official opposition. During the 1997-2000 term,
Duceppe and his followers opposed without success
passage of the federal government’s Clarity Act,
which, when it became law in the year 2000, made se-
cession from Canada more difficult.
Impact In the early 1990’s, the Bloc Québécois
emerged as one of Canada’s top four political par-
ties. Its surprising success in the 1993 federal elec-
tions sent a clear message to all Canadians that the
unique concerns of Quebec society, including its
persistent calls for greater autonomy, could not sim-
ply be ignored. While some observers raised ques-
tions concerning the relevancy of a regional separat-
ist party in Canadian federal politics, others cast
doubt on the sincerity of the Bloc’s commitment to
the sovereignty movement. By serving in Parliament
and engaging in the discussion and passage of fed-
eral laws, were not the Bloc’s representatives tacitly
acknowledging Quebec’s place in the Canadian fed-
eration?
Further Reading
Bernard, André. “The Bloc Québécois.” InThe Cana-
dian General Election of 1997, edited by Alan
Frizzell and Jon H. Pammett. Toronto: Dundurn
Press, 1997.
Cornellier, Manon.The Bloc. Toronto: Lorimer, 1995.
Duceppe, Gilles.Question d’identité. Outremont, Que-
bec: Lanctôt, 2000.
Jan Pendergrass
See also Charlottetown Accord; Chrétien, Jean;
Minorities in Canada; Mulroney, Brian; Quebec ref-
erendum of 1995.
Blogs
Definition Web-based journals
Blogs evolved from simple online diaries used by few into a
tool used by countless people and companies by the end of the
1990’s. They are used for diverse purposes such as news
and corporate information, as well as personal use.
The word “blog” is a portmanteau of the words
“Web” and “log” that was coined in 1999 and
adopted as both a noun and a verb. Blogs evolved
from online diaries that started on Usenet in the
years before the World Wide Web. With the advance
of the World Wide Web, blogs evolved into continu-
ously updated sections of a Web site that related per-
sonal aspects of a person’s life. Typically they are dis-
played in reverse chronological order so that the
most recent events are presented first. Blogs at the
time were mostly text and could have images and
hyperlinks inserted. Justin Hall, who offered a
guided tour of the Internet as well as personal reflec-
tions, and Jerry Pournelle, a science-fiction author,
are seen as two of the earliest bloggers, starting in- Two blogs, from the sites Quakeholio and
Blue’s News, evolved from the computer gaming
scene in the mid-1990’s. Ritual Entertainment hired
a full-time blogger in 1997, making it possibly the
first company to have a professional blogger. News
coverage also became a key area of development for
blogs when Matt Drudge established a news blog,
Drudge Report, in the mid-1990’s. Their use in the
areas of news and entertainment demonstrated to
businesses the vast potential of blogs.
The number of well-established blogs exploded
in 1998, beginning with a handful to numbering in
the tens of thousands by the end of 1999. The rapid
growth coincided with the launch of various hosted
blogging services such as Open Diary, Blogger, and
LiveJournal. Open Diary was innovative in that it was
the first service to allow commenting on other peo-
ple’s blogs. The ability to interact with others’ blogs
became a vital part of the blogging community. An-
other important development was the Web site
pitas.com, which allowed people to maintain an eas-
ily updateable page for news about their Web site.
Companies turned to the site to maintain blogs of re-
cent corporate events for investors and consumers.
Blogs quickly became part of the corporate culture,
contributing to their acceptance.
Impact Blogs saw explosive growth in the late
1990’s, and they were adopted for many different
purposes. Corporations, entertainment industries,
and news venues quickly adopted the technology,
and blogs have played a significant role in the way
they disseminate information. The popularity and
utility of blogs has increased over time with the addi-
tion of multimedia capabilities. They have become
an integral part of the Internet to the point where
they number in the tens of millions.
Further Reading
Hewitt, Hugh.Blog: Understanding the Information
Reformation That’s Changing Your World. Nashville:
T. Nelson, 2005.
The Nineties in America Blogs 107