The Ultimate National Assembly of Quebec - American History Information Guide and Reference

The Quebec Parliament Building at night

The National Assembly of Québec (French: Assemblée nationale du Québec) is the legislative body of the Province of Quebec, Canada. It operates in a fashion similar to that of other British-style parliamentary systems. Since the abolition in 1968 of the Legislative Council (French: Conseil législatif), hitherto the upper house of the Quebec Parliament, the lower house known as National Assembly of Quebec has had exclusive power to enact laws in the provincial jurisdictions defined in the Constitution of Canada. The current President of the National Assembly of Quebec is Liberal Member of the National Assembly (MNA) Michel Bissonnet.

Contents

1 History

2 Parliament Building

History

The Legislative Assembly was created in Lower Canada by the Constitutional Act of 1791. It was abolished from 1841 to 1867 under the 1840 Act of Union which merged Upper Canada and Lower Canada into a single colony named the Province of Canada. The 1867 British North America Act, which created the Canadian confederation, split the Province of Canada into the provinces of Quebec and Ontario. The Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada was thus restored as the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Quebec.

The original Quebec legislature was bicameral, consisting of the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly.

In 1968, Bill 90 was passed by the government of Premier Jean-Jacques Bertrand, abolishing the Legislative Council and renaming the Legislative Assembly the "National Assembly". Before 1968, there had been various unsuccessful attempts at abolishing the Legislative Council, which was analogous to the Senate of Canada.

In 1978, television cameras were brought in for the first time to televise parliamentary debates. The colour of the walls was changed to suit the needs of television and the salon vert (green hall) became the salon bleu (blue hall).

Parliament Building

Built in Quebec City between 1877 and 1886, the present Hôtel du Parlement (Parliament Building) was designed by architect Eugène-Étienne Taché . It is a unique construction in North America, with a Second Empire style of architecture. Its façade features a pantheon representing important events and people in the history of Quebec.

Elections

General elections are held at least every five years. Any person holding a Canadian citizenship and who has resided in Quebec for at least six months qualifies to have his or her name entered on the electoral list.

Quebec's territory is divided into 125 electoral districts (ridings). In each electoral division, the candidate who receives the most votes is elected and becomes a Member of the National Assembly (MNA). This is known as the first-past-the-post voting system.

Normally, the leader of the political party with the largest number of elected candidates is asked by the Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec to form the government as Premier, or Prime Minister. (In French, both titles are rendered as Premier Ministre.).

Current members

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Official seating plan of the Quebec National Assembly.

At the present, the 125 seats of the National Assembly are distributed as follows:

Party	Number of seats	Number of women	Party Leader
Parti libéral du Québec	73	22	Jean Charest
Parti Québécois	46	16	Bernard Landry
Action démocratique du Québec	5	1	Mario Dumont
Independent*	1	0
Vacant	0	0
Total	125	38

Libéral member Daniel Bouchard (Megantic-Compton) is sitting as an independent while being under an inquiry relating to a former job.

Libéral member Russell Williams (Nelligan) resigned on March 9, 2004. Yolande James (PLQ) won the by-election with 52.6% of the vote.

Libéral member Marc Bellemare (Vanier) resigned on April 28, 2004. Sylvain Légaré (ADQ) won the by-election with 46.8% of the vote.

Libéral member Christos Sirros (Laurier-Dorion) resigned on June 17, 2004. Elsie Lefebvre (PQ) won the by-election with 46.1% of the vote.

Parti Québécois member André Boisclair (Gouin) resigned on August 17, 2004. Nicolas Girard (PQ) won the by-election with 57.8% of the vote.

By-elections were held in these four districts on September 20, 2004.

Member list

Maxime Arseneau , Parti Québécois - Îles-de-la-Madeleine
Vincent Auclair , Libéral - Vimont
Michel Audet , Libéral - Laporte
Claude Bachand , Libéral - Arthabaska
Line Beauchamp , Libéral - Bourassa-Sauvé
Denise Beaudoin , Parti Québécois - Mirabel
Claude Béchard , Libéral - Kamouraska-Témiscouata
Stéphane Bédard , Parti Québécois - Chicoutimi
Lawrence S. Bergman , Libéral - D'Arcy-McGee
Daniel Bernard, Libéral - Rouyn-Noranda--Témiscamingue
Raymond Bernier , Libéral - Montmorency
Rosaire Bertrand , Parti Québécois - Charlevoix
Michel Bissonnet, Libéral - Jeanne-Mance--Viger
Karl Blackburn , Libéral - Roberval
Yvan Bordelau , Libéral - Acadie
Camil Bouchard , Parti Québécois - Vachon
Daniel Bouchard , Independent - Mégantic-Compton
Claude Boucher , Parti Québécois - Johnson
André Boulerice , Parti Québécois - Sainte-Marie--Saint-Jacques
Julie Boulet , Libéral - Laviolette
Alexandre Bourdeau , Parti Québécois - Berthier
Bernard Brodeur , Libéral - Shefford
Jocelyne Caron , Parti Québécois - Terrebonne
Jacques Chagnon , Libéral - Westmount--Saint-Louis
Noëlla Champagne , Parti Québécois - Champlain
Jean-Pierre Charbonneau , Parti Québécois - Borduas
Jean Charest, Libéral - Sherbrooke
Nancy Charest , Libéral - Matane
Solange Charest , Parti Québécois - Rimouski
Lucie Charlebois , Libéral - Soulanges
André Chenail , Libéral - Huntingdon
Roch Cholette , Libéral - Hull
Maurice Clermont , Libéral - Mille-Îles
Russell Copeman , Libéral - Notre-Dame-de-Grâce
Pierre Corbeil , Libéral - Abitibi-Est
Jacques Côté , Parti Québécois - Dubuc
Philippe Couillard , Libéral - Mont-Royal
Michelle Courchesne , Libéral - Fabre
Claude Cousineau , Parti Québécois - Bertrand
William Cusano , Libéral - Viau
Margaret F. Delisle , Libéral - Jean-Talon
Pierre Descoteaux , Libéral - Groulx
Serge Deslières , Parti Québécois - Beauharnois
Michel Després , Libéral - Jean-Lesage
Léandre Dion , Parti Québécois - Saint-Hyacinthe
Rita Dionne-Marsoliar , Parti Québécois - Rosemont
Danielle Doyer , Pari Québécois - Matapédia
Jean Dubuc , Libéral - La Prairie
Marjolain Dufour , Parti Québécois - René-Lévesque
Mario Dumont, A.D.Q. - Rivière-du-Loup
Jacques P. Dupuis , Libéral - Saint-Laurent
Jean-Marc Fournier, Libéral - Châteauguay
André Gabias , Libéral - Trois-Rivières
Monique Gagnon-Tremblay, Libéral - Saint-François
Francine Gaudet , Libéral - Maskinongé
Françoise Gauthier , Libéral - Jonquière
Henri-François Gautrin , Libéral - Verdun
François Gendron , Parti Québécois - Abitibi-Ouest
Nicolas Girard , Parti Québécois - Gouin
Janvier Grondin , A.D.Q. - Beauce-Nord
Sam Hamad , Libéral - Louis-Hébert
France Hamel , Libéral - La Peltrie
Louise Harel , Parti Québécois - Hochelaga-Maisonneuve
Fatima Houda-Pepin , Libéral - La Pinière
Yolande James , Libéral - Nelligan
Monique Jérôme-Forget , Libéral - Marguerite-Bourgeoys
Normand Jutras , Parti Québécois - Drummond
Geoffrey Kelley , Libéral - Jacques-Cartier
Réjean Lafrenière , Libéral - Gatineau
Michèle Lamquin-Éthier , Libéral - Crémazie
Bernard Landry, Parti Québécois - Verchères
Diane Leblanc , Libéral - Beauce-Sud
Charlotte L'Écuyer , Libéral - Pontiac
Elsie Lefebvre, Parti Québécois - Laurier-Dorion
Sylvain Légaré, A.D.Q. - Vanier
Diane Legault , Libéral - Chambly
François Legault , Parti Québécois - Rousseau
Richard Legendre , Parti Québécois - Blainville
Nicole Léger , Parti Québécois - Pointe-aux-Trembles
Guy Lelièvre , Parti Québécois - Gaspé
Diane Lemieux , Parti Québécois - Bourget
Laurent Lessard , Libéral - Frontenac
Michel Létourneau , Parti Québécois - Ungava
Nicole Loiselle , Libéral - Saint-Henri--Sainte-Anne
Norman MacMillan , Libéral - Papineau
Agnès Maltais , Parti Québécois - Taschereau
Yvon Marcoux , Libéral - Vaudreuil
Pauline Marois , Parti Québécois - Taillon
Pierre Marsan , Libéral - Robert-Baldwin
Éric R. Mercier , Libéral - Charlesbourg
Pierre Moreau , Libéral - Marguerite-D'Youville
Michel Morin , Parti Québécois - Nicolet-Yamaska
Norbert Monrin , Libéral - Montmagny-L'Islet
Thomas J. Mulcair , Libéral - Chomedey
Nathalie Normandeau , Libéral - Bonaventure
François Ouimet , Libéral - Marquette
Sylvain Pagé , Parti Québécois - Labelle
Lucie Papineau , Parti Québécois - Prévost
Alain paquet , Libéral - Laval-des-Rapides
Jean-Pierre Paquin , Libéral - Saint-Jean
Pierre Paradis , Libéral - Brome-Missisquoi
Benoît Pelletier , Libéral - Chapleau
Sarah Perreault , Libéral - Chauveau
Marc Picard , A.D.Q. - Chutes-de-la-Chaudière
Claude Pinard , Parti Québécois - Saint-Maurice
Pierre Reid , Libéral - Orford
Lorraine Richard , Parti Québécois - Duplessis
Jean Rioux , Libéral - Iberville
Hélène Robert , Parti Québécois - Deux-Montagnes
Sylvie Roy , A.D.Q. - Lotbinière
Yves Séguin , Libéral - Outremont
Sylvain Simard , Parti Québécois - Richelieu
Jean-Pierre Soucy , Libéral - Portneuf
Jean-Claude St-André , Parti Québécois - L'Assomption
Carole Théberge , Libéral - Lévis
Lise Thériault , Libéral - Anjou
Luc Thériault , Parti Québécois - Masson
Tony Tomassi , Libéral - LaFontaine
Stéphan Tremblay , Parti Québécois - Lac-Saint-Jean
Daniel Turp , Parti Québécois - Mercier
Yvon Vallières , Libéral - Richmond
Jonathan Valois , Parti Québécois - Joliette
Cécile Vermette , Parti Québécois - Marie-Victorin
Dominique Vien , Libéral - Bellechasse
David Whissell , Libéral - Argenteuil

Proceedings

One of the Members of the National Assembly is chosen as the President of the Assembly (a post called Speaker in most other Westminster System assemblies) by the Premier with the support of the Leader of the Opposition. The President of the Assembly is the arbiter of the parliamentary debates between the members of the government and the members of the Opposition. In order for a member to address a member of the other side, he or she has to speak through the President of the Assembly. The President is usually a member of the governing party, although there is no requirement for this.

External links

National Assembly of Quebec website (in French and English)
National Assembly historical data (in French)
Diagram of the positions in the Assembly (in French)
Data about the current president of the Assembly

Categories: Quebec politics | Canadian legislative houses | Legislative buildings

Your American History Reference Guide! - National Assembly of Quebec

National Assembly of Quebec