19 oct. 1970 - October Crisis

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On April 29, 1970, the Liberals took back the National Assembly in Quebec in a provincial election which gave them 72 seats, the reigning Union Nationale 16 seats, the Credits is 13 seats and the new separatist party, the Parti Quebecois 7 seats. The PQ had won the second highest percentage of the vote at 24% but their support was mainly spread across the urban ridings. Many supporters of the separatist cause were bitterly disappointed by what seemed an unfair electoral result. By the end of May, a bombing spree had blasted it's was across Montreal with 9 explosions rocking office buildings and homes. The new Liberal Premier Robert Bourassa blamed the attacks on frustrated separatists protesting the election results. Two FLQ cells felt that more had to be done then setting bombs and that the next level of escalating the terrorism would be to kidnap prominent public figures or symbols of the establishment. On October 5th, 1970 one of the most traumatic episodes in Canadian political and social history began when members of the Liberation cell of the FLQ (Front de libération du Québec) kidnapped James Cross, the British Trade Commissioner, from his home on Redpath Crescent in Mont-Royal in Montreal. Cross was a symbolic victim for the FLQ because of the English connection with what was considered the imperialistic blight on the conscience of the separatists.

By Shambhavi

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