• At the time of this clip Lévesque was Natural Resources Minister for the Quebec government. As one of Premier Jean Lesage's ministers, he had considerable influence. A crafty politician, Lesage took Quebec's electricity out of private hands -- a move Quebecers saw as essential to gaining self-determination.

• Lévesque began his career as a journalist in 1943, and took a job in 1944 reporting overseas for the army.



• But Lévesque refused to work for English Canadian army bosses. Instead, he covered stories for the American army.

• In 1946 Levesque moved on to a job with the CBC. In 1952, he became head of news for Radio-Canada International. He also hosted Point de Mire, a popular political program that brought him considerable notoriety.

• Lévesque's shift from journalism to politics was aided by an event at the CBC.



• After a CBC production strike in 1959, in which Lévesque was a vocal participant, the Quebec Liberal party approached him about entering political life. His participation in the strike was highly publicized -- he was arrested and it was shown on television.

• Pierre Elliott Trudeau would move on from lawyer-pundit to justice minister (1967) and then prime minister (1968).

• While Trudeau was prime minister, a radical separatist group kidnapped a British diplomat and a Quebec minister.



• The Front de Libération du Québec used violence to make a point about what they called "anglophone oppression" -- the claim that francophones were discriminated against by English Canadians.

• Trudeau turned Canada into a military state by declaring the controversial War Measures Act in order to save the kidnapped politicians.