Report

American Enterprise Institute

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Key Points

The Canadian province of Quebec totally transformed itself in the space of two generations, beginning with the so-called Quiet Revolution of the 1960s, proving that societies can change.

French Quebec, not so long ago staunchly Catholic, rural-based, and wary of business, with a deep-seated sense of inferiority toward the socially dominant Anglo population, is today a generally self-confident society with a vibrant entrepreneurial class, proving that social divides can be overcome.

The transformation was no accident; it was the outcome of four policy choices at the federal and provincial levels: (1) financing and reforming public education, (2) creating role models and state capitalism, (3) upgrading the French language as a vehicle for social advancement, and (4) strengthening Montreal as a global city with a strong corporate core.

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Introduction

On October 1, 2018, the province of Quebec elected an unabashedly pro-enterprise government, with François Legault, the new premier, freely vaunting his background as a successful businessman and cofounder of Air Transat, a holiday airline. The premier’s personal background and association with a successful Montreal-based corporation marked a long journey that transformed French Quebec. Not so long ago, a businessman premier, let alone a Quebecois-bred global corporation, would have been unimaginable.

French Canadians (the term used before “Quebecois” became fashionable) were not made for business, or at least that was the popular perception; business was not their place, nor should they aspire to it. In this report, I attempt to explain what I call Quebec’s entrepreneurial revolution. But before that, we need to begin with a history lesson.

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