Paul Sauvé

Life

Paul Sauvé was born in Saint-Benoit, Quebec, Canada to journalist and parliamentarian Arthur Sauvé and Marie-Louise Lachaîne. By 1923, his family moved to Saint-Eustache and he began his studies at the Séminaire de Ste-Thérèse and transferred to the Collège Sainte-Marie de Montréal where he graduated in 1927. Sauvé would go on to study law at the Université de Montréal, being called to the bar on July 8, 1930.

Arthur Sauvé, his father, had been leader of the Conservative party during the Premiership of Liberal Louis-Alexandre Taschereau and left the provincial politics when elected to the Canadian Parliament in 1930 and became Postmaster General in the R. B. Bennett government. Paul Sauvé then ran as a Conservative for his father's former riding of the comté des Deux-Montagnes in the Quebec legislature in 1930, to become to the youngest elected member at the age of 23. He would be defeated in the 1935 election but re-elected in 1936 as a member of the newly formed Union Nationale. He was then elected as Speaker to become, at the age of 29, the youngest person elected to that position.

When Canada entered the Second World War in 1939, Paul Sauvé reported to Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal, the regiment to which he belonged as a reserve officer, and served overseas in the Canadian military for the duration of the Second World War, taking part in the Battle of Normandy and in the South Beveland Campaign. In 1945, he returned from Europe and resumed his official duties with the Quebec legislature. In 1946, he became the Minister of the newly created Ministry of Social Welfare and Youth.

Sauvé succeeded Maurice Duplessis as leader of the Union Nationale and Premier of Quebec following his death on September 7, 1959 (while retaining the Social Welfare and Youth portfolio). However, Sauvé's tenure would be short-lived, as he himself would shortly die in office on January 2, 1960 in Saint-Eustache of a heart attack. His 112-day tenure as premier is the shortest non-interim stint in the province's history.

Achievements

In 1936, he married Luce Pelland, with whom he had three children: Luce-Paule (1937), Pierre (1938) and Ginette (1944).

Sauvé is viewed as having upheld his convictions and had not succumbed to fear of demotion by "The Chief" (Duplessis). Some say that he stood alone in a cabinet of "yes men".

By the time he became Premier, Sauvé was well aware that he had, at most, two years before the next election. Realizing the need to modernize one of the most conservative provincial governments in Canada, he announced radical changes in the ways Quebec would be run. His resolve was conveyed in the motto he adopted: "Désormais" (from now on). During those "100 Days Of Change," Sauvé undertook a wide-ranging review of issues facing the Quebec government, including many that had been ignored during the Duplessis era.

As educational reform was seen as a means to social change and national development, Sauvé begun negotiations to recover the money Ottawa set aside for higher education, while government grants would increase towards educational institutions, no longer distributed at the government's discretion.

Regarding Canadian federalism, the Sauvé provincial government considered that federal grants to universities encroached an area reserved exclusively for the provinces under the British North America Act, 1867 (since renamed the Constitution Act, 1867). Demands were also made in respect that the provincial university education tax be deductible.

The Sauvé government also wanted to undertake an indepth study of the federal legislation regarding the federal hospital insurance system and the means for adapting it for Québec.

He died prematurely in office on January 2, 1960, leaving the Union Nationale government in disarray and regarded by many as likely 'founder' of the Quiet Revolution. Less than a year later, the Union Nationale was defeated under his successor, Antonio Barrette.

Paul Sauvé Arena in Montreal was named after him, and was used by the Parti Québécois for their election night rally in 1976 where they celebrated victory in the provincial election.