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offtopic:maurice_duplessis

Maurice Duplessis (1890-1959)

Elected as a Conservative in Trois-Rivieres at the 1927 provincial election that marked the incumbent Liberals' 30th year in power. After the resignation of Camillien Houde to assume the mayoralty of Montreal following Liberal Premier Alexandre Taschereau's sweep to a third term in the 1931 election, Duplessis was elected Conservative Leader in 1933. Thereafter, accusations of longstanding corruption caused the convening of the Public Accounts Committee in 1934. At that time, a group of dissident Liberals, frustrated by Taschereau's increasing conservatism and lack of leadership opportunities for younger MLAs, quit the Liberal Party and formed the populist Action Liberal Nationale. Just prior to the Assembly's dissolution, they formed an alliance with Duplessis' Conservatives, naming it the “Gouin-Duplessis alliance”. After nearly four decades in power, the Liberals won only 48 seats to the Opposition's 42 seats on Nov. 25, 1935. The Public Accounts Committee's allegations climaxed in April 1936, when it was revealed that Antoine Taschereau, the Premier's brother, had pocketed public funds with interest, and said it was part of a habitual arrangement with the bank. Humiliated, Taschereau resigned the Premiership on June 11, with Adelard Godbout sworn in and a snap election called for August 26. In the meantime, Duplessis had seized control of the Opposition and fused the two parties into the Union Nationale. Despite an apparent written pledge of a genuine coalition, with Duplessis as Premier and a majority-ALN cabinet, Duplessis jettisoned all such pretensions within a year of assuming power, gaining the loyalty of most former ALN members, and ignoring Gouin and his supporters. By 1938, it was clear that the Conservative Party had changed name and little else.

Duplessis FAQ

1) Was a fascist/Nazi: False, there is a difference between Fascism and corporatism.

2) Was a corporatist: True, the “Holy Trinity” of Church, government and business predominated, but with Duplessis unquestionably in control. A diluted version of this system had also existed under his Liberal predecessors.

3) Suppressed freedom of speech: True, the Padlock Law being the most famous example.

4)

offtopic/maurice_duplessis.txt · Last modified: 2019/03/29 15:13 by 127.0.0.1

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