The Parti Québécois is a sovereignist and social democratic provincial political party in Quebec, Canada. The PQ advocates national sovereignty for Quebec involving independence of the province of Quebec from Canada and establishing a sovereign state. The PQ has also promoted the possibility of maintaining a loose political and economic sovereignty-association between Quebec and Canada. The party traditionally has support from the labour movement; however, unlike most other social democratic parties, its ties with organized labour are informal. Members and supporters of the PQ are nicknamed péquistes, a French word derived from the pronunciation of the party's initials in Quebec French.
René Lévesque was a Québécois politician and journalist who served as the 23rd premier of Quebec from 1976 to 1985. He was the first Québécois political leader since Confederation to attempt, through a referendum, to negotiate the political independence of Quebec. Starting his career as a reporter, and radio and television host, he later became known for his eminent role in Quebec's nationalization of hydro and as an ardent defender of Quebec sovereignty. He was the founder of the Parti Québécois, and before that, a Liberal minister in the Lesage government from 1960 to 1966.
Joseph-Napoléon-Henri Bourassa was a French Canadian political leader and publisher. In 1899, Bourassa was outspoken against the British government's request for Canada to send a militia to fight for Britain in the Second Boer War. Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier's compromise was to send a volunteer force, but the seeds were sown for future conscription protests during the World Wars of the next half-century. Bourassa unsuccessfully challenged the proposal to build warships to help protect the empire. He led the opposition to conscription during World War I and argued that Canada's interests were not at stake. He opposed Catholic bishops who defended military support of Britain and its allies. Bourassa was an ideological father of French-Canadian nationalism. Bourassa was also a defining force in forging French Canada's attitude to the Canadian Confederation of 1867.
Francis Daniel Johnson Sr. was a Canadian politician and the 20th premier of Quebec from 1966 to his death in 1968.
Claude Ryan, was a Canadian journalist and politician. He was the director of the newspaper Le Devoir from 1964 to 1978, leader of the Quebec Liberal Party from 1978 to 1982, National Assembly of Quebec member for Argenteuil from 1979 to 1994 and Minister of Education from 1985 to 1989.
Marie Thérèse Casgrain, ., née Forget was a French Canadian feminist, reformer, politician and senator. She was a leader in the fight for women's right to vote in the province of Quebec, as well as the first woman to lead a political party in Canada. In her later life she opposed nuclear weapons and was a consumer activist. A strong federalist, one of her last political actions, at age 83, was to intervene on the "No" side in the 1980 Quebec sovereignty referendum.
Pauline Marois is a retired Canadian politician, who served as the 30th premier of Quebec from 2012 to 2014. Marois had been a member of the National Assembly in various ridings since 1981 as a member of the Parti Québécois (PQ), serving as party leader from 2007 to 2014. She is the first female premier of Quebec.
Thérèse Lavoie-Roux was a Canadian politician and social worker who served in the National Assembly of Quebec and the Senate of Canada. She was the Minister of Health and Social Services from 1985 to 1989.
Arthur Turcotte was a Quebec lawyer, journalist and political figure.
Louise Beaudoin is a Canadian politician, who represented the electoral district of Rosemont in the National Assembly of Quebec until 2012, as a member of the Parti Québécois (PQ). She sat as an independent from June 6, 2011 to April 3, 2012. She is best known for her previous tenure as a Member of the National Assembly (MNA) of Chambly, from 1994 to 2003, when she occupied various ministerial positions.
Joseph Facal is a Canadian politician, academic, and journalist in the province of Quebec. He was a Parti Québécois member of the National Assembly of Quebec from 1994 to 2003 and was a cabinet minister in the governments of Lucien Bouchard and Bernard Landry.
Yvan Bordeleau was the Member of the National Assembly (MNA) Quebec, Canada, for the Montreal provincial electoral district of Acadie from 1989 to 2007.
André Pratte is a Canadian journalist and former senator who represented the De Salaberry division in Quebec. Before being appointed to the Senate by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on March 18, 2016, Pratte was a journalist for over 35 years and was editor-in-chief of the Montreal newspaper La Presse. He was a member of the Independent Senators Group.
Yolande James is a former Quebec provincial politician. She was the first black female MNA, the youngest, and the first black cabinet minister in Quebec history. A member of the Quebec Liberal Party, she represented the multicultural riding of Nelligan in the Island of Montreal from 2004 to 2014.
Marie Josephine Marguerite Blais is a Canadian politician, journalist, radio host and television host from Quebec. She was a Coalition Avenir Québec Member of the National Assembly of Québec and a previous Minister Responsible for Seniors and Informal Caregivers and Member of the Comité ministériel des services aux citoyens. She was a Liberal Member of the National Assembly of Quebec for the electoral division of Saint-Henri–Sainte-Anne in Montreal from 2007 to 2015, and served as the Minister responsible for Seniors, vice-chair of the Comité ministériel du développement social, éducatif et culturel and member of the Conseil du trésor.
The Parti Québécois fielded a full slate of 125 candidates in the 2007 Quebec provincial election, and won thirty-six seats to emerge as the third-largest party in the National Assembly. Many of these candidates are the subjects of individual Wikipedia pages; information about others may be found here.
Michel Cormier is a Canadian journalist, lecturer and author. Cormier became the Bureau Chief for CBC News in Montreal (Radio-Canada) in 2012. He was formerly the CBC News foreign correspondent based in Beijing, China. Cormier was a foreign correspondent for CBC News in Moscow from 2000 to 2004, Paris from 2004 to 2006, and Beijing from 2006-2012.
Mélanie Joly is a Canadian politician and lawyer who has served as minister of Foreign Affairs since October 2021. A member of the Liberal Party, Joly represents the Montreal-area riding of Ahuntsic-Cartierville in the House of Commons, taking office as a member of Parliament (MP) following the 2015 federal election. She has held a number of portfolios including Canadian heritage, tourism, and La Francophonie. Joly ran for mayor of Montreal in the 2013 Montreal municipal election, placing second behind eventual winner Denis Coderre.
The 2020 Quebec Liberal Party leadership election was to have taken place from May 30–31, 2020 after outgoing leader Philippe Couillard resigned on October 4, 2018, and left politics after the party finished second in the 2018 Quebec general election. On March 20, 2020, the party suspended the election indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Quebec. On May 11, 2020, candidate Alexandre Cusson withdrew from the race and after a meeting of the party's executive committee, the sole remaining candidate, Dominique Anglade, was selected as leader by acclamation.
The 2022 Quebec general election was held on October 3, 2022, to elect the members of the National Assembly of Quebec. Under the province's fixed election date law, passed in 2013, "the general election following the end of a Legislature shall be held on the first Monday of October of the fourth calendar year following the year that includes the last day of the previous Legislature", setting the date for October 3, 2022.
