The 1973 Quebec general election was held on October 29, 1973 to elect members to

National Assembly of Quebec The National Assembly of Quebec (, ) is the Legislature, legislative body of the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec in Canada. Legislators are called MNAs (Members of the National Assembly; ). The lieutenant governor of Que ...

, Canada. The incumbent

Quebec Liberal Party The Quebec Liberal Party (QLP; , PLQ) is a provincial political party in Quebec. It has been independent of the federal Liberal Party of Canada since 1955. The QLP has traditionally supported a form of Quebec federalist ideology with nuance ...

, led by Premier

Robert Bourassa Robert Bourassa (; July 14, 1933 – October 2, 1996) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd premier of Quebec from 1970 to 1976 and from 1985 to 1994. A member of the Liberal Party of Quebec, he served a total of just ...

, won re-election, defeating the ''

Parti Québécois The Parti Québécois (PQ; , ) is a sovereignist and social democratic provincial political party in Quebec, Canada. The PQ advocates national sovereignty for Quebec involving independence of the province of Quebec from Canada and establishi ...

'', led by

René Lévesque René Lévesque ( ; August 24, 1922 – November 1, 1987) was a Canadian politician and journalist who served as the 23rd premier of Quebec from 1976 to 1985. He was the first Québécois political leader since Confederation to seek, ...

, and the '' Union Nationale'' (UN). The Liberals won the largest majority government in the province's history, with 102 seats. In the process, they reduced the opposition to just eight seats (six PQ, two créditistes) in total. The ''Parti Québécois'' held its own, losing only one seat, and despite having fewer seats, became the official Opposition, although PQ leader

failed to win a seat in the Assembly. The ''Union Nationale,'' which had held power until the previous 1970 general election, was wiped off the electoral map, losing all 17 of its seats. It would be the first time since the UN's founding in 1935 that the party was without representation in the legislature. However, UN candidate Maurice Bellemare later won a seat in a 1974

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

. The popular vote was not as lopsided as the seat count would indicate, even though the Liberals won 54 percent of the popular vote. The Parti Québécois, for instance, won 30% of the popular vote, a significant improvement over their previous showing of 23% in the 1970 election. However, their support was spread out across the entire province, and was not concentrated in enough areas to translate into more seats. Quebec elections have historically produced significant disparities in seat counts.

Legislative reforms (19701973)

Abolition of protected ridings

Upon Confederation in 1867, section 80 of the ''

British North America Act, 1867 The ''Constitution Act, 1867'' ( 30 & 31 Vict. c. 3) (),''The Constitution Act, 1867'', 30 & 31 Victoria (U.K.), c. 3, http://canlii.ca/t/ldsw retrieved on 2019-03-14. originally enacted as the ''British North America Act, 1867'' (BNA Act), ...

'' provided for the following ridings in the Legislative Assembly to be protected from having their boundaries altered without the consent of the majority of the members representing them: *

Argenteuil Argenteuil () is a Communes of France, commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, center of Paris. Argenteuil is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture of the Val-d'Oise Departments of France, ...

* Brome * Compton *

Huntingdon Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by John, King of England, King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver C ...

* Mégantic * Missisquoi *

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

Labelle Labelle was an American funk rock band that originated out of the Blue Belles, a girl group who were a popular vocal group of the 1960s and 1970s. The original group was formed after the disbanding of two rival girl groups in the area around ...

was carved out in 1912 *** Papineau was carved out from Labelle in 1922 ** Ottawa was divided into

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * The hull of an armored fighting vehicle, housing the chassis * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a sea-going craft * Submarine hull Ma ...

and Papineau in 1919 *

Pontiac Pontiac most often refers to: * Pontiac (Odawa leader) ( – 1769), Native American war chief *Pontiac (automobile), a former General Motors brand Pontiac may also refer to: Places and jurisdictions Canada * Pontiac, Quebec, a municipality ** Apo ...

Témiscaming Témiscaming () is a city located at the south end of Lac Témiscamingue on the upper Ottawa River in the Témiscamingue Regional County Municipality of western Quebec, Canada. Also nearby is Lake Kipawa. It is the administrative headquart ...

was carved out in 1912 ***

Abitibi Abitibi may refer to: Election districts in Canada * Abitibi—Témiscamingue (electoral district) * Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou * Abitibi (provincial electoral district) Places in Canada * Abitibi Canyon, Ontario, community on th ...

was carved out from Témiscamingue in 1922 * Richmond and Wolfe (divided into

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

and Wolfe in 1890) * Shefford *

Sherbrooke Sherbrooke ( , ) is a city in southern Quebec, Canada. It is at the confluence of the Saint-François River, Saint-François and Magog River, Magog rivers in the heart of the Estrie administrative region. Sherbrooke is also the name of a territ ...

* Stanstead Consent by a majority of the members of the 18 districts concerned was finally secured in December 1970, and the constitutional restrictions were accordingly revoked. Work would then proceed on a comprehensive redistribution for the next ensuing election.

Redistribution of ridings

A 1972 Act increased the number of MNAs from 108 to 110 through the following changes:

Campaign

The Liberals, Unionists and ''péquistes'' all fielded full slates, while the ''créditistes'' failed to nominate a candidate only in Saint-Laurent (because a traffic accident prevented that candidate from presenting his nomination papers before the deadline), so virtually all constituencies experienced at least four-way contests:

Results

, - ! colspan=2 rowspan=2 , Political party ! rowspan=2 , Party leader ! colspan=4 , MNAs ! colspan=4 , Votes , - ! Candidates !

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

!1973 !± !# ! ± !% ! ± (pp) , style="text-align:left;",

, 110 , , 72 , , 102 , , 30 , , 1,623,734 , , 319,393 , , 54.65% , , 9.25 , style="text-align:left;",

, 110 , , 7 , , 6 , , 1 , , 897,809 , , 235,405 , , 30.22% , , 7.16 1973 results compared to 1970 ''Ralliement créditiste'' total , style="text-align:left;",

Yvon Dupuis Yvon Dupuis, (October 11, 1926 – January 1, 2017) was a Canadian politician. Political career Born in Montreal, Dupuis was educated at Collège de Varennes in Longeuil, Quebec, and worked as an insurance agent and as the owner of two music st ...

, 109 , , 12 , , 2 , , 10 , , 294,706 , , 26,664 , , 9.92% , , 1.27 , style="text-align:left;",

Gabriel Loubier Gabriel Loubier (born September 27, 1932) was a politician in Quebec, Canada. He served as leader of the '' Union Nationale'' party from 1971 to 1974, and as Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly of Quebec from 1971 to 1973. Born in ...

, 110 , , 17 , , – , , 17 , , 146,209 , , 418,335 , , 4.92% , , 14.73 , , , 22 , , – , , – , , – , , 6,961 , , 5,567 , , 0.23% , , 0.21 , , , 15 , , – , , – , , – , , 1,395 , , 1,395 , , 0.05% , , ''New'' , style="text-align:left;", Sam Walsh , 3 , , – , , – , , – , , 164 , , 49 , , 0.01% , , – , - ! colspan="3" style="text-align:left;" , Total , 479, , 108 ! " colspan="2", 110 ! " colspan="2", 2,970,978 ! " colspan="2", 100.00% , - , colspan="7" style="text-align:left;" , Rejected ballots , 54,760 , 2,269 , colspan="2", , - , colspan="7" style="text-align:left;" , Voter turnout , 3,025,738 , 95,739 , 80.38 , 3.85 , - , colspan="7" style="text-align:left;" , Registered electors , 3,764,611 , 286,033 , colspan="2",

Synopsis of results

: = open seat : = turnout is above provincial average : = winning candidate was in previous Legislature : = incumbent had switched allegiance : = previously incumbent in another riding : = not incumbent; was previously elected to the Legislature : = incumbency arose from byelection gain : = other incumbents renominated : = previously an MP in the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada () is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of Ca ...

: = multiple candidates

Analysis

External links

CBC TV video clip

Results by party (total votes and seats won)

Results for all ridings

References

{{Quebec elections Quebec general election Elections in Quebec

General election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

Quebec general election