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The Origin of Quebec's Uniqueness
I'm in the process of planning a move to a new city. This new city is not very far from where I live now: in fact, it is merely across a river. Since the river in question is the Ottawa River, the other side of the river might as well be a different country. The language is different, the culture is different, and things are very different.
On this side of the river lies the city of Ottawa; on the other side is Gatineau. Rents are radically different between the two cities: there are three bedroom housess in Gatineau which rent for less than studio apartments in Ottawa. Even more bizarrely from my perspective, Gatineau has some of the highest rents in the entire Province of Quebec. Further, compared to the rest of the country, Quebec lacks a large number of the social problems which afflict us, and have a media landscape which is very different.
Frank discussions of class issues with regards to things such as carbon taxes in the news, a focus on public transit on the part of the media and governments, rather than the malign neglect which characterizes them in most of English Canada, or the fierce way in which Quebec law protects unions all contribute to a very different cultural and political landscape. The roots of this difference date back to the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s, but I only just realized there is a reason for them. I need to thank Kimberly Steele for this: in response to a comment I made on the odd disparity between Quebec and English Canada, she said the following:
"My neighborhood is like that -- white salary classers see the signs in Spanish and the dilapidated buildings and they are like RUN FOR THE HILLS!! This place is the best kept secret in the Midwest. We have the best dive bars, we can walk to several grocery stores, and it's like 1978 with kids riding bikes in packs and neighbors who help each other out when needed. Meanwhile, their part of suburbs looks and feels like that horrific movie Vivarium."
This brings us to the Quiet Revolution. Prior to this, Quebec was much like the rest of Canada, aside from a large number of rural people who spoke French. In Montreal, then the largest city in Quebec, and indeed Canada, in the 1950s it was hard to find service in French; large parts of Quebec City were chiefly Anglophone, and the main language of government was English.
Major cities, such as Quebec City, Montreal, or Hull (today Gatineau) were all increasingly dominated by an Anglophone middle class, and increasingly ringed by suburbs. This changed in the 1960s, as the Quiet Revolution got underway. The Quiet Revolution was really only complete with the 1980 sovereignty referendum, but from the start it marked a shift: the language of power became French, and a new, French, political elite came into being.
This had an effect which was clear by the middle of the 1960s, which was that the English middle class bolted from the province. Meanwhile, many of the Francophones who do rise to the Middle class leave Quebec: the jobs tend to be elsewhere, and the government of Quebec is ruthless in preventing wealth consolidation, as part of their struggle with the English economic elite.
The result is that compared to the rest of North America and most of Europe, the middle class is small, and at the provincial level, holds less political power than their numbers would dictate. Since the middle classes usually hold far more power than their numbers would dictate, this is a major distinction between Quebec and everywhere else.
On this side of the river lies the city of Ottawa; on the other side is Gatineau. Rents are radically different between the two cities: there are three bedroom housess in Gatineau which rent for less than studio apartments in Ottawa. Even more bizarrely from my perspective, Gatineau has some of the highest rents in the entire Province of Quebec. Further, compared to the rest of the country, Quebec lacks a large number of the social problems which afflict us, and have a media landscape which is very different.
Frank discussions of class issues with regards to things such as carbon taxes in the news, a focus on public transit on the part of the media and governments, rather than the malign neglect which characterizes them in most of English Canada, or the fierce way in which Quebec law protects unions all contribute to a very different cultural and political landscape. The roots of this difference date back to the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s, but I only just realized there is a reason for them. I need to thank Kimberly Steele for this: in response to a comment I made on the odd disparity between Quebec and English Canada, she said the following:
"My neighborhood is like that -- white salary classers see the signs in Spanish and the dilapidated buildings and they are like RUN FOR THE HILLS!! This place is the best kept secret in the Midwest. We have the best dive bars, we can walk to several grocery stores, and it's like 1978 with kids riding bikes in packs and neighbors who help each other out when needed. Meanwhile, their part of suburbs looks and feels like that horrific movie Vivarium."
This brings us to the Quiet Revolution. Prior to this, Quebec was much like the rest of Canada, aside from a large number of rural people who spoke French. In Montreal, then the largest city in Quebec, and indeed Canada, in the 1950s it was hard to find service in French; large parts of Quebec City were chiefly Anglophone, and the main language of government was English.
Major cities, such as Quebec City, Montreal, or Hull (today Gatineau) were all increasingly dominated by an Anglophone middle class, and increasingly ringed by suburbs. This changed in the 1960s, as the Quiet Revolution got underway. The Quiet Revolution was really only complete with the 1980 sovereignty referendum, but from the start it marked a shift: the language of power became French, and a new, French, political elite came into being.
This had an effect which was clear by the middle of the 1960s, which was that the English middle class bolted from the province. Meanwhile, many of the Francophones who do rise to the Middle class leave Quebec: the jobs tend to be elsewhere, and the government of Quebec is ruthless in preventing wealth consolidation, as part of their struggle with the English economic elite.
The result is that compared to the rest of North America and most of Europe, the middle class is small, and at the provincial level, holds less political power than their numbers would dictate. Since the middle classes usually hold far more power than their numbers would dictate, this is a major distinction between Quebec and everywhere else.
no subject
The reason why we live in this neighborhood is that it was the only affordable county within a reasonable distance of my work and my parents; it was either this place or move out of Illinois to nearby Wisconsin.
no subject
As for the neighbourhood, this is exactly why I am moving to Gatineau: it is the only place I will be able to afford rent and be able to go to my electrician training. The more I look into it the more and more I'm thinking I'll like it there. Well, I'll find out soon enough.
no subject
I love my neighborhood. The air here isn't so permeated with salary class frenzy. Now that the salary class has engineered its own impending collapse via the Plandemic, the feeling of everything coming apart at the seams is much worse in salary class neighborhoods. It is my belief that we'll have a second Great Depression by the year 2023 and many abandoned McMansions to prove it. My parents live in a salary class neighborhood and the commercial strip where I work is surrounded by the Professional Managerial Class. That's one of the big reasons I'm seeking to move my commercial space to a more down-to-earth town & neighborhood.
If I have any regrets it is not moving here a decade or two sooner.
no subject
I wish I could say I wasn't expecting a Second Great Depression by 2023 as well, but I am. Actually right now if it isn't here by the end of next year I'll be amazed. I figure my family will be very hard hit: six figure income types who think of themselves as poor will not do well with being actually poor.....
envy
I came across your journal via JMG's blogs. Your situation is fascinating and unique in that you can choose to join quite a different culture, one that sounds by your account rather preferable to that which we western commenters mostly share. In Australia people I have known tend to have fantasized that another city or area of the country has preferable features, and often relocated on that ground, but seem seldom to find anything really different when they get there. I'd love to have such a chance to live somewhere really different without having to commit to emigrating! In fact my own imagination has often cast New Zealand as a sort of Quebec to Australia's English Canada. Undoubtedly this is inaccurate.
All best wishes for your move to Gatineau anyway.
In last JMG open post you asked about things people did instead of/before internet... I am not far through the comments so don't know if you got any satisfying answers? If you are still seeking, I could send you a few ideas.
Cheers
k
Re: envy
The thing which strikes me is that the English and French media might as well belong to two different countries. The French media will talk about class issues, about the effects of illegal immigration, find and interview Trump supporters not to mock them but to try to understand why people voted for him; public transit and the harms of car culture are discussed; and then there was the segment on cable news a few nights ago on how when things reopen it will trigger a spike in oil prices, and talked about the preparations being made for that.
I don't know enough about your side of the world to be able to speculate on the relationship between Australia and New Zealand, but I doubt it would be quite the same as Quebec and English Canada; I think the firm language barrier is a necessary component here.
As for moving seeking something different and then being disappointed, it's a very common thing in Canada too. I have family in Calgary, a four hour flight away, and have spent enough time there to be able to say that whatever differences exist, they are swamped by the similarities: I think all big cities end up similar to each other, and since people tend to move to the cities when they move long distances, it means they end up with somewhere much like what they left.
Finally, I would greatly appreciate anything you have to share on life before/without the internet. I have gotten some good suggestions, but the more I have the better. Thank you!
Good luck!
Re: Good luck!