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 ...

Results

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

Results

See also

Further reading

External links