Liberal party of Quebec

The Liberal party of Quebec ( PLQ ) is a Political party working in the province of Quebec. It is also the oldest political party of the province, present since 1867. It is not affiliated any more with the Liberal party of Canada since 1955. Traditionally, the Liberal party is a federalistic party , i.e. it supports the idea of Quebec continuing to evolve/move within the Canadian federation rather than to separate to form an independent country. The capacity returned to him in an alternation which successively opposed it to the Conservative party of Quebec, to the National union, then with the Parti Québécois.

In the history, the Liberal party of Quebec privileged orientations rather progressists. It is however with the right-hand side of the Parti Québécois since the foundation this social democrat party being defined as . Moreover, the PLQ took a direction anti-interventionist and néolibérale since the arrival of Jean Charest at his head. The party is regarded now as a formation going of the center to the center-right, although it counts certain deputies plus progressists such as Pierre Paradis.

Origins and history post-confederation

The Liberal party takes its origins in the Canadian, or Left Parti patriotic, which supported the Rébellion of Low-Canada in 1837, and in the red Parti, which militated for the Gouvernement responsible and against the authority for the Catholic church to the Low-Canada. After the Canadian Confederation in 1867, the liberals are in opposition to the preserving for nearly 20 years, except for one 18 months period in 1878 - 1879 when there is a liberal Minority government. However, the situation changes into 1885 when the preserving government federal carries out Louis Riel, the chief of the French-speaking people Métis in the Western Canadian. This decision is extremely unpopular in Quebec. Honore Mercier benefits from this wave of dissatisfaction to arrive at the capacity in 1887, but he succumbs to a scandal in 1891. He is subsequently discharged charges. The conservatives return to the capacity until in 1897.

The liberals gain the election of 1897, and hold the capacity without interruption for the 39 next years; the conservatives never returned to the capacity to Quebec. This situtation reflects that with Ottawa, where the arrival of Wilfrid Laurier in the election of 1896 marks the beginning of the domination of the liberal on the federal scene. Like important Prime Ministers of this period, let us quote Lomer Gouin and Louis-Alexandre Taschereau.

However, in 1935, the conservatives have a new ambitious chief: Maurice Duplessis. Duplessis amalgamates its party with dissenting ex-liberals who had formed the national liberal Action. Duplessis carries out the new party, the National union, with the capacity in 1936. The liberals take again the capacity in the election of 1939, but are again beaten in the election of 1944. They remain in the opposition until the year following the death of Duplessis in 1959.

After 1960 and the modern era

Under Jean Lesage, the party gains a historical election in 1960, putting a term at the sixteen years reign of the National union. This marks the beginning of the Quiet revolution, which modifies in-depth the Québécois company. Under the slogan main on our premises , the government of Quebec undertakes several major initiatives, of which:

nationalization of hydro-electric industry through the expansion of Hydro-Quebec - this major initiative of the government is carried out by the Minister for the Natural resources, Rene Lévesque;
the creation of the Mode of revenues of Quebec, distinct from the Mode of pensions of Canada which exists in all the other provinces;
the creation of a minister of education, removing the responsibility for the schools to the Roman Catholic church;
of the pressures on the federal government so that it renegotiates the federal-provincial relations.

Under Lesage, the liberals give rise to a nationalist wing . Certain liberals, including the minister Rene Lévesque, leaves the party to join the Mouvement Québécois souverainist, taking part in the foundation of the Parti Québécois under the leadership Lévesque.

Relations between the Liberal party of Quebec and its federal counterpart, the Liberal party of Canada, enveniment under Lesage, and more under Robert Bourassa. In 1955, the PLQ puts an end to its affiliation with the PLC, and to several moments since, the relations between the two parties were extremely tended. Like Prime Minister, Bourassa makes adopt the Law 22 which makes French the official language in Quebec, and made to pressure on the first federal minister Pierre Trudeau to obtain constitutional concessions. Its government is also embarrassed by several scandals. Bourassa gives up the direction of the party after the defeat in the election of 1976 to the hands of the Québécois Party of Rene Lévesque.

Bourassa is succeeded the head of the Liberal party by Claude Ryan, the former editor of the daily newspaper Montreal board the Duty . Ryan concludes the federalistic countryside during the referendum of 1980 on sovereignty-association, but loses then the election of 1981. He resigns of his post of head of the Liberal party some time after, leaving the free track to the return of Robert Bourassa.

When Bourassa returns as a Prime Minister in 1985, it succeeds in convincing the federal government progressist-conservative of Brian Mulroney to recognize Quebec like a distinct Société, and seeks to obtain greater capacities for Quebec and the other provinces. This has as a result the Accord of the lake Meech and the Accord of Charlottetown. These two proposals however are not ratified. Although nationalist, Bourassa is always remained opposed to the independence of Quebec. Daniel Johnson, wire, succeed Bourassa as liberal chief and Prime Minister for Quebec in 1994, but early made be demolishes by the Québécois Party under Jacques Parizeau at the time of the election of this same year.

In 1993, after the failure of the agreement of Charlottetown, several nationalist members of the Liberal party, carried out by Jean Allaire and Mario Dumont, and including several of the wing youth of the party, leave the PLQ to form the democratic Action of Quebec because of the refusal of the Liberal party to support the independence of Quebec. Just like in 1980, the PLQ makes countryside for NOT during the referendum of 1995 on sovereignty.

Since the election of the April 14th 2003, the liberals again form the government of Quebec under the Prime Minister Jean Charest. Charest is a former minister with federal and chief of the Parti progressist-conservative, and always adheres to a certain extent to the values of its old party. Under the direction of Charest, the liberals moved relatively towards the line as the former partisans of the progressist-conservatives of Brian Mulroney reach stations of influence to the Liberal party. To semi-mandate, the surveys indicate that the government of Jean Charest faces the highest rates of dissatisfaction ever recorded for a government in Quebec. Strongly discussed proposals for a reform of education, trade-union and social policies, a continual awkwardness in the communication of the policies and decisions of the government, as well as other factors, give for a long time to the Parti Québécois the hope to gain the next elections of the March 26th 2007. However, the fall in the surveys of this last (14 points of November 2005 to June 2006), inter alia due the appearance of the party interdependent Quebec, for a long time replaces for the first time the Liberal party of Quebec in first position in the voting intentions. This slip of the PQ can be also allotted to the many times disputed leadership of Andre Boisclair. At the time of the general election of 2007, the PLQ becomes nevertheless minority, the democratic Action of Quebec makes a historical opening and the Parti Québécois is relegated to the third rank in popular terms of supports.

See low: Opposition to the governmental reform

Current political orientations

During the 37e Legislature (2003 - 2007), the Liberal party put before a policy of modernization of the State to face the pressures on provincial public finances due in particular to demographic ageing and the increase in the costs of the public mode of health. The control of expense public, started in 1995 by the government of the Québécois Party under Lucien Bouchard by the policy of “deficit zero”, is prolonged by the liberal government to face the deficit which threatens in a recurring way public finances, phenomenon reinforced by the economic policies keynésiennes adopted since 1960 and the important financial deficits of the General society of financing of Quebec in 2003.

This policy of modernization of the State consists, according to the liberal government, with " to proceed to a total revision of the apparatus of State. The goal: to center its role and to ensure the citizens of the services of better quality and less coûts."

More precisely, the “reingeniery” of the State is defined as follows:

the modernization of the State is a step of handing-over in question and in-depth redefinition of the programs and public services to make them more effective, less expensive, and to improve their quality.

modernization: - It is not a judgment related to the devotion of the personnel of the State, but an invitation to develop better practices; - It is not an end in itself, but a tool for better looking after, better informing, better to protect and better respect each citizen; - It is not a exercise of compression; it is a mandate of architect.

to be durable and effective, modernization must touch the structures, i.e. the modes of organization set up in the past and which became, with the wire of time, source of duplication and wasting.

With the Modernization plan 2004-2007, the government wants:

- to introduce a culture of revaluation continues organizations; - to gather structures to make them simpler and more effective; - to reorganize in agencies of the existing services.

the government introduces a true culture of continuous revaluation aiming four precise objectives:

- to revise the relevance of the mandate of the organizations, taking into account the evolution of the needs for which they had been created; - to simplify the governmental organization, when it is possible to transfer, to integrate or amalgamate organizations whose services are considered to be essential; - to increase the performance of the maintained organizations, by introducing novel modes of organization; - to improve the quality and the accessibility of the services.

the Modernization plan 2004-2007 comprises the establishment of a new policy of management of the performance aiming at ensuring the rendering of accounts compared to three results:

- improvement of the quality of the services to the citizens. - the disciplined, diligent and profitable use of the public money. - the respect of the Transparency, the ethics and the healthy values of management.

Since the cancellation of the Thermal project of power station , the liberal government undertook a vast project of construction of wind mills allowing the diversification of the sources of electricity, the production of an clean energy and the revival of the area of the Gaspésie. Thus, under the impulse of the liberal government, Quebec becomes again an electric world leader of production.

Opposition to the governmental reform

Since its election in April 2003, the liberal government faces many criticisms on behalf of the central trade-unions, such FTQ or CSN, of the organizations of defense of the social rights as well as Québécois movement studying. The “reingeniery” of the State, as announced by the Prime Minister Jean Charest would be indeed, according to them, the first stage towards the reduction of the role and the size of the State. They strongly denounce the questioning of the Québécois Modèle developed during the Années 1960.

Thus, as of its come to power, the liberals have, a posteriori , consulted the populations of the cities unilaterally amalgamated under the government of the Parti Québécois in order to measure adhesion with the new municipal entities. The possibility for these taxpayers of défusionner of their new city belonged to the commitments entered into by the liberals at the time of the elections but the enormous cost of the gesture went against drank it to realize long-term savings.

In the chapter of the Québécois system of nurseries, the liberals increased the number of places available to the families by increasing the gouvernmentaux investments and by requiring a larger contribution of the parents from 5 to 7 dollars, measures largely disputed through Quebec by various demonstrations and strikes of scale. Let us note that the Liberals had promised, at the time of the electoral campaign of 2003, to maintain this service with 5$.

The liberals also reduced the governmental participation in the Québécois program of loans and purses, the assistance system financial being studied (AFE), while getting along with the government of Canada so that it takes part in the financing. This cut, about 103 million dollars, was the element release of most important the strike coed of the Histoire of Quebec, broader still than at the time of the énénements of May 1968, which gathered, to its apogee, more than 230.000 students of level post-secondary on a total from approximately 450.000.

Moreover, one vast protest movement within the population forced the Québécois government to give up its construction project of a Thermo plant with gas, a gesture which was interpreted active completely against Québécois engagements as regards environment under the terms of the ratification of the Protocole of Kyoto. The government, driven back with the wall by the Québécois population, had of another choice only to move back and cancel the project. Even thing at the time of the advertisement of the integral financing by the government of the Jewish private schools in Quebec, thing to which the government had to give up following the pressures citizens.

Since 2003, legislative modifications were also made in particular to increase the participation of the private sector within public-private Partenariats (PPP), for the construction of infrastructures such as, of the detention centres, the transport facilities and various buildings of the network of health and the social services. Some of them, very discussed, had passed under cover of Baîllon to the National Assembly of Quebec in order to avoid any attempt at obstruction on behalf of the opposition. It is the case in particular of the law 31 on the labor regulation, which authorized, inter alia, the Sous-traitance in the public institutions.

More recently, in 2006, the bill on the partial privatization of the National park of the Mount-Orford, located in Estrie, made scandal in the population. Thomas Mulcair lost his post of minister of Sustainable development following its savage opposition to privatization. Pierre Paradis, appointed liberal of the district estrienne of Brominates-Mississiquoi and former minister for the Environment, voted against the bill, which was adopted besides under muzzle.

Rate of dissatisfaction of the liberal government

Sources:

the Duty, April 14th, 2005
Cyberpresse, June 2nd, 2005
Cyberpresse, October 28th, 2005
Radio-Canada, April 12th, 2005
Cyberpresse, March 30th, 2006
Canoe, June 27th, 2006
Cyberpresse, September 26th, 2006
Cyberpresse, December 6th, 2006
December 6th, 2006

Commission Youth

One of the characteristics of the Liberal party of Quebec east its Commission-Youth.

This standing committee is responsible for the implication of the young people within the party and has the mandate of the members from 16 to 25 years.

It is about the wing the most powerful youth within its political party and this in the world with a minimum of a third of the guaranteed delegates, with the Congress of the Members of the PLQ (the supreme authority decisional of the party).

One of its authorities, the congress-young person allows to the young people everywhere in Quebec of the capacity last one an end of the week of debate on the political orientations of CJ.Chaque be, more than 500 young liberals meet for this congress.

The Commission-Youth of the PLQ has several fights with its history as well inside as outside its party. It marked Quebec by proposing the creation of the chart Sun, while fighting against Claude Ryan in the the Eighties against the thaws of the school fees and by requiring that TVQ not be perceived any more on the sale of book in Quebec in particular. In the years 1980, annual conventions of Commission-Youth attracted nearly 1500 people year in year out.

She knew less amusing moments, in particular at the time of the deposit of the Allaire report/ratio, which caused a tearing within the PLQ and an exodus of the members, bringing the creation of ADQ. The president of Commission-Youth at this time was Mario Dumont, current chief of the ADQ.

Among the debates brought by the young liberals, let us note the private one in health, the teaching of English as of the first year of the primary education, the abolition of the Rand formula and the creation of the Funds of the generations

Since last the Congress-Youths, Commission-Youth is directed by François Beaudry.

Chiefs of the party

(* Chief by interim)

Principal achievements

Quebec, under the impulse of the PLQ, obtained important tools of social justice and economic development. Here are some examples:

16 years the minimum age to work (1910)
right to vote of the women (1940)
obligatory education (1942)
the creation of the minister of education and the Superior council of education (1964)
the health insurance (1970)
the mode of the family benefits of Quebec (1973)
legal aid (1973)
proclamation of French like official language of the State of Quebec
the Québécois Charter of the rights and freedoms of the person (1975)

In fact also the PLQ put in building site the Quiet revolution (1960), generally considered as vast mouvemement of liberalization of manners, overall comparable with the phenomenon of “Counterculture” in the United States or the events of May 1968 in France.

The liberals (Jean Lesage, Rene Lévesque) also nationalized electricity (1962). They created the hydroelectric company of development Hydro-Quebec (1944) and carried out the colossal hydroelectric complexes of the Baie James and the Coast-North (1960 with today).

See too

External bonds

Web site of the Liberal party of Quebec
Web site of the Commission-Youth of the Liberal party of Quebec
Web site of the Congress-Youths of the Commission-Youth of the PLQ

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