A Quiet Revolution in Diplomacy: Quebec–UK Relations Since 1960

ABSTRACT

Quebec’s modern international outlook and its current paradiplomacy can be dated largely from the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s. Since then, the provincial government in Quebec City and the federal government in Ottawa have had to tread a fine line in accommodating each other’s constitutional rights in the field of international relations—a line that has occasionally been breached, especially in the years following the Quiet Revolution and in critical periods such as those prior to the 1980 and 1995 referenda. Foreign governments have also had to engage in careful diplomacy in order to avoid upsetting either Ottawa or Quebec City—and this has been especially true in the case of the countries historically most involved with Canada and Quebec—France, the United States, and Britain. But whereas there has been some academic writing on Quebec’s relationships with France and the United States, very little attention has been devoted to Quebec–UK relations since the Quiet Revolution. This article seeks to fill that gap and argues that the Quebec–UK relationship since the 1960s can itself best be characterized as a “quiet revolution” in diplomacy that has largely avoided the controversies that have sometimes dogged Quebec’s relations with France and the United States.

KEYWORDS:

• Quebec
• United Kingdom
• quiet revolution
• patriation
• monarchy
• paradiplomacy

Acknowledgment

The author wishes to acknowledge the generosity of the Eccles Centre for North American Studies, located at the British Library, London, where he was a Visiting Fellow in 2012–2013.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author. 

Notes

1. UK National Archives (henceforth UKNA), Kew Gardens, London, Dominions Office, DO 35/5382, Commonwealth Relations Office memo, September 29, 1954, prepared for Commonwealth Relations minister; Manchester Guardian, October 7, 1956; Daily Mail, October 15, 1956.

2. UKNA, G.E. Crombie, British High Commission, Ottawa, to L.B. Walsh-Atkins, Commonwealth Relations Office, October 1, 1956.

3. UKNA, DO 18/268, telegram from Acting High Commissioner, Ottawa, to Commonwealth Relations Office, September 5, 1961; A. Clutterbuck, Commonwealth Relations Office, to R.W.G. Fowler, Ottawa, September 14, 1961.

4. UKNA, DO 18/268, R.W.D. Fowler, Ottawa, to G.P. Hampshire, Commonwealth Relations Office, October 18, 1961; B.J. Greenhill, Ottawa, to W.A.J. Hamilton, Commonwealth Relations Office, October 9, 1962; telegram from Ottawa to Commonwealth Relations Office, London, April 19, 1963.

5. UKNA, DO 18/268, A.W. Redpath, Commonwealth Relations Office, to L.J.D. Walmly, Ottawa, May 9, 1963.

6. UKNA, PREM 15/250, British High Commission, Ottawa, to Sir Alec Douglas-Home, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, March 17, 1971.

7. UKNA, PREM 15/250, British High Commission, Ottawa, to Sir Alec Douglas-Home, FCO, March 17, 1971.

8. UKNA, PREM 15/250, memo from FCO for Prime Minister, April 7, 1971.

9. UKNA, PREM 15/250, note by I. McCluney on visit, FCO, April 14, 1971.

10. UKNA, FCO 82/134, B.A. Major, FCO, to D.A. MacLeod, Ottawa, December 18, 1972, Visit of Mr Bourassa, including report of meeting with Edward Heath, November 30, 1972.

11. UKNA, PREM 16/755, memo on lunch meeting at Rideau Gate, Ottawa, September 16, 1976 by K.R. Stowe; PREM 16/755, memo on patriation of the Canadian Constitution by P.R.H. Wright, Private Secretary, 10 Downing Street, September 24, 1976.

12. UKNA, PREM 16/948, B. Cardledge, prime minister’s private secretary, to J.S. Wall, FCO, December 8, 1978, re prime minister’s discussion with Premier Trudeau at 10 Downing Street on December 7, 1978, on the Canadian political situation.

13. UKNA, FCO 82/1003, file on Internal Political Situation in Quebec, John Rich, Montreal, to Sir John Ford, Ottawa, March 11, 1980.

14. UKNA, FCO 82/1003, file on Internal Political Situation in Quebec, Sir John Ford, Ottawa, to FCO, Lord Carrington, March 27, 1980.

15. UKNA, FCO 82/1003, memo by A.M. Simons on December 10, 1980, concerning lunch meeting between Lévesque government and British High Commissioner, Sir John Ford, and his officials, December 8, 1980.

Additional information

Funding

The author wishes to acknowledge the Quebec Government, which funds the annual Prix du Québec in the United Kingdom which he was awarded in April 2013 and which also aided the research for this article. The author also wishes to acknowledge the generosity of the Eccles Centre for North American Studies, located at the British Library, London, where he was a Visiting Fellow in 2012–2013.

Notes on contributors

Tony McCulloch

Tony McCulloch is Senior Fellow in North American Studies at the UCL Institute of the Americas and the editor of the London Journal of Canadian Studies, published by UCL Press. He is also the current President of the British Association for Canadian Studies. He has written widely on aspects of the so-called “North Atlantic Triangle” between Canada, the United States, and Britain, including the role of Quebec.