The Battle of Quebec: the French Lose Quebec to the English

Previously published in Examiner

Conclusion of the Guy Carleton, Lord Dorchester series

To learn more about Canadian or Quebec politics, both McGill University and Concordia University in Montreal offer wonderful political science degrees, that you may want to look into.

For further reading, Montreal's Concordia University has a wonderful women's studies program at the Simone do Beauvoir Institute

A history of the evolution of Canada is important to the understanding of the role of a governor general. We will look at four male governors at four different periods of Quebec and Canadian history. They mark the stage for governor generals. These men made decisions primarily on behalf of men. Women's issues were really not considered with any semblance of respect before the 20th century. The actions of these governors affected the lives of women and that is why they are chosen as a preamble before our women governor generals will be discussed.

We now are setting the tone for the three female Governor Generals of Canada, two of which were from Montreal Quebec. The duties of a governor general is to represent the ruling British Monarch in Canada. The governor general carries out administrative duties and also celebratory or festive activities.

By 1778, Guy Carleton/Lord Dorchester was made quarter-master general for the attack against Quebec City. During the famous battle of the Plains of Abraham outside of Quebec, Carleton/Lord Dorchester was the engineer commanding the cannons. The Plains of Abraham was the fight between France and British forces for Quebec City and thus the Battle of Quebec.

The British lead under the Command of General James Wolfe, won the battle and defeated the French Commander Louis-Joseph Marquis de Montcalm. Both Montcalm and Wolfe died after the battle within hours of each other. The British won the war and this has been a French/English tension in Quebec and some small parts of Montreal ever since.

Once he was appointed Governor of Quebec, Lord Dorchester was respected as the governor of Quebec, but was not really respected as Governor in Chief by the other provinces. If he was physically present they paid him respect otherwise they ignored him completely.

Lord Dorchester is immortalized in statue in Quebec City. Dorchester Boulevard used to be a major thoroughfare in Montreal and now Dorchester Boulevard remains part of Westmount and renamed Rene Levesque Boulevard after the former Premier of Quebec on the Montreal side.

Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Carleton,_1st_Baron_Dorchester