What was union nationale

Among these were the Asbestos strike and strikes by Louiseville textile workers —53 , Murdochville miners , and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation producers The government handled these conflicts with a firm hand and relied heavily on the provincial police to counter the strikers.

The fight against socialism was another feature of the Duplessis platform, and it found expression in the Act Respecting Communistic Propaganda , which was passed in Better known as the Padlock Act , this piece of legislation empowered the authorities to close buildings or residences that were being used to propagate Communism or Bolshevism.

During its final term from to , the Union Nationale continued reforms undertaken by the Liberal Party during the Quiet Revolution. The Union Nationale received most of its support from rural voters, small- and medium-scale businessmen, and non-unionized labour. In addition, it was the party of a generation: voters who were in their twenties during the s were its most loyal supporters.

The party subsequently struggled to renew its electoral base, which led to its decline. Alain Lavigne, Duplessis. Herbert F. Maurice Duplessis A biography of Maurice Duplessis, lawyer and politician.

From the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online. From Library and Archives Canada. The asbestos strike in Quebec in showed Duplessis' hard line against unions. The strike lasted five months and involved workers. Duplessis responded by sending in police squads to break the strike and he decertified: the certification of something a union is taken away; it is made illegal or unauthorized.

One of the strike supporters was a young intellectual, Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Some have called the beginning of the Quiet Revolution - the real moment of awakening for Quebec. A political party in Quebec formed in by Conservative leaders to break the hold of the Liberal Party on the province. Like the Cooperative Commonwealth Foundation and the Social Credit Party, it emerged as a response to the Great Depression, to achieve social justice by state intervention if necessary, inspired in this instance by the support of the Roman Catholic Church.

Led by Maurice Duplessis b. The province experienced considerable economic progress during that time, but the party refrained from divisive social and educational reforms, continuing instead to rely on the Roman Catholic Church for the maintenance of its education and health systems.

This system broke down shortly after Duplessis's death, when it was superseded by the Quiet Revolution introduced by the Liberals in Subjects: History — Contemporary History post View all related items in Oxford Reference ». Download video 1 minute 11 seconds, Download video 1 minute 25 seconds, In , a new political party known as the Union nationale won the provincial elections.

Bringing scandals to light and positioning himself as a reformer, he almost single-handedly brought down the Liberal government of Louis-Alexandre Taschereau. Other measures announced during the election campaign, such as the nationalization of electricity, were pushed into the background and party MLAs who demanded them were silenced.