equality party (quebec)

The Equality Party (French: Parti Égalité) is a political party in Quebec, Canada, that promotes the use of English in Quebec on an equal basis with French.

History

The party first came to prominence in the 1989 general election, when it won four seats of the Montreal Island in the National Assembly. Along with its then sister party, the Unity Party (which ran candidates outside the Montreal Island), it won 4.7% of the popular vote. However, it never repeated this success. All of the party's candidates and incumbents were defeated in the 1994 general election, and the party was reduced to marginal status. Two subsequent general elections in 1998 and 2003 did nothing to improve the party's fortunes. The party was formed as a reaction to then-Premier Robert Bourassa invoking the notwithstanding clause of the Canadian constitution to override a Supreme Court ruling overturning parts of the Charter of the French Language (commonly known as "Bill 101"). The party platform calls for equality of both languages (French and English) in Quebec, opposing Bill 101 which made French the sole official language of Quebec and imposed restrictions on the use of English on public signs. The Equality Party drew virtually all of its support from elements of Quebec's anglophone minority, and only ran candidates in electoral districts with very high anglophone populations. Internal divisiveness proved to be the party's downfall. In a bizarre turn of events, one of the party's sitting members, Richard Holden, member for the Westmount electoral district, defected to the ideologically diametrically opposed Parti Québécois. Following the party's poor showing in the 2003 election, leader Keith Henderson resigned.

Leaders of the Equality Party

Robert Libman (1989-1993)
Keith Henderson (1994-2004)

Election results

General election	# of candidates	# of elected candidates	% of popular vote
1989	19	4	3.69%
1994	17	0	0.29%
1998	24	0	0.31%
2003	21	0	0.11%

External links

<< Previous

Word Browser

Next >>

russ howard
wound healing phases
carter
tranmere
reflex cannon
tayeb salih
king of egypt
norbiton railway station
add insult to injury
sebastidae
spinnaker

quebec general election, 2003
mainsail
laat
polar compound
jor el
ad captandum
boom, antwerp
vaginal lubrication
us weapon production (1942 1945)
national diabetes information clearinghouse
huell howser

champion (supermarket)
the eleventh hour
mna
clinux
list of fleets
quebec general election, 1998
quebec general election, 1994
table mountain pine
quebec general election, 1989
quebec general election, 1985
quebec general election, 1981

japanese red pine
frederick winston furneaux smith, 2nd earl of birkenhead
ismail enver
british pacific fleet
3 (telecommunications)
quebec general election, 1976
battle of washita river
pitch (baseball)
quebec general election, 1973
secondary mirror
quebec general election, 1970