LOVED CITY OF QUEBEC

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 66, 23 December 1946, Page 8

LOVED CITY OF QUEBEC

INTELLECTUAL CENTRE

GREAT RELIGIOUS FORCE The old walled town of Quebec captures the imagination. Blind indeed would be the visitor who failed to respond to it. There is an aesthetic rightness to the city that is to be found nowhere else in Canada. Its neatness suggests an infinitely cherished earth. The mountain-guarded river-city, with its Plains of Abraham and ancient citadel, has been the scene of some of the most stirring incidents in history—from the fall of the French Empire to the conference of the United Nations. Now in its fourth century, it was founded by the great Champlain in 1608, on the site of the Indian village Stadacona. There the chieftain Donnaconna greeted Jacques Cartier in 1535. At one time it was the pivotal centre for a colonising • movement that ranged as far south as the Gulf of Mexico, and north and west to the barren reaches of Hudson’s Bay. It is here in Quebec French Canadian genius found its most vivid expression; also Canadian creative ability today finds a fertile environment. As capital of the most Roman Catholic province of the New World, Quebec is a religions force in Canada, although not quite a holy city. Scarcely affected by the French Revolution, Catholicism in Quebec retained the unwavering loyalty of the people. There the Church shows the last traces of its former medieval power. Its possessions in the city alone run into reputed millions. It is estimated that 48 per cent, of the property is owned by the Church or by the Government. As such, it is ..tax free. In all, there are 48 churches and public chapels in the city, but only a fraction of these' serve other faiths. Incidentally, the oldest Anglican Cathedral in Canada borders on Place d’Armes.

Spiritual Stability

Quebec carries a pleasant atmosphere of spiritual stability and industrial awakering. It is a growing city. Fifteen years ago it numbered 130,000 people. During the war it expanded rapidly—since 1941 it has increased by 40,000 and today it stands at 183,441. Of these, 6600 are English-speaking (both Protestant and Roman Catholic), 6500 more are people of other races, and the rest are French-speaking an,d Roman Catholic.

Industrially, Quebec is conscious that she is on the threshold of an expanding era. In the six-year period ending in 1942, her production total rose 210 per cent, to 84,000,000 dollars. Ambitious plans for the future are under way. Quebec’s commercial influence carries 75 miles west and south, and 100 miles north and east. Within this area, she is the chief supplier. Within 25 miles, the city has a market of 330,000 customers—within a 50-mile radius, the market jumps to half a million. It is a city of small industries. The average firm employs between 25 and 75 persons. Pulp and paper and leather are the largest employers of labour. French Spoken Ninety per cent, of the inhabitants speak French. ■Of these a good three-quarters are bi-lingual. Many speak English with great fluency. Those who have attended convents usually are taught English by Irish nuns. The English, on the other hand, usually have to learn French from English-speaking instructors. The English-speaking minority on the whole has shown itself less willing to master an additional language:

However, many English-speaking citizens can understand and speak French. There may be a few, of course, who have lived in Quebec all their lives, and never learn to speak French, whereas people coming over from Ireland and living in the city will speak the ‘ language fluently within three years. It is all a question of attitude.

Quebec people sometimes comment on these things quietly to the sympathetic visitor. They know that the flame of nationalism is fanned by unthinking persons on both sides and that the thoughtlessness of some of the Anglais adds fuel to the rancour of the extremists within their own midst.

People of Quebec seem .to laugh more easily; their sense of values is more secure. Like all people with a healthy respect for the good things of life they enjoy good food. Some of the best restaurants in Canada are to be found in Quebec. Love of Canada No one who visits the city can doubt that its people love Canada, in a physical meaning as well as in a historical, social or rhetorical

sense. In Ontario, on the other hand, when citizens talk of loving Canada, they often talk in abstract terms of Canada viewed primarily as an outpost of Empire, or as an historical fact. The deep-rooted feeling -for the soil is there, also, of course, but it is less realised. It is no accident that one unquestioned Canadian literary masterpiece should have been written by a French-Canadian. Their roots grew deep in Quebec. The English-speaking Canadian will be hurt, of course, to discover that in some of these people of Quebec the sense of national identification has limitations which exclude him. Just as it must hurt the French-speaking Canadian to discover in certain sections of Ontario society a spirit that is inimical to his way of life. But the person of goodwill will discover more than sufficient reciprocal sentiment in Quebec to counterbalance narrow nationalism.