However, this French-speaking minority never felt threatened as much in its cultural integrity and linguistics but since the years 1960, date on which Quebec took the route of the “quiet revolution”. On the one hand, birth rate crumbled, and with him one of the pillars of Québécois survival (the “revenge of the cradles”) was broken

In addition, the Inhabitants of Quebec became the “urban ones” and by doing this, the risks of assimilation to English, language of the business and communication with outside, were never also great.

First movements of self-determination

It is with beginning of the year 1960 that a movement reformist (“souverainist”) aiming to the self-determination of Quebec developed, i.e. with the right for this province to have a greater political autonomy and institutional with respect to the federal power of Ottawa, too judged interventionist.  

Parallel to this reformism more radical movements having for objective developed the pure and simple independence of Quebec. One of them, the Face of Release of Quebec (FLQ), made great noise in October 1970, when a handful of its militants removed a British commercial attach, James Cross (released a few weeks later), then by assassinating the Minister for Labor of the province P. Laporte. But without popular base, the insurrectionary movement made failure and the arrest of the kidnappers quickly put a term at the terrorist activities.  
 
The movement Sovereignty-Association

It is to René Lévesque, a former journalist become appointed then minister, whom it returned to give body to this idea of independence. In July 1967, the voyage of the de Gaulle general in Canada was completed from the top of balcony of the town hall of Montreal by resounding “Lives free Quebec!” one of the most spectacular effects was to carry the Quebec-Ottawa disagreement on the international scene and to catalyze energies of the freedom fighters.

A few months later, René Lévesque left a liberal party torn by the ideological quarrels and created the movement Sovereignty-Association which it transformed in October 1968 into Québécois Party (PQ), first party to gather all the freedom fighters. After several defeats, this one ends up gaining the provincial elections of November 1976 and René Lévesque became the twenty-third Prime Minister for Quebec.

Faithful to its engagements, the new government was given for task, initially, to cleanse finances and to stimulate the economy. But its project of sovereignty-association with the remainder of Canada was rejected by the Inhabitants of Quebec on on May 20th, 1980 (59.5 % of “not”); those renewed to him however their confidence with the elections of April 13th, 1981.

The agreement of the lake Meech

On his side, the Prime Minister of Canada, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, obtained in November 1981 the agreement of the provinces - with however an exception of size, that of Quebec - “to repatriate” the Constitution (up to that point preserved at London), i.e. to equip the country with a constitutional law which is clean for him and does not depend any more (even in theory) of the British Crown.

The Québécois Party survived these two consecutive failures badly, and several important figures left the party. In the years which followed, the tensions between the government of “Belle Province” and that of federal attenuated somewhat with the replacement in 1984 of the liberal Pierre Elliott Trudeau by the conservative Brian Mulroney, centralizing, like Prime Minister for Canada and that, in 1985, of René Lévesque by the liberal Robert Bourassa in charge of Quebec. This bringing together was translated, on on June 3rd, 1987, by an agreement signed between the Prime Minister for Canada and its ten provincial counterparts, by which the character of distinct company was recognized with the province of Quebec within the framework of the Canadian federation.  

Resigner, René Lévesque had been replaced in charge of Quebec by Pierre-Marc Johnson, son of the former unionistic Prime Minister. This one quickly started elections, which it lost with the profit of the Liberal party carried out again by Robert Bourassa. At the elections of September 1989, Bourassa preserved the power without difficulty with 92 seats out of 125. However, the Québécois Party directed by Jacques Parizeau managed to nick 40 % of the votes, while the Party equality collected 4 seats while going to seek 65 % of the anglophone vote in the area of Montreal.  

While nationalist enthusiasm remade surface in Quebec thus, the agreement of the lake Meech made shipwreck: in June 1990, after long and impassioned debates, this historical agreement was not ratified by the whole of the provincial assemblies, and remained null and void.

The agreement of Charlottetown

This failure led the government of Quebec then to set up a parliamentary commission widened (Bélanger-Campeau commission) having for objective to make recommendations on the political future and constitutional of the province. In front of the threat of an internal referendum in Quebec, the federal government of Brian Mulroney concludes with her partners from the other provinces (including with that of Quebec, rejoined in extremis) the agreement from Charlottetown (August 28th, 1992) by which the federal government committed itself submitting to referendum a reform project constitutional rather near on the bottom to that of the lake Meech. But the text of Charlottetown was pushed back by the Canadians (54.4 %) on on October 26th, 1992.  

Since this date, one witnessed a reinforcement of the current souverainist. That resulted by the arrival into mass of the “pequists” (in favor of the Québécois party) to the House of Commons of Ottawa at the time of the federal elections of October 25th, 1993 (gained by the liberals of Jean Chrétien), and especially in the victory of the Québécois Party to the provincial elections of September 12th, 1994 and the come to power of Jacques Parizeau (“pure and hard of independence”).

In accordance with the promises, the Québécois voters were brought to decide on on October 30th, 1995 on the project of a new partnership between Quebec and Canada leading to more or less long run to the sovereignty of Quebec. But, again, as in 1980, “not” carried it, though this time of extreme accuracy (50.6 % of the votes).  

More than ever, the Inhabitants of Quebec are thus divided, undecided, perplexed, captive with deepest of themselves of this ambivalence: to break with Canada such as it is, without to give up the advantages of the current location. How to reconcile the irreconcilable one: such was the existential debate which still agitated the Quebecers in 1996, year which saw Lucien Bouchard succeeding Jacques Parizeau in charge of the Québécois Party and of the government of Quebec.

The general elections organized in the province on on November 30th, 1998, were gained by the PQ which obtained 75 seats (against 48 for the Liberal party of Quebec of the federalist Jean Charest); this victory was however understood not like one “yes” with sovereignty, but rather as a support of the Québécois population for the government action of the province so that the PQ can continue the recovery of public finances engaged since 1994, and to defend the interests of Quebec within the Canadian federation. Man of conviction, Lucien Bouchard took note of this message, by stressing that it still had “bread on the board”, while hoping that, extremely this result, the Québécois people, trustful in itself, will continue to go from before in the “continuation of its destiny”.