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The Quebec Act received royal assent on 22 June 1774. It revoked the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which had aimed to assimilate the French-Canadian population under English rule. The Quebec Act was put into effect on 1 May 1775. It was passed to gain the loyalty of the French-speaking majority of the Province of Quebec. Based on recommendations from Governors James Murray and Guy Carleton, the Act guaranteed the freedom of worship and restored French property rights. However, the Act had dire consequences for Britain’s North American empire. Considered one of the five “Intolerable Acts” by the Thirteen American Colonies, the Quebec Act was one of the direct causes of the American Revolutionary War (1775–83). It was followed by the Constitutional Act in 1791. This is the full-length entry about the Quebec Act of 1774. For a plain language summary, please see The Quebec Act, 1774 (Plain-Language Summary).

The concept of “distinct society” distinguishes Quebec from English Canada. This concept originated during the Quiet Revolution, at a time when French Canada came to no longer be seen as a single entity, but as a collection of regional francophone communities. It is found in the 1965 preliminary report of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism shared by Laurendeau and Dunton. It was subsequently used on a number of occasions, notably during the negotiation of the Meech Lake Accord (1987–90). Today, the concept of “distinct society” continues to be used in debates regarding various political, social and cultural issues.

Lawyers practiced their profession in Québec well before the constitution of the Bar of Lower-Canada by a law passed on May 30, 1849 (the Upper-Canada Bar had obtained its charter in 1797).

The Quebec Biker War was an almost decade-long territorial conflict between two outlaw motorcycle gangs in Quebec: the Hells Angels and the Rock Machine. The war centred on control over the narcotics trade in Quebec. It was also driven by intense rivalries and deep-seated animosities between major figures in Quebec’s criminal underworld. (See Organized Crime.) The conflict involved over 80 bombings, some 130 cases of arson and 20 disappearances. More than 160 people were killed and over 200 were injured, including many innocent bystanders.

(Québec) Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, The Québec's Charter of Rights and Freedoms is not a simple anti-discriminatory statute, but a genuine fundamental law largely inspired by international documents (eg, the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Man, the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights). Several eminent professors (Jacques-Yvan MORIN, Paul Crépeau, Frank SCOTT) participated in the outlining and writing of...

From 10–27 October 1864, politicians from the five British North American colonies gathered in Quebec City to continue discussing their unification into a single country. These discussions began at the Charlottetown Conference the previous month. The most important issues decided in Quebec City were the structure of Parliament and the distribution of powers between the federal and provincial governments. The broad decisions from the Charlottetown and Quebec conferences were made into 72 resolutions, known as the Quebec Resolutions. These formed the basis of Confederation and of Canada’s Constitution.

The following article is an editorial written by The Canadian Encyclopedia staff. Editorials are not usually updated. There was no media circus surrounding the conference. The press was banned from the discussions, so the newspaper reports said a great deal about the miserable October weather, but precious little about what was discussed in the meetings.

King himself was most comfortable playing host to the conferences in Québec, and he was amply photographed and filmed with Churchill and Roosevelt.

The evolution of Québec's cultural policy is markedly distinct from that in Canada as whole, in terms of trends and dynamics and through federal action as well as the initiatives in other provinces.

On the crisp wintry morning after the televised leaders debate that was supposed to save his sinking election campaign, Quebec Liberal Leader Jean Charest took his remaining hopes home to the comfort of Quebec’s Eastern Townships.This article was originally published in Maclean's Magazine on November 30, 1998

In accordance with the Canadian Constitution, the governance of health and welfare services falls to the provinces. However, to ensure equity between the provinces and standardization of assistance to citizens the federal government has used a co-financing formula since the 1920s.

The term Quebec Inc. refers to both francophone companies and to the Quebec state economic policies resulting from the Quiet Revolution. The Quebec Inc. development model is characterized by consultation between the Quebec government and the major players in Quebec society regarding the economic issues of concern to them. It is based on an alliance between the public and private sectors.

Quebec is the only province in Canada where francophones make up the majority population. For almost two centuries, many have maintained that preserving the French language was the only possible safeguard for the survival of the Quebec nation (see Francophone Nationalism in Quebec). However, it wasn’t until the Quiet Revolution in the 1960s that governments in Quebec began to actively legislate on the issue. Since 1974, French has been the only official language in the province, although some government services remain accessible in English. Quebec has the distinction of being bilingual on constitutional and federal levels, while officially allowing only French in its provincial institutions.

It was a short-lived fiasco that federal Liberals prefer to look upon as a petit faux pas.This article was originally published in Maclean's Magazine on April 29, 1996

The Québec Pension Plan (QPP) came into effect in 1966. It is the counterpart of the Canada Pension Plan (CPP). Similar to the CPP, the QPP is a compulsory public insurance plan for the Quebec labour force. The QPP provides persons who have worked in Quebec and their families with a retirement pension, disability benefits and survivors’ benefits. The QPP is financed by payroll contributions made from employees and employers. The QPP is administered by Retraite Québec and contributions are managed by the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ).