Parti Québécois
| Parti Québécois | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Party leader | Jean-François Lisée |
| founding | October 11, 1968 |
| Headquarters | Montreal |
| Alignment |
Social Democracy Separatism Left Nationalism |
| Parliament seats |
28/125 |
| Website | www.pq.org |
The Parti Québécois (PQ) is a political party in the Canadian province of Québec . She is aiming for Québec's independence from Canada. Another key concern of the Parti Québécois is promoting the French language in Québec. In social, economic and cultural issues, the PQ is close to the social democratic parties in Europe, but it only maintains informal relations with the labor movement and trade unions .
Members and supporters of the party are referred to as péquistes ( peˈkist ), derived from the French pronunciation of the abbreviation. After the last election on April 7, 2014, the PQ had 30 of 125 seats in the Québec National Assembly and is the strongest opposition party.
history
The PQ was created in 1968 from the merger of the Mouvement Souveraineté Association of René Lévesque and the Ralliement national . In the same year, most of the members of the Rassemblement pour l'indépendance nationale also joined the PQ. The main goals at that time were already the political, economic and social independence of Québec. In the 1976 elections, the party won a majority of the seats in the National Assembly for the first time and Lévesque became Prime Minister. This election victory accelerated the migration of the Anglophone minority and the relocation of their economic activities to Toronto .
The PQ government was the first to recognize the indigenous peoples' right to self-determination, provided that this does not affect the territorial integrity of Québec. The most important new law introduced was the Charter of the French Language , which guarantees French precedence in all areas of life. In 1981 the government was confirmed, but internal disputes led to Lévesque's resignation in 1984. His successor Pierre-Marc Johnson was unable to avert defeat in the 1985 elections.
The 1980 Québec referendum , which the provincial government could have negotiated on independence if adopted, was rejected with almost 60% of the vote. After the failure of the Meech Lake Accord and the Charlottetown Accord , which provided for extensive changes to the Canadian constitution , the question of Quebec's status remained unanswered. After nine years in the opposition, the PQ formed the government again in 1994 and stepped up its efforts to achieve independence. The 1995 Québec referendum was narrowly rejected (50.58% no), whereupon Prime Minister Jacques Parizeau announced his resignation.
Lucien Bouchard , a former member of the Canadian federal government under Brian Mulroney and later founder of the Bloc Québécois , succeeded Parizeau, but spoke out against another independence referendum. The PQ won the 1998 elections, although it received fewer votes overall than the Parti libéral du Québec , as it benefited from distortions in majority voting. In 2001, the former Minister of Finance, Bernard Landry followed . Under his leadership, the PQ lost the 2003 elections. Four years later, the party fell behind the Action démocratique du Québec in third place, but was able to improve again in 2008.
At the beginning of the 21st century, the left progressive wing of the PC saw the party's right slide towards neoliberalism . Numerous members resigned from the PQ and founded Québec solidaire in 2006 . On the right-hand side of the political spectrum, the Avenir Québec coalition , founded in 2012, competed with the PQ. In 2012, the PQ emerged as the strongest force in the elections, but clearly missed the absolute majority of mandates and formed a minority government led by Pauline Marois . Less than two years later, it called early elections in the hope of gaining a majority. But the calculation did not work and the PQ achieved the worst result since 1970. After the subsequent resignation of Pauline Marois, Stephane Bédard led the party from April 10, 2014 for a good year on an interim basis, before Pierre-Karl Péladeau on May 15, 2015 was elected party chairman and thus rose to become opposition leader in Québec.
Relationship with the Bloc Québécois
Since different parties compete at federal and provincial level in Canada, Parti Québécois and Bloc Québécois are not in competition with each other. The Bloc is politically close to the PQ and represents the interests of the Québec sovereignists in the Canadian lower house in Ottawa . Both parties support each other in elections. They have a similar membership and voter base. Prominent members are often present at the other party's events.
Election results
Results of the National Assembly elections:
| choice | seats total |
candidates data |
Weighted seats |
be right | proportion of |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | 108 | 108 | 7th | 662,404 | 23.06% |
| 1973 | 110 | 110 | 6th | 897,809 | 30.22% |
| 1976 | 110 | 110 | 71 | 1,390,351 | 41.37% |
| 1981 | 122 | 122 | 80 | 1,773,237 | 49.26% |
| 1985 | 122 | 122 | 23 | 1,320,008 | 38.69% |
| 1989 | 125 | 125 | 29 | 1,369,067 | 40.16% |
| 1994 | 125 | 125 | 77 | 1,751,442 | 44.75% |
| 1998 | 125 | 124 | 76 | 1,744,240 | 42.87% |
| 2003 | 125 | 125 | 45 | 1,269,183 | 33.24% |
| 2007 | 125 | 125 | 36 | 1,125,546 | 28.35% |
| 2008 | 125 | 125 | 51 | 1,141,751 | 35.17% |
| 2012 | 125 | 125 | 54 | 1,393,765 | 31.95% |
| 2014 | 125 | 124 | 30th | 1,074,115 | 25.38% |
Party leader
| Surname | Chair | premier |
|---|---|---|
| René Lévesque | 1968-1985 | 1976-1985 |
| Pierre Marc Johnson | 1985-1987 | 1985 |
| Guy Chevrette (interim) | 1987 | |
| Jacques Parizeau | 1987-1996 | 1994-1996 |
| Lucien Bouchard | 1996-2001 | 1996-2001 |
| Bernard Landry | 2001-2005 | 2001-2003 |
| Louise Harel (interim) | 2005 | |
| André Boisclair | 2005-2007 | |
| François Gendron (interim) | 2007 | |
| Pauline Marois | 2007-2014 | 2012-2014 |
| Stéphane Bédard (interim) | 2014–15 | |
| Pierre-Karl Péladeau | since 2015 |
Election slogans
- 1970: OUI (JA)
- 1973: J'ai le goût du Québec (I feel like going to Québec)
- 1976: On a besoin d'un vrai gouvernement (We need a real government)
- 1981: Faut rester forts au Québec (We have to stay strong in Québec)
- 1985: Le Québec avec Johnson (Québec with Johnson)
- 1989: Je prends le parti du Québec (I take a stand for Québec)
- 1994: L'autre façon de gouverner (The other way of governing)
- 1998: J'ai confiance (I have faith)
- 2003: Restons forts (let's stay strong)
- 2007: Reconstruisons notre Québec (Let's rebuild our Québec)
- 2008: Québec gagnant avec Pauline (A winning Québec with Pauline)
- 2012: A nous de choisir (The choice is ours)
- 2014: Plus prospère, plus fort, plus indépendant, plus accueillant (blooming, stronger, more independent, more inviting)
See also
literature
- Pierre Godin: René Lévesque, Héros malgré lui. Éditions Boréal, 1997. ISBN 2-89052-833-2
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Péladeau new party chairman. May 15, 2015, accessed June 30, 2015 (French).
- ^ Élections générales. Le directeur général des élections du Québec, 7 April 2014, accessed on 10 April 2014 (French).