Union national (Québec)

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Union national
Logo Union nationale.svg
founding November 7, 1935
resolution June 19, 1989
Alignment Conservatism
Quebec nationalism

The Union Nationale (UN) was a conservative - nationalist political party in the Canadian province of Quebec , which existed from 1935 to 1989. It emerged from the merger of the Parti conservateur du Québec with the Action libérale nationale . The provincial government appointed it three times: from 1936 to 1939, from 1944 to 1960 and from 1966 to 1970. The UN represented the traditional rural values ​​of Québec and was closely associated with the Roman Catholic Church . She campaigned for a comprehensive autonomy of the province, but without aiming for independence. Their economic policy was medium-sized, directed against state intervention and encouraged foreign investment. The UN found little support among the English-speaking part of the population and in the metropolis of Montreal .

history

In 1934 dissident members of the Parti libéral du Québec founded the Action libérale nationale . In the elections to the National Assembly in 1935, they formed an alliance with the Parti conservateur du Québec, which had existed since 1867 . The fact that candidates from both parties did not compete against each other in the individual constituencies was intended to break the power of the Liberals, but this did not succeed: together they won 42 out of 90 seats, compared to 48 of the Liberals. Maurice Duplessis , chairman of the Conservatives, became opposition leader. After a commission had uncovered various cases of corruption in the liberal government of Louis-Alexandre Taschereau , Duplessis pushed through new elections. In order to join forces, he called a meeting in Sherbrooke on June 20, 1936 , at which the unification of the two parties was decided.

The new party, which had no formal ties to the Conservative Party at the federal level, won the elections on August 17, 1936, and Maurice Duplessis became the new Prime Minister. Initially he had taken a more liberal position, but now he increasingly led the party to the right. The Roman Catholic Church received government support so that it could run schools, hospitals and other social institutions. Shortly after Canada declared war on Germany, Duplessis called new elections. They took place in October 1939 and ended in a victory for the Liberals, who had promised that conscription would not be introduced. In 1940 the opposition UN campaigned in vain against the introduction of women's suffrage at the provincial level.

Since compulsory military service was introduced, this led to an election victory for the UN in October 1944. Clientelism , conservative financial policies and an electrification program for rural areas consolidated the UN's dominance in Québec. The party asserted itself as the strongest political force three times in a row. Accusations were repeatedly raised that the government was too closely connected to the Catholic clergy, that it was suppressing religious minorities such as the Jehovah's Witnesses , manipulating the elections in their favor and demanding low license fees for the exploitation of raw materials. After Duplessis' death in 1959, Paul Sauvé succeeded as the new head of government, but he died after only three months in office. Under his successor Antonio Barette , the UN lost the elections in June 1960. The victorious liberals under Jean Lesage then implemented extensive social and economic reforms and overcame political rigidity (see Silent Revolution ).

From 1961 Daniel Johnson senior renewed the party and led it to another election victory in 1966. The UN continued the reforms begun by the Liberals. When Johnson died in 1968, the UN fell into a crisis. A nationalist and a federalist wing were formed, and part of the conservative base turned to the Ralliement créditiste du Québec . Under Jean-Jacques Bertrand , the UN had to accept a halving of the vote in the 1970 elections. In 1973 not a single UN candidate was successful. In 1975 there was a merger with the Parti présidentiel , a spin-off from the Ralliement créditiste. In the 1976 elections, the UN won another eleven seats, but during the legislative period six members left the party.

In 1981 the UN was again unable to win a single seat, and the share of the vote fell to four percent. The electoral base had almost completely turned away and was now supporting either the federalist liberals or the separatist Parti Québécois . On June 19, 1989, the provincial chief electoral officer canceled the party's registration because it could not pay its debts. Michel Le Brun, the last party chairman, founded the Parti Renaissance in 1992 , but it was also dissolved two years later for financial reasons. The Action démocratique du Québec, founded in 1994, is considered the political successor to the UN .

Election results

Results of the National Assembly elections:

choice seats
total 		candidates
data 		Weighted
seats 		be right proportion of
1936 90 90 76 323.812 56.88%
1939 86 85 15th 563.297 39.13%
1944 91 90 48 505,661 38.02%
1948 92 91 82 775.747 51.24%
1952 92 92 68 847.983 50.15%
1956 93 93 72 956.082 51.80%
1960 95 95 43 977.318 46.61%
1962 95 95 31 900.817 42.15%
1966 108 108 56 948.928 40.82%
1970 108 108 17th 564,544 19.65%
1973 110 110 0 146.209 4.92%
1976 110 108 11 611,666 18.20%
1981 122 121 0 144.070 4.00%
1985 122 19th 0 7,759 0.23%

Party leader

Surname Chair premier
Maurice Duplessis 1935-1959 1936-1939, 1944-1959
Paul Sauvé 1959-1960 1959-1960
Antonio Barrette (interim) 1960 1960
Yves Prévost (interim) 1960-1961
Antonio Talbot (interim) 1961
Daniel Johnson sr. 1961-1968 1966-1968
Jean-Jacques Bertrand 1968-1971 1966-1970
Gabriel Loubier 1971-1974
Maurice Bellemare (interim) 1974-1976
Rodrigue Biron 1976-1980
Michel Le Moignan (interim) 1980-1981
Roch La Salle 1981
Jean-Marc Béliveau 1982-1985
Maurice Bouillon 1985
André Léveillé 1985-1986
Paul Poulin 1986-1987
Michel Le Brun 1987-1989

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Élections générales. Le directeur général des élections du Québec, accessed on April 14, 2014 (French).