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Ralliement Crditiste Du QubecThe Ralliement crditiste du Qubec was a political party in Qubec, Canada that operated under several names from 1970-1980. It promoted social credit theories of monetary reform, and acted as an outlet for the expression of rural discontent. On January 25, 1970, the federal Ralliement crditiste party established a provincial wing, the Ralliement crditiste du Qubec, to compete in the next provincial elections. Camil Samson, the new party's president was elected as a Member of the National Assembly (MNA) for the riding of Rouyn-Noranda in a by-election. He was elected leader of the party on March 22, 1970. In the April 29, 1970 elections, the crditistes benefited from the decline of the conservative Union Nationale party and made a modest breakthrough, winning 12 seats in the National Assembly and 11.2% of the vote. The party was never able to build on this initial success because it was wracked continually by internal divisions. On February 13, 1972, faced by challenges from within his party, Camil Samson resigned as leader, and a leadership convention was planned for March 18-19, 1972: Armand Bois (MNA for Saint-Sauveur) was chosen interim leader on February 21. On March 16, Camil Samson was expelled from the party by nine of the crditiste MNAs (organized by Armand Bois) for criticizing some of the caucus members, and for not attending party meetings. On March 19, Samson declared himself to be the leader of a new crditiste group, and demanded to be seated in the National Assembly as a member of the 'Registered Ralliement crditiste du Qubec', along with two other crditiste MNAs, Aurle Audet (Abitibi-Ouest) and Bernard Dumont (Mgantic). However, the speaker of the National Assembly recognized Armand Bois as parliamentary leader of the party. On August 11, Samson, Dumont and Audet rejoined the Ralliement crditiste du Qubec. On February 4, 1973, Yvon Dupuis was elected leader of the Ralliement crditiste du Qubec over Samson. The party was renamed the Parti crditiste. Samson was named leader in the National Assembly. On February 21, Armand Bois, the former interim leader, was expelled from the party for saying at the February 4 leadership convention that Yvon Dupuiss entourage included members of the Montral underworld. Bois sat as an independent crditiste until October 3, when he apologized for his statements and asked to be readmitted to the party. Dupuis failed to win a by-election to enter the National Assembly, and was pressured to quit the leadership of the party. On May 5, 1973, Yvon Dupuis resigned as leader of the Parti crditiste, and formed the Parti prsidentiel. Dupuis resigned as leader of that party on October 21, 1973, and ended his political career. The Parti prsidentiel was merged into the Union nationale a year later. In the October 29, 1973 election, after campaigning under the name Parti crditiste, only two party members won election to the National Assembly, Fabien Roy and Camil Samson, although the party won 9.9% of the popular vote. On December 1, 1974, Armand Bois announced the foundation of a new crditiste party, the Parti rformateur, of which nothing further is known. Before the 1976 election, there was a further split as the only two sitting Parti créditiste MNAs went their separate ways. Camil Samson became leader of the party, again called the Ralliement crditiste du Qubec, on May 11, 1975. Fabien Roy was expelled from the party. It is not clear whether Roy was expelled on January 15, 1974 or November 3, 1975. On December 14, 1975, Roy teamed up with former Liberal Jrme Choquette to form the Parti national populaire under Choquette's leadership. The PNP and the Union Nationale, led by Rodrigue Biron, announced the merger of their two parties, but the idea was abandoned by the Union Nationale one month later. In the November 15, 1976 general election, Camil Samson was the only crditiste elected, although the party won 4.63% of the popular vote across the province. (The PNP's Roy also won his seat, while Choquette was defeated.) On November 12, 1978, Camil Samson founded a new party, Les Dmocrates, bringing the Ralliement crditiste du Qubec to an end as a provinicial party. Samsons partner in establishing the new party was Pierre Svigny, a federal cabinet minister in the Progressive Conservative government of John Diefenbaker. Svigny had resigned from the federal cabinet in disgrace because of his relationship with Gerda Munsinger, who was later revealed to be a spy for East Germany. On January 1, 1980, Samson renamed Les Dmocrates the Parti dmocrate crditiste. On September 2, 1980, Samson joined the Quebec Liberal Party caucus. He was defeated as a Liberal candidate in the 1981 provincial election. According to the Quebec poltical website, geniesenherbe.org, the Ralliement crditiste du Qubec (this may refer to the Parti dmocrate crditiste) and the PNP merged in 1981 to form the Parti crdit social uni (PCSU). Another source indicates that the Parti crdit social uni was accredited on September 13, 1979. The PCSU nominated candidates in the 1981 election, 1985 election and 1989 election, each time winning less than 0.1% of the popular vote. Election results | General election | # of candidates | # of seats won | % of popular vote | | 1970 (RC) | 99 | 12 | 11.19% | | 1973 (PC) | 109 | 2 | 9.92% | | 1976 (RC) | 109 | 1 | 4.63% | | 1976 (PNP) | 36 | 1 | 0.92% | | 1981 (CSU) | 16 | 0 | 0.04% | | 1985 (CSU) | 12 | 0 | 0.05% | | 1989 (CSU) | 11 | 0 | 0.09% | See also External links
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