Page "Parti Québécois" Paragraph 5

The first PQ government was known as the " republic of teachers " because of the large number of scholars who served as cabinet members.

The PQ was the first government to recognize the rights of Aboriginal peoples to self-determination, insofar as this self-determination did not affect the territorial integrity of Quebec.

The PQ passed laws on public consultations and the financing of political parties, which ensured equal financing of political parties and limited contributions by individuals to $ 3000.

However, the most prominent legacy of the PQ is the Charter of the French Language ( the Bill 101 ), a framework law which defines the linguistic primacy of French and seeks to make French the common public language of Quebec.

It allowed the advancement of francophones towards management roles, until then largely out of their reach – despite the fact that 85 % of the population spoke French and most of them did not understand English, the language of management was English in most medium and large businesses.

Critics, both Francophone and Anglophone, have however criticized the charter for restraining citizens ' linguistic school choice, as it forbids immigrants and Quebecers of French descent from attending English-language schools funded by the state ( private schools have always been an option open to everybody ).

The party was re-elected in the 1981 election, but in November 1984 it experienced the most severe internal crisis of its existence.

The incident resulted in the resignation of Premier René Lévesque.

In September 1985, the party leadership election chose Pierre-Marc Johnson as his successor.