The conscription issue devided Quebec and he was blamed for the "temporary" transfer to Ottawa of Quebec's taxing power for the war effort, Bouchard said.
Bouchard noted that Godbout made a huge contribution to the modernization of Quebec, granting women the right to run and vote in provincial elections in 1940 and making public education free and obligatory to age 14.
Godbout created Hydro-Quebec in 1944 when Montreal, Light, Heat and Power Co. was expropriated.
Quebec Liberal leader Jean Charest credited Godbout with with creating the first Quebec quiet revolution. Charest also noted that when Godbout was defeated in 1944 by Maurice Duplessis and his Union National Party, he had proposed a medicare plan for the Province. "He was a remarkable statesman", Charest said. Duplessis shelved the idea and medicare only came to Quebec in 1970.
Godbout won more votes than Duplessis in 1944 but the Unional National won more seats and formed a government that held power until 1960 - after Duplessis death in 1959.
Godbout was also responsible for rural electrification in Quebec, an accomplishment Duplessis took credit for, and he introduced Quebec's first labor code.
Women were granted the right to vote in federal elections in 1920 and that New Zealand was the first country in the world to grant women the vote in 1897. This 43 year old lag in granting woman's suffrage tells us much about the conservative forces of resistance that our premier Adélard Godbout had to face.
Note: some of these quote were made by Mario Dumont, leader and only sitting member Action Démocratic Québec