Adélard Godbout

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Hon. Adélard Godbout

15th Premier of Quebec
In office June 11, 1936 – August 28, 1936
Preceded by	Louis-A. Taschereau
Succeeded by	Maurice Duplessis
In office November 8, 1939 – August 30, 1944
Preceded by	Maurice Duplessis
Succeeded by	Maurice Duplessis

Born	September 24, 1892 Saint-Éloi, Quebec
Died	September 18 1956 (aged 63) Montreal, Quebec
Political party	Liberal
Spouse	Dorilda Fortin
Profession	Agronomist
Religion	Roman Catholic

Joseph-Adélard Godbout (24 September 1892 – 18 September 1956) was an agronomist and politician in Quebec, Canada. He served as Premier of Quebec briefly in 1936, and again from 1939 to 1944. He was also leader of the Parti Libéral du Québec (PLQ).

1 Biography
2 Legacy
3 Elections as party leader
4 References
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Biography

Adélard Godbout was born in Saint-Éloi of Eugène Godbout, agriculturalist and liberal MLA from 1921 to 1923, and Marie-Louise Duret. He studied at the Séminaire de Rimouski, the agricultural school of Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière and the Amherst Agricultural College, in the American state of Massachusetts. He then became teacher at the Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière agricultural school from 1918 to 1930. He was an agronomist for the Ministry of Agriculture from 1922 to 1925.

He was elected without opposition as a Liberal in the L'Islet riding at the May 13, 1929 by-election, and re-elected in 1931 and 1935. He held the post of Minister of Agriculture in the cabinet of Premier Louis-Alexandre Taschereau from November 27, 1930 to June 27, 1936.

Godbout became Premier of Quebec after the resignation of Louis-Alexandre Taschereau on June 27, 1936. Marred by the scandals of the Taschereau administration, he lost the August 1936 election soon after and the Union Nationale of Maurice Duplessis took power. While he also lost his seat in the Legislative Assembly, Godbout remained Liberal party leader and returned to power in the 1939 election.

In a speech.

During its administration, the Godbout government passed historical laws that granted women the right to vote, enforced compulsory school attendance until the age of 14 and instituted free education in primary schools. It also issued a new Labour Code that clearly affirmed the right of workers to unionisation and nationalized electricity companies from Montreal to create Hydro-Québec. The public institution would later be, during the Quiet Revolution, greatly expanded by René Lévesque and the Lesage government.

In the 1944 election, he was once again defeated by Maurice Duplessis. His support for Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King on the issue of conscription of soldiers to serve in the Canadian armed forces in World War II was very unpopular in Quebec.

Godbout remained Leader of the Opposition until the 1948 election, in which he narrowly lost his own seat. In 1949, Godbout was appointed to the Canadian Senate on the recommendation of Canadian Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent. He remained a senator until his death in 1956.

[edit] Legacy

Historians today recognize, in Godbout's actions, important progressive precedents and the groundwork laying of the Quiet Revolution. Their main criticism about Godbout often is a weak stance in the matters of Quebec autonomy and nationalism.

For example, he agreed to the constitutional transfer of unemployment insurance to federal jurisdiction in 1940 and agreed to a wartime tax rental agreement that stripped the provinces of fiscal autonomy. The usual explanation points to a theoretical impossibility for the Godbout team to challenge the federal King government because of the massive help King's party supplied the PLQ for the 1939 election [1]. Some, more ambivalent on these judgements, explain his attitude with the necessities of wartime.

He is also ironically noted for the alleged lack of public knowledge about his work and premiership, which can be seen as incongruous considering the importance of his legacy. In 2000, a documentary addressing this phenomenon was made by his nephew and renowned filmmaker Jacques Godbout, entitled Traître ou Patriote.

[edit] Elections as party leader

He lost the 1936 election, won the 1939 election, lost the 1944 election and lost the 1948 election.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Adélard Godbout

[edit] External links

Synopsis of federal political experience from the Library of Parliament

Preceded by Louis-Alexandre Taschereau	Premier of Quebec 1936	Succeeded by Maurice Duplessis
Preceded by Maurice Duplessis	Premier of Quebec 1939-1944	Succeeded by Maurice Duplessis
Preceded by Louis-Alexandre Taschereau	Leader of the Quebec Liberal Party 1936-1950	Succeeded by Georges-Émile Lapalme
Preceded by Maurice Duplessis	Leader of the Opposition in Quebec 1944-1948	Succeeded by George Carlyle Marler