Maurice Duplessis

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Topic spans: 1956 - 1999

Maurice Duplessis's death was a rare historical marker, forever discussed in terms of before and after. Before his death, the province basked in the postwar boom but strikers were punished, communists were hounded and the province's resources were sold to American big business. After his death, the province rallied its way into modernity with the not so Quiet Revolution. But over the past fifty years, historians and Quebecers have been constantly re-evaluating Duplessis and have drawn no certain conclusions.

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Drawing Duplessis

Broadcast Date: Nov. 27, 1979

For artist Robert LaPalme, Quebec Premier Maurice Duplessis was an inspiration, a target and an endless source of material. During the 1950s, LaPalme vilified the premier in his popular cartoons in the newspaper Le Devoir. "I despised [Duplessis's] politics," LaPalme says before conceding, "he was very intelligent, very witty and very charming." In this CBC Television interview, LaPalme describes his relationship with his controversial muse.

Drawing Duplessis

• Robert LaPalme was born in Montreal on April 14, 1908. He died June 19, 1997 in Longueuil, Que.
• Over the course of his career, LaPalme created cartoons for Le Droit, Le Devoir and La Presse among others.

• One of LaPalme's most famous cartoons featured a scowling Duplessis as a pimp, selling his province to Uncle Sam. Editorial cartoonist Terry "Aislin" Mosher admired LaPalme's courageous assaults. "What Robert LaPalme should be remembered for were his wonderful, singular attacks on Maurice Duplessis. It was a cowardly time in Quebec and he stood alone," Mosher told the Montreal Gazette on June 21, 1997.

• After Duplessis's death, LaPalme was appointed the artistic director of Expo 67 by Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau. LaPalme and Drapeau drafted the ambitious but ultimately rejected plan to dismantle Paris's Eiffel Tower to bring to Montreal for a temporary display.
• In 1972, LaPalme was awarded the Order of Canada. He was specifically recognized as a "Caricaturist whose talent and sense of humour have been enjoyed in many different forms for many years."

• Pierre Trudeau was also a key force in mobilizing the anti-Duplessis forces. In 1950, Trudeau founded Cité Libre, a review which critcized the Union Nationale government and emphasized the importance of the individual and Quebec's place within Canadian federalism. He later supported the asbestos strikers and detailed their plight in The Asbestos Strike (1956).

Drawing Duplessis

Medium: Television

Program: Today From...

Broadcast Date: Nov. 27, 1979

Guest(s): Robert Lapalme

Host: Sheridan Nelson

Duration: 5:01

Last updated:
Nov. 12, 2004

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