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In the spring of 1998, the Government of Québec, led by Lucien Bouchard, adopted the Politique de Ia lecture et du livre (The Reading and Book Policy). Nearly a decade later, it is appropriate to recall how the policy was put together, to understand its components and, especially, to evaluate its impact. Over the course of time, evaluations were undertaken, adjustments made and parts of the policy abandoned. Measures, put in place for a limited period (3 or 7 years), were cancelled at the end of the prescribed period and others were abandoned as the result of a shift in priorities of a new government. The purpose of this article is to provide a broad review of the policy since 1998 and to compare the objectives with the results. A general portrait can be made that underscores some of the more remarkable and long-lasting results, such as the creation of the Grande Bibliothèque and the Observatoire de Ia culture et des communications du Québec, while outlining a few interesting projects that were put aside for various policy reasons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OVER THE LAST FEW years, the activities of minimum wage commissions in the western provinces and in Ontario have been the subject of several historical studies. Inspired by these projects, this paper examines the work of the Quebec Women's Minimum Wage Commission, from its inception in 1925 to its dismantling in 1937. After giving reasons which forced the Quebec government to legislate on this issue, the author presents the position of international and catholic unions on women in the work force. In his analysis of the operating mode of the commission and, more precisely, his critical evaluation of its mechanism for enforcing the law, the author concludes that as with the other commissions across Canada, the Quebec Women's Minimum Wage Commission would not have allowed wage increases for women. In a socio-economic context where women on average made half of the salary of men, the decision to use the minimum wage as stool to fight the abuse of the capitalist system had the major consequence of keeping salaries low. In fact, the low rate of the minimum wage agreed to by the commission upheld the principle of pay inequity by gender, thus reflecting the dominant ideology of the era during which the work of women was considered marginal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A brief hi story of libraries and librarianship in Quebec : from the early years to 19605 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]