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Parti Quebecois / Bloc Québecois

Quebec has a tendency to support parties that are either unique to Quebec or are independent of their federal counterpart. Quebec, which represents 23% of the national population and has 75 of the 308 seats in the House of Commons, seeks to preserve its distinctive French-speaking nature, and is perceived by the western provinces as wielding undue influence on the federal government. At least until the January 2006 election of Albertan Stephen Harper as Prime Minister, the western provinces had often expressed concern that Ottawa did not attend to their interests. Based upon a pledge of what it called "open federalism," the Harper government ceded some power in the cultural and social domains while seeking to strengthen the federal role in economic areas such as inter-provincial trade and the regulation of securities.

Popular support for sovereignty declined in Quebec over the past decade. However, pride in that province's unique cultural and linguistic identity remains very strong and continues to be one of the central issues in the province's politics. While most Quebec voters still aspire to constitutional reform recognizing Quebec's distinctiveness, they generally appreciate the economic benefits of "Confederation" and aim to advance their francophone identity within the federal system.

Formed in 1990, the separatist Bloc Quebecois fields candidates only in Quebec province's 75 ridings. It will never form a federal government, although it was the Official Opposition between 1993 and 1997. the Clarity Act of 2000 called for a “clear majority” vote for secession and gave “the Parliament of Canada the power to determine whether or not a referendum question was clear enough to trigger such negotiations”.

The Rassemblement pour l'Independance National (RIN), led by Pierre Bourgault, is a forerunner. For the first time, Quebeckers can vote for their freedom. Then, in 1968, everything changes. René Lévesque leaves the liberal Party, unable to envision Quebec otherwise than as a province, and founds the Mouvement Sovereignty-Association (MSA). Under his leadership, the MSA and the Ralliement National (RN) unite to form a single party: it is the birth of the Parti Québécois. In the process, the RIN is scuttled, inviting its activists to join the new party. René Lévesque becomes his first leader. The beginnings are dazzling. After two years, the young Parti Québécois has 80,000 members. In the 1970 general election, the Parti Québécois elected seven members to the National Assembly and finished second in terms of the number of votes won (23.6%).

In 1976, to everyone's surprise, the Parti Québécois defeated a Liberal government undermined by cynicism and allegations of corruption. November 15, 1976 goes down in history as one of the most important moments in Quebec's history. Having obtained 41.37% of the vote and electing 71 MPs, René Lévesque said: "I never thought that I could be as proud to be Quebecker as tonight."

On May 20, 1980 however, a great disappointment arises. In the first referendum on sovereignty, Yes is defeated with 40.44% of the vote. René Lévesque declares: "If I understood you correctly, you are telling me: See you next time! In the next election, on April 13, 1981, the Parti Québécois was re-elected with a record 80 members and a score of 49.26%. This is a difficult mandate, marked by the dismal repatriation of the Constitution of Canada and a major economic crisis, which Quebec will still leave when the loss of power in 1985. On December 2 of this year, the Pierre-Marc Johnson's government was defeated and retained only 25 deputies.

The Parti Québécois enters the opposition after a defeat in the general election on April 14, 2003. Since then, it has been lashing the Liberal government on broken promises and inability to govern. In parallel, it is the beginning of a reflection on the sovereignist strategy and the orientation of the party. André Boisclair will succeed Bernard Landry.

The Bloc won 51 of 75 seats (42.1 percent of total votes) in the province in 2006. It held 48 seats in a broad swathe of francophone ridings outside Montreal. The Conservatives emerged as the Bloc's principal rival in rural, francophone areas of the province. Essentially maxed-out in the Quebec City area, the Conservatives looked to shake loose Bloc voters even in the sovereignist heartland of the Lac-Saint-Jean region; in a 2007 by-election, the Bloc lost the sovereignist bastion of Roberval-Lac-St Jean to a Conservative. On March 26, 2007, the Parti Québécois experienced a historic defeat by becoming the third party of a divided parliament, facing the first minority government in more than a century.

Declining support for the Bloc beginning in the late 1990s rebounded in 2004 as a result of the Liberals' "sponsorship scandal." It hovered at approximately 40 percent within Quebec province by 2008. Since 2006, however, the party had not found any new issue with particular resonance, but it nonetheless retains the advantage of a formidable and proven electoral machine on the ground.

The Bloc pursued a Quebec-centered agenda that leaned toward "progressive," left-of-center policies on labor, justice, defense, environmental, and social issues. It strongly supported the Kyoto Accord, same-sex marriage, and gun control. The Bloc opposed the extension of the Canadian Forces' mission in Afghanistan in both the 2006 and 2008 votes in the Commons. As a "junior partner" of the provincial Parti Quebecois, the Bloc increasingly concentrated on defending Quebec's interests in culture, language, forestry and resource industries, and agriculture following the PQ's decision in 2007 to put Quebec sovereignty on the back-burner. The Bloc co-operates with all opposition parties in this minority parliament on an ad hoc basis where it judges the interests of Quebec coincide, but has taken advantage of the Liberals' reluctance to defeat the current government to oppose the Conservatives with impunity on almost all major issues since 2007.

In the December 2008 provincial election, the ruling provincial Liberals garnered 42% of the vote, and Premier Jean Charest headed a narrow majority government with 66 of the 125 seats in the National Assembly. The opposition Parti Québécois holds 51 seats, and the third party, Action démocratique du Québec, held 4 seats.

Gilles Duceppe led the party since 1997 and was its sole dominant figure. There were no obvious candidates to succeed him, although Duceppe loyalist and deputy leader Pierre Paquette remained the likely future leader.

On September 4, 2012, Pauline Marois became the first woman to hold the position of Prime Minister while the Parti Québécois formed a minority government. During her victory speech at the Metropolis in Montreal, she was targeted by a political attack. Tragically, two technicians were injured. One of them losy his life. Under the leadership of Pauline Marois, the Parti Québécois signs the end of nuclear energy and the asbestos industry in Quebec and reforms the law on the financing of political parties.

Defeated in her constituency in the general election of April 7, 2014, Pauline Marois resigns while the Parti Québécois becomes the official opposition to the government of Philippe Couillard. Pierre Karl Péladeau resigned on May 2, 2016 for family reasons. On 07 October 2016, Jean-François Lisée became the ninth leader of the party and leader of the official opposition of Quebec.