National Assembly of Quebec

The Quebec Parliament Building at night

The National Assembly of Quebec (French: AssemblÃ©e nationale du QuÃ©bec) 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 (l'assemblÃ©e lÃ©gislative de QuÃ©bec). It operates in a fashion similar to that of other British-style parliamentary systems. Since the abolition in 1968 of the Legislative Council (French: Conseil lÃ©gislatif), 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. The current President of the National Assembly of Quebec is Liberal (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

Parliament Building, daylight picture.

Main article: Parliament Building

The present Parliament Building was designed by architect EugÃ¨ne-Ã‰tienne TachÃ© 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 faÃ§ade features a pantheon representing important events and people in the history of Quebec.

Elections

General elections are held at least every five years. 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.

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.

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.).

Current members

****

Members		Female Members
73	23
44	14
5	1
1	0
	Vacant	2	-
125	38
Government Majority		10

* LibÃ©ral member Daniel Bouchard (Megantic-Compton) is sitting as an independent while being under an inquiry relating to a former job.
* LibÃ©ral member Russell Williams (Nelligan) resigned on March 9, 2004. Yolande James (PLQ) won the by-election with 52.6% of the vote.
* LibÃ©ral member Marc Bellemare (Vanier) resigned on April 28 2004. Sylvain LÃ©garÃ© (ADQ) won the by-election with 46.8% of the vote.
* LibÃ©ral member Christos Sirros (Laurier-Dorion) resigned on June 17 2004. Elsie Lefebvre (PQ) won the by-election with 46.1% of the vote.
* Parti QuÃ©bÃ©cois member AndrÃ© Boisclair (Gouin) resigned on August 17 2004. Nicolas Girard (PQ) won the by-election with 57.8% of the vote.

By-elections were held in these four districts on September 20 2004.
* LibÃ©ral member Yves SÃ©guin (Outremont) resigned on May 26, 2005. Raymond Bachand (PLQ) won the by-election with 48.8% of the vote.
* Leader of the Opposition and Former Premier Bernard Landry (VerchÃ¨res) resigned on June 6, 2005. StÃ©phane Bergeron (PQ) won the by-election with 69.2% of the vote.

By-elections were held in these two districts on December 12 2005.
* Parti QuÃ©bÃ©cois member AndrÃ© Boulerice (Sainte-Marie-Saint-Jacques) resigned on September 12, 2005. Martin Lemay (PQ) won the by-election with 41,2% of the vote.

A by-election was held in this district on April 10 2006.
* Parti QuÃ©bÃ©cois member Nicole LÃ©ger (Pointe-aux-Trembles) resigned on 6 March, 2006.
* Parti QuÃ©bÃ©cois member Pauline Marois (Taillon) resigned on 20 March, 2006.

By-elections will be held in these two districts on August 14 2006.

Member list

Cabinet Ministers are in Bold, Leaders are in Italics and the President of the National Assembly has a Dagger next to his name.

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External links

National Assembly of Quebec website

National Assembly historical data

Diagram of the positions in the Assembly

Data about the current president of the Assembly

National Assembly of Quebec: Encyclopedia BETA

Contents