The National Assembly of Quebec (officially in french: link=no, Assemblée nationale du Québec) is the
legislative body of the
province
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...
of
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, 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 ...
in Canada. Legislators are called MNAs (Members of the National Assembly; french: link=no, députés). The
King in Right of Quebec, represented by the
Lieutenant Governor of Quebec
The lieutenant governor of Quebec (; French (masculine): ''Lieutenant-gouverneur du Québec'', or (feminine): ''Lieutenante-gouverneure du Québec'') is the viceregal representative in Quebec of the , who operates distinctly within the province ...
and the National Assembly compose the
Legislature of Quebec
The Quebec Legislature (officially Parliament of Quebec, french: Parlement du Québec) is the legislature of the province of Quebec, Canada. The legislature is made of two elements: the King of Canada, represented by the lieutenant governor of ...
, which operates in a fashion similar to those of other
Westminster-style parliamentary systems. The assembly has 125 members elected
first past the post
In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast thei ...
from
single-member district
A single-member district is an electoral district represented by a single officeholder. It contrasts with a multi-member district, which is represented by multiple officeholders. Single-member districts are also sometimes called single-winner v ...
s.
The National Assembly was formerly the
lower house of Quebec's legislature and was then called the
Legislative Assembly of Quebec
The Legislative Assembly of Quebec (French: ''Assemblée législative du Québec'') was the name of the lower house of Quebec's legislature from 1867 to December 31, 1968, when it was renamed the National Assembly of Quebec. At the same time, ...
. In 1968, the
upper house
An upper house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house.''Bicameralism'' (1997) by George Tsebelis The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smaller and often has more restric ...
, the
Legislative Council, was abolished and the remaining house was renamed. The office of
President of the National Assembly is equivalent to speaker in other legislatures. As of the
2022 Quebec general election
The 2022 Quebec general election was held on October 3, 2022, to elect the members of the National Assembly of Quebec. Under the province's fixed election date law, passed in 2013, "the general election following the end of a Legislature shall b ...
,
Coalition Avenir Québec has the most seats in the Assembly.
History

The
Constitutional Act 1791 created the
Parliament of Lower Canada. It consisted of two chambers, the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly. That parliament and both chambers were abolished in 1841 when the
1840 Act of Union merged
Upper Canada
The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of t ...
and
Lower Canada
The Province of Lower Canada (french: province du Bas-Canada) was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (1791–1841). It covered the southern portion of the current Province of Quebec ...
into a single province named the
Province of Canada
The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British colony in North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report on t ...
. The Act of Union created a new
Parliament of the Province of Canada, also composed of a Legislative Council and a Legislative Assembly. That Parliament had jurisdiction over the entire province, with members from Lower Canada and Upper Canada in both houses.
The
Constitution Act, 1867
The ''Constitution Act, 1867'' (french: Loi constitutionnelle de 1867),''The Constitution Act, 1867'', 30 & 31 Victoria (U.K.), c. 3, http://canlii.ca/t/ldsw retrieved on 2019-03-14. originally enacted as the ''British North America Act, 186 ...
(formerly known as the British North America Act), created the Dominion of Canada, and also created the provinces of
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
and Quebec by splitting the old Province of Canada into two, based on the old boundaries of Lower Canada and Upper Canada. The act created a new bicameral Legislature for the province of Quebec, composed of the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly of Quebec.
In 1968, Bill 90 was passed by the government of Premier
Jean-Jacques Bertrand, abolishing the Legislative Council and renaming the Legislative Assembly the "National Assembly", in line with the more strident nationalism of the
Quiet Revolution. Before 1968, there had been various unsuccessful attempts at abolishing the Legislative Council, which was analogous to the
Senate of Canada
The Senate of Canada (french: region=CA, Sénat du Canada) is the upper house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the House of Commons, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada.
The Senate is modelled after the ...
.
In 1978, television cameras were brought in for the first time to televise parliamentary debates. The colour of the walls was changed, allegedly to suit the needs of television, and the (green hall) became the (blue hall).
In 1984,
Canadian Forces
}
The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; french: Forces armées canadiennes, ''FAC'') are the unified Military, military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air elements referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army, and Royal Canadian Ai ...
corporal
Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by many militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. The word is derived from the medieval Italian phrase ("head of a body"). The rank is usually the lowest ranking non- ...
Denis Lortie stormed into the
Parliament Building and opened fire, killing three government employees and wounding thirteen others. His intended target was Premier
René Lévesque and his
Parti Québécois
The Parti Québécois (; ; PQ) is a Quebec sovereignty movement, sovereignist and social democracy, social democratic provincial list of political parties in Quebec, political party in Quebec, Canada. The PQ advocates Quebec sovereignty movement ...
government, however he was around 15 minutes early and the Assembly floor was still mostly empty; no politicians were shot. He surrendered to police hours later.
Parliament Building

Constructed between 1877 and 1886, the Parliament Building features the
Second Empire architectural style that was popular for prestigious buildings both in Europe (especially France where the style originated) and the United States during the latter 19th century.
Although somewhat more sober in appearance and lacking a towering central belfry, Quebec City's Parliament Building bears a definite likeness to the
Philadelphia City Hall, another Second Empire edifice in North America which was built during the same period. Even though the building's symmetrical layout with a frontal clock tower in the middle is typical of legislative institutions of British heritage, the architectural style is believed to be unique among parliament buildings found in other Canadian provincial capitals. Its façade presents a
pantheon representing significant events and people of the history of Quebec.
In 1936,
Maurice Duplessis hung a
crucifix in the Legislative Assembly chamber. It hung there for 83 years, until it was removed on 10 July 2019.
Additional buildings were added, adjacent to the Parliament Buildings:
*
Édifice André-Laurendeau was added from 1935 to 1937 to house the Ministry of Transport.
* was added from 1922 to 1925 to house the Ministries of the Treasury (Finance), the Attorney General and the Secretary General of the National Assembly.
*
Édifice Jean-Antoine-Panet
Édifice Jean-Antoine-Panet is an 8 floor office tower built in 1931, located in Quebec City, Quebec and is part of the complex of buildings of the Government of Quebec. The Beaux-Arts building was designed by architects Lorenzo Auger, Oscar Bea ...
was added from 1931 to 1932 for the Ministry of Agriculture.
* added from 1910 to 1915 for the Library of the National Assembly, various other government offices and for the Executive Council.
Elections
General elections are held every four years or less. Since 2014, the legislature has had a fixed four-year term, with elections taking place no later than "the first Monday of October of the fourth calendar year following the year that includes the last day of the previous Legislature."
However, the
lieutenant governor, acting on the advice of the
premier
Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier.
A premier will normally be a head of govern ...
, can dissolve the legislature and call an election earlier. Any Canadian citizen at least 18 years old who has been residing in Quebec for at least six months qualifies to be on the electoral list.
Normally, the lieutenant governor invites the leader of the political party with the largest number of elected candidates to form the government as premier ( in French; French does not make a distinction between ''premier'' and ''prime minister'').
Quebec's territory is divided into 125
electoral districts (ridings). In each riding, the candidate who receives the most votes is elected and becomes a member of the National Assembly (MNA). This is the
first-past-the-post voting
In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...
system. It tends to produce strong disparities in the number of seats won compared to the popular vote, perhaps best exemplified by the
1966 (wrong-winner result),
1970 (false-majority result),
1973
Events January
* January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union.
* January 15 – Vietnam War: ...
, and
1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...
election (wrong-winner and false-majority result).
Quebec elections have also tended to be volatile since the 1970s, producing a large turnover in seats. Consequently, existing political parties often lose more than half their seats with the rise of new or opposition political parties. For instance, the
1970 and
1973
Events January
* January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union.
* January 15 – Vietnam War: ...
saw the demise of the
Union Nationale and rise of the
Parti Québécois
The Parti Québécois (; ; PQ) is a Quebec sovereignty movement, sovereignist and social democracy, social democratic provincial list of political parties in Quebec, political party in Quebec, Canada. The PQ advocates Quebec sovereignty movement ...
, which took power in
1976. The
1985 and
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson Ma ...
elections saw the Liberals gain and lose power in landslide elections. The
2018 elections saw the rise of the
Coalition Avenir Québec, which took power for the first time.
Members
Current standings
Cabinet ministers are in bold, party leaders are in italic and the president of the National Assembly is marked with a †.
Seating plan
Last update: April 20, 2021
''Note: Bold text designates the party leader, the Parti Québécois leader currently does not have a seat in the National Assembly, and Québec Solidaire's leadership is shared by Massé and Nadeau-Dubois.''
Members of the National Assembly (MNAs) swear two oaths: one to the Canadian monarch as Quebec's head of state, and a second one to the people of Quebec. Previous Parti Québécois premier
René Lévesque added the second oath.
Most recent election
Changes during the 42nd Quebec Legislature
Proceedings
One of the members of the National Assembly is elected as
President of the Assembly (a post called
''speaker'' in most other
Westminster System assemblies). Any member of the assembly is eligible to stand for election, other than party leaders and Cabinet ministers. The election is the first order of business for a newly elected assembly. It is conducted by secret ballot of all members, with successive rounds of voting if needed before one candidate gains a majority of the votes.
''La procédure parliamentaire du Québec'', 3e édition (Québec: Assemblée nationale du Québec, 2012), pp. 140-147.
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The president of the assembly is the arbiter of the parliamentary debates between the members of the government and the members of the Opposition. In order for a member to address the assembly, the member speak through the president. The president is usually a member of the governing party.
The proceedings of the National Assembly are broadcast across Quebec on the cable television network Canal de l'Assemblée nationale
The Canal de l'Assemblée nationale is a Quebec television network, which broadcasts the proceedings of the National Assembly of Quebec on cable television
Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via r ...
.
See also
* Executive Council of Quebec
* List of Quebec general elections
* List of Quebec premiers
* List of Quebec leaders of the Opposition
* Politics of Quebec
* Timeline of Quebec history
References
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
* Assemblé nationale du Québec (2000). ''What is the National Assembly?'', Québec: Assemblée nationale, 58 p. ()
* Deschênes, Gaston (1983). ''The Assemblée nationale: Its Organization and Parliamentary Procedure'', Québec: Assemblée nationale, 53 p. () st ed. in 1977
ST, St, or St. may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Stanza, in poetry
* Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band
* Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise
* Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy an ...
External links
National Assembly of Quebec website
National Assembly historical data
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quebec
Quebec Legislature
Legislatures of Canadian provinces and territories
Unicameral legislatures