The 1962 Quebec general election was held on November 14, 1962, to elect members of the
Legislative Assembly of the Province of
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
, Canada. The incumbent
Quebec Liberal Party
The Quebec Liberal Party (QLP; french: Parti libéral du Québec, PLQ) is a provincial political party in Quebec. It has been independent of the federal Liberal Party of Canada since 1955. The QLP has always been associated with the colour red; e ...
, led by
Jean Lesage
Jean Lesage (; 10 June 1912 – 12 December 1980) was a Canadian lawyer and politician from Quebec. He served as the 19th premier of Quebec from 22 June 1960 to 16 June 1966. Alongside Georges-Émile Lapalme, René Lévesque and others, he is o ...
, was re-elected, defeating the ''
Union Nationale'' (UN) led by
Daniel Johnson, Sr.
Francis Daniel Johnson Sr. (April 9, 1915 – September 26, 1968) was a Canadian politician and the 20th premier of Quebec from 1966 to his death in 1968.
Background
Johnson was born in Danville, Quebec, Canada. He was the son of Francis John ...
In an unusual move, the election was called just two years after the previous
1960 general election. Lesage sought a mandate for the
Nationalization
Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...
of the electricity industry, with the slogan Maîtres chez nous (Masters in Our Own Home), declaring it a
single issue
Single-issue politics involves political campaigning or political support based on one essential policy area or idea.
Political expression
One weakness of such an approach is that effective political parties are usually coalitions of faction ...
important enough to stake his political career on it.
A few days before the election, the ''Union Nationales chief organizer
André Lagarde was arrested for fraud. The Liberals claimed this was proof of lingering corruption dating from the
Maurice Duplessis
Maurice Le Noblet Duplessis (; April 20, 1890 – September 7, 1959), was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 16th premier of Quebec. A conservative, nationalist, anti-Communist, anti-unionist and fervent Catholic, he and his ...
era, but the UN cried foul and was vindicated after the election. However, the incident may well have contributed to the UN's defeat.
The Liberal Party won an increased number of seats and a higher percentage of the popular vote, and the nationalization program was carried out. Future ''
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 establishin ...
'' founder
René Lévesque
René Lévesque (; August 24, 1922 – November 1, 1987) was a Québécois 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 attempt ...
served as a cabinet minister in the Lesage government and spearheaded the nationalization of power utilities for a great expansion of
Hydro-Québec
Hydro-Québec is a public utility that manages the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity in the Canadian province of Quebec, as well as the export of power to portions of the Northeast United States.
It was established by the ...
.
![Maitres chez nous 1962](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/Maitres_chez_nous_1962.jpg)
Results
See also
*
List of Quebec premiers
This is a list of the premiers of the province of Quebec since Canadian Confederation in 1867. Quebec uses a unicameral (originally bicameral) Westminster-style parliamentary government, in which the premier is the leader of the party that con ...
*
Politics of Quebec
The politics of Quebec are centred on a provincial government resembling that of the other Canadian provinces, namely a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy. The capital of Quebec is Quebec City, where the Lieutenant Governor, Pr ...
*
Timeline of Quebec history
This article presents a detailed timeline of Quebec history. Events taking place outside Quebec, for example in English Canada, the United States, Britain or France, may be included when they are considered to have had a significant impact on Qu ...
*
List of Quebec political parties
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Quiet Revolution
The Quiet Revolution (french: Révolution tranquille) was a period of intense socio-political and socio-cultural change in French Canada which started in Quebec after the election of 1960, characterized by the effective secularization of govern ...
*
27th Legislative Assembly of Quebec
Further reading
*
External links
CBC TV video clip
{{Quebec elections
Quebec general election
Elections in Quebec
General election
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
Quebec general election