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94-509: Pauline Marois ( French: [pɔlin maʁwa] ; born March 29, 1949) is a retired Canadian politician, who served as the 30th premier of Quebec from 2012 to 2014. Marois had been a member of the National Assembly in various ridings since 1981 as a member of the Parti Québécois (PQ), serving as party leader from 2007 to 2014. She is the first female premier of Quebec. Born in
188-576: A heavy machinery mechanic , she is the oldest of five children. She was raised in a small two-story brick house built by her father in Saint-Étienne-de-Lauzon , a village now amalgamated with the city of Lévis , facing the provincial capital on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River . According to Marois, her parents were nationalists and devout Catholics , but remained rather uninvolved politically. Her mother's efforts to have
282-469: A candidate in the same riding against Bertrand in the 2007 general elections , and won with 58.2% of the popular vote. Marois's campaign signs displayed her image on a blue-green background along with the slogan " Chez nous, c'est Pauline " in an effort to claim a return to the PQ's nationalist beginnings. This attempt to present a populist image clashed with Marois's affluent lifestyle, epitomized for many voters in
376-415: A common occurrence. On average, Quebec City receives 1,190 millimetres (46.85 in) of precipitation, of which 899 millimetres (35.39 in) is rain and 303 millimetres (11.93 in) is the melt from 316 centimetres (124.4 in) of snowfall per annum. The city experiences around 1,916 hours of bright sunshine annually or 41.5% of possible sunshine, with summer being the sunniest, but also slightly
470-697: A consultant with the Elizabeth Fry Society , while lecturing at Université du Québec à Hull . Marois remained in the party's executive until the end of her term, in the spring of 1987. After Johnson left a party in shambles six months later, she decided not to run for party leader mainly for personal reasons. In an interview she gave Le Devoir in late January 1988, she took shots at the front runner and former colleague, Jacques Parizeau, criticizing his "unacceptable attitude towards women and his outdated conception of social democracy". Less than 10 days later, Parizeau met Marois and convinced her to return to
564-606: A fee for failing CEGEP courses. She also successfully piloted Bill 109, replacing of confessional school boards by language-based ones implementing a bilateral amendment to the Canadian constitution with the Jean Chrétien 's Liberal government in Ottawa in 1997. Although Marois was widely perceived as a staunch supporter of the centre-right direction of the PQ under Lucien Bouchard who promised "zero deficit" to gain winning conditions for
658-520: A future minister in her own 2012 cabinet. In November 1979, Lise Payette , the minister responsible for the condition of women, got Marois to join her office as chief of staff. According to René Lévesque's biographer, Pierre Godin, she hesitated before taking the job because she felt she was not feminist enough. "With me, you'll become one", Payette answered back. Seven months pregnant, Marois hesitated before entering politics. After some support, both her husband and René Lévesque convinced her to run for
752-545: A future referendum on Quebec sovereignty, the government's capitulation in the student protests was seen as a political move to ensure student support in the upcoming general election. Historically, students had been a key voting bloc for the PQ. She also introduced a 5-dollar-a-day subsidized daycare program in 1997, which proved popular with working families. In the Parti Québécois's second term, Marois became Minister of Health between 1998 and 2001. Bernard Landry named her
846-402: A hand to her mother, who did housecleaning jobs to pay tuition. She was active in school clubs and describes herself as a good student, although she failed her English and Latin classes, momentarily putting her place in school in jeopardy. In 1968, she enrolled in the social work undergraduate program at Quebec City 's Université Laval . At the time, Marois recalls, she was more interested in
940-487: A lack of judgment by the ADQ leader. Marois nevertheless added that she was open to the idea of structural changes to the school boards. Not long after the re-election of Stephen Harper 's Conservative federal government to a second minority government, and with the global financial crisis increasingly coming to the foreground of current events, Jean Charest precipitated the fall of his own minority government, arguing before
1034-510: A land area of 452.3 km (174.6 sq mi), it had a population density of 1,214.8/km (3,146.3/sq mi) in 2021. According to Statistics Canada, there were 839,311 people residing in the Quebec City census metropolitan area. In 2016, 20.6% of the resident population in Quebec City was of retirement age (65 and over for males and females) compared with 16.9% in Canada. The median age
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#17328553396691128-566: A lower percentage of Indigenous Canadians (1.8%) than the national average of 5.0%. The 2021 census reported that immigrants (individuals born outside Canada) comprise 45,230 persons or 8.5% of the total population of Quebec City. Of the total immigrant population, the top countries of origin were France (7,360 persons or 16.3%), Colombia (2,865 persons or 6.3%), Morocco (2,715 persons or 6.0%), Ivory Coast (2,500 persons or 5.5%), Cameroon (2,225 persons or 4.9%), Algeria (1,920 persons or 4.2%), Tunisia (1,795 persons or 4.0%), Democratic Republic of
1222-948: A number of accounting and law firms have moved since the 2000s. Other suburban places identified by the city for their potential are the Lebourgneuf area for private offices, as well as Estimauville Street where the Government of Canada already has many civil servants and where several city officials are expected to move in the 2020s. Quebec City is known for its Winter Carnival , its summer music festival and its Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day celebrations. The Jardin zoologique du Québec , now closed, reopened in 2002 after extensive repairs before ultimately shutting permanently in 2006. It featured 750 specimens of 300 different species of animals. The zoo specialized in winged fauna and garden themes but also featured several species of mammals. While it emphasized Quebec's indigenous fauna, one of its main attractions
1316-526: A real estate developer part of Power Corporation . At the time, the region was rapidly expanding due to the growth of the federal bureaucracy and the construction of administrative buildings on the Quebec side of the Ottawa River was met with opposition, according to Marois, because it did not take "into account the needs and the housing conditions of the local population." This internship, which coincided with
1410-631: A woody area attested as Coteau Sainte-Geneviève [ fr ] . The area was affected by the 1925 Charlevoix–Kamouraska earthquake . The administrative region in which it is situated is officially referred to as Capitale-Nationale , and the term "national capital" is used to refer to Quebec City itself at the provincial level. Quebec City is classified as a hemiboreal humid continental climate ( Köppen climate classification Dfb , Trewartha Dcbc ). Quebec City experiences four distinct seasons. Summers are warm and occasionally hot, with periods of hotter temperatures which compounded with
1504-414: A working-class family, Marois studied social work at Université Laval , married businessman Claude Blanchet and became an activist in grassroots organizations and in the Parti Québécois (a social democratic party advocating Quebec's independence ). After accepting political jobs in ministerial offices, she was first elected as a member of the National Assembly in 1981 . At age 32, she was appointed to
1598-690: Is François Legault of the Coalition Avenir Québec , sworn in on October 18, 2018, following that year's election . The premier of Quebec is appointed as president of the Executive Council by the lieutenant governor of Quebec , the viceregal representative of the King in Right of Quebec . The premier is most usually the head of the party winning the most seats in the National Assembly of Quebec and
1692-434: Is 43.3 years of age compared to 41.2 years of age for Canada as a whole. In the five years between 2011 and 2016, the population of Quebec City grew by 3%. In 2021, 9.4% of Quebec City residents reported visible minority status, a relatively low figure for a large Canadian city; the national average was 26.5%. The largest visible minority group were Black Canadians , who formed 4.1% of the population. Quebec City also had
1786-513: Is also the second-largest city in the province, after Montreal . It has a humid continental climate with warm summers coupled with cold and snowy winters. Explorer Samuel de Champlain founded a French settlement here in 1608, and adopted the Algonquin name. Quebec City is one of the oldest European settlements in North America. The ramparts surrounding Old Quebec ( Vieux-Québec ) are
1880-560: Is also the domicile of the sole manufactory of the cigarette maker Rothmans, Benson & Hedges . While the traditional central business districts and their large office buildings are found on Parliament Hill (especially for provincial administration) and just below in Saint-Roch (nowadays notable for IT and the video game industry), a newer one has emerged in the Boulevard Laurier [ fr ] area of Sainte-Foy , where
1974-561: Is also used for the Podium Ceremony of the annual Formula One Grand Prix du Canada in Montreal. Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec . As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the metropolitan area had a population of 839,311. It is the twelfth -largest city and the seventh -largest metropolitan area in Canada. It
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#17328553396692068-503: Is home to the earliest known French settlement in North America, Fort Charlesbourg-Royal , established in 1541 by explorer Jacques Cartier with some 400 persons but abandoned less than a year later due to the harsh winter and resistance of indigenous inhabitants to colonial incursion on their land. The fort was at the mouth of the Rivière du Cap Rouge , in the suburban former town of Cap-Rouge (which merged into Quebec City in 2002). Quebec
2162-428: Is normally a sitting member of the National Assembly. An exception to this rule occurs when the winning party's leader fails to win a riding. In that case, the premier would have to attain a seat by winning a by-election. This has happened, for example, to Robert Bourassa in 1985. The role of the premier of Quebec is to set the legislative priorities on the opening speech of the National Assembly. The premier represents
2256-504: Is the city's largest institutional employer, with more than 10,000 employees in 2007. The unemployment rate in June 2018 was 3.8%, below the national average (6.0%) and the second-lowest of Canada's 34 largest cities, behind Peterborough (2.7%). Around 10% of jobs are in manufacturing. Principal products include pulp and paper, processed food, metal/wood items, chemicals, electronics and electrical equipment, and printed materials. The city hosts
2350-430: The 2021 census , religious groups in Quebec City included: Most jobs in Quebec City are concentrated in public administration, defence, services, commerce, transport and tourism. As the provincial capital, the city benefits from being a regional administrative and services centre: apropos, the provincial government is the largest employer in the city, employing 27,900 people as of 2007. CHUQ (the local hospital network)
2444-540: The Acadian settlement at Port-Royal was established three years earlier, Quebec came to be known as the cradle of North America's Francophone population. The location seemed favourable to the establishment of a permanent colony. The population of the settlement remained small for decades. In 1629 it was captured by English privateers , led by David Kirke , during the Anglo-French War . Samuel de Champlain argued that
2538-623: The Citadelle of Quebec began in 1820. The Americans did not attack Canada after the War of 1812, but the Citadelle continued to house a large British garrison until 1871. It is still in use by the military and is also a tourist attraction. Until the late 18th century Québec was the most populous city in present-day Canada. As of the census of 1790, Montreal surpassed it with 18,000 inhabitants, but Quebec, which had about 14,000 of population at that time, remained
2632-518: The October Crisis and her return to Quebec City to graduate at the spring of 1971, had a profound impact on Marois. "I arrived in the Outaouais as a French Canadian . I left the region identifying forever as a Quebecer ", she declared in her 2008 autobiography, Québécoise! . While gaining experience with several community organizations including launching CFVO-TV , a community television station in
2726-684: The Official opposition critic for industry and trade in 1989 and became Treasury Board and public administration critic in 1991. She was also a PQ representative on the Bélanger-Campeau Commission set up by Premier Robert Bourassa after the failure of the Meech Lake Accord . Re-elected for a second term in 1994, Marois became one of the most important ministers in the successive PQ governments of Premiers Jacques Parizeau, Lucien Bouchard and Bernard Landry. In nine years, she dominated over
2820-593: The Outaouais region, she lectured for some time in social work at the Cégep de Hull , and took a job as CEO of a CLSC . She also volunteered with the Parti Québécois, delivering barbecue chicken to election workers on election day in 1973. After moving to Montreal in July, she pursued a master of business administration (MBA) degree from HEC Montréal , where she took two classes with economist Jacques Parizeau . After graduating, she
2914-556: The election for the leadership of the PQ following the sudden resignation of Landry in June 2005. She won 30.6% of the vote, placing second to André Boisclair . Although many in the PQ saw her as one of the most influential ministers ever to serve in Quebec's history, raising expectations that she would one day lead the party back to victory, Marois retired from the National Assembly in March 2006, stating that after 25 years in elected politics, it
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3008-431: The lieutenant governor of Quebec that the National Assembly was no longer functional. Obtaining the right to dissolve the parliament, an election was called in Quebec . Premier of Quebec The premier of Quebec ( French : premier ministre du Québec (masculine) or première ministre du Québec (feminine)) is the head of government of the Canadian province of Quebec . The current premier of Quebec
3102-459: The 12,000-square-foot mansion that Marois then occupied on Île-Bizard, and later sold in January 2012 for nearly seven million dollars. Canadian tradition holds that, in a by-election, a party leader without a seat is allowed to run unopposed by other major parties. Also, the leaders of other parties are expected not to campaign in the riding where the seatless leader is seeking election. This principle
3196-472: The Congo (1,315 persons or 1,315%), Haiti (1,120 persons or 2.5%), and Brazil (1,115 persons or 2.5%). The great majority of city residents are native French speakers. The English-speaking community peaked in relative terms during the 1860s, when 40% of Quebec City's residents were Anglophone . Today, native Anglophones make up only about 1.5% of the population of both the city and its metropolitan area. However,
3290-544: The Department of Education by the new Premier Lucien Bouchard . During her tenure as minister of education, she proposed lifting the two-decades-long tuition freeze on higher education in Quebec. This proposal was met with fierce resistance from students' federations who initiated the 1996 Quebec student protests . In the end, the PQ government reinstated the tuition freeze, but Marois introduced policies that would charge an out-of-province fee to non-Quebec Canadian students, and
3384-664: The English , but was successfully defended. In the last of the conflicts, the French and Indian War ( Seven Years' War ), Quebec was captured by the British in 1759, and held until the end of the war in 1763. In that time many battles and sieges took place: the Battle of Beauport , a French victory (31 July 1759); the Battle of the Plains of Abraham , in which British troops under General James Wolfe defeated
3478-565: The English seizing of French lands was illegal as the war had already ended, and worked to have them returned to France. As part of the ongoing negotiations following the end of the Anglo-French War, in 1632 the English king Charles I agreed to return captured lands in exchange for Louis XIII paying his wife's dowry . These terms were signed into law with the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye . The colonies of Canada and Acadia were returned to
3572-465: The French Company of One Hundred Associates . In 1665, there were 550 people in 70 houses living in the city. One-quarter of the people were members of religious orders: secular priests, Jesuits, Ursulines nuns and the order running the local hospital, Hôtel-Dieu. Quebec was the headquarters of many raids against New England during the French and Indian Wars . In 1690 the city was attacked by
3666-511: The French General Louis-Joseph de Montcalm on 13 September 1759, and shortly thereafter took the city after a short siege. A French counterattack saw a French victory at the Battle of Sainte-Foy (28 April 1760) but the subsequent second Siege of Quebec the following month however saw a final British victory. France ceded New France , including the city, to Britain in 1763, when the French and Indian War officially ended. At
3760-467: The Lévesque cabinet after the election of Brian Mulroney as the new Canadian prime minister , in the fall of 1984. She was first approached by Pierre-Marc Johnson , the leader of the kangaroo faction – favourable to reaching some accommodations with the new Conservative government —, but finally joined the more hardline group – the caribou —, who oppose the affirmation nationale agenda and call for
3854-623: The National Assembly until winning the Charlevoix by-election on September 24. On August 13, 2007, Marois announced her candidacy for the riding of Charlevoix , after the incumbent, Rosaire Bertrand , retired from politics after 13 years as the MNA. The by-election was held on September 24, 2007. Marois did not compete against a candidate from the minority governing Liberal party , which chose not to present an opposing candidate, but did face Action démocratique du Québec candidate Conrad Harvey, who had been
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3948-457: The PQ in the 1981 general election . After winning a contested nomination, she ran in the La Peltrie electoral district and won with a 5,337-vote majority on her Liberal opponent, as one of only eight women being elected that year. Only 11 days after becoming a member of the National Assembly of Quebec , she gave birth to her second child, Félix, on April 24. Less than a week later, she joined
4042-664: The PQ national executive as the person in charge of the party platform and asked her to run in the Anjou district , left vacant by Johnson's resignation. On June 20, 1988, Marois came second with 44.8% behind René Serge Larouche of the Liberals. Marois ran again as a candidate in the Longueuil -based riding of Taillon , which had once been held by Lévesque. She was elected in September 1989 general election . She entered Parizeau's shadow cabinet as
4136-435: The Quebec cabinet. She was instrumental in crafting policies to end confessional school boards in the public education system, she restructured the tuition system in post-secondary education, implemented a subsidized daycare program, instituted pharmacare and parental-leave plans and slashed the Quebec deficit under Premier Bouchard's "deficit zero" agenda. In 2001, Premier Landry appointed her Deputy Premier of Quebec, becoming
4230-590: The Quebec political scene. She became the only politician in Quebec history to hold the "three pillars of government" — the Finance, Education and Health portfolios. She was first appointed as the chair of the Treasury Board and the minister of family in the Jacques Parizeau government. After the narrow defeat in the 1995 sovereignty referendum , she briefly held the finance portfolio before being reassigned to head
4324-538: The René Lévesque government as minister for the status of women, where the 32-year-old replaced her former boss, Lise Payette, who was not running in 1981. She was appointed as vice-chair of the Treasury Board in September 1982 and was promoted to minister of labour and income security, and minister responsible for the Outaouais region at the end of 1983. Marois played a minor role in the turmoil and infighting that shook
4418-477: The Saint Lawrence River which gave rise to industries of wooden sailing ships manufacture, export of squared timber logs . to Europe, as wall as associated enterprises such as sawmills . However, by the 1870s, Québec City entered a period of economic decline. Contributing factors included the rise of steel-hulled steamships, the expansion of railroads at the expense of waterways for continental commerce;
4512-520: The administrative capital of the former New France. It was then made the capital of Lower Canada by the Constitutional Act of 1791 . From 1841 to 1867, the capital of the Province of Canada rotated between Kingston , Montreal , Toronto , Ottawa and Quebec City (from 1851 to 1855 and from 1859 to 1865). The city experienced an economic golden age in the 1800s, due to its favorable location on
4606-488: The advance poll and an overall turnout of about 58%. Immediately after being named the new leader of the PQ, Marois conducted a major shuffle of the shadow cabinet . François Gendron was named the new house leader, replacing Diane Lemieux . Lemieux was offered the position of caucus chair by Marois, but refused to indicate her disagreement and furthermore stated her intention to resign her seat in Bourget . Marois stated that
4700-433: The age of 12, she was enrolled at Collège Jésus-Marie de Sillery, an exclusive, all-girl, Catholic private school attended by the offspring of the local bourgeoisie , an episode she describes as a "culture shock", leaving an permanent mark on her outlook and future choices. According to her autobiography, Marois became aware of her lower social status in school and in the affluent houses of Sillery , where she sometimes gave
4794-571: The cabinet for the first time as a junior minister in the René Lévesque government. After being defeated as a PQ candidate in La Peltrie in the 1985 general election and in a by-election in 1988, she was elected as the member of the Quebec National Assembly for Taillon in the 1989 general election . With the return of the PQ to government in 1994, premiers Parizeau , Bouchard and Landry appointed Marois to senior positions in
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#17328553396694888-491: The city's Citadel in 1871, contributed to the exodus of English speaking populations, such as local bourgeoisie of Scottish origin or workers of Irish background, to Montreal in the second half of the 19th century. Anglophones made up approximately 40% of the city's population in 1861, but 16% in 1901. Before the Royal Military College of Canada was established in 1876, the only French-speaking officer training school
4982-543: The condition of the poor and in international issues than other issues such as the status of the French language or the Quebec independence movement. According to her autobiography, she participated in a study on housing in the city's Lower Town and demonstrated against the Vietnam War . The next year, she married Claude Blanchet, a young man from a nearby village and her high school sweetheart. Despite their differences – Blanchet
5076-447: The construction of new offices and condos. Northern sections (Loretteville, Val-Bélair) and eastern sections (Beauport, Charlesbourg) are mostly a mix of middle-class residential suburbs with industrial pockets. In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada , Québec had a population of 549,459 living in 265,711 of its 283,219 total private dwellings, a change of 3.3% from its 2016 population of 531,902 . With
5170-479: The depletion of forest resources near major rivers upstream of Québec City and in the west of the province, which were transported to Québec's port by log driving ; the construction of locks on the Saint Lawrence Seaway , opening up trade routes to the U.S. from Montreal; and the city's inability to retain immigrant populations. This unfavourable context, coupled with the departure of the British army from
5264-515: The deputy premier and minister of finance, positions she held for two years. By 2003, she had occupied 15 different ministries and was instrumental in the legacy of the second PQ government (1994–2003). During her years as Cabinet minister, Marois' husband, Claude Blanchet, was named president of the Société générale de financement (SGF), the investment arm of the Quebec government. His substantial personal investments in public companies doing business with
5358-492: The end of French rule, Quebec was a town of 8,000 inhabitants, surrounded by forests, villages, fields and pastures. The town was distinguished by its monumental architecture, fortifications, and affluent homes of masonry and shacks in the suburbs of Saint-Jean and Saint-Roch. Despite its urbanity and its status as capital, Quebec remained a small city with close ties to its rural surroundings. Nearby inhabitants traded their farm surpluses and firewood for imported goods from France at
5452-656: The family recite the Holy Rosary at night generally lasted for two or three days. Marois has recalled that her father was sympathetic to the ideas of the Social Credit and the Union Nationale party; he kept current with the news and even bought the family a television set in the early 1950s. During her youth, Marois recalls in her autobiography, published in 2008, her parents had "profound intuitions", and although her father regretted his own lack of status and education, he
5546-509: The government have put Marois into an uncomfortable position as a political figure, especially during the years she was minister of finance and deputy premier. She quickly started to organize her leadership bid following the PQ electoral defeat of 2003. Her close supporters founded Groupe réflexion Québec, which served as a think tank . Her key organizers were Danielle Rioux, Nicole Léger , Nicolas Girard , Nicole Stafford , Joseph Facal and Pierre Langlois . Marois announced her candidacy in
5640-564: The headquarters of a variety of prominent companies, including: fashion retailer La Maison Simons , engineering firms BPR and Norda Stelo ; Cominar real estate investment trust; Beneva , Industrial Alliance , Promutuel, and Union Canadienne in the insurance sector; Beenox , Gearbox Software , Frima Studio , Sarbakan and Ubisoft in the computer games industry; AeternaZentaris and DiagnoCure in pharmaceuticals; Amalgame, Cossette and Vision 7 in marketing and advertising; Institut National d'Optique (INO) , EXFO, OptoSecurity in technology. It
5734-413: The high humidity, create a high heat index that belies the average high of 22–25 °C (72–77 °F) and lows of 11–13 °C (52–55 °F). Winters are cold, windy and snowy with average high temperatures −5 to −8 °C (23 to 18 °F) and lows −13 to −18 °C (9 to 0 °F). Spring and fall, although short, bring chilly to warm temperatures. Late heat waves as well as " Indian summers " are
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#17328553396695828-709: The hill, the Saint Lawrence Lowlands is flat and has rich, arable soil. Past this valley, the Laurentian Mountains lie to the north of the city but its foothills are within the municipal limits. The Plains of Abraham are located on the southeastern extremity of the plateau, where high stone walls were integrated during colonial days. On the northern foot of the promontory, the lower town neighbourhoods of Saint-Roch and Saint-Sauveur , traditionally working class, are separated from uptown's Saint-Jean-Baptiste and Saint-Sacrement [ fr ] by
5922-487: The leadership race despite unfavourable polls. Running on a full-employment and sovereignty platform, Marois finished in second place with 19,471 (19.7%) votes, a far cry from the 56,925 (58.7%) cast for the new leader, Pierre Marc Johnson . After being defeated in the 1985 general election by Liberal candidate Lawrence Cannon , she joined the feminist movement and became treasurer of the Fédération des femmes du Québec and
6016-461: The leading party and must have the confidence of the assembly, as expressed by votes on budgets and other matters considered as confidence votes. The term "premier" is used in English, while French employs "premier ministre", which translates directly to "prime minister". In at least one instance, the term "prime minister of the Province of Quebec" was used in an English-language advertisement. The term
6110-476: The name of the latter remained the same as the historical town ( French : ville ) or parish municipality it replaced. Neighbourhoods each elect their own council, whose powers rest in public consultations . Compared to many other cities in North America, there is less variation between average household incomes between the neighbourhoods. However, some disparities exist. The southwest former cities of Sillery , Cap-Rouge and Sainte-Foy are considered to be
6204-519: The names of Canadian cities and towns have only one official form. Thus, Québec is officially spelled with an accented é in both Canadian English and French . However, province names can have different forms in English and French. As a result, in English, the federal government style distinguishes the city and province by spelling the city with an acute accent (Québec) and the province without one (Quebec). The government of Quebec spells both names "Québec", including when writing in English. In French,
6298-532: The newly created province of Quebec. During World War II, two conferences were held in Quebec City. The First Quebec Conference was held in 1943 with Franklin D. Roosevelt (President of the United States), Winston Churchill (Prime Minister of the United Kingdom), William Lyon Mackenzie King (Prime Minister of Canada) and T. V. Soong (minister of foreign affairs of China ). The Second Quebec Conference
6392-458: The nickname Dame de béton , "Concrete Lady" – she led the Parti Québécois to victory with a minority government in the 2012 Quebec general election , thus becoming the first female premier in the province's history. As Premier, Marois closed down Quebec's only nuclear reactor and ended asbestos production in Quebec. Her government's highest profile initiative was the proposal of a controversial Quebec Charter of Values which would have banned
6486-588: The only fortified city walls remaining in the Americas north of Mexico . This area was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1985 as the "Historic District of Old Québec". Common English-language usage distinguishes the city from the province by referring to the former as Quebec City. According to the Government of Canada, the Government of Quebec, and the Geographical Names Board of Canada,
6580-434: The project of holding a referendum on sovereignty would be put on hold indefinitely, indicating that this would not be her main objective. In September 2007, she proposed a strategic plan for helping the forestry sector, which has been hard hit in recent years by the closure of several mills in western and central Quebec. Measures proposed included an increase in protected forest space, an increase of productivity by developing
6674-497: The province , and many suburbs of the north shore of the Saint-Lawrence were merged into Quebec City, taking the form of boroughs , thus constituting the boundary of present-day Québec City. In 2008 the city celebrated its 400th anniversary and was gifted funds for festivities and construction projects by provincial and federal governments, as well as public artwork by various entities, including foreign countries. Quebec City
6768-478: The province's 600,000 government employees from wearing religious symbols including turbans, Islamic veils and Jewish kippahs. However, the crucifix (notably, the one hung by above the speaker's chair in the provincial legislature) would not have been banned under the Quebec Charter of Values. Her party was defeated 19 months later in the 2014 Quebec general election , an election that she herself had called. Marois
6862-499: The respect of PQ orthodoxy. On November 9, 1984, she was one of the 12 signatories of a letter in which half of René Lévesque ministers disavowed the beau risque strategy advocated by the Premier and called upon him to put sovereignty at the heart of the next election campaign. However, she did not resign from her position as seven of her co-signatories did by the end of the month. After Lévesque's resignation in June 1985, Marois entered
6956-716: The river narrows", because the Saint Lawrence River narrows proximate to the promontory of Quebec and its Cape Diamant . Quebec City is one of the oldest European settlements in North America and the only fortified city north of Mexico whose walls still exist. While many of the major cities in Latin America date from the 16th century, among cities in Canada and the United States, few were created earlier than Quebec City ( St. John's , Harbour Grace , Port Royal , St. Augustine , Santa Fe , Jamestown , and Tadoussac ). It
7050-409: The second and third transformation of wood and incentives to encourage the usage of wood from Quebec for construction projects. In November 2007, when Mario Dumont suggested the elimination of school boards and proposed a motion to topple the government in the wake of poor voting turnouts during the school elections on November 4, 2007, the PQ and the Liberals both disagreed, stating that this reflected
7144-495: The summer tourist season and the Quebec Winter Carnival attract significant numbers of Anglophone (as well as Francophone ) visitors, and English can often be heard in areas frequented by tourists. In 2021, according to Statistics Canada, 90.6% of Quebec City's population spoke French as their sole mother tongue. More than a third of city residents reported being capable of speaking both French and English. According to
7238-624: The third woman after Lise Bacon and Monique Gagnon-Tremblay to assume the second-highest role in the provincial government. Following two failed leadership runs in 1985 and 2005, Marois briefly left political life in 2006. A year later, she stood unopposed to become the seventh leader of the Parti Québécois on June 26, 2007. From 2008 to 2012, she served as leader of the Official Opposition . In spite of internal strife in 2011 and early 2012, where she survived several challenges to her leadership from prominent members of her caucus – earning her
7332-403: The two are distinguished in that province names including Quebec generally take definite articles , while city names do not. As a result, the city is Québec and the province is le Québec ; "in Quebec City" is à Québec and "in the province of Quebec" is au Québec ; and so forth. The Algonquian people had originally named the area Kébec , an Algonquin word meaning "where
7426-523: The two city markets. During the American Revolution , revolutionary troops from the southern colonies assaulted the British garrison in the city in the hope that the peoples of Quebec would rise and join the American Revolution so that Canada would join the Continental Congress , along with the other British colonies of continental North America. The American invasion failed, however, and
7520-496: The war resulted in a permanent split of British North America into two entitles: the newly independent United States of America , and those colonies (including Quebec) that remained under British control, which would later become the country of Canada . The city itself was not attacked during the War of 1812 , when the United States again attempted to annex Canadian lands. Amid fears of another American attack on Quebec City, construction of
7614-484: The wealthiest, along with some parts of Montcalm and Old Quebec. The city's traditional working-class areas are found in the lower town below Old Quebec (Saint-Sauveur and Saint-Roch) and directly across the Saint-Charles River to the north (Vanier and Limoilou). However, parts of Limoilou, Saint-Sauveur and particularly Saint-Roch have seen gentrification in the last 20 years, attracting young professionals and
7708-609: The wettest season. During winter, snow generally stays on the ground from the end of November till mid-April. The highest temperature ever recorded in Quebec City was 36.1 °C (97.0 °F) on 17 July 1953. The coldest temperature ever recorded was −36.7 °C (−34.1 °F) on 10 January 1890 and 14 January 2015. On 1 January 2002, the 12 former towns of Sainte-Foy , Beauport , Charlesbourg , Sillery , Loretteville , Val-Bélair , Cap-Rouge , Saint-Émile , Vanier , L'Ancienne-Lorette , Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures and Lac-Saint-Charles were annexed by Quebec City. This
7802-527: Was a budding entrepreneur who bought his first gas station at the age of 17, while a student in business administration — the young couple began a lifelong relationship. In September 1970, she got an internship in Hull , where she helped with the creation of a local chapter of the Association coopérative d'économie familiale (ACEF) — a consumer advocacy group — while her husband was hired by Campeau Corporation ,
7896-432: Was built on the north bank of the Saint Lawrence River , where it narrows and meets the mouth of the Saint-Charles River . Old Quebec is located on top and at the foot of Cap-Diamant , which is on the eastern edge of a plateau called the promontory of Quebec (Quebec hill). Because of this topographic feature, the oldest and most urbanized borough of La Cité-Limoilou can be divided into upper and lower town. North of
7990-399: Was considered a leading candidate to replace Boisclair, especially following federal Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe 's withdrawal from the race. On May 11, 2007, Marois announced that she would run again for leader of the PQ for the third time. No other candidate stepped forward to contest the election, and Marois was acclaimed leader on June 27, 2007. She led the party from outside
8084-399: Was founded by Samuel de Champlain , a French explorer and diplomat, on 3 July 1608, and at the site of a long abandoned St. Lawrence Iroquoian settlement called Stadacona . Champlain, who came to be called "The Father of New France ", served as its administrator for the rest of his life. The name "Canada" was given to the colony that developed around the settlement at Quebec. Although
8178-465: Was held in 1944 and was attended by Churchill and Roosevelt. They took place in the buildings of the Citadelle and at the nearby Château Frontenac . A large part of the D-Day landing plans were made during those meetings. Until 2002, Quebec was a mostly urbanized city and its territory coterminous with today's borough of La Cité-Limoilou . The Government of Quebec then mandated a municipal reorganization in
8272-471: Was hired as the head of the childhood services division at the Centre des services sociaux du Montréal Métropolitain. In the fall of 1978, Marois left her public service job to join her former professor's office at the Department of Finance, but she left her press job after 6 months, feeling Parizeau wasn't "utilizing her to her full potential", she told the former premier's biographer, journalist Pierre Duchesne ,
8366-538: Was one of several municipal mergers which took place across Quebec on that date. Following a demerger referendum, L'Ancienne-Lorette and Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures were reconstituted as separate municipalities on 1 January 2006, but the other former municipalities remain part of Quebec City. On 1 November 2009, Quebec City re-organized its boroughs, reducing the number from 8 to 6. Quebec City's six boroughs ( French : arrondissements ) are further divided into 35 neighbourhoods ( French : quartiers ). In most cases,
8460-610: Was personally defeated in the riding of Charlevoix–Côte-de-Beaupré and announced thereafter her resignation as PQ leader. Her electoral defeat marked the shortest stay of any Quebec provincial government since the Canadian Confederation and the lowest showing for the PQ since its first general election in 1970. Marois was born at Saint-François d'Assise Hospital in Limoilou , a working-class neighborhood of Quebec City . A daughter of Marie-Paule (née Gingras) and Grégoire Marois,
8554-436: Was ready to sacrifice to get a decent education for his children. Her three brothers, Denis, Robert and Marc, and her sister, Jeannine, would all graduate with university degrees . She first attended the small parish school in nearby Saint-Rédempteur , where Marois recalls that she excelled in French, history and geography, developed an interest for reading and received numerous books as prizes for her academic achievements. At
8648-418: Was respected by the other Quebec parties during Marois's 2007 campaign. Marois herself, however, broke with tradition when she campaigned for a PQ candidate in a by-election against Liberal party leader Robert Bourassa in 1985, as did also PQ leader René Lévesque . As in most by-elections, voter turnout in the riding won by Marois was low, with only 13.18 per cent of the 33,156 Charlevoix voters turning up at
8742-514: Was the Quebec City School of Military Instruction, founded in 1864. The school was retained at Confederation, in 1867. In 1868, The School of Artillery was formed in Montreal. The Quebec Conference on Canadian Confederation was held in the city in 1864. In 1867, Queen Victoria chose Ottawa as the definite capital of the Dominion of Canada, while Quebec City was confirmed as the capital of
8836-647: Was time for her to pursue other interests. She vowed to remain active in the PQ, and reaffirmed her confidence in Boisclair's leadership. She was succeeded as MNA for Taillon by Marie Malavoy . In the March 26, 2007, Quebec provincial election , the Parti Québécois was reduced to third place in the National Assembly, behind both the governing Quebec Liberal Party and the opposition Action démocratique du Québec . Following this disappointing result, PQ leader André Boisclair announced his resignation as leader on May 8, 2007. Marois
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