I doubt that he was racist, he was respectful of les autres , and his referendum question would never have been a convoluted lie
He was a master of public relations who carefully cultivated his image of a reluctant, tolerant freedom fighter for an oppressed people. He hid his "ethno-centricity" behind Camille Laurin and whined about how humiliated he was to legislate on language. That hypocritical wimp was later tossed out by his own party who now deifies him.
The question for the upcoming Scottish referendum is: "Should Scotland be an independent country?"
Compare that with Rene's convoluted mess:
The question posed on the ballot was:
"The Government of Quebec has made public its proposal to negotiate a new agreement with the rest of Canada, based on the equality of nations; this agreement would enable Quebec to acquire the exclusive power to make its laws, levy its taxes and establish relations abroad — in other words, sovereignty — and at the same time to maintain with Canada an economic association including a common currency; any change in political status resulting from these negotiations will only be implemented with popular approval through another referendum; on these terms, do you give the Government of Quebec the mandate to negotiate the proposed agreement between Quebec and Canada?"
The original French text was:
«Le Gouvernement du Québec a fait connaître sa proposition d’en arriver, avec le reste du Canada, à une nouvelle entente fondée sur le principe de l’égalité des peuples ; cette entente permettrait au Québec d'acquérir le pouvoir exclusif de faire ses lois, de percevoir ses impôts et d’établir ses relations extérieures, ce qui est la souveraineté, et, en même temps, de maintenir avec le Canada une association économique comportant l’utilisation de la même monnaie ; aucun changement de statut politique résultant de ces négociations ne sera réalisé sans l’accord de la population lors d’un autre référendum ; en conséquence, accordez-vous au Gouvernement du Québec le mandat de négocier l’entente proposée entre le Québec et le Canada?»