Politician and personality nicknaming in Quebec

A peculiar custom of Quebecers is to give nicknames to their politicians (and some personalities), quite especially their Premiers. Those of Premiers are often affectionate but little noble (unless noted in the following list).

Nicknames of Quebec Premiers

• Maurice Duplessis (1936-1939 and 1944-1949): Le Chef ("The Leader").
  • Often said in a derogatory manner to evoke Duplessis's perceived despotism.
• Daniel Johnson Sr. (1966-1968): Danny Boy.
  • Surname probably originating from political cartoons, drawn before his taking power, mentioning the name and portraying him as a cowboy.
• Robert Bourassa (1970-1976 and 1985-1994): Boubou.
  • Also inspired the term "Boubou Macoutes".
• René Lévesque (1973-1985): Ti-Poil ("Lil' Hair").
  • A reminder of his often ruffling comb-over.
• Jacques Parizeau (1994-1995): Monsieur ("Sir").
  • Positive and relatively "noble" referral to his famous aristocratic pride and assurance. A documentary named Monsieur was released in 2003 about Jacques Parizeau.
• Lucien Bouchard (1996-2001): Lulu.

• Jean Charest (2003- ): Charest gained numerous nicknames.
  • Le Frisé ("Curly").
    • Referring to his famous curls, relatively long for curly hair. It is negative. A humorous, mocking song from irony rocker Mononc' Serge, about the man, is entitled "Le Frisé".
  • Le p'tit Saint-Jean-Baptiste ("Lil' Saint John the Baptist").
    • The Saint-Jean-Baptiste parades of first half of the 20th century usually featured a curly boy representing Saint John the Baptist. It is therefore another mocking of Charest's hairstyle. This could also refer to Charest's birthdate, which is June 24, the same day as the Saint-Jean-Baptiste.
  • Patapouffe
    • Apparantly the nickname his wife gives him in private. It became a well known rumor and later an often used name to mock the him.

Similar surnames

• Camillien Houde (Mayor of Montreal from the 20s to the 50s): Monsieur Montréal.
• Pacifique Plante (crime fighting lawyer from the 40s to the 50s): Pax Plante.
• Pierre Elliott Trudeau (Prime Minister of Canada from 1968 to 1979 and 1980 to 1984): Ti-Pet ("Lil' Fart") or Pet.
  • Always derogatory. P.E.T. are Trudeau's initials traditionally used in English Canada as alternative naming and pet is French for fart. Since Trudeau was in power for many of the same years as Lévesque, the two were sometimes referred to collectively as "Ti-Pet et Ti-Poil" by irreverent members of the population.

• Brian Mulroney (Prime Minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993): Le p'tit gars de Baie-Comeau ("Lil' Guy from Baie-Comeau").
  • Mulroney was born and raised in Baie-Comeau, a city in the Côte-Nord region of Quebec.

• Jean Chrétien (Prime Minister of Canada from 1993 to 2003): Le p'tit gars de Shawinigan ("Lil' Guy from Shawinigan").
  • Chrétien received a similar nickname to Mulroney's. His refers to his own city of origin, Shawinigan, Quebec.

• Mario Dumont (leader of the Action Démocratique since 1994): Super Mario.
  • A common criticism towards Dumont is his relative young age. Super Mario is both a comment on his youth (referring to the Nintendo video game series Super Mario Bros., popular amongst children) and an ironic glorification of his underdog popularity.

Possible explanations

A plausible reason for the custom of Quebecers belittling the very leaders they choose may be the complex of the colonized (an inferiority complex of a dominated people) that some thinkers say they harbour. When these surnames are reviewed, it can be striking how often, as with other Quebec expressions, the word "little" (petit or p'tit) and other humbling references appear. Another more positive explanation might be a simple sign of the humility of the people of Quebec.