The Civic Action League (french: Ligue d'Action Civique or LAC) was a

municipal A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

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. It existed from 1951 to 1961.

Origins

It was established in January 1951 by

good government Good government is a normative description of how government is supposed to be constituted. It has been frequently employed by various political thinkers, ideologues and politicians. Thomas Jefferson and good government Thomas Jefferson often r ...

activists who were known as the ''Public Morality Committee''. Élection de Jean Drapeau à la mairie de Montréal, Bilan du Siècle
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Accomplishments

The party managed to elect a plurality of the city councillors in 1954 and its candidate Jean Drapeau became

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

. However the majority of the

City Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

was made up of Independents and often blocked legislation proposed by the League. Nonetheless, the League introduced party politics in Montreal's city government and abolished council seats reserved for businesses, city associations and agencies.

Decline

Drapeau lost his bid for re-election in 1957. In the subsequent years, the party was plagued by conflicts between Drapeau and former Executive Committee Chairman Pierre DesMarais. In September 1960, Drapeau led 17 of the League's 33 councillors into the Civic Party of Montreal. By October 1960, the League was wiped off the political map.

Mayoral Candidates

Victories are indicated in bold.

Footnotes

{{Authority control Municipal political parties in Montreal