While the powers of the Crown are vested in the monarch, they are exercised by the lieutenant governor, his personal representative, typically on the binding advice of the premier and Executive Council.

For instance, upon installation, the lieutenant governor automatically becomes a Knight or Dame of Justice and the Vice-Prior in Quebec of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem.

It is responsible for applying and defining Québec's language policy pertaining to linguistic officialization, terminology and francization of public administration and businesses.

The territory of Quebec is divided into 17 administrative regions: Bas-Saint-Laurent, Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, Capitale-Nationale, Mauricie, Estrie, Montreal, Outaouais, Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Côte-Nord, Nord-du-Québec, Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Chaudière-Appalaches, Laval, Lanaudière, Laurentides, Montérégie, and Centre-du-Québec.

The authoritarian Duplessis used the provincial police and the "Padlock Law" to suppress unionism and gave the Montreal-based Anglo-Scot business elite, as well as British and American capital a free rein in running the Quebec economy.

His government also continued to attempt to prevent circulation of books banned by the Catholic Church, combated communism and even tried to shut down other Christian religions like the Jehovah's Witnesses who evangelized in French Canada.

For the time it lasted, the Duplessis regime resisted the North American and European trend of massive State investment in education, health, and social programs, turning away federal transfers of funds earmarked for these fields; he jealously guarded provincial jurisdictions.

Liberal governments of the 1960s followed a robust nationalist policy of "maîtres chez nous" ("masters in our own home") that would see French-speaking Quebecers use the state to elevate their economic status and assert their cultural identity.

In 1966, the Union Nationale returned to power despite losing the popular vote by nearly seven points to the Liberal Party, but could not turn the tide of modernization and secularization that the Quiet Revolution had started.

The Parti Québécois was created by the sovereignty-association movement of René Lévesque; it advocated recognizing Quebec as an equal and independent (or "sovereign") nation that would form an economic "association" with the rest of Canada.

Pearson also recruited Pierre Trudeau, who campaigned against the violation of civil liberties under Duplessis and the economic and political marginalization of French Quebecers in the 1950s.

Trudeau's vision was to create a Constitution for a "Just Society" with a strong federal government founded on shared values of individual rights, bilingualism, social democratic ideals, and, later on, multiculturalism.

During the 1960s, a violent terrorist group known as the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) was formed in an effort to attain Quebec independence.

[16] This Quebec diaspora occurred for a number of reasons including regulations that made French the only language of communication allowed between employers and their employees.

The section of the law regarding language on signs was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Canada under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, see: Ford v Quebec (AG).

Progressive Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney brought together all provincial premiers, including Robert Bourassa, to get the Quebec government's signature on the constitution.

The Parti Québécois won the 1994 provincial election under the leadership of Jacques Parizeau amid continued anger over the rejection of the Meech Lake Accord.

He launched a hard-line "Plan B" campaign by bringing in Montreal constitutional expert Stéphane Dion, who would attack the perceived ambiguity of the referendum question through a Supreme Court reference on the unilateral secession of Quebec in 1998 and draft the Clarity Act in 2000 to establish strict criteria for accepting a referendum result for sovereignty and a tough negotiating position in the event of a Quebec secession bid.

They embrace the liberalism held by former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and view Canada as a bilingual, multicultural nation based on individual rights.

They defend the need for the federal government to assume the major role in the Canadian system, with occasional involvement in areas of provincial jurisdiction.

For example, Daniel Johnson Sr ran on a platform of Égalité ou indépendance (Equality or independence) in the late 1960s as a way of pressing for increased powers from the federal government.

[citation needed] Sovereigntists are moderate nationalists who do not believe Canada to be reformable in a way that could answer what they see as the legitimate wish of Quebecers to govern themselves freely.

They opt for the independence of Quebec; however, at the same time, they insist on offering an economic and political partnership to the rest of Canada on the basis of the equality of both nations.

Since 1969, the Official Languages Act has allowed Quebec to integrate better into the Canadian community, in addition to guaranteeing a legal and linguistic context conducive to the development of the province.

Under the rule of law, any agreement made abroad, by the federal or Quebecois government, is only applicable in domestic politics by the consent of popular sovereignty.

[38] The Ministry of Sustainable Development, Environment, and Fight Against Climate Change (MELCC) is the primary entity responsible for the application of environmental policy on the Québécois territory.

The Société des établissements de plein air du Québec (SEPAQ) is the main body responsible for the management of national parks, wildlife reserves, etc.

According to a 2019 university study, 67% of Québécois residents are aware of humanity's impact on global warming, while the figure drops to 47% in Saskatchewan and to 42% in Alberta.

[law 6] Faced with the problem of expanding urban sprawl, agricultural zones were created to ensure the protection of fertile land, which make up 2% of Quebec's total area.

The centres de la petite enfance [fr] (CPEs; 'centres for young children') are institutions that link family policies to education.