Квебекская либеральная партия: история и эволюция

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 always been associated with the colour red; each of their main opponents in different eras have been generally associated with the colour blue. The QLP has traditionally supported a form of Quebec federalist ideology with nuanced Canadian nationalist tones that supports Quebec remaining within the Canadian federation, while also supporting reforms that would allow substantial autonomism in Quebec. In the context of federal Canadian politics, it is a more centrist party when compared to Conservative and Liberal parties in other provinces, such as the former British Columbia Liberal Party.

The Liberal Party is descended from the Parti canadien (or Parti Patriote), who supported the 1837 Lower Canada Rebellion, and the Parti rouge, who fought for responsible government and against the authority of the Roman Catholic Church in Lower Canada. The most notable figure of this period was Louis Joseph Papineau.

The Liberals were in opposition to the ruling Conservatives for most of the first 20 years after Canadian Confederation, except for 18 months of Liberal minority government in 1878–1879. However, the situation changed in 1885 when the federal Conservative government refused to commute the death sentence of Louis Riel, the leader of the French speaking Métis people of western Canada. This decision was unpopular in Quebec. Honoré Mercier rode this wave of discontent to power in 1887, but was brought down by a scandal in 1891. He was later cleared of all charges. The Conservatives returned to power until 1897. The Liberals won the 1897 election, and held power without interruption for the next 39 years; the Conservatives never held power in Québec again. This mirrored the situation in Ottawa, where the arrival of Wilfrid Laurier in the 1896 federal election marked the beginning of Liberal Party of Canada dominance at the federal level. Notable long serving Premiers of Quebec in this era were Lomer Gouin and Louis Alexandre Taschereau. By 1935, the Conservatives had an ambitious new leader, Maurice Duplessis. Duplessis merged his party with dissident ex Liberals who had formed the Action libérale nationale. Duplessis led the new party, the Union Nationale (UN), to power in the 1936 election. The Liberals returned to power in the 1939 election, but lost it again in the 1944 election. They remained in opposition to the Union Nationale until one year after Duplessis's death in 1959. In 1955, the PLQ severed its affiliation with the Liberal Party of Canada.

Under Jean Lesage, the party won an historic election victory in 1960, ending sixteen years of rule by the national conservative Union Nationale. This marked the beginning of the Quiet Revolution, which dramatically changed Québec society. During this time a social democratic faction within the party was especially prominent. Under the slogans C'est l'temps qu'ça change (it's time for change) in 1960 and maîtres chez nous (masters in our own house) in 1962, the Quebec government undertook several major initiatives, including:
Full nationalization of the electricity industry through merger of 11 private companies with the government owned Hydro Québec — this major initiative of the government was led by the minister of natural resources, René Lévesque, in 1963. Creation of a public pension plan, the Régie des rentes du Québec (QPP/RRQ), separate from the Canada Pension Plan that exists in all other provinces of Canada, and creation of Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ). Elimination of tuition fees for public elementary & secondary schools and creation of the Ministère de l'éducation du Québec. Secularisation of schools and hospitals. Creation of the Société générale de financement (SGF). Creation of the first incarnation of the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF, originally OLF). Mandatory call for bids for all public works contracts above $25,000 (René Lévesque, 1960). Creation of Obligations d'épargne du Québec (Québec savings bonds) in 1963. Right to strike in public service (1964). Creation of an office in Paris, introduction of the Gérin Lajoie doctrine (meaning that Québec has rights to its own international presence matching its domestic range of jurisdiction). Under Lesage, the Liberals developed a Quebec nationalist wing. In July 1964, the Quebec Liberal Federation led by Lesage formally disaffiliated from the federal Liberal Party of Canada, making the Quebec Liberal Party a distinct organization from its federal counterpart. In October 1967, former cabinet minister René Lévesque proposed that the party endorse his plan for sovereignty association. The proposal was rejected and, as a result, some Liberals, including Lévesque, left the Liberals to join the sovereignty movement, participating in the founding of the Parti Québécois (PQ) under Lévesque's leadership. However, the party regained a majority in the 2008 election, which saw the collapse of ADQ support and the return of the Parti Québécois as the main opposition party. Election turnout was the lowest in Québec since the Quiet Revolution. Since its most recent election, the Liberal government has faced a number of scandals, including historic losses at the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, the attribution of highly sought after subsidized daycare spaces to Liberal Party donors, as well as allegations of systemic construction industry corruption which arose notably during the 2009 Montréal municipal election. After public pressure, the Liberal government eventually called for a public commission of inquiry. Jean Charest's personal approval ratings have at times been lower than those of other premiers. In 2012, the Liberal government announced it was going to raise university tuition from $2,168 to $3,793 in increments between 2012 and 2017. This move proved controversial, leading to a significant portion of Quebec post secondary students striking against the measures. In response to the discord the Quebec Liberal government introduced controversial emergency legislation via Bill 78 that restricted student protest activities, attacking students' right to strike and to demonstrate peacefully, and dealt with the administrative issues resulting from so many students missing classes. After almost a decade in power, the Liberal government of Jean Charest was defeated in the 2012 provincial election by the Parti Québécois led by Pauline Marois. Charest was also personally defeated in his constituency and resigned as party leader. They came back into power during the 2014 election under Philippe Couillard. In the 2018 election, they became the official opposition. The contemporary Quebec Liberal Party is a broad based federalist and multiculturalist coalition including among its members some supporters of the federal Liberals, New Democratic Party, Bloc Québécois, Greens, and Conservatives. In terms of voter support, it has always been able to rely on the great majority of non Francophone people in Quebec, in other words, the great majority of Anglophones and Allophones.

The Quebec Liberal Party has faced various opposing parties in its history. Its main opposition from the time of the Confederation (1867) to the 1930s was the Parti conservateur du Québec. That party's successor, the Union Nationale, was the main opposition to the Liberals until the 1970s. Since then the Liberals have alternated in power with the Parti Québécois, a Quebec sovereigntist, self described social democratic party and very recently with the Coalition Avenir Québec, a Quebec autonomist and conservative party.

ElectionLeaderNo. of candidatesNo. of seats wonChange +/ Standing% of popular voteLegislative roleGovernment1867Henri Gustave Joly de Lotbinière40 12 2nd35.4%Conservative majority187138 2 2nd39.4%Conservative majority187546 2nd38.8%Conservative majority187859 12 1st47.5%Liberal minority188146 17 2nd39.0%Conservative majority1886Honoré Mercier49 19 1st39.5%Conservatives attempted to continue as a minority government for three months until they resigned and were replaced by a narrow Liberal majority.189068 10 1st44.5%Initial Liberal Majority, became a minority due to defections and then replaced by Conservatives after the Liberal Premier was dismissed by the Lieutenant Governor.1892Félix Gabriel Marchand62 22 2nd43.7%Conservative majority189778 30 1st53.3%Liberal majority1900Simon Napoléon Parent77 16 1st53.1%Liberal majority190487 1 1st55.5%Liberal majority1908Lomer Gouin76 11 1st54.2%Liberal majority191283 5 1st53.5%Liberal majority191685 13 1st64.0%Liberal majority191999 1 1st65.4%Liberal majority1923Louis Alexandre Taschereau92 11 1st52.9%Liberal majority192786 9 1st60.3%Liberal majority193190 5 1st54.9%Liberal majority193591 31 1st46.8%Liberal majority1936Adélard Godbout89 34 2nd40.0%Union Nationale majority193987 56 1st54.1%Liberal majority194491 21 2nd39.4%Union Nationale majority194893 29 2nd36.2%Union Nationale majority1952Georges Émile Lapalme92 15 2nd45.8%Union Nationale majority195693 3 2nd44.9%Union Nationale majority1960Jean Lesage95 31 1st51.3%Liberal majority196297 12 1st56.40%Liberal majority1966108 13 2nd47.29%Union Nationale majority1970Robert Bourassa108 22 1st45.40%Liberal majority1973110 30 1st54.65%Liberal majority1976110 76 2nd33.77%Parti Québécois majority1981Claude Ryan122 16 2nd46.07%Parti Québécois majority1985Robert Bourassa122 57 1st55.99%Liberal majority1989125 7 1st49.95%Liberal majority1994Daniel Johnson Jr.125 48 2nd44.40%Parti Québécois majority1998Jean Charest125 1 2nd43.55%Parti Québécois majority2003125 28 1st45.99%Liberal majority2007125 28 1st33.07%Liberal minority2008125 18 1st42.06%Liberal majority2012125 16 2nd31.20%Parti Québécois minority2014Philippe Couillard125 20 1st41.50%Liberal majority2018125 39 2nd24.82%Coalition Avenir Québec majority2022Dominique Anglade125 7 2nd14.4%Coalition Avenir Québec majority