A period of intense social change in Quebec, from 1960 to 1966. (The term was coined by a writer at The Globe and Mail, a Toronto newspaper.)

In 1960 the long running provincial Union Nationale party was defeated by the Liberals under Jean Lesage. Lesage hastened the evolution of Quebec away from a oppressive, church-dominated state. Issues such as women's rights, socialism and separatism became mainstream. In a short time, Quebec became one of the most liberal and forward thinking provinces in Canada.