National Assembly of Quebec
The National Assembly of Quebec (French: Assemblée nationale du Québec) is the name for the legislative body of the province of Quebec, Canada which was defined in the Canadian constitution as the Legislative Assembly of Quebec (French: Assemblée législative du Québec). This legislative assembly operates in a fashion similar to those of other British-style parliamentary systems. Since the abolition in 1968 of the Legislative Council (French: Conseil législatif), hitherto the upper house of the Quebec legislature, the lower house known as the Legislative Assembly of Quebec has had exclusive power to enact laws in the provincial jurisdictions defined in the Constitution of Canada. It was renamed the "National Assembly of Quebec" following the abolition of the upper house, though the original appellation is also in current use.[1] The current President of the National Assembly of Quebec is Liberal Member of the National Assembly (MNA) Michel Bissonnet.
History
The Legislative Assembly was created in Lower Canada by the Constitutional Act of 1791. It was abolished from 1841 to 1867 under the 1840 Act of Union which merged Upper Canada and Lower Canada into a single colony named the Province of Canada.
The 1867 British North America Act, which created the Canadian confederation, split the Province of Canada into the provinces of Quebec and Ontario. The Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada was thus restored as the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Quebec.
The original Quebec legislature was bicameral, consisting of the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly.
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". Before 1968, there had been various unsuccessful attempts at abolishing the Legislative Council, which was analogous to the Senate of Canada.
In 1978, television cameras were brought in for the first time to televise parliamentary debates. The colour of the walls was changed to suit the needs of television and the salon vert (green hall) became the salon bleu (blue hall).
Parliament Building
- Main article: Parliament Building
The present Parliament Building was designed by architect Eugène-Étienne Taché and has been the home of the legislature since 1886. It is a unique construction in North America, with a Second Empire style of architecture. Its façade features a pantheon representing important events and people in the history of Quebec.
Elections
General elections are held every five years or fewer. Any person holding Canadian citizenship and who has resided in Quebec for at least six months qualifies to have his or her name entered on the electoral list.
Normally, the leader of the political party with the largest number of elected candidates is asked by the Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec to form the government as Premier. (In French, it is rendered as Premier Ministre. The term "Prime Minister" is commonly used by the government as a literal translation of the French term.).
Quebec's territory is divided into 125 electoral districts (ridings). In each electoral division, the candidate who receives the most votes is elected and becomes a Member of the National Assembly (MNA). This is known as the first-past-the-post voting system. It tends to produce strong disparities in the number of seats won compared to the popular vote, perhaps best exemplified by the 1966, 1970, and 1973 elections.
Quebec elections also tend to be volatile since the 1970s, producing a large turnover in Assembly seats. Consequently, existing political parties are often decimated, losing more than half their seats with the rise of new or opposition political parties. For instance, the 1970 and 1973 saw the demise of the Union Nationale and rise of the Parti Québécois which managed to take power in 1976. The 1985 and 1994 elections saw the Liberals gain and lose power in landslide elections.
Current members
Most recent election
Summary of the 26 March 2007 National Assembly of Quebec election results |-
bgcolor=CCCCCC !rowspan="2" colspan="2" align=left|Party !rowspan="2" align=left|Party leader !rowspan="2"|Candi-
dates !colspan="4" align=center|Seats !colspan="3" align=center|Popular vote |- bgcolor=CCCCCC
|align="center"|2003 |align="center"|Dissol. |align="center"|2007 |align="center"|Change |align="center"|#
|align="center"|% |align="center"|Change |- |bgcolor="lightcoral"|
|align=left|Parti libéral du Québec / Quebec
Liberal Party |align=left|
- "Change" refers to change from previous election
- † Séguin is officially leader of Québec solidaire, but the main spokespersons for the party are Françoise David and Amir Khadir.
- ‡ Results for Québec solidaire are compared to the 2003 results for the Union des forces progressistes.
|- |}
Proceedings
One of the Members of the National Assembly is chosen as the President of the Assembly (a post called Speaker in most other Westminster System assemblies) by the Premier with the support of the Leader of the Opposition. 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 a member of the other side, he or she has to speak through the President of the Assembly. The President is usually a member of the governing party, although there is no requirement for this.
The proceedings of the National Assembly are broadcast across Quebec on the cable television network Canal de l'Assemblée nationale.
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
External links
- National Assembly of Quebec website (in French and English)
- National Assembly historical data (in French)
- Diagram of the positions in the Assembly (in French)
- Data about the current president of the Assembly
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