Canuckian TL brainstorming- Canucks/expats only

My next full-scale TL will be Canadian, and I have two ideas that I'm currently contemplating. Any help with fleshing them out would be appreciated.

Québec sans Lévesque: René Lévesque resigns as premier in 1977 after fatally injuring Edgar Trottier with his limo. IOTL only a heartfelt plea from Robert Cliche prevented his resignation. With the Charte and the campaign finance laws not yet formed, the pur et dur wing led by Parizeau and Laurin will clash with the social democrats, soft indépendatistes such as Michel Carpentier, Robert Burns and Claude Morin. Of course the closet Unionists like Pierre-Marc Johnson can't be discounted either, but they cannot make a power grab then or later because their economic ideology (neoliberal à la Bouchard) and agnosticism on the question nationale would cause major problems. I'd say Parizeau is the successor with a Cabinet reconfiguration to support the purs et durs in the vital portfolios, but keeping the linguistically moderate Gerald Godin at Communautés Culturelles. The right-wingers (Parizeau despises Johnson personally and politically, as seen in his overthrow in '87) would get kicked out of Cabinet. Lévesque was the one who gave a direct order to Laurin to excise some extremely tough measures from the Charte, including a direct challenge to the federal Charter IOTL, but Parizeau would let that stand. This causes major problems with the Anglo and Allophone communities, who could work reasonably well with Lévesque IOTL because he constantly warned against alienating them and gagged anyone who tried to derail that policy.

Tons de bleu (Shades of Blue): Daniel Johnson survives his October '68 heart attack and completes the realignment of the Unionists as agnostic/soft indépendantistes on the national question and economically (later neoliberal) and socially conservative. The PQ becomes the party of the left, social democratic and socially progressive as per OTL. The PLQ is squeezed out and becomes an Anglophone third party, eventually merging with the UN but with an unspoken agreement to not rock the boat too often on the "national question".
 
My next full-scale TL will be Canadian, and I have two ideas that I'm currently contemplating. Any help with fleshing them out would be appreciated.

Québec sans Lévesque: René Lévesque resigns as premier in 1977 after fatally injuring Edgar Trottier with his limo. IOTL only a heartfelt plea from Robert Cliche prevented his resignation. With the Charte and the campaign finance laws not yet formed, the pur et dur wing led by Parizeau and Laurin will clash with the social democrats, soft indépendatistes such as Michel Carpentier, Robert Burns and Claude Morin. Of course the closet Unionists like Pierre-Marc Johnson can't be discounted either, but they cannot make a power grab then or later because their economic ideology (neoliberal à la Bouchard) and agnosticism on the question nationale would cause major problems. I'd say Parizeau is the successor with a Cabinet reconfiguration to support the purs et durs in the vital portfolios, but keeping the linguistically moderate Gerald Godin at Communautés Culturelles. The right-wingers (Parizeau despises Johnson personally and politically, as seen in his overthrow in '87) would get kicked out of Cabinet. Lévesque was the one who gave a direct order to Laurin to excise some extremely tough measures from the Charte, including a direct challenge to the federal Charter IOTL, but Parizeau would let that stand. This causes major problems with the Anglo and Allophone communities, who could work reasonably well with Lévesque IOTL because he constantly warned against alienating them and gagged anyone who tried to derail that policy.

Tons de bleu (Shades of Blue): Daniel Johnson survives his October '68 heart attack and completes the realignment of the Unionists as agnostic/soft indépendantistes on the national question and economically (later neoliberal) and socially conservative. The PQ becomes the party of the left, social democratic and socially progressive as per OTL. The PLQ is squeezed out and becomes an Anglophone third party, eventually merging with the UN but with an unspoken agreement to not rock the boat too often on the "national question".

Interesting.

For Shades of Blue, how do you see the electoral tides turning in the 70's? Close to an exchange of the UN for the PLQ, perhaps? Does the UN try to institute something along the lines of Bourassa's Bill 22, as opposed to Bill 101? Can butterflies help keep Montreal's economy from declining to the extent that it did in OTL?

Without Lévesque, might we see the PQ crash through straight out gaffes as with his "Ethnics" speach? I'm not seeing a way for Meech or Charlottetown to go differently, but maybe I'm not imaginative enough. Getting rid of Parizeau and some of his crew by giving them a chance to screw up in the limelight earlier might be an interesting experiment for the PQ later, though. Might see some interesting characters get some experience and exposure during the post-Meech period and something other than the "well, there's nobody else now that Bouchard's gone, how about you lead the party Duceppe?"
 
The butterflies would be endless. Clark can give the Crédististes the minor concessions required, and then Trudeau doesn't make his comeback. Since the Constitution would not be OTL and Quebec would be treated better, there might be no need for Meech or Charlottetown. Passing Meech is easy: have Wells agree to hold the free vote in the Newfoundland Assembly and keep his bargain unlike OTL, and have Filmon quit delaying the ratification vote and trying to get Carstairs' support. Or have Hatfield have NB ratify Meech before getting the NB PCs lose all their seats in the '87 provincial election.

I won't reveal all my ideas in advance, but needless to say many things will be handled differently with Parizeau- not just language but the economy, the strikes, and a much more confrontational approach with Ottawa than Lévesque IOTL. Certainly not the détente of beau risque that got Levesque overthrown in 1984-5.

Exchanging the UN for the PLQ is what I have in mind. Montreal's economy was already in decline- the economic CoG started moving west in the 1930s, but it will be mitigated and there will be no Anglo exodus as per OTL. There will have to be further language legislation but Johnson would restrict it to OTL Loi 22, which is a somewhat more diluted version of 101.
 
Agreed - I'd be interested in either scenario. More likely the Levesque one, though, as I'm at least somewhat familiar with the players involved.
 
I'm leaning towards the Lévesque one at the moment- with the UN I would have to invent characters or have OTL Liberals take over eventually. Brian Mulroney would have an alternate career path from OTL most likely. IOTL he was offered a Loto-Québec franchise from Mario Beaulieu, Bertrand's finance minister, in 1968. (in his memoirs he regrets not taking it to supplement his income) Ironically ITTL could mean Bourassa joins the PQ because he is a self-professed social democrat in the 1970s and a centre-leftist in his second administration. IOTL Lévesque tried hard to get him to join, but he didn't because as an economist, he saw through the pie-in-the-sky economics that Lévesque once famously dismissed as "plumbing". Not a man for the UN's economic and social conservatism, and certainly not for the robust neoliberalism the Unionists will adopt in the 1970s. The Unionists and PQ had a similar problem- a fundamental conflict between the realists and the purs-et-durs on the "national question". Daniel Johnson held them together by his personality and being a soft indépendantiste, adopting an agnostic stance for the party's federalists, who probably composed a majority of the backbenchers. Bertrand was an outright federalist and feuded with Cardinal- the irresolvable conflict caused their disintegration. Like the PQ today, both parties were founded around a single charismatic leader who united various strands under their banner and dominated internal party affairs. Their successors as leaders was merely running down the list of the ranking current or former Cabinet ministers who served in the founder's government. Sauvé, Barrette, Johnson, Bertrand were all members of the Duplessis Cabinet, just as Johnson, Parizeau, Landry and Marois were members of Lévesque's. Once that runs out, as the PQ will within the next 2-3 cycles, then they need to import some younger blood to keep them alive.
 
Ironically ITTL could mean Bourassa joins the PQ because he is a self-professed social democrat in the 1970s and a centre-leftist in his second administration.

Ok, I'm picturing it.

IOTL Lévesque tried hard to get him to join, but he didn't because as an economist, he saw through the pie-in-the-sky economics that Lévesque once famously dismissed as "plumbing".

Makes sense.

Not a man for the UN's economic and social conservatism, and certainly not for the robust neoliberalism the Unionists will adopt in the 1970s. The Unionists and PQ had a similar problem- a fundamental conflict between the realists and the purs-et-durs on the "national question".

Cue Parizeau and his comments about the Quebecois being lobsters trapped in the pot after they say "yes" to "sovereignty-association".

Do you see Bourassa as accepting a party in which the leadership, say Parizeau et al, understands the costs of separation and is straight up with him about it? How about if they try to whitewash it to the public at the same time? ("Sure... we'll make a deal with Canada so breaking away from them won't hurt you... And if they don't accept our obviously very fair deal, it'll be their selfish fault!")

One scenario I wouldn't mind seeing is possible treatments of the aftermath of separation. The secession of the aboriginal lands (and HydroQuebec) comes to mind...
 
As a personal friend of Lévesque's, both IOTL and ITTL, he could probably get away with that line. Lévesque and many of the realists knew that the PQ was (and has been since 1995) also the social democratic party and many Québécois voted for them based on economic and social policy. The Liberals were centrist on both social and economic policy, even today. Parizeau probably gets Finance as per OTL unless he doesn't join. In that case Bourassa gets the nod for Finance and might succeed Lévesque later on. Like Lévesque, he's not a pur-et-dur on language.
 
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