ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the influence of the colonial situation of Quebec during the early phase of industrialization upon the structure, the leadership, and the orientations of labour. It discusses the thesis of the aristocracy of labor in the light of a situation where class and ethnicity are mixed. The English-speaking population controlling the political power, welcomed British investments and immigration. A majority of the entrepreneurs came from England and Scotland as specialized workers and farmers, while from Ireland came a poor and rural population; unemployed Irish workers came also from the United States, and joined their brothers in public works. The laborforce was composed of four ethnic origins, and comprised two or three languages; and two religions formed the Quebec proletariat of the early phase of industrialization, that is, waterways and railroad workers, lumberjacks, and longshoremen in the Quebec and Montreal harbors. In Montreal from 1825 to 1844 the immigrants of British origin comprised the majority of the English-speaking group.
