ylor who lives Just up

ontestation' and chal- t basically, the ancient and the ecclesiatical early post conquest ation.

taken place are within he development in the ral, quaint, traditional Quebec that is now 78 ety in the process of ing of administration, 3. It is all taking part 5 corporate society. g, is not that the class altered, but that with ning of the status quo, attern of relationships 790, modified again d modified again in serious r‘e-examma- ience’ of English Ca- the period of ‘contes-

bec are really social i,se pense en francais, , is a mistaken point

differences of ppinion asses. You can t lump

ationalism in Quebec, s. Then, there was a as quite a phenomena. white collar workers da as a whole, only 10 orce is unionized. . In rkers, civil seryants ime, or their former

e always tended to put

ople dismiss the prob- roblem of intellectuals, ns of such white collar Ouebec civil service.

workers, their leaders lism. In their lifetime, eaction with Duplessis imng ‘our spoils’ from

nce on behalf of unions . This has changed. In ; during the early 60’s, tdreau who were trying 1' granted, that is rela- lian LabOur Congress, flow. this autonomy' is ication of the evolution

ok at

feeling than leaders of '

What we have in fact, is a unity in duality of a struc— ture, both social and economic and national that is a product of a particular history in which ‘la conquéte 1760’ was combined with the fact the conqueror was precisely the country in which took place the, industrial revolution and the country which became the mistress or the seas, the woritsnop ot the'world. The pattern with the combined ascendancy of ‘ 1a classe mercantile anglophone’ and a state machinery which was an ex- tension of the imperial realm, we have inherited in modified form.

If one compares the reports - today’s hi and hi, and John Lambton and Lord Durham’s, there are truly re- markable things that emerge from it. In 1790 Quebec City, there were 37 merchants, four of whom were French Canadian. In Volume 3 of the hi and bi report, it is stated that Quebec outside Montreal, French Ca— nadians consist of 93 per cent of the population, they have only 20 per cent of the top managerial posts.

There is a continuity of structure from 1790 to 1970. The mercantile society became an industrial society and is now a corporate business structure.

John Porter defines an elite as that small group of individuals that occupy the major decision making po- sitions in the corporate institutions of the corporate society. The number of French Canadian in this elite is between six and seven per cent.

And, one might also add, that 73 per cent of Quebec families earn under $4,000 dollars per year.

unchanging

labour

At the policy level of the unions prior to 1960, the QFL in doctrine was more wary of nationalism than the CNTU. It now takes for granted that it is in a sepa- rate province which requires different services and structures that are non-existant inthe other provinces.

The president of the CNTU (CSN) Marcel Pepin,a propos to recent internal struggle this year, did suggest that perhaps separatism was inevitable. This he said in a non-fhostile fashion — which is again something new.

Michel Chartrand (president of the Montreal region of the CSN) is not that far away from Marcel Pepin. Neither members of the Parti Québecois (P.Q.) Char- trand is more vocal about his nationalism. The P.Q. is not as clear as he would like it to be on social issues. The struggle between these two men within the CNTU is largely an internal struggle within the union. It is caused'by the friction between the pre-l960 members which are found mainly outside Montreal, in the small town rural areas, and in the construction trades; and the civil service, urban element. It is a struggle that you willnfind taking place in_many Quebec unions. Na- tionalism in this case is not a dominant factor between the two. r

Many people have talked about whether the problem in Quebec is social or national. This is like the discussion about the sex. of angels. The two cannot be separated. Language has been a way whereby workers and lower claoses have been exploited. It is a part of the social lab. 1 of the land. It is just as impossible to separate these two issues in Quebec as it would be to separate the economic conditions of the blacks from the colour

of their skin.

9 ........ ..the CADRE

— Stanley R yerson