View source for Louis-Alexandre Taschereau

{{Short description|Premier of Quebec from 1920 to 1936}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix = [[The Honourable]]
| name          = Louis-Alexandre Taschereau
| image         = Louis-Alexandre Taschereau.jpg
| order         = 14th [[Premier of Quebec]]
| term_start    = July 8, 1920
| term_end      = June 11, 1936
| monarch       = [[George V]]<br />[[Edward VIII]]
| lieutenant_governor = [[Charles Fitzpatrick]]<br />[[Louis-Philippe Brodeur]]<br />[[Narcisse Pérodeau]]<br />[[Lomer Gouin]]<br />[[Henry George Carroll]]<br />[[Esioff-Léon Patenaude]]
| predecessor   = [[Lomer Gouin]]
| successor     = [[Adélard Godbout]]
| office1       = [[Montmorency (provincial electoral district)|MNA for Montmorency]]
| term_start1   = December 7, 1900
| term_end1     = August 17, 1936
| predecessor1  = [[Édouard Bouffard]]
| successor1    = [[Joseph-Félix Roy]]
| birth_date    = {{Birth date|1867|3|5|mf=y}}
| birth_place   = [[Quebec City]], [[Quebec]]
| death_date    = {{death date and age|1952|07|06|1867|03|05}}
| death_place   = Quebec City, Quebec
| party         = [[Quebec Liberal Party|Liberal]]
| spouse        = {{marriage|Marie-Emma-Adine Dionne|1891}}
| profession    = [[Lawyer]]
}}
'''Louis-Alexandre Taschereau''' ({{IPA|fr|taʃʁo}}; March 5, 1867 &ndash; July 6, 1952) was the 14th [[premier of Quebec]] from 1920 to 1936. A member of the [[Parti libéral du Québec]], Taschereau's near 16-year tenure remains the longest uninterrupted term of office among Quebec premiers.

== Early life ==

Taschereau was born in [[Quebec City]], [[Quebec]], the son of [[Jean-Thomas Taschereau (jurist)|Jean-Thomas Taschereau]], lawyer and judge at the Supreme Court, and Marie-Louise-Joséphine Caron.

He received a law degree from [[Université Laval]] and was admitted to the [[Barreau du Quebec]] on July 9, 1889. After entering political life, he served as chief lieutenant in the Liberal government of [[Lomer Gouin|Sir Lomer Gouin]]. He practised his profession in the law firm of Charles Fitzpatrick and Simon-Napoléon Parent. He was also journalist at the ''Action Libérale'' and president and vice-president of the ''Banque d'Economie de Québec''.

A member of the Legislative Assembly from 1900 onwards, he served as Premier [[Lomer Gouin]]'s Minister of Public Works from 1907 to 1919.

== Premier of Quebec ==

Elected Premier in 1920, at a time when the [[North America]]n economy began experiencing difficulties that ultimately led to the [[Great Depression]], he opposed U.S. President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]'s [[New Deal]] social democratic policies, saying he could not tell if it was [[fascism]] or [[communism]]. Instead, he vigorously encouraged the development by [[private enterprise]] of the massive forests and the mineral resources of what had been the [[District of Ungava|Ungava Region]] and [[Nunavik]] that the [[Parliament of Canada]] had added to the Province of Quebec.

A pioneer in advocating the exploitation of the huge hydraulic potential the waterways of the new Quebec, Taschereau understood the limited capital available in a sparsely populated Canada, and actively tried to bring in [[United States|American]] investment to develop Quebec's industrial potential and try to stop mass emigration south of the border.

His policies challenged the traditional [[agrarian society]] that the dominance and influence of the [[Roman Catholic Church]] had been able to maintain in Quebec longer than elsewhere in North America. The Liberals of Taschereau were primarily opposed by ultramontane nationalists such as [[Henri Bourassa]], editor of ''[[Le Devoir]]'', and Roman Catholic priest [[Lionel Groulx]], editor of ''[[L'action canadienne-française]]''.

[[File:Distinguished Canadians received by President Coolidge at White House. Interesting callers at the White House today were the Minister of Justice of Canada Hon. Ernest Lapointe (left) and the LCCN2016889115 (restored).png|thumb|left|alt=Tash with Canadian Ambassador to the United States [[Vincent Massey]] and Justice Minister [[Ernest Lapointe]] at the White House in 1927|Louis-Alexandre Taschereau with Canadian Ambassador to the United States [[Vincent Massey]] and Justice Minister [[Ernest Lapointe]] at the White House in 1927.]]
Taschereau introduced a measure in 1930 to create a [[Jew]]ish board that would have provided for Jewish participation on the highest decision-making educational body in Quebec, the Quebec Council of Public Instruction. Some newspapers saw the move by Taschereau to revamp the [[separate school|confessional school]] system as an example of an undermining of [[Christianity]]. As a result of the opposition, the Jewish leadership did not push the issue when Taschereau was forced to repeal the Act and submit a compromise which he had the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church examine and approve beforehand. In the resulting bill, Jews were sent back into the [[Protestant]] system, and the Jewish board had no power beyond the right to negotiate a deal with the Protestant School board.

Another policy of Taschereau involved the alcohol trade. The ''Alcohol Beverages Act'' established the Quebec Liquor Commission (predecessor to the modern [[Société des alcools du Québec]]), which provided the government of Quebec with a [[monopoly]] on the sale of [[liquor]] and [[wine]] during the era of [[Prohibition in the United States]].

Taschereau created the Beaux-Arts schools in [[Quebec City]] and [[Montreal]] and subsidized scientific and literary works. He was awarded France's [[Legion of Honour]], the [[Order of Leopold (Belgium)]], and made a Commander of the [[Order of the Crown (Belgium)|Order of the Crown of Belgium]].

[[Image:Mackenzie King with Ferguson and Taschereau.jpg|thumb|left|Taschereau (right), November 1927<br />Credit: National Film Board of Canada. Photothèque / Library and Archives Canada / PA-125133]]
In the later years of his premiership, discontent inside the Liberal Party became evident. The more "radical" left wing of the party left the Liberals and formed a new party, the [[Action libérale nationale]]. [[Paul Gouin]], the son of [[Lomer Gouin]] and grandson of [[Honoré Mercier]], joined this new party. Later, the Action Libérale Nationale merged with the [[Conservative Party of Quebec (historical)|Conservative Party of Quebec]] to form the ''[[Union Nationale (Quebec)|Union Nationale]]'' party under the leadership of [[Maurice Duplessis]], who had become famous by exposing the Taschereau cabinet's misdeeds before the Accounts Committee of the Legislative Assembly.

After his brother Antoine admitted to the Accounts Committee that he had deposited the interest on funds belonging to the Legislative Assembly into his personal bank account, Premier Taschereau resigned in favour of fellow Liberal [[Adélard Godbout]], who was sworn in as premier in June 1936. Two months later Godbout lost the election to the ''Union Nationale'', and 40 years of Liberal rule came to an end.

The premier served on the boards of a number of major companies, including: [[Barclays Bank Canada|Barclays Bank (Canada) Ltd.]], [[Caisse d'économie]], [[Molson Bank]], [[Canadian Investments Funds]], [[Bank of Montreal]], [[Royal Trust Company]], [[Sun Life Assurance]], [[North American Life|North American Life Assurance Company]], [[Metropolitan Life Assurance Co.]], [[Liverpool & London & Globe Insurance Co.]], [[Pioneer Insurance Co.]], [[Globe Indemnity Co.]] and the [[Manitoba Liverpool Insurance Co.]]

Taschereau won the [[1923 Quebec general election|1923 election]], [[1927 Quebec general election|1927 election]], [[1931 Quebec general election|1931 election]] and [[1935 Quebec general election|1935 election]] and resigned in 1936.

== Death ==

On his passing in Quebec City in 1952, Taschereau was interred in the [[Cimetière Notre-Dame-de-Belmont]] in [[Sainte-Foy, Quebec]].

== See also ==
{{commons}}
*[[Politics of Quebec]]
*[[List of Quebec general elections]]
*[[Timeline of Quebec history]]

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|last= Vigod|first= Bernard L.|date= 1986|title= Quebec Before Duplessis: The Political Career of Louis-Alexandre Taschereau|url= https://archive.org/details/quebecbeforedupl0000vigo|publisher= [[McGill-Queen's University Press]]|isbn= 978-0-77350588-9|url-access= registration}}

==External links==
*{{Quebec MNA biography|taschereau-louis-alexandre-5481}}

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{{succession box|title=Minister of [[Public Works]] and [[Labour relations|Labour]]|before=[[William Alexander Weir|William Alexander Weir (Liberal)]]| after=[[Antonin Galipeault|Antonin Galipeault (Liberal)]] | years=1907&ndash;1919}}
{{succession box|title=[[Attorney General]]|before=[[Lomer Gouin|Lomer Gouin (Liberal)]]| after=[[Joseph-Édouard Perrault|Joseph-Édouard Perrault (Liberal)]] | years=1919&ndash;[[1936 Quebec general election|1936]]}}
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{{QCPremiers}}
{{Quebec Liberal Leaders}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taschereau, Louis-Alexandre}}
[[Category:1867 births]]
[[Category:1952 deaths]]
[[Category:Commanders of the Order of the Crown (Belgium)]]
[[Category:Lawyers in Quebec]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Legion of Honour]]
[[Category:Politicians from Quebec City]]
[[Category:Premiers of Quebec]]
[[Category:Quebec Liberal Party MNAs]]
[[Category:Quebec political party leaders]]
[[Category:Taschereau family|Louis-Alexandre]]
[[Category:Université Laval alumni]]
[[Category:Université Laval Faculté de droit alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century members of the National Assembly of Quebec]]