Canada: The French Connection

Ever since France ceded Canada to Britain in the Treaty of Paris in 1763, the French-speaking province of Quebec has felt itself unhappily isolated. Québecois complain that they are treated as second-class citizens by the English-speaking Canadians. As for Frenchmen, when they noticed Quebec at all, they tended to regard it as a chilly place populated by peasants who spoke an unforgivable French.

No longer. In Canada these days, an eye-rolling love affair is blossoming between Quebec and the France of Charles de Gaulle’s politique de grandeur. French Renaults, Peugeots and Citroëns fill the Montreal streets; French wines, Vichy water and apéritifs are all the rage. Air France and Trans-Canada Air Lines enjoy a booming tourist trade: TCA ran 600 charters to Europe this year.

When Montreal planned a subway, it turned to Paris’ Métro as a model. When the city’s police force was overhauled, Paris detectives were called in for advice. When Quebec drew up its six-year development plan, it was only natural to turn for inspiration to France’s successful planification économique. And when Quebec Premier Jean Lesage journeyed to Paris to open a $340,000 Maison du Quebec two years ago, Charles de Gaulle welcomed him with all the pomp usually accorded a head of state.

On the New Frontier. In Montreal last week to reveal to Quebec the full extent of its spiritual and material inheritance were Minister of State for Cultural Affairs André Malraux and 130 top French businessmen and officials. The occasion: a $1,000,000 science-and-industry Exposition Française, the biggest business fair ever held in Montreal. Besides showing off everything from surgical instruments to a subway car, France sent along spectacular displays of 10,000 flowers from the Côte d’Azur, 30 tapestries and an exhibition of recent French art.

On his arrival, Malraux made it plain that he found himself on a new frontier of De Gaulle’s grand new France: “I’m not here to tell you what France can do for you but rather what France expects from you.” Malraux humbly expressed “remorse for our past attitude toward French Canada,” pleaded for Quebec to create a distinctive French culture in North America.

For eight days, French Canadians hung on his every word. The English-language Montreal Star even speculated on what might have been had Quebec remained part of France, and quoted one French intellectual’s view: “Quebec would have played a vital role in keeping French culture alive during the Second World War. The postwar renaissance of France would have come from Quebec.”

Heady Enough. In Paris there were stout denials that Malraux’s words had any political meaning—only cultural and sentimental. But the sentiments were heady enough. At Montreal’s city hall, a wave of emotion swept the crowd when Malraux declared: “I say to you, French Canadians, that we will build tomorrow’s civilization together!”