Montreal Gazette

Louise Robic helped keep Canada together

Some say event held at Montreal Forum changed momentum against ‘Yes’ side

- PAUL CHERRY pcherry@postmedia.com

Louise Robic played a role in keeping Canada together.

The former cabinet minister in the Robert Bourassa government, who died earlier this month, is credited for having organized the Yvette rally, an event held at the Montreal Forum on April 7, 1980, that her friend John Parisella says changed the momentum of then-premier René Lévesque’s referendum asking Quebecers if they wanted to negotiate sovereignt­y-associatio­n with the rest of Canada.

Lévesque and the Parti Québécois appeared to have the momentum early in the spring of 1980. But Lise Payette, a minister in the PQ government, stirred emotions by calling women on the No side of the referendum “Yvettes,” a reference to a compliant, non-assertive little girl in children’s textbooks.

In reaction, Yvette rallies began being organized across the province. In Montreal, Robic, who had yet to be elected as a politician, managed to organize an emotional rally where nearly 15,000 women turned up to let the PQ government know they had voices of their own.

When the referendum was held on May 20, 1980, Lévesque’s proposal was defeated with 59.56 per cent voting for the No side and 40.44 per cent voting Yes.

“She was the architect (of the rally). Some would say it was the turning point,” said Parisella, who has held several important positions in the Quebec Liberal Party. “To be honest, I would say the turning point was (Prime Minister Pierre) Trudeau’s speech at the Paul Sauvé arena (on May 14, 1980). But if there is one thing that stopped the (Yes side’s) momentum, it was the Yvette rally.”

Before the rally, Robic worked for the Liberal party organizing so-called kitchen parties in which people on the No side of the referendum would hold meetings in their homes to be instructed on how they could oppose the PQ government.

Her son Marc said it was her skill in mobilizing people quickly that caught the attention of decision-makers in the Quebec Liberal Party. After serving as president of the Liberal Party in the Robert Baldwin riding, she became the party’s overall president in 1982. In 1985, Robert Bourassa asked her to run as a candidate in the Bourassa riding, which included Montreal North, even though she resided in the West Island.

Robic won her seat as an MNA on Dec. 2, 1985, and then she and three other women — Monique Gagnon-tremblay, Lise Bacon and Therese Lavoie-roux — were named as ministers in the newly formed Bourassa government.

Robic was named minister of cultural communitie­s and immigratio­n.

“Sometimes people would say to me, ‘What is your plan, your ambitions?’ I guess I am an ambitious woman or I wouldn’t be sitting where I am today,” she said in an interview with the Montreal Gazette published in 1986. “It may sound corny, but I think we all have a role to play in society.”

Marc Robic recalled how he and his two siblings were often told something similar by their mother.

“She told us often: “In everything you do, leave something that you have in a better condition than when you got it.”

Marc Robic said his mother took on her portfolio in the Bourassa government with passion. In just nine months, she eased rules that dropped the minimum amount a wealthy potential immigrant was required to invest in Quebec before arriving here.

By reducing the amount set by the federal government from $500,000 to $250,000, Robic made Quebec more attractive to investors over other Canadian provinces.

Marc Robic said he remembers the many meetings his mother held in the family’s living room and how she was always involved in the local school board when he attended school.

He also recalled how three bodyguards were assigned to protect his mother after separatist­s threatened her life as well as other Liberal cabinet ministers. On Sept. 28, 1987, a man hurled a bomb at Bacon’s riding office in Laval. Hours later, Marc Robic arrived home late at night after having driven a rental truck all day. While using the bathroom, he suddenly found himself facing one of his mother’s bodyguards with his firearm drawn.

“He recognized me and put the firearm away. Then he explained what had happened (at Bacon’s riding office). Normally, a bodyguard would drop my mother off at home and drive away. But he explained that he was watching the house from down the street,” Robic said.

His mother was re-elected in 1989 and resigned her seat as an MNA in 1994 as the Liberals headed for another election with Daniel Johnson as its leader.

She went on to serve as a commission­er on the Immigratio­n and Refugee Board, from 1997 to 2007.

Marc Robic said that some of the stories his mother heard as an IRB commission­er and as immigratio­n minister had an impact on her.

“I remember when she would come home with tears in her eyes after having listened to refugees talk about what would happen to them back in their home countries,” he said. “She would ask how people could be so cruel to others.”

Marc Robic also said that because of the spread of the coronaviru­s, his family has been unable to hold any form of a memorial for her.

Among other obstacles, he was travelling outside Canada when his mother died and has been respecting a 14-day quarantine since he arrived three days later.

“I haven’t been able to visit my brother and have good cry,” Robic said. “And her grandchild­ren have commented on how it is hard to believe she is gone because they haven’t had any closure.”

Louise Robic died on March 13 at the age of 85. She is survived by her children André, Marc and Caroline.

 ??  ?? Nearly 15,000 “Yvettes” packed the Montreal Forum on April 7, 1980, to let then-premier René Lévesque know they had a voice and would not support his referendum to have Quebec break away from Canada.
Nearly 15,000 “Yvettes” packed the Montreal Forum on April 7, 1980, to let then-premier René Lévesque know they had a voice and would not support his referendum to have Quebec break away from Canada.
 ??  ?? Louise Robic
Louise Robic

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