The Quebec Parliament Building at night

The National Assembly of Québec (French: Assemblée nationale du Québec) 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 in 1968 of the Legislative Council (French: Conseil législatif), hitherto the upper house of the Quebec Parliament, the lower house known as 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.

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 Eugène-Étienne Taché . It is a unique construction in North America, with a Second Empire style of architecture. Its façade 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:

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

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

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

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

• Parti Québécois member André 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 Québécois - Îles-de-la-Madeleine
• Vincent Auclair , Libéral - Vimont
• Michel Audet , Libéral - Laporte
• Claude Bachand , Libéral - Arthabaska
• Line Beauchamp , Libéral - Bourassa-Sauvé
• Denise Beaudoin , Parti Québécois - Mirabel
• Claude Béchard , Libéral - Kamouraska-Témiscouata
• Stéphane Bédard , Parti Québécois - Chicoutimi
• Lawrence S. Bergman , Libéral - D'Arcy-McGee
• Daniel Bernard, Libéral - Rouyn-Noranda--Témiscamingue
• Raymond Bernier , Libéral - Montmorency
• Rosaire Bertrand , Parti Québécois - Charlevoix
• Michel Bissonnet, Libéral - Jeanne-Mance--Viger
• Karl Blackburn , Libéral - Roberval
• Yvan Bordelau , Libéral - Acadie
• Camil Bouchard , Parti Québécois - Vachon
• Daniel Bouchard , Independent - Mégantic-Compton
• Claude Boucher , Parti Québécois - Johnson
• André Boulerice , Parti Québécois - Sainte-Marie--Saint-Jacques
• Julie Boulet , Libéral - Laviolette
• Alexandre Bourdeau , Parti Québécois - Berthier
• Bernard Brodeur , Libéral - Shefford
• Jocelyne Caron , Parti Québécois - Terrebonne
• Jacques Chagnon , Libéral - Westmount--Saint-Louis
• Noëlla Champagne , Parti Québécois - Champlain
• Jean-Pierre Charbonneau , Parti Québécois - Borduas
• Jean Charest, Libéral - Sherbrooke
• Nancy Charest , Libéral - Matane
• Solange Charest , Parti Québécois - Rimouski
• Lucie Charlebois , Libéral - Soulanges
• André Chenail , Libéral - Huntingdon
• Roch Cholette , Libéral - Hull
• Maurice Clermont , Libéral - Mille-Îles
• Russell Copeman , Libéral - Notre-Dame-de-Grâce
• Pierre Corbeil , Libéral - Abitibi-Est
• Jacques Côté , Parti Québécois - Dubuc
• Philippe Couillard , Libéral - Mont-Royal
• Michelle Courchesne , Libéral - Fabre
• Claude Cousineau , Parti Québécois - Bertrand
• William Cusano , Libéral - Viau
• Margaret F. Delisle , Libéral - Jean-Talon
• Pierre Descoteaux , Libéral - Groulx
• Serge Deslières , Parti Québécois - Beauharnois
• Michel Després , Libéral - Jean-Lesage
• Léandre Dion , Parti Québécois - Saint-Hyacinthe
• Rita Dionne-Marsoliar , Parti Québécois - Rosemont
• Danielle Doyer , Pari Québécois - Matapédia
• Jean Dubuc , Libéral - La Prairie
• Marjolain Dufour , Parti Québécois - René-Lévesque
• Mario Dumont, A.D.Q. - Rivière-du-Loup
• Jacques P. Dupuis , Libéral - Saint-Laurent
• Jean-Marc Fournier, Libéral - Châteauguay
• André Gabias , Libéral - Trois-Rivières
• Monique Gagnon-Tremblay, Libéral - Saint-François
• Francine Gaudet , Libéral - Maskinongé
• Françoise Gauthier , Libéral - Jonquière
• Henri-François Gautrin , Libéral - Verdun
• François Gendron , Parti Québécois - Abitibi-Ouest
• Nicolas Girard , Parti Québécois - Gouin
• Janvier Grondin , A.D.Q. - Beauce-Nord
• Sam Hamad , Libéral - Louis-Hébert
• France Hamel , Libéral - La Peltrie
• Louise Harel , Parti Québécois - Hochelaga-Maisonneuve
• Fatima Houda-Pepin , Libéral - La Pinière
• Yolande James , Libéral - Nelligan
• Monique Jérôme-Forget , Libéral - Marguerite-Bourgeoys
• Normand Jutras , Parti Québécois - Drummond
• Geoffrey Kelley , Libéral - Jacques-Cartier
• Réjean Lafrenière , Libéral - Gatineau
• Michèle Lamquin-Éthier , Libéral - Crémazie
• Bernard Landry, Parti Québécois - Verchères
• Diane Leblanc , Libéral - Beauce-Sud
• Charlotte L'Écuyer , Libéral - Pontiac
• Elsie Lefebvre, Parti Québécois - Laurier-Dorion
• Sylvain Légaré, A.D.Q. - Vanier
• Diane Legault , Libéral - Chambly
• François Legault , Parti Québécois - Rousseau
• Richard Legendre , Parti Québécois - Blainville
• Nicole Léger , Parti Québécois - Pointe-aux-Trembles
• Guy Lelièvre , Parti Québécois - Gaspé
• Diane Lemieux , Parti Québécois - Bourget
• Laurent Lessard , Libéral - Frontenac
• Michel Létourneau , Parti Québécois - Ungava
• Nicole Loiselle , Libéral - Saint-Henri--Sainte-Anne
• Norman MacMillan , Libéral - Papineau
• Agnès Maltais , Parti Québécois - Taschereau
• Yvon Marcoux , Libéral - Vaudreuil
• Pauline Marois , Parti Québécois - Taillon
• Pierre Marsan , Libéral - Robert-Baldwin
• Éric R. Mercier , Libéral - Charlesbourg
• Pierre Moreau , Libéral - Marguerite-D'Youville
• Michel Morin , Parti Québécois - Nicolet-Yamaska
• Norbert Monrin , Libéral - Montmagny-L'Islet
• Thomas J. Mulcair , Libéral - Chomedey
• Nathalie Normandeau , Libéral - Bonaventure
• François Ouimet , Libéral - Marquette
• Sylvain Pagé , Parti Québécois - Labelle
• Lucie Papineau , Parti Québécois - Prévost
• Alain paquet , Libéral - Laval-des-Rapides
• Jean-Pierre Paquin , Libéral - Saint-Jean
• Pierre Paradis , Libéral - Brome-Missisquoi
• Benoît Pelletier , Libéral - Chapleau
• Sarah Perreault , Libéral - Chauveau
• Marc Picard , A.D.Q. - Chutes-de-la-Chaudière
• Claude Pinard , Parti Québécois - Saint-Maurice
• Pierre Reid , Libéral - Orford
• Lorraine Richard , Parti Québécois - Duplessis
• Jean Rioux , Libéral - Iberville
• Hélène Robert , Parti Québécois - Deux-Montagnes
• Sylvie Roy , A.D.Q. - Lotbinière
• Yves Séguin , Libéral - Outremont
• Sylvain Simard , Parti Québécois - Richelieu
• Jean-Pierre Soucy , Libéral - Portneuf
• Jean-Claude St-André , Parti Québécois - L'Assomption
• Carole Théberge , Libéral - Lévis
• Lise Thériault , Libéral - Anjou
• Luc Thériault , Parti Québécois - Masson
• Tony Tomassi , Libéral - LaFontaine
• Stéphan Tremblay , Parti Québécois - Lac-Saint-Jean
• Daniel Turp , Parti Québécois - Mercier
• Yvon Vallières , Libéral - Richmond
• Jonathan Valois , Parti Québécois - Joliette
• Cécile Vermette , Parti Québécois - Marie-Victorin
• Dominique Vien , Libéral - Bellechasse
• David Whissell , Libéral - 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.

See also

• Executive Council of Quebec
• List of Quebec general elections
• List of Quebec premiers
• List of Quebec leaders of the Opposition
• Politics of Quebec
• Timeline of Quebec history

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