The Parti de la Democratie Socialiste (PDS) (in English: Party of Socialist Democracy) was a political party in Quebec, Canada.

The early origins of the PDS can be traced back to the Fédération du Commonwealth Coopératif (FCC), later renamed Parti social-démocratique (PSD) (Social democratic Party). The FCC / PSD was the Quebec counterpart of the canadian Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF).

After the CCF became the New Democratic Party of Canada in 1961, the Quebec wing was refounded as the Nouveau Parti démocratique du Québec (NPD-Québec or NPDQ) (New Democratic Party of Quebec). The NPD-Québec contested Quebec general elections in 1970, 1976, 1985, 1989 and 1994. The NPDQ became independent from the federal NDP in 1989. A new branch of the New Democratic Party of Canada, called New Democratic Party of Canada (Quebec), was refounded in 1990, and is active only on the federal level in the province. In 1995, the NPDQ changed its name to Parti de la démocratie socialiste and contested the 1998 Quebec election under this new name.

In 2002, it joined with the Rassemblement pour l'alternative progressiste (Union for a progressive alternative) and the Parti communiste du Québec (Communist Party of Quebec) to form the Union des forces progressistes (UFP). It remains an organized tendency within the UFP under the name Québec socialiste.

Leaders of the NPDQ and the PDS

• Robert Cliche (1964-1968)
• Roland Morin (1970-1973)
• Henri-François Gautrin (Member of the National Assembly for the Parti libéral du Québec since 1989) (1973-1979)
• Jean-Paul Harney (1985-1988)
• Roland Morin (1987-1989)
• Gaétan Nadeau (1989-1990)
• Michel Parenteau (1990-1992)
• Jean-François Sirois (1992-1994)
• Jocelyne Dupuis (1994-1996)
• Paul Rose (former militant of the Front de Libération du Québec) (1996-2002)

Election results

†coalition Nouveau Parti démocratique du Québec / Regroupement des militants syndicaux

See also

• Politics of Quebec
• List of Quebec general elections
• List of Quebec premiers
• List of Quebec leaders of the Opposition
• National Assembly of Quebec
• Timeline of Quebec history
• Political parties in Quebec

External links

• National Assembly historical information
• La Politique québécoise sur le Web