The Union nationale () was a
conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
and
nationalist
Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...
provincial
political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...
in
Quebec
Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
, that identified with
Québécois autonomism. It was created during the
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
and held power in Quebec from 1936 to 1939, from 1944 to 1960 and from 1966 to 1970. The party was founded by
Maurice Duplessis
Maurice Le Noblet Duplessis, (; April 20, 1890 – September 7, 1959) byname "Le Chef" (, "The Boss"), was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 16th premier of Quebec. A Conservatism in Canada, conservative, Quebec nationalism, ...
, who led it until his death in 1959.
The party was often referred to in English as the National Union, especially when it was still an electoral force, by both the media and, at times, the party.
History
Origin
The party started when the
Action libérale nationale
The Action libérale nationale (; ALN; ) was a short-lived provincial political party in Quebec, Canada. It was founded during the Great Depression and led by Paul Gouin. The ALN played an important role in the foundation of the Union National ...
, a group of dissidents from the
Quebec Liberal Party
The Quebec Liberal Party (QLP; , PLQ) is a provincial political party in Quebec. It has been independent of the federal Liberal Party of Canada since 1955.
The QLP has traditionally supported a form of Quebec federalist ideology with nuance ...
, formed a loose coalition with the
Conservative Party of Quebec
The Conservative Party of Quebec (CPQ; , PCQ) is a provincial political party in Quebec, Canada. It was authorized on 25 March 2009 by the Chief Electoral Officer of Quebec. The CPQ has gradually run more candidates in successive elections, wi ...
. In the
1935 Quebec election, the two parties agreed to run only one candidate of either party in each riding. The Action libérale nationale (ALN) elected 26 out of 57 candidates and the Conservatives won 16 seats out of 33 districts.
Conservative leader
Maurice Duplessis
Maurice Le Noblet Duplessis, (; April 20, 1890 – September 7, 1959) byname "Le Chef" (, "The Boss"), was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 16th premier of Quebec. A Conservatism in Canada, conservative, Quebec nationalism, ...
became
Leader of the Opposition
The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...
. He soon rose to prominence as he used the Standing Committee on Public Accounts to expose the corrupt practices of the Liberal
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...
of
Alexandre Taschereau
Louis-Alexandre Taschereau (; March 5, 1867 – July 6, 1952) was the 14th premier of Quebec from 1920 to 1936. A member of the Parti libéral du Québec, Taschereau's near 16-year tenure remains the longest uninterrupted term of office amon ...
and force it to call an early election.
Capitalizing on his success, Duplessis called a caucus meeting at
Sherbrooke
Sherbrooke ( , ) is a city in southern Quebec, Canada. It is at the confluence of the Saint-François River, Saint-François and Magog River, Magog rivers in the heart of the Estrie administrative region. Sherbrooke is also the name of a territ ...
's Magog Hotel and received the support of 15 Conservatives and 22 ALN members in favour of a merger of the two parties under his leadership under the name Union nationale.
The new party had no formal ties to the federal
Conservatives
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilizati ...
. It ran candidates in every district and won a majority of the seats in the
1936 election.
First term of office
Even though Duplessis had run on ideas inspired from the ALN platform, he soon alienated the more progressive members of his caucus.
René Chaloult,
Oscar Drouin,
Joseph-Ernest Grégoire
Joseph-Ernest Grégoire (; July 31, 1886 – September 17, 1980) was a French Canadian politician.
Background
He was born in Disraeli, Quebec on July 31, 1886. He was an attorney and a professor. Member of the Barreau du Quebec in 191 ...
,
Philippe Hamel
Philippe Hamel (October 12, 1884 – January 22, 1954) was a nationalist and progressive politician in Quebec, Canada.
Background
He was born on October 12, 1884, in Quebec City. His father was Charles-Antoine-Auguste and his mother was Sophie ...
,
François Leduc and
Adolphe Marcoux quit the party, while
Rouville Beaudry and
Grégoire Bélanger
Joseph-Grégoire Bélanger (April 8, 1889 – March 17, 1957) was a politician Quebec, Canada and a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec (MLA).
Early life
He was born on April 8, 1889, in Saint-Roch-des-Aulnaies and became an opti ...
left politics.
The government adopted a farm credit policy in 1936, which was popular in rural areas where the party's most loyal base of supporters lived, but for the most part the administration of Maurice Duplessis protected the status quo. For instance, it gave the
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
clergy
Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...
government money to provide
public education
A state school, public school, or government school is a primary school, primary or secondary school that educates all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in part by taxation and operated by the government of the state. State-f ...
,
health care
Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...
and other social services.
Also, the legislature passed the ''Act to protect the Province Against Communistic Propaganda'', better known as the
Padlock Law, in 1937, which provided evidence of Duplessis's interest in appearing tough on
communism
Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...
.
World War II
Duplessis called an election shortly after
Canada declared war against Germany. Federal Cabinet Member
Ernest Lapointe, the
Quebec lieutenant
In Canadian politics, a Quebec lieutenant () is a Quebec politician who is selected by the party leader to be the main advisor or spokesperson on issues specific to Quebec. This is particularly the case when the leader is an anglophone, though se ...
of
Prime Minister
A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
William Lyon Mackenzie King
William Lyon Mackenzie King (December 17, 1874 – July 22, 1950) was a Canadian statesman and politician who was the tenth prime minister of Canada for three non-consecutive terms from 1921 to 1926, 1926 to 1930, and 1935 to 1948. A Liberal ...
, promised that no one would face conscription if voters supported the Liberals. The pledge was devastating to the Union Nationale, which lost the
1939 election.
While serving in
His Majesty's Loyal Opposition, the party opposed
Women's suffrage
Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote. In Sweden, conditional women's suffra ...
which was enacted by the government of
Adélard Godbout
Joseph-Adélard Godbout (September 24, 1892 – September 18, 1956) was a Canadian agronomist and politician. He served as the 15th premier of Quebec briefly in 1936, and again from 1939 to 1944, in addition to serving as the leader of the Part ...
in 1940.
Second term in office
The Union Nationale enjoyed a surge after a majority of Canadian voters allowed the federal government to pass conscription. Duplessis, who would later create a provincial income tax equal to 15 per cent of the federal income tax, claimed that the Godbout government failed to impose the strict respect for the principles established in the
British North America Act 1867
The ''Constitution Act, 1867'' (30 & 31 Vict. c. 3) (),''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, 1867'' (BNA Act), ...
. The Liberals won a plurality of the vote in the
1944 election, finishing one point ahead of the Union Nationale. However, since rural areas were significantly overrepresented, the Union Nationale won 48 seats to the Liberals' 37, allowing Duplessis to return as premier.
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
prosperity kept unemployment low.
Machine politics
In the politics of Representative democracy, representative democracies, a political machine is a party organization that recruits its members by the use of tangible incentives (such as money or political jobs) and that is characterized by a hi ...
,
fiscal conservatism
In American political theory, fiscal conservatism or economic conservatism is a political and economic philosophy regarding fiscal policy and fiscal responsibility with an ideological basis in capitalism, individualism, limited government, ...
and a program of
rural electrification
Rural electrification is the process of bringing electrical power to rural and remote areas. Rural communities are suffering from colossal market failures as the national grids fall short of their demand for electricity. As of 2019, 770 million ...
consolidated the dominance of the Union Nationale over the province. The Duplessis government adopted the current
flag of Quebec
The flag of Quebec (), called the in Quebec French, French, represents the Canadian province of Quebec. It consists of a white cross on a blue background, with four white fleur-de-lis, fleurs-de-lis.
It was the first provincial flag officially ...
to replace the
Union Jack
The Union Jack or Union Flag is the ''de facto'' national flag of the United Kingdom. The Union Jack was also used as the official flag of several British colonies and dominions before they adopted their own national flags.
It is sometimes a ...
. It won a
landslide victory
A landslide victory is an election result in which the winning Candidate#Candidates in elections, candidate or political party, party achieves a decisive victory by an overwhelming margin, securing a very large majority of votes or seats far beyo ...
in the
1948 election. The Liberals were decimated; nearly all of their 14 MNAs were from
Montreal
Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
's
West Island
The West Island (, ) is the unofficial name given to the city, towns and boroughs at the western end of the Island of Montreal, in Quebec, Canada. It is generally considered to consist of the Lakeshore municipalities of Lachine (specific ...
. Godbout himself lost his own seat, leaving the Liberals without a full-time leader in the legislature.
On the debit side, Duplessis' relations with labour in general and trade unions in particular were difficult and led to a number of strikes. The government was also accused of being too strongly aligned with the Catholic clergy. Indeed, many priests openly supported the Duplessis government and attacked the Liberals by using the slogan ''Le ciel est bleu, l'enfer est rouge'' (Heaven is blue, hell is red)--a reference to the primary colours of both parties (blue for the UN, red for the Liberals). The government was also accused of discrimination against
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a Christian denomination that is an outgrowth of the Bible Student movement founded by Charles Taze Russell in the nineteenth century. The denomination is nontrinitarian, millenarian, and restorationist. Russell co-fou ...
, receiving insufficient royalties for the extraction the province's natural resources and allowing election fraud for its own benefit.
Nonetheless, the Union Nationale was re-elected in the
1952 election with a reduced majority, and in the
1956 election. Moreover, its influence was made obvious when its organization helped defeat
Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau
Jean Drapeau (; 18 February 1916 – 12 August 1999) was a Canadian politician who served as mayor of Montreal for 2 non-consecutive terms from 1954 to 1957 and from 1960 to 1986.
Major accomplishments of the Drapeau Administration include ...
in 1957 and helped
John Diefenbaker
John George Diefenbaker (September 18, 1895 – August 16, 1979) was the 13th prime minister of Canada, serving from 1957 to 1963. He was the only Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, Progressive Conservative party leader between 1930 an ...
's
Progressive Conservative's win a majority of the province's seats in the
1958 federal election—something that the Tories hadn't done in over 60 years.
Modernization and last term of office
Duplessis died in 1959 and was succeeded by his Minister of Social Welfare,
Paul Sauvé
Joseph-Mignault-Paul Sauvé (; March 24, 1907 – January 2, 1960) was a Canadian lawyer, World War II veteran, and politician. He was the 17th premier of Quebec in 1959 and 1960.
Life
Paul Sauvé was born in Saint-Benoit, Quebec, Canada to j ...
. Well aware that he faced, at most, two years before the next election, Sauvé saw the need to modernize one of the most conservative governments in Canada, and initiated a program of reform called "100 Days of Change." However, he also died after only three months in office.
Labour Minister
Antonio Barrette took over a government that was increasingly seen as tired and unfocused, despite Sauvé's efforts at reform. He called an
election in 1960, almost a year before it was due. The Union Nationale went into the contest under its third leader in less than a year, and narrowly lost to
Jean Lesage
Jean Lesage (; June 10, 1912 – December 12, 1980) was a Canadian lawyer and politician. He served as the 19th premier of Quebec from July 5, 1960, to June 16, 1966. Alongside Georges-Émile Lapalme, René Lévesque and others, he is often v ...
's Liberals. The new government implemented a vast program of social changes, which is now known as the
Quiet Revolution
The Quiet Revolution () was a period of socio-political and socio-cultural transformation in French Canada, particularly in Quebec, following the 1960 Quebec general election. This period was marked by the secularization of the government, the ...
.
Daniel Johnson, Sr. became the leader of the Union Nationale in 1961. He was chosen by party delegates rather than by his colleagues only. The party was heavily defeated in the
1962 election, but it held a convention to discuss its platform in 1965 and opened its structures to card-carrying supporters. Johnson published a book called (Equality or independence), which appealed to a number of
nationalist
Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...
voters. Even though the Liberals won a plurality of the vote in the
1966 election, the Union Nationale eked out a narrow majority in part because rural areas were significantly overrepresented. Among the newly elected MLAs, there were three former federal politicians:
Rémi Paul,
Jean-Noël Tremblay and
Clément Vincent.
Johnson set a slower pace, but sustained many reforms initiated by the Liberals. His administration established
CEGEP
A CEGEP ( or ; , ; also written CÉGEP and cegep) is a publicly funded college providing general, professional, academic or a mix of programs; they are exclusive to the province of Quebec's education system. A loanword from French, it ori ...
s (, or 'College of General and Vocational Education') in 1967, abolished the
Legislative Council of Quebec
The Legislative Council of Quebec (, ) was the unelected upper house of the bicameral legislature in the Canadian province of Quebec from 1867 to 1968. The Legislative Assembly was the elected lower house.
The council was composed of 24 memb ...
and completed the dam and the generating station of Manic-5 in 1968 and laid the groundwork for the public health insurance plan that would later be implemented by the
Liberal government of
Robert Bourassa
Robert Bourassa (; July 14, 1933 – October 2, 1996) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd premier of Quebec from 1970 to 1976 and from 1985 to 1994. A member of the Liberal Party of Quebec, he served a total of just ...
.
Electoral decline
The official visit of
French President
The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency is the supreme magistracy of the country, the pos ...
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French general and statesman who led the Free France, Free French Forces against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government of the French Re ...
in Canada in 1967 and Daniel Johnson, Sr.'s sudden death in 1968 left the party divided between its
nationalist
Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...
wing and members who clearly positioned themselves as
federalists. The latter prevailed when
Jean-Jacques Bertrand
Jean-Jacques Bertrand (; June 20, 1916 – February 22, 1973) was a Canadian politician and lawyer who served as the 21st premier of Quebec, from October 2, 1968, to May 12, 1970. He led the Union Nationale (Quebec), Union Nationale party.
Me ...
won the party leadership over
Jean-Guy Cardinal, but the controversy over a language legislation known as
Bill 63 prompted a number of nationalist supporters, and legislators such as
Antonio Flamand and
Jérôme Proulx to join 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 establishi ...
.
In addition, the Union Nationale lost a portion of its conservative base, including MNA
Gaston Tremblay, to the
Ralliement créditiste
There were a few political parties that were part of the Canadian social credit movement in Quebec. There were various parties at different times with different names at the provincial level, all broadly following the social credit philosophy; th ...
. Bertrand was unable to inspire voters and the party seemed to have lost touch with Quebec society. In the
1970 election, the Union Nationale was resoundingly defeated, winning only 17 seats. While it finished third in the popular vote behind the PQ, it still managed to become the Official Opposition.
Gabriel Loubier took over as leader and the party became known as ''Unité Québec'' from October 25, 1971 to January 14, 1973. The name change was not enough to halt the party's decline, and at the
1973 election, it was shut out of the legislature for the first time.
In 1974, former UN
Cabinet Member and interim leader
Maurice Bellemare won a
by-election
A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections.
A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...
, and the party again was represented in the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...
. On May 31, 1975, the party merged with the tiny
Parti présidentiel
The Parti présidentiel () was a political party in Quebec, Canada. It was founded on May 5, 1974 by former Liberal Party of Quebec Member of the National Assembly Yvon Dupuis. Dupuis founded the party after resigning from the leadership of the ...
, a group of Créditiste dissidents led by
Yvon Brochu
Yvon Brochu (born April 25, 1944) was a politician in Quebec, Canada, and a Member of the National Assembly of Quebec (MNA).
Background
He was born in Asbestos, Quebec, on April 25, 1944, and was a psychologist.
First term
Brochu ran as a cand ...
, and kept the Union Nationale name.
In May 1976, business owner
Rodrigue Biron, a former card-carrying Liberal supporter who had no experience in provincial politics, was chosen as party leader. Bellemare tried to flush out potential candidates for the leadership of the UN (such as former Liberal cabinet minister
Jérôme Choquette) by calling a leadership convention for May 1976, but was unsuccessful. His impulsive policy statements and poor relations with the old guard of the party led to resignations of party officials, including
Jacques Tétreault, who had been his most serious opponent for the party leadership. In September 1976, Biron abandoned a plan to unite his party with Choquette's
Parti National Populaire
The Parti national populaire (; PNP; ) was a minor political party in Quebec, Canada that operated in the 1970s.
The PNP was created by a split in the Ralliement créditiste du Québec after Fabien Roy was expelled from the party. Roy was one of ...
, despite prior efforts made by the two groups.
The Union Nationale made a modest recovery in the
1976 election, winning 11 seats and 18.2% of the popular vote. While it came up just short of
official party status
Official party status refers to the Westminster system, Westminster practice which is used in the Parliament of Canada and the provincial legislatures of recognizing Parliamentary group, parliamentary caucuses of political parties. In parliamentar ...
in the legislature, the party appeared to be back from the brink. However, this did not last. From 1978 to 1980, five MNAs either
crossed the floor
In some parliamentary systems (e.g., in Canada and the United Kingdom), politicians are said to cross the floor if they formally change their political affiliation to a political party different from the one they were initially elected under. I ...
, moved to federal politics or retired. The party bottomed out in 1980, when Biron resigned as leader and left the party to sit as an independent, and then joined the Parti Québécois a few months later.
Michel Le Moignan, the MNA for the district of
Gaspé, took over as interim leader. This left the once-mighty party with only five seats.
Collapse and deregistration
On January 9, 1981, federal
Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament (MP)
Roch LaSalle was acclaimed leader of the Union Nationale. In the
April 1981 provincial election, the party lost all of its seats, and would never elect another MNA. La Salle resigned as leader and returned to federal politics—winning the by-election created by his resignation from parliament a few months earlier.
In 1982, lawyer Jean-Marc Beliveau, who had been appointed interim leader by the party executive following Lasalle's resignation, was elected Union Nationale leader by acclamation at what would be the party's final leadership convention. The party was $150,000 in debt, but appeared poised to return to the National Assembly when one public opinion poll in October 1984 showed it with 18% public support, its best showing since 1976, in the wake of the
1984 federal election in which the Progressive Conservatives won Quebec and the country in a landslide. However, Béliveau contested a June 3, 1985
by-election
A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections.
A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...
in
Trois-Rivières
Trois-Rivières (, ; ) is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice River, Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence River, Saint Lawrence rivers, on the north shore of the Sain ...
and was defeated, finishing third with 16% of the vote. He tried to merge the UN with the fledgling
Progressive Conservative Party of Quebec
The ''Parti progressiste conservateur du Québec'' (Eng: Progressive Conservative Party of Quebec) was formed in 1982 with Denis Carignan as leader but was rebuffed by federal Progressive Conservative leader Joe Clark who told them to keep their ...
, but negotiations came to nothing. In September, after a group of veteran party members demanded his immediate resignation, Beliveau stepped down as leader.
The party appointed
André Léveillé
André Léveillé (August 11, 1933 – January 18, 2017) was a Canadian politician in Quebec.
Background
He was born on August 11, 1933, in Montreal and was an accountant by profession.
Member of the legislature
Léveillé won a seat to t ...
, a minister in the Johnson government, as interim party leader on October 28, 1985. Earlier, Léveillé had announced the formation of his own ''Parti du progrès'', which he subsequently abandoned. Léveillé led the party into the
December 2, 1985, general election. However, the party ran only 19 candidates, none of whom came close to being elected. It only won 0.23% of the popular vote, its worst showing ever. This would prove to be the final general election in which the Union Nationale fielded candidates.
By the 1980s, the Union Nationale no longer could rely on a significant get-out-the-vote organization or attract any media attention. The electorate was increasingly polarized over the constitutional issue, with conservative-leaning voters split between either the federalist Liberals or the sovereigntist Parti Québécois in provincial elections.
Furthermore, a number of small conservative and
créditiste parties were created and were in competition with the Union Nationale for the few thousands of votes that were still up for grabs. Those parties included André Asselin's
Progressive Conservative Party of Quebec
The ''Parti progressiste conservateur du Québec'' (Eng: Progressive Conservative Party of Quebec) was formed in 1982 with Denis Carignan as leader but was rebuffed by federal Progressive Conservative leader Joe Clark who told them to keep their ...
, Jacques E. Tardif's
Unité Québec and Jean-Paul Poulin's
Parti crédit social uni The Parti crédit social uni (, PCSU; English: United Social Credit Party) was a provincial political party in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. It existed on two occasions, from 1969 to around 1971 and from 1979 ...
. The situation accelerated the demise of the Union Nationale.
On June 19, 1989, Quebec chief electoral officer Pierre F. Côté withdrew the party's registration after the party was found to be nearly $350,000 in debt. As a result of this decision, it was no longer able to receive contributions or make expenditures. The next day, the interim leader of the party, Michel Le Brun, told a reporter that he would contest the decision before the
Quebec Superior Court
The Superior Court of Quebec () is a superior trial court in the Province of Quebec, in Canada. It consists of 157 judges who are appointed by the federal government. Appeals from this court are taken to the Quebec Court of Appeal.
Jurisdictio ...
, arguing that the decision was unfair, and a violation of both the
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
The ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms'' (), often simply referred to as the ''Charter'' in Canada, is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada, forming the first part of the '' Constitution Act, 1982''. The ''Char ...
and the
Quebec Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It was the first time in Quebec that a party had lost its official status as a result of its debts.
Le Brun resurrected the Union Nationale under the name ''Parti Renaissance'' on June 26, 1992. It ran candidates in two
by-elections
A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections.
A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...
in 1993, but the party did not field any eligible candidates in the
1994 election and lost its registration on August 27, 1994.
Although another attempt was made to revive the Union Nationale in 1998, it failed when the party failed to nominate enough candidates to be registered. The
Action démocratique du Québec
The (, ), commonly referred to as the , was a right-wing populist and conservative provincial political party in Quebec, Canada. On the sovereignty question, it defined itself as autonomist; it had support from nationalists and federalists. Its ...
(ADQ) was established about at the same time and made a significant breakthrough in the districts that were once considered the base of the Union Nationale's support. This has continued with
Coalition Avenir Québec
The Coalition Avenir Québec (, , CAQ) is a Quebec nationalism, Quebec nationalist, Autonomism in Quebec, autonomist and conservatism, conservative , which has sometimes drawn comparisons with Union Nationale.
In 2009, former Union Nationale MNAs
Serge Fontaine and
Bertrand Goulet (both of whom had been among the last Union Nationale members elected to the legislature) announced the formation of a new
Conservative Party of Quebec
The Conservative Party of Quebec (CPQ; , PCQ) is a provincial political party in Quebec, Canada. It was authorized on 25 March 2009 by the Chief Electoral Officer of Quebec. The CPQ has gradually run more candidates in successive elections, wi ...
. Fontaine had asked
Éric Caire of the ADQ to join the party and become its leader, with a view to attract disaffected ADQ supporters, but this did not materialize and Caire now sits as a member of the
Coalition Avenir Québec
The Coalition Avenir Québec (, , CAQ) is a Quebec nationalism, Quebec nationalist, Autonomism in Quebec, autonomist and conservatism, conservative .
The Parti démocratie chrétienne du Québec, a minor political party which garners less than 1% of the popular vote, was founded in 2000 and emulates the Union Nationale by combining moderate Quebec nationalism with Christian
social conservatism
Social conservatism is a political philosophy and a variety of conservatism which places emphasis on Tradition#In political and religious discourse, traditional social structures over Cultural pluralism, social pluralism. Social conservatives ...
. It changed its name in 2012 to the
Parti unité nationale
Parti may refer to:
*Parti (service), an online video platform, web hosting, livestreaming, and cloud services business.
*Parti (surname), a Hungarian surname, and a list of people with the name
* ''Parti'' (architecture), the organizing concepts b ...
.
Re-registration
The party was re-registered in 2020 by Jonathan Blanchette who ran as the party's only candidate in 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 dates in Canada, fixed election date law, passed in 2013, "the general election following t ...
, receiving 159 votes in
Abitibi-Ouest. The new Union Nationale was founded in opposition to health restrictions during the
COVID-19 pandemic in Canada
The COVID-19 pandemic in Canada is part of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (). It is caused by SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Most cases over the course o ...
.
The party stood in the
2025 Terrebonne provincial by-election
The 2025 Terrebonne (provincial electoral district), Terrebonne provincial by-election was held on March 17, 2025. It was triggered after the resignation of Pierre Fitzgibbon from the National Assembly of Quebec.
Background Constituency
The ...
, coming in 8th place with 95 votes (0.42%).
Vocabulary
The media claimed that the Parti Québécois was going through a phase of ''Union-Nationalization'' () when, in the mid-1980s, it chose
Pierre-Marc Johnson as its leader and put the issue of
Quebec sovereignty
The Quebec sovereignty movement (French: ''mouvement souverainiste du Québec'', ) is a political movement advocating for Quebec's independence from Canada. Proponents argue that Quebecers form a distinct nation with a unique culture, language, ...
on the back burner.
[Gérard Bergeron, À nous autres, Aide-mémoire politique par le temps qui court, Université Laval, 1986]
Party leaders
Sourc
General election results
1 Compared to the
1935 Quebec general election, 1935 election in which the
Action libérale nationale
The Action libérale nationale (; ALN; ) was a short-lived provincial political party in Quebec, Canada. It was founded during the Great Depression and led by Paul Gouin. The ALN played an important role in the foundation of the Union National ...
, led by Paul Gouin, and the
Quebec Conservative Party, led by Maurice Duplessis elected, which elected 42 MLAs (27 ALN and 15 Conservatives) running as an electoral alliance under the banner of the ''Union nationale''. The two parties formally merged prior to the 1936 election.
See also
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Coalition Avenir Québec
The Coalition Avenir Québec (, , CAQ) is a Quebec nationalism, Quebec nationalist, Autonomism in Quebec, autonomist and conservatism, conservative
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Clerico-nationalism
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Parti nationaliste chrétien
The Parti Nationaliste Chrétien (; PNC; ) is a defunct Quebec nationalism, nationalist, Quebec sovereignty movement, separatist, Theocracy, theocratic and Conservatism in Canada, conservative political party in Quebec created in 1967 in Canada, ...
*
Action démocratique du Québec
The (, ), commonly referred to as the , was a right-wing populist and conservative provincial political party in Quebec, Canada. On the sovereignty question, it defined itself as autonomist; it had support from nationalists and federalists. Its ...
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Political parties in Quebec
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List of Quebec general elections
This article provides a summary of results for the general elections to the Canadian province of Quebec's unicameral legislative body, the National Assembly of Quebec (and its predecessor, the Legislative Assembly of Quebec). The number of sea ...
*
National Assembly of Quebec
The National Assembly of Quebec (, ) is the Legislature, legislative body of the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec in Canada. Legislators are called MNAs (Members of the National Assembly; ). The lieutenant governor of Que ...
*
Parti conservateur du Québec
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Parti National Populaire
The Parti national populaire (; PNP; ) was a minor political party in Quebec, Canada that operated in the 1970s.
The PNP was created by a split in the Ralliement créditiste du Québec after Fabien Roy was expelled from the party. Roy was one of ...
*
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 ...
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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 ...
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Union Nationale leadership elections
Notes
External links
National Assembly historical informationLa Politique québécoise sur le Web
{{Canadian Conservative Parties
Provincial political parties in Quebec
Political parties established in 1935
Defunct political parties in Canada
Conservative parties in Canada
1935 establishments in Quebec
1989 disestablishments in Quebec
Political parties disestablished in 1989
Maurice Duplessis
Right-wing populism in Canada
Far-right politics in Canada
Defunct conservative parties
Defunct far-right political parties in Canada