Francis Daniel Johnson Sr. (April 9, 1915 – September 26, 1968) was a Canadian politician and the 20th

premier of Quebec The premier of Quebec ( French: ''premier ministre du Québec'' (masculine) or ''première ministre du Québec'' (feminine)) is the head of government of the Canadian province of Quebec. The current premier of Quebec is François Legault of th ...

from 1966 to his death in 1968.

Background

Johnson was born in

Danville, Quebec Danville is a city in the administrative region of Estrie, in the Canadian province of Quebec. As of the 2016 Canadian Census, the population was 3,836. History Danville is on a stretch of the Chemin Craig, a road built in the 19th century conne ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. He was the son of Francis Johnson, an anglophone labourer of

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

heritage, and Marie-Adéline Daniel, a French Canadian. He was raised bilingually but educated entirely in French. In 1943, Johnson married Reine Gagné. In 1953, she survived being shot twice by her lover,

Radio-Canada The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

announcer Bertrand Dussault, who then committed suicide. His sons,

Pierre-Marc Johnson Pierre-Marc Johnson (born July 5, 1946) is a Canadian lawyer, physician and politician. He was the 24th premier of Quebec from October 3 to December 12, 1985, making him the province's shortest-serving premier, and the first Baby Boomer to hold ...

and

Daniel Johnson Jr. Daniel Johnson Jr. (born December 24, 1944) is a former Canadian politician. He was a member of the Liberal Party of Quebec and was the 25th premier of Quebec for nine months in 1994 until his party's defeat in the provincial general election. ...

also became premiers of Quebec; remarkably, each was a leader of a different party, Pierre-Marc as leader of the sovereigntist

Parti Québécois The Parti Québécois (; ; PQ) is a sovereignist and social democratic provincial political party in Quebec, Canada. The PQ advocates national sovereignty for Quebec involving independence of the province of Quebec from Canada and establishin ...

for a brief period in 1985, and Daniel Jr. as leader of the federalist

Liberal Party of Quebec The Quebec Liberal Party (QLP; french: Parti libéral du Québec, PLQ) is a provincial political party in Quebec. It has been independent of the federal Liberal Party of Canada since 1955. The QLP has always been associated with the colour red; ...

for nine months in 1994.

Member of the legislature

Johnson won a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

in 1946 and became the Union Nationale Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for the district of Bagot. He was re-elected in 1948,

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, ar ...

, and

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Jan ...

. He served as

parliamentary assistant In UK politics, a parliamentary assistant is an unelected partisan member of staff employed by a Member of Parliament (MP) to assist them with their parliamentary duties. Parliamentary assistants usually work at the House of Commons in the ...

to Premier

Maurice Duplessis Maurice Le Noblet Duplessis (; April 20, 1890 – September 7, 1959), was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 16th premier of Quebec. A conservative, nationalist, anti-Communist, anti-unionist and fervent Catholic, he and hi ...

in 1955 and Deputy House Speaker from 1955 to 1958. He became the target of cartoonists, who portrayed him as Danny Boy.

Cabinet member

Johnson was appointed to the Cabinet in 1958 and served as Minister of Hydraulic Resources until the 1960 election, which was won by the Liberals. He was the minister who started the Manic-5 hydroelectric project in 1958 of which its Daniel-Johnson Dam was named after him.

Party leader

Johnson was elected party leader against

Jean-Jacques Bertrand Jean-Jacques Bertrand (; June 20, 1916 – February 22, 1973) was the 21st premier of Quebec, from October 2, 1968, to May 12, 1970. He led the Union Nationale party. Member of the legislature Bertrand served as Member of the Legislative Assemb ...

in 1961. His party lost the 1962 election against

Jean Lesage Jean Lesage (; 10 June 1912 – 12 December 1980) was a Canadian lawyer and politician from Quebec. He served as the 19th premier of Quebec from 22 June 1960 to 16 June 1966. Alongside Georges-Émile Lapalme, René Lévesque and others, he is ...

's Liberals, but he was returned to the legislature. His 1965 book ''Égalité ou indépendance'' ("Equality or independence") made him the first leader of a Quebec political party to recognize the possibility of independence for Quebec, saying that Canada should was content to be a Dominion under the British Crown, then Quebec should seek independence. He stated if the English-speaking Canadians did not want to be independent, Quebec could do it alone. His position on the issue was seen to be ambiguous. As he wrote in his book, his position was for "independence if necessary, but not necessarily independence," a reference to

Canadian Prime Minister The prime minister of Canada (french: premier ministre du Canada, link=no) is the head of government of Canada. Under the Westminster system, the prime minister governs with the confidence of a majority the elected House of Commons; as such ...

William Lyon Mackenzie King William Lyon Mackenzie King (December 17, 1874 – July 22, 1950) was a Canadian statesman and politician who served as the tenth prime minister of Canada for three non-consecutive terms from 1921 to 1926, 1926 to 1930, and 1935 to 1948. A L ...

's famous utterance in the

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conscription debate.

Premier

Under the same slogan, ''Égalité ou indépendance'', his party won the 1966 election and he became Premier of Quebec, a position that he retained until his death. His term was, among other things, qualified by tensions with the Canadian government over constitutional matters because as premier of Quebec, he put forward proposals to reform the

Canadian Constitution The Constitution of Canada (french: Constitution du Canada) is the supreme law in Canada. It outlines Canada's system of government and the civil and human rights of those who are citizens of Canada and non-citizens in Canada. Its contents ar ...

based on the notion of two equal nations, as opposed to ten equal provinces.

Death

In July 1968, Johnson suffered a heart attack which kept him from work until mid-September.Eugene Griffin, Chicago Tribune, September 27, 1968, p. 3. On September 25, Hydro-Québec, the government-owned utility organized a ceremony to mark the completion of the Manicouagan-5 Dam. Hundreds of dignitaries, politicians, utility executives, financiers, engineers, and journalists were ferried by plane from Montreal, Quebec City, and New York City to the worksite to attend a banquet and a plaque-unveiling ceremony. Among the guests were Johnson, his predecessor,

, and

René Lévesque René Lévesque (; August 24, 1922 – November 1, 1987) was a Québécois politician and journalist who served as the 23rd premier of Quebec from 1976 to 1985. He was the first Québécois political leader since Confederation to attempt ...

, the former Hydraulic Resources minister responsible for the consolidation of all investor-owned utilities into Hydro-Québec in 1962 to 1963. Photographs taken at the banquet show the three men were in excellent spirits, holding hands, and smiling, but relations between the

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

leader and his former cabinet minister were strained by Lévesque's recent defection to the

Mouvement Souveraineté-Association The Mouvement Souveraineté-Association (MSA, ''English: Movement for Sovereignty-Association'') was a separatist movement formed on November 19, 1967 by René Lévesque to promote the concept of sovereignty-association between Quebec and the res ...

, a precursor of the

. In his memoirs, Hydro-Québec executive Robert A. Boyd recalls being woken up at 6 a.m. the next morning by his boss, Roland Giroux. "I've got bad news, Robert...," said Giroux, who added that he just found the premier lying dead in his bed. Johnson's demise from another heart attack sent shockwaves at the worksite and across the province, and the dedication ceremony was quickly cancelled. On September 26, 1969, a year to the day after Johnson's death, the new premier,

, accompanied by Johnson's widow and children, unveiled two plaques and officially dedicated the dam after his predecessor. Both plaques are now side by side at the top of the complex.

Elections as party leader

Daniel Johnson lost the 1962 election. He won the 1966 election and died in office in 1968.

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Daniel Sr. 1915 births 1968 deaths Anglophone Quebec people French Quebecers Canadian people of Irish descent Quebec people of Irish descent Quebecers of French descent Canadian people of French descent Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada Premiers of Quebec Union Nationale (Quebec) MNAs Leaders of the Union Nationale (Quebec) Université de Montréal alumni Vice Presidents of the National Assembly of Quebec