Politics of Quebec
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This is an article about the politics of Quebec, Canada.
[edit] Political system
British-type parliamentarism based on the Westminster system was introduced in the Province of Lower Canada in 1791. The following diagram represents the way the political system of Quebec works since the 1968 reform. Prior to this reform, the Parliament of Quebec was bicameral.Lieutenant Governor
- asks the leader of the majority party to form a goverment in which he will serve as Premier
- enacts the laws adopted by the National Assembly
- has a theoretical veto power
Premier
- appoints the members of the Cabinet and the heads of public corporations
- determines the date of the coming general elections
Members of the National Assembly (MNAs)
- are elected using the first-past-the-post voting system
- are numbering 125, so approximately one MNA for each 40,000 electors.
[edit] Institutions
Many of Quebec's political institutions are among the oldest in North America. The first part of this article presents the main political institutions of Quebec society. The last part presents an Quebec's current politics and issues.
[edit] The Parliament of Quebec
The big house of Quebec holds the legislative power. It consists of the National Assembly of Quebec and the lieutenant governor of Quebec.
[edit] Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec
A symbolic function by nature, the lieutenant-governor represents the Queen of Canada in Quebec. Appointed by the Governor General of Canada on the advice of the Prime Minister of Canada, the lieutenant-governor formally signs bills into law.
- Further information: Monarchy in Quebec and Lieutenant-Governor (Canada)
[edit] National Assembly of Quebec
The National Assembly of Quebec is part of a legislature based on the Westminster System. However, it has a few special characteristics, one of the most important being that it functions primarily in French, although English is allowed and the Assembly's records are published in both English and French. The representatives of the Quebec people are elected with the first-past-the-post electoral method.
The government is constituted by the majority party and it is responsible to the National Assembly. Since the abolition of the Legislative Council in 1968, the National Assembly has all the powers to enact laws in the provincial jurisdiction as specified in the Constitution of Canada.
[edit] Government of Quebec
The government of Quebec consists of all the ministries and governmental branches that do not have the status of independent institutions, such as municipalities and regional county municipalities.
[edit] Executive Council
The Executive Council is the body responsible for decision-making in the government. It is composed of the Lieutenant-Governor (known as the Governor-in-Council), the Premier (in French Premier ministre), the government ministers, the ministers of state and delegate ministers. The Executive Council directs the government and the civil service, and oversees the enforcement of laws, regulations and policies. Together with the lieutenant governor, it constitutes the government of Quebec. See also Premier of Quebec.
[edit] Quebec Ombudsman
The Quebec Ombudsman is a governmental institution responsible for handling complaints from individuals, companies and associations who believe the government of Quebec or any of its branches has made an error or treated them unjustly. The Ombudsman has certain powers defined by the Public Protector Act. The Quebec Ombudsman has a social contract with Quebecers to ensure the transparency of the state.
[edit] Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse
The Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse (Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission) is a publicly-funded agency created by the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms. Its members are appointed by the National Assembly. The Commission has been given powers to promote and protect human rights within all sectors of Quebec society. Government institutions and Parliament are bound by the provisions of the Charter. The Commission may investigate into possible cases of discrimination, whether by the State or by private parties. It may introduce litigation if its recommendations are not followed.
[edit] Office québécois de la langue française
The Office québécois de la langue française (Quebec Office of the French language) is an organization created in 1961. Its mandate was greatly expanded by the 1977 Charter of the French Language. It is responsible for applying and defining Quebec's language policy pertaining to linguistic officialization, terminology and francization of public administration and businesses.
See language policies for a comparison with other jurisdictions in the world.
[edit] Conseil du statut de la femme
Established in 1973, the Conseil du status de la femme (Council on the Status of Women) is a government advisory and study council responsible for informing the government of the status of women's rights in Quebec. The council is made of a chair and 10 members appointed by the Quebec government every four to five years. The head office of the council is in Quebec City and it has 11 regional offices throughout Quebec.
[edit] Commission d'accès à l'information du Québec
A first in North America, the Commission d'accès à l'information du Québec (Quebec Commission on Access to Information) is an institution created in 1982 to administer the Quebec legislative framework of access to information and protection of privacy.
The first law related to privacy protection is the Consumer Protection Act, enacted in 1971. It ensured that all persons had the right to access their credit record. A little later, the Professional Code enshrined principles such as professional secrecy and the confidential nature of personal information.
Today, the CAI administers the law framework of the Act respecting access to documents held by public bodies and the protection of personal information as well as the Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private sector.
[edit] Chief electoral officer of Quebec
Independent from the government, this institution is responsible for the administration of the Quebec electoral system.
[edit] Judicial bodies
The principal judicial courts of Quebec are the Court of Quebec, the Superior Court and the Court of Appeal. The judges of the first are appointed by the Government of Quebec, while the judges of the two others are appointed by the Government of Canada.
In 1973, the Tribunal des professions was created to behave as an appeal tribunal to decisions taken by the various discipline committees of Quebec's professional orders. The current president is Paule Lafontaine.
On December 10, 1990, the Quebec Human rights Tribunal was created. It became the first judicial tribunal in Canada specializing in human rights. The current president is Michèle Rivet.
An administrative tribunal, the Tribunal administratif du Québec is in operation since April 1, 1998 to resolve disputes between citizens and the government. The current president is Jacques Forgues.
[edit] Municipal and regional institutions
The territory of Quebec is divided into 17 administrative regions: Bas-Saint-Laurent, Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, Capitale-Nationale, Mauricie, Estrie, Montréal, Outaouais, Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Côte-Nord, Nord-du-Québec, Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Chaudière-Appalaches, Laval, Lanaudière, Laurentides, Montérégie, and Centre-du-Québec.
Inside the regions, there are municipalities and regional county municipalities (RCMs).
[edit] School boards
On July 1, 1998, 69 linguistic school boards, 60 francophone and 9 anglophone, were created in replacement for the former 153 Protestant and Catholic boards. In order to pass this law, which ended a debate of over 30 years, it was necessary for the Parliament of Canada to amend Article 93 of the Constitution Act 1867.
[edit] Politics of Quebec today
[edit] Recent political history
When Quebec became one of the four founding provinces of Confederation, guarantees for the maintenance of its language, culture, and religion were specifically written into the Constitution[citation needed]. English and French were made the official languages in Quebec[citation needed] and school systems which provided for public funding of religious schools were established. Unfortunately for French-speaking Canadians, the same was not true for the other provinces. Under the Constitution the provinces had control of education, and in Quebec the school system was entirely confessional. The English-speaking Protestants and French-speaking Roman Catholics ran separate school systems in Quebec until the 1990s which formally secularized the school system along linguistic lines.
[edit] The Duplessis Years: 1944-1959
Premier Maurice Duplessis and his Union Nationale party emerged out of the ashes of the Conservative Party of Quebec and the Paul Gouin's Action libérale nationale in the 1930's. This political lineage dates back to the 1850's Parti Bleu of Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine, a center-right party in Quebec that emphasizes provincial autonomy and allies itself with Conservatives in English Canada. Under his government, the Roman Catholic and Protestant Churches maintained the control they previously gained over social services such as schools and hospitals. The authoritarian Duplessis used the provincial police and the "Padlock Law" to suppress unionism and gave the Montreal-based Anglo-Scot business elite as well as British and American capital a free reign in running the Quebec economy. His government also continued to prevent circulation of books banned by the Catholic Church, combatted communism and even shut down Protestant Churches like the Jehovah's Witnesses who evangelized in French Canada. The clergy used its influence to exhort Catholic voters to continue electing with the Union Nationale and threaten to excommunicate sympathisers of liberal ideas. For the time it lasted, the Duplessis regime resisted the North American and European trend of massive State investment in education, health, and social programs, turning away federal transfers of funds earmarked for these fields; he jealously guarded provincial jurisdictions.
[edit] The Quiet Revolution 1960-1966
In 1960, under a new Liberal Party government led by Premier Jean Lesage, the political power of the church was greatly reduced. Quebec entered an accelerated decade of changes known as the Quiet Revolution. Liberal governments of the 1960's followed a robust nationalist policy of "Maitre chez nous" (Master in our own house) that would see French-speaking Quebeckers use the State to elevate their economic state and assert their cultural identity. The government took state control of the education system, nationalized power production and distribution into Hydro-Quebec (the provincial power utility), unionized the civil service, founded the Caisse de Depot to manage the massive new government pension program, and invested in companies that promoted French Canadians to management positions in industry. In 1966, the Union Nationale returned to power despite losing the popular vote by nearly seven points to the Liberal Party, but could not turn the tide of modernization and secularization that the Quiet Revolution had started. Both Liberals and Union Nationale governments continued to oppose federal intrusion into provincial jurisdiction.
[edit] Réné Levesque and "Sovereignty-Association"
A non-violent Quebec independence movement slowly took form in the late 1960s. The Parti Québécois was created by the sovereignty-association movement of René Lévesque; it advocated a recognizing Quebec as an equal and independent (or "sovereign") nation that would form an economic "association" with . An architect of the Quiet Revolution, Levesque was frustrated by federal-provincial bickering over what he saw as increasing federal government intrusions into provinicial jurisdictions. He saw a formal break with Canada as a way out of this. He broke with the provincial Liberals who remained committed to the policy of defending provincial autonomy inside Canada.
[edit] Pierre Trudeau's Liberalism
In reaction to events in Quebec and formal demands of the Lesage government, Lester Pearson's ruling Liberal government in Ottawa sought to address the new political assertiveness of French Quebec. He commisoned the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism in 1963. Among other things, it reported that Francophones were underrepresented in the nation's political and business communities and that even when they became bilingual, workers continued to be paid less than unilingual anglophones. Pearson also recruited Pierre Trudeau, who campaigned against the violation of civil liberties under Duplessis and the ecomomic and political marginalization of French Quebeckers in the 1950's. Trudeau saw a strong French Canadian presence in Ottawa as the best way of remedying this.
Trudeau's vision was to write a Constitution for a "Just Society" with a strong federal government founded on shared values of individual rights, bilingualism, social democratic ideals, and, later on, multiculturalism. As Liberal Justice Minister in 1967, he eliminated Canada's sodomy law stating "The state has no business in the bedrooms of the nation", he also modernized the divorce laws. This government also repealed Canada's race-based immigration law.
In 1968, Trudeau was elected Prime Minister on a wave of "Trudeaumania". In 1969, his government instituted Official Bilingualism with the Official Languages Act which made French and English official languages and guaranteed linguistic minorities (English-speaking in Quebec, French-speaking elsewhere) the right to federal services in their language of choice, where the number justifies federal spendings. He also implemented the policy of multiculturalism, answering the concern of immigrant communitees that their cultural identities were being ignored. In 1971, Trudeau also failed in an attempt to bring home the Canadian Constitution from Great Britain at the Victoria conference when Robert Bourassa refused to accept a deal that would not include a Constitutional veto on federal institutions for Quebec.
[edit] The FLQ and the October Crisis
During the 1960s, a marginal yet violent terrorist group known as the Front de libération du Québec was formed in an effort to attain Quebec independence. In October 1970, their activities culminated in events referred to as the October Crisis when the British Trade commissioner James Cross was kidnapped along with Pierre Laporte, a provincial minister and Vice-Premier, who was killed a few days later. Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa called for military assistance to guard government officials. Prime Minister Trudeau responded by declaring the War Measures Act to stop what was described as an "Apprehended Insurrection" by the FLQ. Critics charge that Trudeau violated civil liberties by arresting thousands of political activists without a warrant as allowed by the Act. Supporters of these measures point to their popularity at the time, and the fact that the FLQ was wiped out. Independence-minded Quebeckers would now opt for the social democratic nationalism of the Parti Québécois.
[edit] Sovereignists take power
The Parti Québécois led by René Lévesque won the Quebec provincial election in 1976. The first PQ government was known as the "republic of teachers" for its high number of candidates teaching at the university level. The PQ passed laws to favour equal financing of political parties and the Charter of the French Language (the so-called Bill 101). The Charter is a law defining the linguistic rights of all Quebecers and making French the sole official language of Quebec, in order to preserve French language, seen as endangered in a vastly English-speaking Canada. The first enactment of Bill 101 became controversial for its regulations banning outdoor commercial signs displaying languages other than French. The government claimed that that unilingual English and bilingual English-French signs were sending the wrong signal to visitors and immigrants who assumed that it was OK to use English only as everything in French was translated to English. This section of the law was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Canada under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, see: Ford v. Quebec (A.G.). The law was amended to comply with the Supreme Court ruling. The current 1988 law specifies that signs can be multilingual so long as French is predominant. Most businesses, following their customers' wishes now voluntarily choose to put up French signs. The maintenance of an inspectorate to enforce the sign laws remains controversial.
[edit] 1980 Referendum and the Constitution Act of 1982
In the 1980 Quebec referendum, Premier René Lévesque asked the Quebec people for "a mandate to negotiate" his proposal for "sovereignty-association" with the federal government. The Referendum promised that a subsequent deal would be ratified with a second referendum. Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau would campaign against it, promising a renewed federalism based on a new Canadian Constitution. Sixty per cent of the Quebec electorate voted against the sovereignty-association project. After opening a final round of constitutional talks, the Trudeau government patriated the constitution in 1982 without the approval of the Quebec government, which sought to retain a veto on constitutional amendments along with other special legal recognition within Canada. The new constitution featured a modern Charter of Rights based on individual freedoms that would ban racial, sexual, and linguistic discrimination and enshrine minority language rights (English in Quebec, French elsewhere in Canada). After dominating Quebec politics for more than a decade, both Lévesque and Trudeau would then retire from politics shortly in the early 1980's.
[edit] The Meech Lake Accord of 1987
(See Meech Lake Accord)
From 1985 to 1994, the federalist provincial Liberal Party governed Quebec under Robert Bourassa. The Conservatives would remove the Liberals from power in 1984 and govern until 1992. Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney would bring together all provincial premiers, including Robert Bourassa to get the Quebec government's signature on the constitution. The Meech Lake Accord in 1987 would recognize Quebec as a "distinct society" and restore its constitutional veto. The Mulroney government would also transfer considerable power over immigration and taxation to Quebec.
The Accord would face stiff opposition from a number of quarters. In Quebec and across Canada, Trudeau Liberals objected to it arguing that "distinct society" provisions were unclear and could lead to the gradual independence of Quebec étapisme from Canada, as well as compromising the Charter of Rights. The Parti Québécois, now led by sovereignist Jacques Parizeau, opposed Meech because it did not grant Quebec enough autonomy. The [[Reform Party of Canada| Reform Party] in Western Canada led by Preston Manning said that the Accord compromised principles of provincial equality, and ignored the grievances of the Western Provinces. Aboriginal groups demanded "distinct society" status similar to Quebec's.
The Accord would collapse in 1990 when Liberal governments came to power in Manitoba and Newfoundland, and refused to ratify the agreement. Mulroney, Bourrassa, and the other provincial premiers would negotiate another constitutional deal, the Charlottetown Accord. It weakened Meech provisions on Quebec and sought to resolve the concerns of the West, and was soundly rejected by a country-wide referendum in 1992.
The collapse of Meech would reshape the entire Canadian political landscape. Lucien Bouchard, a Conservative Cabinet Minister who felt humiliated by the defeat of Meech, would lead other Quebec Conservatives and Liberals out of their parties to form the sovereignist Bloc Québécois. Mario Dumont, leader of the Quebec liberal youth wing, would leave Bourrassa's party to form a "soft nationalist" and sovereignist Action démocratique du Québec party, angry over Robert Bourassa's compromise in the Charlottetown Accord. The Conservative party would collapse in the 1992 election, with Western conservatives voting Reform, Quebec Conservatives voting Bloc, and Ontario and Western Montreal voters putting the Trudeau Liberals of Jean Chrétien into power. Jean Charest in Sherbrooke would be one of two Conservatives left in Parliament, and become party leader.
[edit] The 1995 Referendum and its aftermath
(See 1995 Quebec referendum)
The Parti Québécois was elected to office in 1994 led by Jacques Parizeau amid continued anger over the rejection of Meech Lake. The Parizeau government would lead the push for a quick 1995 referendum on sovereignty. Premier Parizeau favored a unilateral declarations of independence (UDI) followed by negotiations with the Federal government. Bouchard and Dumont would insist that negotiations with the federal government come first. They would compromise with an agreement to work together followed by a referendum question that would propose resorting to a UDI by the National Assembly only if negotiations to negotiate a new political "partnership" under Lucien Bouchard failed to produce results after one year.
The sovereignist campaign would remain moribund under Parizeau. It is only when the charismatic Lucien Bouchard took over with a few weeks to go in the campaign with an emotional attack on federalism that support for sovereignty skyrocketed from below 40% to above 50% [citation needed]. On October 30, 1995, the the partnership proposal was rejected by an extremely slim margin of less than one per cent.
Parizeau resigned and was replaced by Lucien Bouchard. The sovereignist option was pushed aside until they could establish "winning conditions". Bouchard was suspected by hard-line sovereignists as having a weak commitment to Quebec independence. Bouchard, in turn, was ill at ease with the ardent nationalism of some elements in the Parti Quebecois. He would eventually resign over alleged instances of anti-semitism within the hard-line wing of the party, and be replaced by Bernard Landry. Tensions between the left wing of the party and the relatively fiscal conservative party executive under Bouchard and Landry would also lead to the formation of the Union des forces progressistes another social democratic sovereignist party that would merge with other left-wing groups to form Québec solidaire.
Mario Dumont and the ADQ would put the sovereignist option aside entirely and run on a fiscally conservative agenda. They would win 3 consecutive byelections and see their popularity soar fleetingly in opinion polls shortly before the 2003 provincial election, in which they would take only 4 seats with 18% of the popular vote.
The federal Liberal Party Prime Minister Jean Chrétien came under sharp criticism for mishandling the "No" side of the referendum campaign. He launched a hard-line "Plan B" campaign by bringing in Montreal constitutional expert Stéphane Dion, who would attack the perceived ambiguity of the referendum question through a Supreme Court reference on the unilateral secession of Quebec in 1998 and draft the Clarity Act in 2000 to establish strict criteria for accepting a referendum result for sovereignty and a tough negotiating position in the event of a Quebec secession bid.
Jean Charest was lauded by federalists for his impassioned and articulate defense of Canada during the referendum. He would leave the Conservatives to lead the provincial Liberals and a "No" campaign in the event of another referendum, and would lead his Party to an election victory in 2003. He currently serves as Premier.
Still today, the political status of Quebec inside Canada remains a central question. This desire for greater provincial autonomy has often been expressed during the annual constitutional meetings of provincial premiers with the Prime Minister of Canada. In Quebec, no single option regarding autonomy currently gathers a majority of support. Therefore, the question remains unresolved after almost 50 years of debate.
[edit] The National Question
The National Question is the debate regarding the future of Quebec and the status of its State. Political parties are organized along ideologies that favor independence from Canada (sovereignist or seperatist) and various degrees of autonomy within Canada (federalists). Social democrats, liberals, and conservatives are therefore present in most major parties creating internal tensions.
[edit] Federalism
[edit] Canadian nationalism
Pan-Canadian nationalists or "status-quo" federalists defend Quebec's remaining within Canada and keeping the status quo regarding the Canadian constitution. They embrace the liberalism held by former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and view Canada as a bilingual, multicultural nation based on individual rights. They stress that their nationalism is based on shared civic values, and reject nationalism defined solely on English or French Canadian culture. They defend the need for the federal government to assume the major role in the Canadian system, with occasional involvement in areas of provincial jurisdiction. English-speaking Quebecers on the West Island of Montreal, immigrants, and aboriginal groups in the northern Quebec gravitate towards this type of federalism. They may recognize the national status of Quebec, but only informally in the cultural and sociological sense[citation needed]. The traditional vehicle for "status-quo" federalists is the Liberal Party of Canada, although elements of the Conservative Party of Canada has adopted aspects of this position[citation needed].
[edit] Federalist Quebec nationalism
The federalist nationalists are nationalists who believe its best for the people of Quebec to reform the Canadian confederation in order to accommodate the wish of Quebecers to continue to exist as a distinct society by its culture, its history, its language, and so on. They recognize the existence of the Quebec political (or civic) nation; however, they do not think Quebecers truly wish to be independent from the rest of Canada. Before the arrival of the Parti Québécois, all major Quebec parties were federalist and nationalist. Since then, the party most associated with this view is the Liberal Party of Quebec. On two occasions, federalist nationalists of Quebec attempted to reform the Canadian federation together with allies in other provinces. The 1990 Meech Lake Accord and the 1992 Charlottetown Accord were both ultimately unsuccessful.
[edit] Sovereignism (Separatism)
[edit] Soft nationalists
Soft nationalists can in fact switch back and forth between a desire for independence and for the recognition of Quebec nationhood within Canada. They tend to be swayed by the political climate, and are angered by signs of rejection by English Canada such as the blocking of the Meech Lake Accord [1]. On the other hand they are also swayed by the economic and social stability afforded by Canadian federalism. Mario Dumont is a good example of a soft nationalist.
Many also view the spectre of Quebec secession as a useful negotiation tool to gain more powers within Confederation. For example, Daniel Johnson, Sr ran on a platform of Égalité ou indépendance (Equality or independence) in the late 60's as a way of pressing for increased powers from the federal government. Lucien Bouchard expressed similar sentiments as a student. [citation needed]
[edit] Sovereignists
Sovereigntists are moderate nationalists who do not believe Canada to be reformable in a way that could answer what they see as the legitimate wish of Quebecers to govern themselves freely. They opt for the independence of Quebec; however, at the same time they insist on offering an economic and political partnership to the rest of Canada on the basis of the equality of both nations. The political parties that the sovereignists created are the Bloc Québécois and the Parti Québécois, which its members define as a party of social democratic tendency. The Parti Québécois organized two referendums that could have led to negotiations for independence: one in 1980 and one in 1995. The No side won both, but has shown decreased support in the latter, winning to a very thin margin of 0.6% ( 50.6% NO, against 49.4% YES ). They find their ideological origins in the Mouvement_Souveraineté-Association, René Lévesque's short-lived precursor to the Parti Québécois.
[edit] Indépendentistes
Indépendentistes are hard-line nationalists. They view the federal government as a colonizing agent of English Canada and Anglo-Saxon culture in Quebec. They hence demand total independence for Quebec which they view in the context of national liberation movements in Africa and the Carribean of the 1960's. Independence is seen as a natural progression from colonization, to provincial autonomy, to outright independence.[2]. As such, they tend to favor assertive declarations of independence over negotiations, idealizing the Patriote movement of the 1830's. They find their ideological origins within the Rassemblement pour l'indépendance nationale headed by Pierre Bourgault, a founding organization of the Parti Québécois. They are known derisively as "Souverainistes de Religion"[3] among more moderate sovereignists, who they in turn view as wafflers.
To this day, according to various polls, support for the "yes" side varies between 37% and 55%, depending on the question asked[4] .
[edit] Political parties
[edit] Major political parties
[edit] Provincial
- The Parti libéral du Québec (PLQ)
- The Parti Québécois (PQ)
- The Action démocratique du Québec (ADQ)
[edit] Federal
- The Bloc Québécois (BQ)
- The Liberal Party of Canada (L)
- The Conservative Party of Canada (C)
[edit] Other recognized provinical parties
- The Québec Solidaire Party
- The Bloc pot
- The Parti marxiste-léniniste du Québec
- The Parti démocratie chrétienne du Québec
- The Parti vert du Quebec (Green Party)
[edit] Historical parties
- The Parti égalité/Equality Party
- The Union Nationale
- The Parti créditiste or Ralliement créditiste
- The Bloc populaire
- The Action libérale nationale
- The Parti conservateur du Québec
- The Ralliement national
- The Rassemblement pour l'indépendance nationale
- The Parti républicain du Québec
- The Pro-Sovereignty Political Party
- The Parti bleu
- The Parti rouge
[edit] International organizations
Quebec is a participating government in the international organization the Francophonie, which can be seen as a sort of Commonwealth of Nations for French-speaking countries. Since the 1960s, Quebec has an international network of delegations which represent the Government of Quebec abroad. It is currently represented in 28 foreign locations and include 6 General delegations (government houses), 4 delegations (government offices), 9 government bureaus, 6 trade branches, and 3 business agents.
Through its civil society, Quebec is also present in many international organizations and forums such as Oxfam, Clowns sans frontières, World Social Forum, World March of Women, etc.
[edit] See also
- État québécois
- Quebec general elections
- List of Quebec premiers
- List of Quebec leaders of the Opposition
- List of Quebec senators
- National Assembly of Quebec
- Political parties in Quebec
- History of Quebec
- Timeline of Quebec history
- Quebec nationalism
- Quebec sovereigntism
- Quebec federalism
- Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms
- Reference re Secession of Quebec
[edit] External links
- National Assembly of Quebec
- Government of Quebec Website
- Chief Electoral Officer of Quebec
- La Politique québécoise sur le Web
- Conseil du statut de la femme
- Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse
- The Courts of Quebec Website
- Office de la langue française
- Quebec Ombudsman
- Quebec English School Boards Association
- Tribunal des professions
- Tribunal des droits de la personne
- Tribunal administratif du Québec
- Quebec-based Federalist Blogfr:Politique du Québec
