Book Review: Canada: The Union Nationale
| Author | S. Peter Regenstreif |
| Published date | 01 March 1964 |
| Date | 01 March 1964 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/002070206401900120 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
96
INTERNATioNAL
JouRNAL
performed
a
useful
service
by
faithfully
recording
the history
of
an
important
advance
in
technology.
His
principal contribution
however,
is his recognition
of
the
necessity
for
increased
federal
participation
in
the
management
and
development
of
nuclear
energy
resources. The
growing
acceptance
of
this
principle
by
private
American
industry
is
indeed
a
significant
trend.
ChaZk
River, Ontario
J.
W.
Hn~UN
Canada
TnE
UNION
NATIONALB.
By
Herbert
F.
Quinn.
A
study
in
Quebec
Nationalism.
1963.
(Toronto:
University
of
Toronto Press.
ix,
249pp.
$7.50)
At
this
critical
juncture
in Canadian
history,
when
separatist
rumblings
in
Quebec
threaten
the
continued existence
of
the
national
state,
any study
of
recent
Quebec
politics
would
be
extremely
timely.
It
therefore
goes
without
saying
that
this
volume should
be
welcomed.
This
is
a
study
of
the
party
which
has
dominated
Quebec
provincial
politics
for the
past
quarter
of
a century.
It
begins
by
placing
the
Union
Nationale
and
its
leader,
Maurice Duplessis,
within
the
context
of
the
historical
and
cultural
background
of
the
province's
politics.
It
is
the
author's
contention
that
the
critical
ingredient
making
for
the
success of
any
party
on
the
Quebec
electoral
scene
is
the extent
of
that
party's
sympathy
for the attitude
and
interests
of
French-Canadians
as
a
minority
cultural
group.
He
then
goes
on
to
show
how
the
challenge
of
industrialism and
the
nationalist
dispositions
of
French-Canadians
provided
the
friendly
environment
for
the formation
and
rise
to
power
of
the
party.
The period
during
which
the
party
held power
is
discussed in
terms
of
economic
policy
and
provincial
autonomy.
And
in
view
of
the
fact
that
the
Union
Nationale
has
been
characterized
in
the
mind
of
the
public
outside
Quebec
chiefly
by
its
corrupt
practices
and
proce-
dures
the
author
does
well
in
discussing
this
facet
of
the
Duplessis
administration
in
a
special
section.
Finally,
the
volume is
concluded
with
a
two-chapter
analysis
of
the
party's
decline
and
fall.
In
view of
the
obvious
difficulties
of
research
in
connection
with
so
recent
a
subject
and
so
secretive
a
party
as
the
Union
Nationale,
Professor
Quinn
is
to
be
congratulated
on
this
attempt.
However,
there
is
one
broad
methodological
aspect
of
this
study
which
this
reviewer
cannot
let
pass
without
some
special
comment.
The
author maintains
that
although
the
French-Canadian may
have a
democratic
system
of
government, he
has
never
really
under-
stood
or
accepted
the
principles
and
assumptions
upon which
that
system
is
based;
and,
further,
that
the
average
Quebec
voter
regards
government
expenditures
on
such
things
as
public
works
or
social
services,
not
as
a
right
of
the
citizen
whose
taxes
make
such
expendi-
tures
possible,
but
as
a
special
favour
or
privilege
granted
by
the
party
which
happens
to
be
in
office.
Indeed,
the
main
thrust
of
Professor
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