The 1970 Quebec general election was held on April 29, 1970, to elect members of the

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 ...

. The former Legislative Assembly had been renamed the "National Assembly" in 1968, with its members now known in English as Members of the National Assembly (MNAs). In the election, 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

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 ...

, defeated the incumbent Union Nationale, led by Premier Jean-Jacques Bertrand. This election marked the first appearance by a new party, the sovereigntist

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 former Liberal cabinet minister

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, ...

. The PQ won a modest seven seats and came second in the popular vote, although Lévesque was defeated in his own riding. Only a few months after the election, Quebec faced a severe test with the

October Crisis The October Crisis () was a chain of political events in Canada that started in October 1970 when members of the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) kidnapped the provincial Labour Minister Pierre Laporte and British diplomat James Cross f ...

, in which Liberal cabinet minister

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 ...

was kidnapped and assassinated by the

Front de libération du Québec The (FLQ) was a Quebec separatist terrorist group which aimed to establish an independent and socialist Quebec. Founded sometime in the early 1960s, the FLQ conducted a number of attacks between 1963 and 1970,Reich, Walter. ''Origins of Terror ...

, a violent pro-independence group. The Union Nationale, which had governed Quebec through most of the 1940s and 1950s, would never come close to winning power again. This was partly because a significant number of the Union Nationale's younger supporters had embraced sovereigntism and shifted their support to the PQ.

Campaign

The Liberals, Unionists and ''péquistes'' all fielded full slates, and the ''créditistes'' also nominated 99 candidates, so most 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 !

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

!1970 !± !# ! ± !% ! ± (pp) , style="text-align:left;",

, 108 , , 50 , , 72 , , 22 , , 1,304,341 , , 204,906 , , 45.40% , , 1.89 , style="text-align:left;", Jean-Jacques Bertrand , 108 , , 56 , , 17 , , 39 , , 564,544 , , 384,384 , , 19.65% , , 21.17 , style="text-align:left;", Camil Samson , 99 , , – , , 12 , , 12 , , 321,370 , , 321,370 , , 11.19% , , ''New'' 1970 results compared to 1966 combined RIN/RN total , style="text-align:left;",

, 108 , , – , , 7 , , 7 , , 662,404 , , 458,689 , , 23.06% , , 14.30 , , , 26 , , 2 , , – , , 2 , , 12,528 , , 51,906 , , 0.44% , , 2.33 , - , rowspan="6" , , style="text-align:left;" colspan="10", Other candidates , - , style="text-align:left;" , , style="text-align:left;", Roland Morin , 13 , , – , , – , , – , , 4,374 , , 4,374 , , 0.15% , , ''New'' , - , colspan="2" style="text-align:left;" , , 1 , , – , , – , , – , , 2,998 , , 2,998 , , 0.10% , , ''New'' , - , colspan="2" style="text-align:left;" , , 1 , , – , , – , , – , , 53 , , 53 , , – , , ''New'' , - , style="text-align:left;" , , style="text-align:left;", Sam Walsh , 1 , , – , , – , , – , , 213 , , 289 , , 0.01% , , 0.01 , - , colspan="2" style="text-align:left;" , , 1 , , – , , – , , – , , 145 , , 145 , , 0.01% , , ''New'' , - ! colspan="3" style="text-align:left;" , Total , 466, , 108 ! " colspan="2", 108 ! " colspan="2", 2,872,970 ! " colspan="2", 100.00% , - , colspan="7" style="text-align:left;" , Rejected ballots , 57,029 , 11,348 , colspan="2", , - , colspan="7" style="text-align:left;" , Voter turnout , 2,929,999 , 559,489 , 84.23 , 10.66 , - , colspan="7" style="text-align:left;" , Registered electors , 3,478,578 , 256,276 , 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
{{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

Campaign

Results

Synopsis of results

Analysis

See also

Further reading

External links