Word: french
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...decade ago, the adjectives most often used to describe Quebec were angry, sullen or depressed. Now writers seeking to characterize Canada's French- speaking province are more likely to use such words as vibrant, self- assured and confident. With good reason. Back in the 1970s, Quebec was a troubled and troubling region, riven by internal frictions, feuding with Ottawa's federal government and openly threatening to secede from the country. Political turmoil was aggravated by economic crisis, as nationalism among the 80% of Quebecers whose first language is French drove out many English- speaking businesses and helped boost the unemployment...
...most significant change is the deflation of the separatist bubble. The cooling of extremism resulted partly from the passage of provincial laws making French Quebec's official language and assuring French speakers that they would not be treated as second-class citizens. More important, probably, was the realization that Quebec, whose 6.5 million residents comprise nearly a quarter of all Canadians, could not hope to stand alone either politically or economically. Quebec voters said non to separation in a 1980 referendum. They repeated the message two years ago by turning against the nationalist Parti Quebecois long led by Rene Levesque...
...province definitively buried the separatist banner last June, when it agreed to ratify Canada's 1982 federal constitution. In return, Quebec won passage of amendments recognizing it as a "distinct society," giving the provincial government increased power to preserve French-Canadian culture and allotting it the right to nominate three of the country's nine Supreme Court justices. "Quebec has won one of the greatest victories of her history," exulted Bourassa. His elation was shared by Canada's Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, himself a bilingual Quebecer, who could personally claim much of the credit for the deal that finally...
Increasingly, once reluctant allies are applauding and even joining in the American determination to keep the gulf's international waters open. Since mid-August the U.S. fleet of 40 ships in the region has been joined by British, French, Belgian, Dutch and Italian warships and minesweepers...
...Soviet conference is evidence that in their space program, openness is not just political fashion. Says Genevieve Debouzy, of the French space agency: "The seminars that ten years ago would have been given at the Goddard Space Flight Center are now given in Moscow." To the surprise of Americans, the Soviets' well-deserved reputation for a plodding, low-tech, assembly-line approach to space exploration has paid off. Says James Beggs, former NASA administrator: "There's been a habit in this country of thinking of the Soviets as stupid and that they steal all their technology. That's just...