Picture of author.

Daniel Poliquin

Teoksen A Secret Between Us tekijä

16+ teosta 128 jäsentä 5 arvostelua

Tietoja tekijästä

Image credit: Daniel Poliquin

Tekijän teokset

A Secret Between Us (2006) 37 kappaletta
René Lévesque (2009) 25 kappaletta
The straw man: A novel (1998) 12 kappaletta
L'Ecureuil noir (1994) 11 kappaletta
Obomsawin of Sioux Junction (1987) 10 kappaletta
Kermesse (La) (2006) 5 kappaletta
Nouvelles (2009) 4 kappaletta
The Angel's Jig (2016) 3 kappaletta
Temps pascal roman (2003) 3 kappaletta
Visions de Jude: Roman (2001) 1 kappale
La Côte de sable (2000) 1 kappale

Associated Works

The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America (2012) — Kääntäjä, eräät painokset1,016 kappaletta
The Comeback: How Aboriginals Are Reclaiming Power And Influence (2014) — Kääntäjä, eräät painokset76 kappaletta
Barbarian Lost: Travels in the New China (2016) — Kääntäjä, eräät painokset23 kappaletta
A Guide to Animal Behaviour (1991) — Kääntäjä, eräät painokset20 kappaletta
The Man Who Wanted to Drink Up the Sea (2006) — Kääntäjä, eräät painokset7 kappaletta

Merkitty avainsanalla

Yleistieto

Syntymäaika
1953-12-18
Sukupuoli
male
Kansalaisuus
Canada
Asuinpaikat
Montréal, Québec, Canada
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Palkinnot ja kunnianosoitukset
Order of Canada

Jäseniä

Kirja-arvosteluja

This is a well written biography of Rene Levesque, the first leader of the Parti Quebecois. It provides the historical foundation of the reasons why Levesque was able to assemble a group of like minded people to pursue the separation of Quebec from Canada. Levesque was a very innovative minister in the government of Jean Lesage who defeated the Union National's Duplessis. The UN had kept quebecers under the thumb of the Catholic Church as illiterate and unambitious peasants. Levesque introduced the consolidation of hundreds of hydroelectric utilities to create Hydro Quebec. The creation of the PQ is told in detail but one gets the sense that Levesque was never a true believer in in Quebec's independence. Levesques fights with Pierre Trudeau over the repatriation do the Canadian constitution and the Charter of Rights are well describes. Poor Rene was a troubled man, a skirt chaser and heavy drinker. He died at an early age of a massive heart attack. Good book… (lisätietoja)
 
Merkitty asiattomaksi
MaggieFlo | 2 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Aug 20, 2014 |
In this informative, entertaining, and witty biography Daniel Poliquin demystifies one of Canada's most famous Premiers and Quebec nationalists. Poliquin has stripped away fanciful and villainous illusions about Levesque, has shown us his personal flaws, his frugal lifestyle, his fondness of America, his concerns (e.g. the working people, Aboriginals in Quebec's north), his integrity (e.g. the ending of patronage and kickbacks in Quebec provincial politics) to show us the unapologetic, scruffy, skirt-chasing democrat who tirelessly worked to get a better deal for the Quebec that he always was.

Levesque made tangible improvements to the lives of the people in Quebec. He was the one who convinced Lesage to go through with expansion Hydro-Quebec and the nationalization of Quebec's electric industry, which was previously owned by the English-Canadian elite. From the start of his political career with Quebec’s Liberal Party, Levesque worked against the grain to reform the corruption and violence of Quebec politics by making state transparency mandatory, e.g. calls for tenders, ending post-election patronage. And he was always thinking how to unleash Quebec's creativity to gain international respectability. For example on pg. 189, when a group of "young street performers adept at walking on stilts and breathing fire" were turned down for an arts grant, Levesque (personally) stepped in, and reversed that decision. Those "young street performers" became Cirque du Soleil, a billion-dollar entertainment company known throughout the world and a pride of Quebec.

Poliquin reminds us, again and again, that Levesque was not a Quebec separatist. What he wanted was a new deal on sovereignty-association, however far-fetched it was. He sought sovereignty-association because the Anglais, the English-speaking Canadian business elite, had controlled Quebec for decades, had exploited its people, and had essentially (with the Catholic Church, and later with the heavy-hand of the Union Nationale) kept Quebec in a backwards, poorly-educated, 18th century agrarian society. Levesque wanted to improve people's lives, and he believed that the only pragmatic way for the Quebecois to get that new deal from the those who held the reins of power were with small careful steps.

Moreover, Poliquin made pains to remind us that Levesque sought sovereignty-association and a continuation of relations with (English) Canada over his own Parti Quebecois caucus. He fought against his own PQ to maintain public funding for minority language public schools. He threatened to quit almost a dozen times to stop his caucus' radical independence and Quebec nationalist programs to protect minorities in Quebec and his dreams of sovereignty-association.

This short 201-page biography is never dull, it’s never boring, and it certainly succeeds in reminding us about the always interesting and "extraordinary" Canadian that was Rene Levesque.
… (lisätietoja)
 
Merkitty asiattomaksi
GYKM | 2 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Jun 6, 2011 |
This is a short book about the political life of Rene Levesque, nationalist premier of Quebec and first leader of the Parti Quebecois. It is highly readable and well written, with the occasional tongue-in-cheek turn of phrase that broings the subject to life. While the Extraordinary Canadians series is not an in-depth study of its subjects, this author has packed a lot of analysis and insight into these 200 pages.
½
 
Merkitty asiattomaksi
LynnB | 2 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Sep 28, 2010 |

Palkinnot

You May Also Like

Associated Authors

Tilastot

Teokset
16
Also by
6
Jäseniä
128
Suosituimmuussija
#157,245
Arvio (tähdet)
4.1
Kirja-arvosteluja
5
ISBN:t
39
Kielet
1

Taulukot ja kaaviot