1972 Québec general strike

[2][3][4] From July 1971 to February 1972, a significant labour dispute[clarification needed] had occurred at La Presse newspaper, after the Power Corporation of Canada locked-out the paper's typographers.

In late-October 1971, a mass demonstration was held in Montréal in solidarity with the locked-out workers, with over 12 000 people attending, but was met with a heavy police crackdown, resulting in over 190 injuries and 200 arrests, as well as the death of 28-year-old student Michèle Gauthier.

On 11 April, the Front Commun launched an indefinite general strike, encompassing a wide range of sectors across the province, including hospitals, schools, construction, and hydro.

That evening, the union leaders reluctantly advised the workers to return to work, saying that the vote had not resulted in a large enough majority to make open defiance of the law realistic.

On the first day of the Sept-Îles strike a vehicle-ramming attack was perpetrated by a local Quebec Liberal Party organiser on a crowd of workers gathered around the town's courthouse, injuring 35 and killing Herman Saint-Gelais, a 22-year-old metalworker.

[21] On 15 May, Bourassa announced that Minister of Labour Jean Cournoyer would meet with the three union leaders with the goal of re-opening negotiations, warning that if tensions continued to mount, the government would take "firm action to ensure the stability of our institutions.

"[27] Réjean Parent, president of the CSQ from 2003 to 2012, has stated that the strike was "long seen as the apogee of syndicalism in action," but that its ultimate legacy has been overshadowed by rising corporate capitalism in decades since.

[31] In 2020, filmmakers David Simard and Pierre-Luc Junet began filming a documentary titled Pouvoir Oublier : Autopsie du Front commun on the long-term impact of the strike.