national assembly of quebec

The National Assembly is the legislative body of the Province of Quebec, Canada. It operates in a fashion similar to that of other British-style parliamentary systems. Since the abolition of the Legislative Council (an "upper house") in 1968, the National Assembly of Quebec has had exclusive power to enact laws in the provincial jurisdictions defined in the Constitution of Canada. The current President of the National Assembly of Quebec is Liberal Member of the National Assembly (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 (the "lower house"). 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

Built in Quebec City between 1877 and 1886, the present Hôtel du Parlement (Parliament Building) was designed by architect Eugne-tienne Tach. It is a unique construction in North America, with a Second Empire style of architecture. Its faade 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 a 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, or Prime Minister. (In French, both titles are rendered as Premier Ministre.).

Current members

****

Official seating plan of the Quebec National Assembly. At the present, the 125 seats of the National Assembly are distributed as follows:

Party	Number of seats	Number of women	Party Leader
Parti libral du Qubec	73	22	Jean Charest
Parti Qubcois	46	16	Bernard Landry
Action dmocratique du Qubec	5	1	Mario Dumont
Independent*	1	0
Vacant	0	0
Total	125	38

Libral member Daniel Bouchard (Megantic-Compton) is sitting as an independent while being under an inquiry relating to a former job.

Libral member Russell Williams (Nelligan) resigned on March 9, 2004. Yolande James (PLQ) won the by-election with 52.6% of the vote.

Libral member Marc Bellemare (Vanier) resigned on April 28, 2004. Sylvain Lgar (ADQ) won the by-election with 46.8% of the vote.

Libral member Christos Sirros (Laurier-Dorion) resigned on June 17, 2004. Elsie Lefebvre (PQ) won the by-election with 46.1% of the vote.

Parti Qubcois member Andr 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.

Member list

Maxime Arseneau, Parti Qubcois - les-de-la-Madeleine
Vincent Auclair, Libral - Vimont
Michel Audet, Libral - Laporte
Claude Bachand, Libral - Arthabaska
Line Beauchamp, Libral - Bourassa-Sauv
Denise Beaudoin, Parti Qubcois - Mirabel
Claude Bchard, Libral - Kamouraska-Tmiscouata
Stphane Bdard, Parti Qubcois - Chicoutimi
Lawrence S. Bergman, Libral - D'Arcy-McGee
Daniel Bernard, Libral - Rouyn-Noranda--Tmiscamingue
Raymond Bernier, Libral - Montmorency
Rosaire Bertrand, Parti Qubcois - Charlevoix
Michel Bissonnet, Libral - Jeanne-Mance--Viger
Karl Blackburn, Libral - Roberval
Yvan Bordelau, Libral - Acadie
Camil Bouchard, Parti Qubcois - Vachon
Daniel Bouchard, Independent - Mgantic-Compton
Claude Boucher, Parti Qubcois - Johnson
Andr Boulerice, Parti Qubcois - Sainte-Marie--Saint-Jacques
Julie Boulet, Libral - Laviolette
Alexandre Bourdeau, Parti Qubcois - Berthier
Bernard Brodeur, Libral - Shefford
Jocelyne Caron, Parti Qubcois - Terrebonne
Jacques Chagnon, Libral - Westmount--Saint-Louis
Nolla Champagne, Parti Qubcois - Champlain
Jean-Pierre Charbonneau, Parti Qubcois - Borduas
Jean Charest, Libral - Sherbrooke
Nancy Charest, Libral - Matane
Solange Charest, Parti Qubcois - Rimouski
Lucie Charlebois, Libral - Soulanges
Andr Chenail, Libral - Huntingdon
Roch Cholette, Libral - Hull
Maurice Clermont, Libral - Mille-les
Russell Copeman, Libral - Notre-Dame-de-Grce
Pierre Corbeil, Libral - Abitibi-Est
Jacques Ct, Parti Qubcois - Dubuc
Philippe Couillard, Libral - Mont-Royal
Michelle Courchesne, Libral - Fabre
Claude Cousineau, Parti Qubcois - Bertrand
William Cusano, Libral - Viau
Margaret F. Delisle, Libral - Jean-Talon
Pierre Descoteaux, Libral - Groulx
Serge Deslires, Parti Qubcois - Beauharnois
Michel Desprs, Libral - Jean-Lesage
Landre Dion, Parti Qubcois - Saint-Hyacinthe
Rita Dionne-Marsoliar, Parti Qubcois - Rosemont
Danielle Doyer, Pari Qubcois - Matapdia
Jean Dubuc, Libral - La Prairie
Marjolain Dufour, Parti Qubcois - Ren-Lvesque
Mario Dumont, A.D.Q. - Rivire-du-Loup
Jacques P. Dupuis, Libral - Saint-Laurent
Jean-Marc Fournier, Libral - Chteauguay
Andr Gabias, Libral - Trois-Rivires
Monique Gagnon-Tremblay, Libral - Saint-Franois
Francine Gaudet, Libral - Maskinong
Franoise Gauthier, Libral - Jonquire
Henri-Franois Gautrin, Libral - Verdun
Franois Gendron, Parti Qubcois - Abitibi-Ouest
Nicolas Girard, Parti Qubcois - Gouin
Janvier Grondin, A.D.Q. - Beauce-Nord
Sam Hamad, Libral - Louis-Hbert
France Hamel, Libral - La Peltrie
Louise Harel, Parti Qubcois - Hochelaga-Maisonneuve
Fatima Houda-Pepin, Libral - La Pinire
Yolande James, Libral - Nelligan
Monique Jrme-Forget, Libral - Marguerite-Bourgeoys
Normand Jutras, Parti Qubcois - Drummond
Geoffrey Kelley, Libral - Jacques-Cartier
Rjean Lafrenire, Libral - Gatineau
Michle Lamquin-thier, Libral - Crmazie
Bernard Landry, Parti Qubcois - Verchres
Diane Leblanc, Libral - Beauce-Sud
Charlotte L'cuyer, Libral - Pontiac
Elsie Lefebvre, Parti Qubcois - Laurier-Dorion
Sylvain Lgar, A.D.Q. - Vanier
Diane Legault, Libral - Chambly
Franois Legault, Parti Qubcois - Rousseau
Richard Legendre, Parti Qubcois - Blainville
Nicole Lger, Parti Qubcois - Pointe-aux-Trembles
Guy Lelivre, Parti Qubcois - Gasp
Diane Lemieux, Parti Qubcois - Bourget
Laurent Lessard, Libral - Frontenac
Michel Ltourneau, Parti Qubcois - Ungava
Nicole Loiselle, Libral - Saint-Henri--Sainte-Anne
Norman MacMillan, Libral - Papineau
Agns Maltais, Parti Qubcois - Taschereau
Yvon Marcoux, Libral - Vaudreuil
Pauline Marois, Parti Qubcois - Taillon
Pierre Marsan, Libral - Robert-Baldwin
ric R. Mercier, Libral - Charlesbourg
Pierre Moreau, Libral - Marguerite-D'Youville
Michel Morin, Parti Qubcois - Nicolet-Yamaska
Norbert Monrin, Libral - Montmagny-L'Islet
Thomas J. Mulcair, Libral - Chomedey
Nathalie Normandeau, Libral - Bonaventure
Franois Ouimet, Libral - Marquette
Sylvain Pag, Parti Qubcois - Labelle
Lucie Papineau, Parti Qubcois - Prvost
Alain paquet, Libral - Laval-des-Rapides
Jean-Pierre Paquin, Libral - Saint-Jean
Pierre Paradis, Libral - Brome-Missisquoi
Benot Pelletier, Libral - Chapleau
Sarah Perreault, Libral - Chauveau
Marc Picard, A.D.Q. - Chutes-de-la-Chaudire
Claude Pinard, Parti Qubcois - Saint-Maurice
Pierre Reid, Libral - Orford
Lorraine Richard, Parti Qubcois - Duplessis
Jean Rioux, Libral - Iberville
Hlne Robert, Parti Qubcois - Deux-Montagnes
Sylvie Roy, A.D.Q. - Lotbinire
Yves Sguin, Libral - Outremont
Sylvain Simard, Parti Qubcois - Richelieu
Jean-Pierre Soucy, Libral - Portneuf
Jean-Claude St-Andr, Parti Qubcois - L'Assomption
Carole Thberge, Libral - Lvis
Lise Thriault, Libral - Anjou
Luc Thriault, Parti Qubcois - Masson
Tony Tomassi, Libral - LaFontaine
Stphan Tremblay, Parti Qubcois - Lac-Saint-Jean
Daniel Turp, Parti Qubcois - Mercier
Yvon Vallires, Libral - Richmond
Jonathan Valois, Parti Qubcois - Joliette
Ccile Vermette, Parti Qubcois - Marie-Victorin
Dominique Vien, Libral - Bellechasse
David Whissell, Libral - Argenteuil

Proceedings

One of the Members of the National Assembly is chosen as the President of the Assembly (a post called Speaker in most other Westminster System assemblies) by the Premier with the support of the Leader of the Opposition. 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 a member of the other side, he or she has to speak through the President of the Assembly. The President is usually a member of the governing party, although there is no requirement for this.

External links

National Assembly of Quebec website (in French and English)
National Assembly historical data (in French)
Diagram of the positions in the Assembly (in French)
Data about the current president of the Assembly

Quebec

<< Previous

Word Browser

Next >>

list of political parties in estonia
list of political parties in france
list of political parties in greece
list of political parties in hungary
radler
list of political parties in iceland
list of political parties in india
political parties in the republic of ireland
list of political parties in italy
list of political parties in japan
list of political parties in latvia

list of political parties in lithuania
list of political parties in luxembourg
list of political parties in malaysia
list of political parties in malta
list of political parties in peru
list of political parties in portugal
list of political parties in russia
list of political parties in san marino
list of political parties in serbia and montenegro
list of political parties in singapore
list of political parties in slovakia

list of political parties in slovenia
list of political parties in south africa
list of political parties in spain
list of political parties in taiwan
hamlet (disambiguation)
list of political parties in turkey
witch hunter robin
rabwah
united kingdom in the eurovision song contest 2003
niven
communist party of the russian federation

changeling
communist party of russia
above the line
quaternary geology
state transition system
changeling (comics)
below the line
athaliah
united states golf association
brad
peabody