2012 Quebec general election

Timeline

2008

• December 8 – 39th Quebec general election
• December 15 – Pauline Marois becomes the leader of the Official Opposition.
• December 18 – Swearing in of the Cabinet members

  2009

• January 13 – Yvon Vallières is elected President of the National Assembly.
• January 14 – An economic statement is pronounced by Monique Jérôme-Forget.
• March 6 – Resignation of Mario Dumont as MNA of Rivière-du-Loup
• March 10 – The opening speech of the 39th Quebec Legislature is pronounced by Premier Jean Charest.
• March 25 — The Conservative Party of Quebec is registered.
• April 8 – Resignation of Monique Jérôme-Forget as MNA of Marguerite-Bourgeoys
• April 9 — The Parti nul is registered.
• June 22 – In two by-elections, Jean D'Amour and Clément Gignac are elected MNAs of Rivière-du-Loup and Marguerite-Bourgeoys respectively.
• June 25 – Resignation of François Legault as MNA of Rousseau
• September 21 – In a by-election, Nicolas Marceau is elected MNA of Rousseau with 57% of the vote.
• October 18 – Gilles Taillon is elected as leader of the Action démocratique du Québec.
• November 6 – Éric Caire and Marc Picard leave the ADQ to sit as independents.
• November 10 – Gilles Taillon resigns his post as ADQ leader amid Caire and Picard's defections. Taillon also called for a police investigation into the “troubling” funding practices in the party."
• November 19 – Gérard Deltell replaces Taillon as leader of ADQ.

  2010

• January 6 – Resignation of Camil Bouchard as MNA of Vachon
• May 6 – Tony Tomassi is kicked out of the Liberal cabinet and caucus after it is revealed he was given a gasoline credit card by a private security firm.
• July 5 – In a by-election, Martine Ouellet is elected MNA of Vachon with 59% of the vote.
• August 9 – Resignation of Jacques Dupuis as MNA of Saint-Laurent
• September 7 – Resignation of Claude Béchard as MNA of Kamouraska-Témiscouata, he dies from cancer later that day
• September 13 – In a by-election, Jean-Marc Fournier is elected MNA of Saint-Laurent with 64% of the vote.
• November 29 – In a by-election, André Simard is elected MNA of Kamouraska-Témiscouata with 37% of the vote.

  2011

• March 7 — A party named "Québec - Révolution démocratique" is registered.
• June 6 – Louise Beaudoin, Pierre Curzi, and Lisette Lapointe leave the Parti Québécois to sit as independents.
• June 7 – Jean-Martin Aussant leaves the Parti Québécois to sit as an independent.
• June 21 – Benoit Charette leaves the Parti Québécois to sit as an independent and René Gauvreau is asked to leave the Parti Québécois pending an investigation of his former aide.
• September 6 – Resignation of Nathalie Normandeau as MNA of Bonaventure
• September 19 – Jean-Martin Aussant announces his intention to register a new sovereigntist political party, Option nationale.
• November 4 – Coalition Avenir Québec, a new party led by François Legault, is officially registered.
• November 17 – Lisette Lapointe buys an Option nationale membership, but remains sitting as an independent.
• November 24 – Daniel Ratthé is expelled from the PQ caucus.
• December 5 – In a by-election, Damien Arsenault is elected MNA of Bonaventure with 49.5% of the vote.
• December 14 – The Coalition Avenir Québec and the ADQ announced an agreement in principle to merge, pending final approval from the ADQ membership.
• December 16 – Resignation of David Whissell as MNA of Argenteuil
• December 19 – Éric Caire, Benoit Charette, Marc Picard, and Daniel Ratthé join the Coalition Avenir Québec.

  2012

• January 9 – François Rebello joins the Coalition Avenir Québec.
• January 22 – The ADQ membership approves a merger with the Coalition Avenir Québec, resulting in ADQ MNA's Sylvie Roy, Janvier Grondin, François Bonnardel and leader Gérard Deltell becoming CAQ members.
• February 14 — The Coalition Avenir Québec is registered.
• February 25 – Founding convention of Option nationale.
• March 4 – Independent Lisette Lapointe announces that she will not run in the next election.
• March 21 — The Équipe autonomiste is registered.
• April 3 - Louise Beaudoin rejoins the Parti Québécois.
• April 5 - René Gauvreau is re-admitted into the Parti Québécois.
• May 3 - Resignation of Tony Tomassi as MNA of LaFontaine
• May 8 — The Middle Class Party of Quebec is registered.
• May 14 - Resignation of Line Beauchamp as MNA of Bourassa-Sauvé
• June 11 - In by-elections, Marc Tanguay is elected MNA of LaFontaine with 53% of the vote, and Roland Richer is elected MNA of Argenteuil with 36% of the vote.
• June 13 — The Coalition pour la constituante is registered.
• June 29 — The Parti démocratie chrétienne du Québec is renamed to Parti unité nationale.
• July 11 — Documents from the Quebec Liberal Party and the Government suggest that a general election will be called on August 1 and take place on Tuesday, September 4.
• July 13 — The Quebec Citizens' Union is registered.
• August 1 - Lieutenant Governor Pierre Duchesne dissolves the National Assembly, on Premier Jean Charest's request, and calls an election for September 4, 2012.
• September 4 - The election takes place.
• *Pauline Marois's victory speech is disrupted by the 2012 Montreal shooting.

  Incumbent MNAs who did not run for re-election

• Vincent Auclair, Vimont
• Daniel Bernard, Rouyn-Noranda–Témiscamingue
• Michelle Courchesne, Fabre
• Monique Gagnon-Tremblay, Saint-François
• Johanne Gonthier, Mégantic-Compton
• Norman MacMillan, Papineau
• Yvon Vallières, Richmond

• Louise Beaudoin, Rosemont
• Danielle Doyer, Matapédia
• René Gauvreau, Groulx
• Martin Lemay, Sainte-Marie–Saint-Jacques
• Claude Pinard, Saint-Maurice
• Sylvain Simard, Richelieu
• Guillaume Tremblay, Masson

• Janvier Grondin, Beauce-Nord

• Pierre Curzi, Borduas
• Lisette Lapointe, Crémazie

  Party standings

Opinion polls

List of candidates

• Official , by party or by electoral division

  (1) [Bas-Saint-Laurent] and (11) [Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine]

(2) [Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean] and (9) [Côte-Nord]

(3) [Capitale-Nationale]

(4) [Mauricie]

(5) [Estrie] (Eastern Townships)

(6) [Montreal]

East

West

(7) [Outaouais]

(8) [Abitibi-Témiscamingue] and (10) [Nord-du-Québec]

(12) [Chaudière-Appalaches] and (17) [Centre-du-Québec]

(13) Laval">Laval, Quebec">Laval

(14) [Lanaudière]

(15) [Laurentides]

(16) [Montérégie]

Eastern

South Shore

Footnotes