The Parti Québécois leadership election of 1985 was held to elect a new leader of the

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 ...

, the main sovereigntist and social democratic political party in

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 Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. It elected

Pierre-Marc Johnson Pierre-Marc Johnson (born July 5, 1946) is a Canadian lawyer, physician and politician. He was the 24th premier of Quebec from October 3 to December 12, 1985, making him the province's shortest-serving premier, and the first Baby Boomer to hold ...

at the helm of the party. It was conducted under the one member, one vote

universal suffrage Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political stan ...

system, making the Parti Québécois the first political party to do so in Quebec history. It was the first race of its kind in the history of the party, created in 1968, and would be followed by the leadership election of 2005.

History

The election was caused by the departure of 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 ...

, and was conducted while the party was in power. With

elected, he would assume premiership from October to December 1985. Johnson afterwards played the role of Leader of the Opposition until 1987. The election finds its historical importance in the fact that, in the first era of said "Post-Referendum Syndrome", the election of Pierre-Marc Johnson secured the party's past decision of putting the

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

project, the first ''

raison d'être Raison d'être is a French expression commonly used in English, meaning "reason for being" or "reason to be". Raison d'être may refer to: Music * Raison d'être (band), a Swedish dark-ambient-industrial-drone music project * ''Raison D'être' ...

'' of the PQ, on the back burner. This decision had caused a crisis within party ranks, which was influential in the departure of René Lévesque. This party stance of ''affirmation nationale'' (Johnson's approach of nationalism without actively pursuing the objective of

sovereignty Sovereignty is the defining authority within individual consciousness, social construct, or territory. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within the state, as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the perso ...

) would last until the ousting of Johnson and the arrival of

Jacques Parizeau Jacques Parizeau (; August 9, 1930June 1, 2015) was a Canadian politician and Québécois economist who was a noted Quebec sovereigntist and the 26th premier of Quebec from September 26, 1994, to January 29, 1996. Early life and career Parize ...

as leader in 1988. It was the first attempt of

Pauline Marois Pauline Marois (; born March 29, 1949) is a retired Canadian politician, who served as the 30th premier of Quebec from 2012 to 2014. Marois had been a member of the National Assembly in various ridings since 1981 as a member of the Parti Québ ...

for the leadership, one that she would repeat at the leadership election of 2005.

Bernard Landry Bernard Landry (; March 9, 1937 – November 6, 2018) was a Canadian politician who served as the 28th premier of Quebec from 2001 to 2003. A member of the Parti Québécois (PQ), he led the party from 2001 to 2005, also serving as the leader o ...

, future leader from 2001 to 2005, also entered the race of 1985, only to drop out midway. During his campaign, Landry had presented himself as a " sovereigntist and progressive" candidate and, during his campaign, given signs that, if elected leader, he could rescind the party decision of putting sovereignty on hold. Guy Bertrand's campaign tended to represent the sovereigntist

pur et dur Pur et dur (a common expression in French literally meaning "pure and hard") is a term used in Quebec politics to refer to hardliners of the Parti Québécois and the Quebec independence movement. It is most commonly used in the media, where it ...

stream of the party, clashing with his later ideological shift.

Candidates

* Guy Bertrand *Luc Gagnon *

Jean Garon Jean Garon (May 6, 1938 – July 1, 2014) was a politician, lawyer, academic and economist in Quebec, Canada. He was born in Saint-Michel, Quebec, and graduated from Université Laval with a bachelor's degree in 1960 and a master's in economics ...

Francine Lalonde Francine Lalonde (August 24, 1940 – January 17, 2014) was a Canadian politician who served on both the provincial and federal levels. Prior to being elected, she was a lecturer, teacher, and unionist. She was minister responsible for the st ...

(withdrew) *

Results

References

Petite leçon d'histoire
from

Le Devoir ''Le Devoir'' (, "Duty") is a French-language newspaper published in Montreal and distributed in Quebec and throughout Canada. It was founded by journalist and politician Henri Bourassa in 1910. ''Le Devoir'' is one of few independent large-c ...

Élection de Pierre Marc Johnson
on th
Bilan du siècle website
of the

Université de Sherbrooke The University of Sherbrooke (French: Université de Sherbrooke) (UdS) is a large public French-language university in Quebec, Canada with campuses located in Sherbrooke and Longueuil, a suburb of Montreal approximately west of Sherbrooke. It i ...

External links

Official Parti Québécois website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parti Quebecois leadership election, 1985 1985 elections in Canada

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

Parti Québécois leadership election

History

Candidates

Results

See also

References

External links