“Listen, Maurice! Have you thought what people will say about you? About us? And when you have children? A lawyer with the daughter of a coal merchant! What a dishonour for the family!”
The argument dies out. A knife has been driven into his illusions, his dreams, his love. If Maurice insists on courting Augustine, he had better know once and for all, the Duplessis family will never agree to such a union. There is no question of going against his father’s authority. Marriage is a very big commitment. Will he have enough time for family life? And is that what he really wants?
Politics is what interests him more and more. He wants to dedicate himself with more rigour, more seriousness. The First World War is about to turn the universe upside down. When German cannons are finally silenced, when our soldiers finally come back, Canada and Quebec will have been transformed. A new society will rise up out of the old one. The young man feels ready to step out from the wings. He wants to play a leading role at the Legislative Assembly. Love can wait. Augustine is a fine girl, and one day she will find a fine young man and have children. Nérée settles into his armchair:
“Put another record on the gramophone.”
Maurice adjusts the speaker and, without even looking, almost as if by accident, he plays a love ballad full of hope:
La Madelon pour nous n’est pas sévèreQuand on lui prend la taille ou le mentonElle rit, c’est tout l’mal qu’elle sait faireMadelon, Madelon, Madelon [Madelon is never strict with us When we take her by the waist or cup her chin She just laughs, she’s never mean Madelon, Madelon, Madelon]
1. The Quebec Legislative Assembly was renamed the “National Assembly” in 1968.
1. Conservative.
2. Liberal.
1. French nickname for a soldier who fought in the First World War (1914–18).
In Trois-Rivières, the young neighbourhood lawyer is making a name for himself. For him, no case is too trivial. One day, a homeowner comes to see him:
“Sir, I mean Maître Duplessis! I knew your father well. Ah! what a great MLA he was! I need your help because I’m having problems with my new neighbour. He has built a fence on my land. It just happened and he thinks he can get away with it!”
In his office on Hart Street, a kindly, attentive Maurice Duplessis treats people like his friends. Well up on municipal, school, and parish affairs, he is the one whom people recommend to settle property disputes or wills, and quarrels over land or codicils. Are not his customers future voters? He is building a network of supporters. Their contributions will be useful; their vote will be his capital. For example, if an old parishioner comes complaining to him that somebody stole his chickens, Maître Duplessis receives him courteously. “Please be seated, Sir,” he’ll say pleasantly. “I will take them to court, those thieves. I promise you they will have to face justice.”
Maurice Duplessis becomes a lawyer and is admitted to the Bar on September 14, 1913.
People trust Maurice Duplessis because he is a winner. In court, he speaks loud and clear. His arguments are based on plain common sense. His waiting room soon fills up. The more impatient ones try to meet Maurice before he goes to his office. Every morning, around eight, he picks up his mail at the post office. Maurice speaks to everyone, he likes to joke, to laugh at life’s little problems. His reputation as the defender of the widow and the orphan grows. Those who have seen him plead say that his cases are like theatre. His defence is great oratory. Sometimes, he even has the judge in tears:
“Your Honour, look at this brave man, a farmer who has given his life to feed his family. Do you think for one moment that he would steal his grandfather’s inheritance?”
But, more often than not, lawyer Maurice Duplessis entertains the gallery with his puns and jests. The judges are fond of him. He is very talented. His theatrical arm-waving is well calculated to hold his audience in sway. He reserves the right word for his offensive, and then explodes with an irresistible witticism. He learns to dominate a crowd, to win over the undecided at the Bar, at the Court House. The courtroom is where he is sharpening his political skills.
Maurice Duplessis doesn’t only defend the man in the street. He also represents the corporations of the region, like the Shawinigan Water and Power Company. Over the years, he makes friends everywhere. His name is synonymous with success, especially in cases of civil law, which interests him passionately. When asked if he would eventually go in for criminal law, he answered that he would find it extremely disagreeable having to defend a murderer.
In the meantime, newspapers are having a field day with the trial of Télesphore Gagnon’s wife from Lotbinière. Marie-Anne Houde is accused of having brutalized her stepdaughter, poor little Aurore, who has died as a result of her injuries. The trial has sparked a great deal of curiosity verging onto voyeurism, and has turned into a veritable circus. The crowd is jostling to get a good look at the stepmother and to listen to the deliberations. Maurice Duplessis’s cases pale by comparison to this soap opera. And yet each victory in the court of law brings him closer to his ultimate goal: politics.
Since Msgr. Laflèche’s death in 1898, Jacques Bureau, a Liberal, is the new strongman in Trois-Rivières. He reigns over it as if it were his personal fiefdom. Appointed solicitor general by Wilfrid Laurier, he enjoys enormous prestige. It was he who gave the Rouges the seat everyone thought was painted blue forever. Maurice has not forgotten the time when his father was the Conservative deputy for the region. Maybe the time has come to get even and give Bureau’s gang a good lesson.
“The election is coming. Why not try our luck?” asks Arthur Sauvé, new head of Quebec’s Conservative Party. He is looking for good candidates for the February 5, 1923 election.
Maurice Duplessis’s qualifications are impeccable. He is young, dynamic, a brilliant lawyer whose good name is an added plus. Two years earlier, at the federal election, he had agreed to work for the Conservative candidate despite the anti-conscription attacks directed at the Bleus. So he also has courage. His political allegiances are well known. That is why Arthur Sauvé urges him to come to Montreal and meet him. Flattered, Duplessis doesn’t hesitate for very long. In Sauvé’s office, the two men have much to talk about.
“My dear Maurice, in Quebec, we are stagnating in the Opposition because of that old goat Taschereau who puts the good people of the province to sleep. I dream of the day when we can dislodge him. I feel that you have the potential to take on this Herculean task.”
“I don’t think I have any chance of winning. The people of Trois-Rivières are not yet ready to let go of Bureau, who strokes them the right way.”
“I want to renew my team,” says Sauvé. “In Montreal, I found Camillien Houde, an ex-bank employee and insurance salesman, a working-class man. The big city has had enough of Quebec potentates. I think that in your town, there is a similar undercurrent of dissatisfaction. I’m convinced that you could channel these feelings in your favour. Come on, jump into the fray. I have great confidence in you.”
Maurice Duplessis doesn’t need to be begged for long. He has considered his chances. Even though they are slight, he decides to take the leap. He is resigned to losing. So, on the evening of February 5, after Camillien Houde’s victory in Sainte-Marie is announced, the vote-counting is a simple formality. The outcome is as predicted. The Liberal opponent is re-elected deputy by a majority of two hundred votes.
It