Grande Noirceur

Politics Economy The Grande Noirceur (French pronunciation: [ɡʀɑ̃d nwaʀsœ:ʀ], English, Great Darkness) refers to the regime of conservative policies undertaken by the governing body of Quebec Premier Maurice Le Noblet Duplessis from 1936 to 1939 and from 1944 to 1959.

[2] His party, the Union Nationale, often had the active support of the Roman Catholic Church during political campaigns, using the slogan Le ciel est bleu; l'enfer est rouge ("Heaven is blue; hell is red"; red is the colour of the Liberal Party, and blue was the colour of the Union Nationale).

In those conflicts, Duplessis responded rapidly with force by using the provincial police to disperse picket lines and restore order, with several arrests.

Contemporary rumours say that Union Nationale groups would arrive in rural towns armed with whiskey, food, and appliances in exchange for votes.

[5] By contrast, Duplessis claimed that he was not taking any money from the Jews, and if he were elected Premier, he would stop this plan to bring Jewish refugees to Quebec.

To further push on the message, the Union Nationale handed out campaign pamphlets warning about the alleged plan to bring 100,000 Jewish refugees to Quebec, which featured a cartoon of the standard stereotype of an evil-looking, hook-nosed Jew handing bags of money to Godbout while in the background a vast horde of dirty, disreputable-looking, hook-nosed Jewish refugees were ready to descend on la belle province.