Date Published:
November 2005

Documents of Quebec History / Documents de l'histoire du Québec

La loi du cadenas

The Padlock Law

Quebec and Communism

[1938]

[This editorial was printed in the Canadian Forum. For the precise citation, see the end of the document.]

QUEBEC'S BATTLE against "Communism" has passed from the padlocking stage to that of paper-seizing. The provincial authorities have hit upon the simple system of confiscating the Clarion and Clarté as they arrive on the train from Toronto. However, on November 29th a large and enthusiastic meeting of trade unionists listened to denunciations of the Padlock Act. It is reported that the unions will co-operate with the Civil Liberties Union to petition for the repeal of the act, and also to keep the mayor of Montreal within his legal powers over the prohibition of public meetings. An interesting sidelight has been thrown on the clerical influence over Duplessis when Mr. Coonan, minister without portfolio told a Montreal audience that the Cardinal had no say in the provincial government. Immediately Mr. F.X. Roy, a member of the government party, demanded an apology for this "insult" to the Cardinal and a denial from Duplessis of Mr. Coonan's remarks. Silence ensued on the surface while the government party hopes to quietly extricate itself from this indelicate situation. As we go to press, the Provincial Premier with the help of Hepburn seems to be redeeming with interest the famous donation that the power trust gave Gouin and him in the midst of their trust-busting campaign. At the same time he screams Moscow gold at Louis Kon of the Friends of the Soviet Union for redeeming his Soviet bonds.

Source: Editorial, "Quebec and Communism", in Canadian Forum, Vol. XVII, No 204 (January 1938): 336