The 1956 Quebec general election was held on June 20, 1956, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Canada. The incumbent Union Nationale, led by

Maurice Duplessis Maurice Le Noblet Duplessis, (; April 20, 1890 – September 7, 1959) byname "Le Chef" (, "The Boss"), was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 16th premier of Quebec. A Conservatism in Canada, conservative, Quebec nationalism, ...

, won re-election, defeating the

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

Georges-Émile Lapalme Georges-Émile Lapalme (January 14, 1907 – February 5, 1985) was a Quebec, Canada, politician who was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec and leader of the Quebec Liberal Party. Background Born in Montreal Lapalme studied law at th ...

. This was the fifth and final time (and the fourth in a row) that Duplessis led his party to a general election victory. No party has since been able to win more than three elections in a row. Duplessis died in office in 1959. It was Lapalme's second (and final) loss in a row as Liberal leader. The Liberals did not manage to improve on their performance in the previous 1952 election.

Expansion of the Legislative Assembly and titles

An Act passed in 1954 provided for the creation of the new electoral district of

Jonquière-Kénogami Jonquière-Kénogami was a former provincial electoral district in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region of Quebec, Canada that elected members to the Legislative Assembly of Quebec. It was created for the 1956 election, from parts of the existi ...

for the next election, which was carved out from

Chicoutimi Chicoutimi ( , ) is the most populous borough (arrondissement) of the city of Saguenay in Quebec, Canada. It is situated at the confluence of the Saguenay and Chicoutimi rivers. During the 20th century, it became the main administrative and ...

and Lac-Saint-Jean. In 1955, a bill was passed designated members of the assembly as Members of Provincial Parliament or MPPs.

Campaign

The Liberals and the ''

Union des électeurs Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Unio ...

'' pooled their resources to conduct a joint campaign against the UN in at least 50 ridings. They collaborated to such a degree that in February 1956 the Liberal MPP René Hamel had proposed a motion espousing

social credit Social credit is a distributive philosophy of political economy developed in the 1920s and 1930s by C. H. Douglas. Douglas attributed economic downturns to discrepancies between the cost of goods and the compensation of the workers who made t ...

theory in the Assembly, and a joint rally was held in May 1956 in

Shawinigan Shawinigan (; ) is a city located on the Saint-Maurice River in the Mauricie area in Quebec, Canada. It had a population of 49,620 as of the 2021 Canadian census. Shawinigan is also a territory equivalent to a regional county municipality (TE) ...

to mark that event. While the strategy was viewed within the parties as a means to maximize their strength in opposing the UN, the electorate tended to view it as being confusing, while the ''

Montreal Gazette ''The Gazette'', also known as the ''Montreal Gazette'', is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper which is owned by Postmedia Network. It is published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the only English-language daily newspape ...

'' called it "an irresponsible alliance". There were also Liberals in the old guard that wanted the UN to win. The Liberals supported four UdE and two

Nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

candidates, respectively running as Liberals and Independents, of which none won: :* on the

Social Credit Social credit is a distributive philosophy of political economy developed in the 1920s and 1930s by C. H. Douglas. Douglas attributed economic downturns to discrepancies between the cost of goods and the compensation of the workers who made t ...

side, there were

Réal Caouette David Réal Caouette (; September 26, 1917 – December 16, 1976) was a Canadian politician from Quebec. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) and leader of the Social Credit Party of Canada and founder of the '' Ralliement des créditistes''. O ...

(

Abitibi-Est Abitibi-Est is a provincial electoral district in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region of Quebec, Canada, that elects members to the National Assembly of Quebec. The district notably includes eastern portions of the city of Rouyn-Noranda Rouyn ...

), Arthur Marcoux ( Beauce), Urbain Lajeunesse ( Îles-de-la-Madeleine) and Paul-Eugène Drolet ( Portneuf), :* René Chaloult campaigned in the new riding of

, and came within 320 votes of winning. This would be his last campaign. :*

Pierre Laporte Pierre Laporte (; 25 February 1921 – 17 October 1970) was a Canadian lawyer, journalist and politician. He was deputy premier of the province of Quebec when he was kidnapped and murdered by members of the Front de libération du Québec (FL ...

, director of the magazine ''

L'Action nationale () is a French language, French-language monthly published in Quebec, Canada. The magazine publishes critical analyses of Quebec's linguistic, social, cultural and economic realities. Since 1917, approximately 17,000 authors have appeared in i ...

'' and previously parliamentary correspondent for ''

Le Devoir (, ) is a French-language newspaper published in Montreal and distributed in Quebec and throughout Canada. It was founded by journalist and politician Henri Bourassa in 1910. is one of few independent large-circulation newspapers in Quebec ...

'', ran in Montréal-Laurier. He would later campaign and win as a Liberal candidate in a 1961 byelection in Chambly. One observer noted, "The Union Nationale’s strongly entrenched position could not be seriously challenged unless a united front was formed of all opposing groups." The UN chose to campaign on Quebec's right to fiscal autonomy, the party's accomplishments and the future of Ungava, while the Liberals' chances were restrained by their alliance with the UdE (while shutting out the '' Parti social démocratique''), the choice of Chaloult and Laporte not to identify themselves as Liberal candidates, and the party's tendency to side with Ottawa's centralizing policies. The UN correctly assumed that Quebec voters, when given a choice, would prefer a nationalist policy over a social one.

Results

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

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...

!1956 !± !# ! ± !% ! ± (pp) , style="text-align:left;",

, 93, , 68, , 72, , 4, , 956,082, , 108,099, , 51.80%, , 1.30 , style="text-align:left;",

, 92, , 23, , 20, , 3, , 828,264, , 59,725, , 44.87%, , 0.90 , style="text-align:left;", Thérèse Casgrain , 26, , –, , –, , –, , 11,232, , 4,807, , 0.61%, , 0.35 , style="text-align:left;", Gui Caron , 32, , –, , –, , –, , 6,517, , 2,585, , 0.35%, , 0.12 , - , rowspan="7" , , style="text-align:left;" colspan="10", Other candidates , - , style="text-align:left;" , , style="text-align:left;", , 7, , 1, , 1, , , , 33,205, , 19,359, , 1.80%, , 0.98 , - , style="text-align:left;" , , style="text-align:left;", , 7, , –, , –, , –, , 4,438, , 528, , 0.24%, , 0.06 , - , style="text-align:left;" , , style="text-align:left;", , 10, , –, , –, , –, , 4,108, , 9,089, , 0.22%, , 0.57 , - , style="text-align:left;" , , style="text-align:left;", , 3, , –, , –, , –, , 1,274, , 247, , 0.07%, , 0.01 , - , style="text-align:left;" , , style="text-align:left;", , 1, , –, , –, , –, , 516, , ''New'', , 0.03%, , ''New'' , - , style="text-align:left;" , , style="text-align:left;", , 1, , –, , –, , –, , 93, , ''New'', , 0.01%, , ''New'' , - ! colspan="3" style="text-align:left;" , Total , 272, , 92 ! " colspan="2", 93 ! " colspan="2", 1,845,729 ! " colspan="2", 100% , - , colspan="7" style="text-align:left;" , Rejected ballots , 28,781 , 3,133 , colspan="2", , - , colspan="7" style="text-align:left;" , Voter turnout , 1,874,510 , 169,599 , 78.32 , 2.44 , - , colspan="7" style="text-align:left;" , Registered electors , 2,393,360 , 146,362 , colspan="2",

Synopsis of results

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

candidates supported by the Liberals : = multiple candidates

Analysis

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