René Lévesque political discourse features in context of fight for quebec identity

Abstract

This article considers René Lévesque’s (1922–1987) political discourse in context of his fight for Quebec identity. In our opinion, he was the most brilliant Quebec leader during the second half of the XX century. A selection of his grand speeches and the best interviews “La voix de René Lévesque” (Québec, 2002) were used as the source for analysis. Being media and mass communication researcher, the author does not aspire solely to linguistic analysis. We consider René Lévesque’s political discourse in view of his ability to communicate with different audiences supporting the Quebec’s identity. So, it was very important to determine R. Lévesque’s target audiences and the principal methods of influencing them. The speeches of R. Lévesque as a politician reflect his experience as a TV journalist (his habit of oral, not written presentation of information), hence some “roughness” of his speeches – the use of interjections, tautology, and the lack of stylistic artistry. One of the conclusions made is that all public R. Lévesque’s speeches demonstrate, step by step, his consistent programme for preserving Quebec identity in its English environment (the change of self-designation into “Québécois (Quebeckers)”; the proclamation of French as the only language of the province; the attempt to secure the support of France, its former metropolis; referendum on province independence; declining the federal offer to sign “patriated” Canadian Constitution without recognizing Quebec as “a distinct society” and others). However, Prime Minister Pierre-Elliotte Trudeau, his federal opponent, considered René Lévesque an ambitious person, who wanted to split united Canada. Unfortunately, “La voix de René Lévesque” did not include the internal Quebec Party discussions on province independence, which became the reason for René Lévesque to abandon Quebec Party and his post of Quebec Prime Minister. The author argues that political discourse of national Quebec leader René Lévesque was a form of social action, which served as a prerequisite for recognizing the Quebec Nation by the Parliament of Canada in 2006. At present Quebec Party, based on René Lévesque’s political legacy continues to develop it, and the thesis of Quebec’s Independence is still in its programme. The research shows that political discourse of small nations leaders like René Lévesque needs to be under further studies. The resonating context of the modern world gives us many other similar regional situations.