National Assembly of Quebec


The National Assembly of Quebec is the legislative body of the province of Quebec in Canada. Legislators are called MNAs. The Queen in Right of Quebec, represented by the Lieutenant Governor of Quebec and the National Assembly compose the Legislature of Quebec, which operates in a fashion similar to those of other Westminster-style parliamentary systems.
The National Assembly was formerly the lower house of Quebec's legislature and was then called the Legislative Assembly of Quebec. In 1968, the upper house, the Legislative Council, was abolished and the remaining house was renamed. The office of President of the National Assembly is equivalent to speaker in other legislatures. The Coalition Avenir Québec currently has the most seats in the Assembly following the 2018 Quebec general election.

History

The Legislative Assembly was created in Lower Canada by the Constitutional Act 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 Constitution Act, 1867, which created Canada, split the Province of Canada into the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. 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", in line with the more strident nationalism of the Quiet Revolution. 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 became the salon bleu.

Parliament Building

Constructed between 1877 and 1886, the Parliament Building features the Second Empire architectural style that was popular for prestigious buildings both in Europe and the United States during the latter 19th century.
Although somewhat more sober in appearance and lacking a towering central belfry, Quebec City's Parliament Building bears a definite likeness to the Philadelphia City Hall, another Second Empire edifice in North America which was built during the same period. Even though the building's symmetrical layout with a frontal clock tower in the middle is typical of legislative institutions of British heritage, the architectural style is believed to be unique among parliament buildings found in other Canadian provincial capitals. Its facade presents a pantheon representing significant events and people of the history of Quebec.
Additional buildings were added, adjacent to the Parliament Buildings:
are held every four years or less. Since 2014, the legislature has had a fixed four-year term, with elections taking place no later than "the first Monday of October of the fourth calendar year following the year that includes the last day of the previous Legislature." However, the Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec, acting on the advice of the premier, can dissolve the legislature and call an election earlier. Any person holding Canadian citizenship and who has resided in Quebec for at least six months qualifies to be on the electoral list.
Normally, the Lieutenant Governor invites the leader of the political party with the largest number of elected candidates to form the government as premier..
Quebec's territory is divided into 125 electoral districts. In each riding, the candidate who receives the most votes is elected and becomes a Member of the National Assembly. 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, 1973, and 1998 elections.
Quebec elections have also tended to be volatile since the 1970s, producing a large turnover in Assembly seats. Consequently, existing political parties often lose 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. The 2018 elections saw the rise of the Coalition Avenir Québec which managed to take power for the first time.

Members

Current standings

Cabinet ministers are in bold, party leaders are in italic and the president of the National Assembly is marked with a †.
NamePartyRiding
CAQAbitibi-Est
CAQAbitibi-Ouest
LiberalAcadie
LiberalAnjou–Louis-Riel
CAQArgenteuil
CAQArthabaska
CAQBeauce-Nord
CAQBeauce-Sud
CAQBeauharnois
CAQBellechasse
CAQBerthier
CAQBertrand
CAQBlainville
PQBonaventure
CAQBorduas
LiberalBourassa-Sauvé
CAQBourget
CAQBrome-Missisquoi
CAQChambly
CAQChamplain
CAQChapleau
CAQCharlesbourg
CAQCharlevoix–Côte-de-Beaupré
CAQChâteauguay
CAQChauveau
CAQChicoutimi
LiberalChomedey
Independent
CAQChutes-de-la-Chaudière
CAQCôte-du-Sud
LiberalD'Arcy-McGee
CAQDeux-Montagnes
CAQDrummond–Bois-Francs
CAQDubuc
PQDuplessis
LiberalFabre
PQGaspé
CAQGatineau
QSGouin
CAQGranby
CAQGroulx
QSHochelaga-Maisonneuve
LiberalHull
CAQHuntingdon
CAQIberville
PQÎles-de-la-Madeleine
LiberalJacques-Cartier
QSJean-Lesage
LiberalJeanne-Mance–Viger
CAQJean-Talon
CAQJohnson
PQJoliette
PQJonquière
CAQLabelle
CAQLac-Saint-Jean
LiberalLaFontaine
CAQLa Peltrie
LiberalLa Pinière
LiberalLaporte
CAQLa Prairie
CAQL'Assomption
QSLaurier-Dorion
LiberalLaval-des-Rapides
CAQLaviolette–Saint-Maurice
CAQLes Plaines
CAQLévis
CAQLotbinière-Frontenac
CAQLouis-Hébert
LiberalMarguerite-Bourgeoys
PQMarie-Victorin
Independent
LiberalMarquette
CAQMaskinongé
CAQMasson
'PQMatane-Matapédia
LiberalMaurice-Richard
CAQMégantic
QSMercier
LiberalMille-Îles
CAQMirabel
CAQMontarville
CAQMontmorency
'LiberalMont-Royal–Outremont
LiberalNelligan
CAQNicolet-Bécancour
LiberalNotre-Dame-de-Grâce
CAQOrford
CAQPapineau
CAQPointe-aux-Trembles
LiberalPontiac
CAQPortneuf
CAQPrévost
PQRené-Lévesque
CAQRepentigny
CAQRichelieu
CAQRichmond
PQRimouski
CAQRivière-du-Loup–Témiscouata
LiberalRobert-Baldwin
CAQRoberval
QSRosemont
CAQRousseau
QSRouyn-Noranda–Témiscamingue
CAQSaint-François
LiberalSaint-Henri–Sainte-Anne
CAQSaint-Hyacinthe
CAQSaint-Jean
CAQSaint-Jérôme
LiberalSaint-Laurent
QSSainte-Marie–Saint-Jacques
CAQSainte-Rose
CAQSanguinet
QSSherbrooke
CAQSoulanges
CAQTaillon
QSTaschereau
CAQTerrebonne
CAQTrois-Rivières
CAQUngava
CAQVachon
CAQVanier-Les Rivières
LiberalVaudreuil
CAQVerchères
LiberalVerdun
LiberalViau
LiberalVimont
LiberalWestmount–Saint-Louis
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Chomedey
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Marie-Victorin
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Seating Plan

Last update: September 17, 2019


Members of the National Assembly swear two oaths: one to the Canadian monarch as Quebec's head of state, and a second one to the people of Quebec. Previous Parti Québécois premier René Lévesque added the second oath.

Most recent election

Changes during the 42nd Quebec Legislature

Proceedings

One of the members of the National Assembly is elected as the President of the Assembly. Any member of the Assembly is eligible to stand for election, other than party leaders and Cabinet ministers. The election is the first order of business for a newly elected Assembly. It is conducted by secret ballot of all members, with successive rounds of voting if needed before one candidate gains a majority of the votes.
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 the Assembly, the member 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.