies the use of new technology in political campaigns said:

"The Meili campaign is different because it’s exploiting the full potential of the Internet as a campaign tool...Despite very limited resources, Meili is effectively using Web 2.0 social media like YouTube and Facebook to reach new voters and energize existing ones. It’s a 21st-century Saskatchewan campaign.” ^[4]

[edit] Endorsements ^[5]

• Dr. Allen Backman, School of Public Health, University of Saskatchewan
• Lon Borgerson, former Provincial Cabinet Minister
• David Forbes - sitting MLA, currently Opposition critic for Social Services, Disabilities, Housing, and the CBO Sector
• Don Kossick - 2006 Federal NDP Candidate in Blackstrap
• Greg Marchildon, Executive Director of the Romanow Commission
• Angie Merasty, President of the Aboriginal New Democrats of Saskatchewan
• Don Mitchell, 2008 Federal NDP Candidate in Palliser Riding, former Mayor of Moose Jaw and 1970 candidate for the leadership of the Saskatchewan NDP ^[6]
• Peter Prebble, former Provincial Cabinet Minister
• Maynard Sonntag, former Provincial Cabinet Minister ^[7]
• Dion Tchorzewski, Regina attorney, son of former Cabinet Minister Ed Tchorzewski
• Nettie Wiebe - former National Farmer's Union President, Federal NDP candidate and third-place finisher in 2001 provincial NDP leadership race.

Meili's was also the first campaign to include endorsements from members of the general public who didn't necessarily have a high public profile like traditional political endorsers. This list included small business people, academics, students, lawyers and others.^[5] Near the end of the leadership campaign, both Dwain Lingenfelter and Yens Pedersen began using a similar strategy on their endorsement pages.

Meili removed himself from the race for the nomination for Saskatoon Sutherland prior to the Saskatchewan general election, 2011. There is some speculation that he may run in 2013 for leadership of the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party. ^[8] http://www.thestarphoenix.com/news/Potential+leader+candidates+they/6322479/story.html

Awards[link]

• 2007 - named Saskatoon’s Global Citizen of the Year by the Saskatchewan Council for International Cooperation.
• 2006 - Saskatchewan Health Care Excellence Award

References[link]

External links[link]

• Ryan Meili
• [2]

René Lévesque^[1] (French pronunciation: [ʁəne levɛk]; August 24, 1922 – November 1, 1987) was a reporter, a minister of the government of Quebec, (1960–1966), the founder of the Parti Québécois political party and the 23rd Premier of Quebec (November 25, 1976 – October 3, 1985). He was the first Quebec political leader since Confederation to attempt, through a referendum, to negotiate political separation for Quebec.

Early life[link]

The eldest of four children, Lévesque was born in the Hotel Dieu Hospital in Campbellton, New Brunswick and raised 133 km away in New Carlisle, Quebec, in the Gaspé peninsula, by his parents, Diane (née Dionne) and Dominic Lévesque, a lawyer.^[2] Lévesque attended the Séminaire de Gaspé and the Saint-Charles-Garnier College in Quebec City, both of which were run by the Jesuits. He studied for a law degree at Université Laval in Quebec City, but left the university in 1943 without having completed the degree.

War correspondent[link]

During WWII with the U.S. Office of War Information

He worked as an announcer and news writer at the radio station CHNC in New Carlisle, as a substitute announcer for CHRC during 1941 and 1942, and then at CBV in Quebec City.

During 1944–1945, he served as a liaison officer and war correspondent for the U.S. Army in Europe. He reported from London while it was under regular bombardment by the Luftwaffe, and advanced with the Allied troops as they pushed back the German army through France and Germany. Throughout the war, he made regular journalistic reports on the airwaves and in print. He was with the first unit of Americans to reach Dachau concentration camp, and was profoundly moved by what he witnessed.

In 1947, he married Louise L'Heureux, with whom he would have two sons and a daughter. Lévesque worked as a reporter for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's French Language section in the international service. He again served as a war correspondent for CBC in the Korean War in 1952. After that, he was offered a career in journalism in the United States, but decided to stay in Quebec.

Public figure[link]

Lévesque interviews Lester B. Pearson in Moscow for Radio-Canada in 1955

From 1956 to 1959, Lévesque became famous in Quebec for hosting a weekly television news program on Télévision de Radio-Canada (the French-language counterpart of the CBC) called Point de Mire.

Lévesque covered international events and major labour struggles between workers and corporations that dogged the Union Nationale government of premier Maurice Duplessis culminating with a massive strike in 1957 at the Gaspé Copper Mine in Murdochville. The Murdochville strike was a milestone for organized labour in Quebec as it resulted in changes to the province's labour laws.

While working for the public television network, he became personally involved in the broadcasters' strike which lasted 68 tumultuous days beginning in late 1958. Lévesque was actually arrested during a demonstration in 1959, along with union leader Jean Marchand and 24 other demonstrators.

Involvement in politics[link]

In 1960, Lévesque entered politics and was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Quebec in the 1960 election as a Liberal Party member in the riding of Montréal-Laurier. In the government of Jean Lesage, he served as Minister of Hydroelectric Resources and Public Works from 1960 to 1961, and Minister of Natural Resources from 1961 to 1965. While in office, he played an important role in the nationalisation of hydroelectric companies, greatly expanding Hydro-Québec, one of the reforms that was part of the Quiet Revolution.

From 1965 to 1966 he served as Minister of Family and Welfare. The Liberals lost the 1966 election to the Union Nationale but Lévesque retained his own seat of Laurier.

Parti Québécois leader[link]

On October 14, 1967, Lévesque left the Liberal Party after its members refused to discuss the idea of a sovereign Quebec during its convention. He remained as the independent representative of the Laurier riding until the 1970 election. After leaving the Liberal Party, he founded the Mouvement Souveraineté-Association, which later merged with another sovereigntist party, the Ralliement National of Gilles Grégoire, to create the Parti Québécois in 1968. He remained leader of the Parti Québécois from 1968 until his resignation in 1985.

After failing to win a seat in the National Assembly in the 1970 election and the 1973 election, he and his party swept the 1976 election. Lévesque won his own seat in the riding of Taillon. His party assumed power with 41.1 per cent of the popular vote and 71 seats out of 110; René Lévesque became Premier of Quebec ten days later.

The night of Lévesque's acceptance speech included one of his most famous quotations: "I never thought that I could be so proud to be Québécois."

On February 6, 1977, Lévesque's car fatally struck Edgar Trottier, a drunk homeless man who had been lying on the road. Police officers at the scene did not administer the breathalyzer test to Levesque, because they did not suspect that he was impaired.^[3] However, Levesque was later fined $25 for failing to wear his glasses while driving a car on the night in question. He immediately paid the fine.^[4] The incident gained extra notoriety when it was revealed that the female companion in the vehicle was not his wife, but a secretary named Corinne Côté. Lévesque’s marriage ended in divorce soon thereafter (the couple had already been estranged for some time), and in April 1979, he married Côté.

Lévesque's Act to govern the financing of political parties banned corporate donations and limited individual contributions to political parties to $3,000. This key legislation was meant to prevent wealthy citizens and organizations from having a disproportionate influence on the electoral process. A Referendum Act was passed to allow for a province-wide vote on issues presented in a referendum.

His Parti Québécois government also passed the Quebec Charter of the French Language (also known as "Bill 101"), whose goal was (and still is) to make French "the normal and everyday language of work, instruction, communication, commerce and business." In its first enactment, it reserved access to English-language public schools to children whose parents had attended English school in Quebec. All other children were required to attend French schools in order to encourage immigrants to integrate themselves into the majority French culture (Lévesque was more moderate on language than some of the PQ, including language minister, Camille Laurin. He would have resigned as leader rather than eliminate English public schools, as party extremists proposed).^[5]

Bill 101 also made it illegal for businesses to put up exterior commercial signs in a language other than French (unless the sign also contained a "larger" French translation) at a time when English dominated as a commercial and business language in Quebec (while more than 80% of the population was of French origin).

On May 20, 1980, the PQ held, as promised before the elections, the 1980 Quebec referendum on its sovereignty-association plan. The result of the vote was 40% in favour and 60% opposed (with 86% turnout). Lévesque conceded defeat in the referendum, but his concession speech called upon sovereigntists to persevere À la prochaine fois! (until next time).

Lévesque led the PQ to victory in the 1981 election, increasing the party's majority in the National Assembly and increasing its share of the popular vote from 41 to 49 per cent.

A major focus of his second mandate was the patriation of the Canadian constitution. Lévesque was criticized by some in Quebec who said he had been tricked by Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and the English-Canadian provincial premiers. To this day, no Quebec premier of any political side has endorsed the 1982 constitutional amendment.

The PQ government's response to the recession of the early 1980s angered labour union members, a core part of the constituency of the PQ and the sovereignty movement.

A split within the party over how much emphasis to put on sovereignty in the next election led to Lévesque's resignation as leader of the Parti Québécois on June 20, 1985, and as premier of Quebec on October 3. Lévesque had argued that the party should not make sovereignty the object of the 1985 election and instead opt for the "Beau risque" strategy of seeking an understanding with the federal government of Mulroney, which angered the strongest supporters of sovereignty within the party.

Lévesque, a constant smoker,^[6] was in his apartment on November 1, 1987 when he experienced chest pains; he died of a myocardial infarction that day at a hospital.^[7][8] A brief resurgence of separatist sentiment followed. Over 100,000 viewed his body lying in state in Montreal and Quebec City, over 10,000 went to his funeral in the latter city, and hundreds wept daily at his grave for months.^[9]

Lévesque was a recipient of the title Grand Officer of the French Legion of Honour. He was posthumously made a Grand Officer of the National Order of Quebec in 2008.

Legacy[link]

Lévesque sculpture in front of the Quebec Parliament Building

Despite a perceived weakening of his sovereigntist resolve in the last years of his government, he reaffirmed his belief to friends and, notably, to a crowd of Université Laval students months before his death, of the necessity of independence.

His state funeral and funeral procession was reportedly attended by 100,000 Québécois. During the carrying out of his coffin from the church, the crowd spontaneously began to applaud and sing Quebec's unofficial national anthem "Gens du pays", replacing the first verse with Mon cher René (My dear René), as is the custom when this song is adapted to celebrate one person. Two major boulevards now bear his name, one in Montreal and one in Quebec City. In Montreal, Édifice Hydro-Québec and Maison Radio-Canada are both located on René Lévesque Boulevard, fittingly as Lévesque once worked for Hydro-Québec and the CBC, respectively. On June 22, 2010, Hydro-Québec and the government of Quebec commemorated Lévesque's role in Quebec's Quiet Revolution and his tenure as premier by renaming the 1244-megawatt Manic-3 generating station in his honour.^[10]

On June 3, 1999, a monument in his honour was unveiled on boulevard René-Lévesque outside the Parliament Building in Quebec City. The statue is popular with tourists, who snuggle up to it, to have their pictures taken "avec René" (with René), despite repeated attempts by officials to keep people from touching the monument or getting too close to it. The statue had been the source of an improvised, comical and affectionately touching tribute to Lévesque. The fingers of his extended right hand are slightly parted, just enough so that tourists and the faithful could insert a cigarette, giving the statue an unusually realistic appearance.

This practice is less often seen now, however, as the statue was moved to New Carlisle and replaced by a similar, but bigger one. This change resulted from considerable controversy. Some believed that the life-sized statue was not appropriate for conveying his importance in the history of Quebec. Others noted that a trademark of Lévesque was his relatively small stature.

Lévesque today remains an important figure of the Quebec nationalist movement, and is considered sovereigntism's spiritual father. After his death, even people in disagreement with some of those convictions now generally recognise his importance to the history of Quebec. Many in Quebec regard him as the father of the modern Quebec nation. According to a study made in 2006 by Le Journal de Montréal and Léger Marketing, René Lévesque was considered by far, according to Québécois, the best premier to run the province over the last 50 years.^[11]

Of the things he left as his legacy, some of the most memorable and still robust are completing the nationalization of hydroelectricity through Hydro-Québec, the Quebec Charter of the French Language, the political party financing law, and the Parti Québécois itself. His government was the first in Canada to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in the province's Charte des droits de la personne in 1977.^[12] He also continued the work of the Lesage government in improving social services, in which social needs were taken care of by the state, instead of the Catholic Church (as in the Duplessis era) or the individual. Lévesque is still regarded by many as a symbol of democracy and tolerance.

Personality[link]

He was a man capable of great tact and charm, but who could also be abrupt and choleric when defending beliefs, ideals, or morals essential to him, or when lack of respect was perceived, for example, when he was famously snubbed by François Mitterrand at their first meeting. He was also a proud Gaspésien (from the Gaspé peninsula), and had hints of the local accent.

Considered a major defender of Québécois, Lévesque was, before the 1960s, more interested in international affairs than Quebec matters. The popular image of Lévesque was his ever-present cigarette and his small physical stature, as well as his unique comb over that earned him the nickname of Ti-Poil, literally, "Lil' Hair", but more accurately translated as "Baldy". Lévesque was a passionate and emotional public speaker. Those close to Lévesque have described him as having difficulty expressing his emotions in private, saying that he was more comfortable in front of a crowd of thousands than with one person.

While many Quebec intellectuals are inspired by French philosophy and high culture, Lévesque favoured the United States of America. While in London during the Second World War, his admiration for Britons grew when he witnessed their courage in the face of the German bombardments. He was a faithful reader of the New York Times, and took his vacations in New England every year. He also stated that, if there had to be one role model for him, it would be U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Lévesque was disappointed with the cold response by the American economic elite to his first speech in New York City as Premier of Quebec, in which he compared Quebec's march towards sovereignty to the American Revolution. His first speech in France was, however, more successful, leading him to a better appreciation of the French intelligentsia and of French culture.

Lévesque in media[link]

Lévesque was notably portrayed in the television series René Lévesque. In 2006, an additional television miniseries, René Lévesque, was aired on the CBC. He was also portrayed in an episode of Kevin Spencer, a Canadian cartoon show. In it, his ghost attempted a camaraderie with Kevin because of their similarities in political beliefs, as well as the fact that the title character, like René's ghost, claims to smoke "five packs a day".

A song by Les Cowboys Fringants named Lettre à Lévesque on the album La Grand-Messe was dedicated to him. They have also mentioned the street bearing his name in the song called La Manifestation.

He was the co-subject along with Pierre Trudeau in the Donald Brittain-directed documentary mini-series The Champions.

Bibliography[link]

• Option Québec (1968)
• La passion du Québec (1978)
• Oui (1980)
• Attendez que je me rappelle (1986) (although the title means 'Wait for me to remember'; the title of the English-language version was Memoirs)^[13]

See also[link]

• List of Gaspésiens
• List of premiers of Quebec
• List of Quebec general elections
• Politician nicknaming in Quebec
• Politics of Quebec
• Quebec sovereignty movement
• Separatism

Further reading[link]

• Paulin, Marguerite (2004). René Lévesque: Charismatic Leader, XYZ Publishing, 176 pages ISBN 1-894852-13-3 (translated by Jonathan Kaplansky)
• Fennario, David (2003). The Death of René Lévesque, Talonbooks, March 10, 72 pages ISBN 0-88922-480-3
• Fraser, Graham (2002). PQ: René Lévesque and the Parti Québécois in Power, Montreal, McGill-Queen's University Press; 2nd edition, 434 pages ISBN 0-7735-2310-3
• Fournier, Claude (1995). René Lévesque: Portrait of a Man Alone, McClelland & Stewart, April 15, 272 pages ISBN 0-7710-3216-1
• Lévesque, René (1986). René Lévesque Memoirs, McClelland & Stewart (translated by Philip Stratford)
• Fraser, Graham (1984). PQ: René Lévesque and the Parti Québécois in Power, Montreal, Libre Expression
• Lévesque, René (1979). My Québec, Methuen, 191 pages, ISBN 0-458-93980-3
• Provencher, Jean and Ellis, David (1977). René Lévesque: Portrait of a Québécois, Paperjacks, ISBN 0-7701-0020-1
• Lévesque, René (1977). Quotations from René Lévesque, Éditions Héritage, 105 pages ISBN 0-7773-3942-0
• Dupont, Pierre (1977). How Levesque Won, Lorimer, 136 pages ISBN 0-88862-130-2 (translated by Sheila Fischman)
• Lévesque, René (1968). An Option for Quebec, McClelland and Stewart, 128 pages
• Desbarats, Peter (1976). Rene: a Canadian in search of a country, McClelland and Stewart, 223 pages ISBN 0-7710-2691-9
• "René Lévesque's Separatist Fight", in the CBC Archives Web site
• Lévesque, René. "For an Independent Quebec", in Foreign Affairs, July, 1976) [1]

Elections as party leader[link]

• He lost the 1970 election and 1973 election, and won the 1976 election and 1981 election, and resigned in 1985.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: René Lévesque

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: René Lévesque

• "Biography" (in French). Dictionnaire des parlementaires du Québec de 1792 à nos jours. National Assembly of Quebec. http://www.assnat.qc.ca/en/deputes/levesque-rene-4219/index.html. 
• Radio-Canada dossier on the constitution saga (in French)
• CBC Digital Archives: René Lévesque's Separatist Fight

Videos[link]

• CBC Digital Archives: René Lévesque's Separatist Fight (in English)
• CBC Digital Archives: Charting the Future: Canada's New Constitution (in English)
• Radio-Canada video archive on René Lévesque and the PQ (in French)
• Radio-Canada video archive on the 1980 referendum (in French)

v t e 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 Book:Premiers of Quebec Category:Premiers of Quebec Portal: Quebec