The New Democratic Party of Quebec (in French: Nouveau Parti démocratique du Québec) (NPD-Québec or NPDQ) was a political party in Quebec, Canada, with social democratic and democratic socialist tendencies. The name was in use from 1963 to 1994.

History

The NPDQ was created in the 1960s following the concerted efforts of the Quebec Federation of Labour (Fédération des travailleurs du Québec) (FTQ) and of the Quebec section of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) (since 1955, the French name of the CCF was Parti social-démocratique (PSD)).

On the federal level, in its role as the Quebec section of the New Democratic Party of Canada, the NPDQ contested the Canadian federal elections between 1962 and 1988.

Until the end of the 1960s, in conformity with the distribution of the roles that had been decided in 1963, the NPDQ was active exclusively on the federal political level in Quebec, leaving the provincial political level to the Socialist Party of Quebec (Parti socialiste du Québec) (PSQ). After the disparition of the PSQ around 1968, the NPDQ continued to concentrate most of its attention on the federal level during the 1970s and the early 1980s, although it also made a few incursions on the provincial level, running a small number of candidates, first in the Quebec general election of 1970, and later in the Quebec general election of 1976, that time as part of a coalition with the Regroupement des militants syndicaux (RMS).

In the mid-1980s, the NPDQ considered that there existed a new political vacuum in Quebec politics and that, in addition to its role as the Quebec section of the federal NDP, the time had come for the NDPQ to fully step onto the provincial scene. The NDPQ officially registered as a political party in Quebec in 1985. It contested the Quebec general elections in 1985, 1989 and 1994.

In 1989, the NPDQ and the federal NPD agreed to sever their structural ties, the two parties becoming fully independent of each other. As a result, the NPDQ concentrated its activities on the Quebec provincial political level, and its members became free to adhere to any federal political party. Similarly, the federal NDP directed its activites in Quebec exclusively on the federal political level, through its Quebec branch renamed the New Democratic Party of Canada (Quebec), which runs candidates only in federal elections and whose members became free to adhere to any provincial political party in Quebec. Practically, this brought the situation back to was it had been in 1963, but with the difference that the NPDQ, which after the first division of 1963 had ended up being an organization centered on federal politics, now ended up being an organization centered on provincial politics after the second division of 1989.

After the Quebec general election of 1994, the NPDQ chose to change its name to Parti de la démocratie socialiste (PDS) (Party of the socialist democracy). Under this new name, the PDS contested the Quebec general election of 1998.

In 2002, the PDS became a part of the left-wing coalition Union des forces progressistes (UFP) (Union of progressist forces), together with the Rassemblement pour l'alternative progressiste (RAP) (Union for a progressive alternative) and the Communist Party of Quebec (Parti communiste du Québec) (PCQ). As a consequence, the PDS withdrew its official party registration with the Chief electoral officer and participated under the UFP banner in the Quebec general election of 2003.

Leaders of the NPD-Québec and the PDS

• Robert Cliche (1964-1968)
• Roland Morin (1970-1973)
• Henri-François Gautrin (1973-1979)
• Jean-Paul Harney (1985-1988)
• Roland Morin (1987-1989)
• Gaétan Nadeau (1989-1990)
• Michel Parenteau (1990-1992)
• Jean-François Sirois (1992-1994)
• Jocelyne Dupuis (1994-1996)
• Paul Rose (1996-2002)

Electoral results (Quebec general elections)

†coalition Nouveau Parti démocratique du Québec / Regroupement des militants syndicaux

See also

• Politics of Quebec
• List of Quebec general elections
• National Assembly of Quebec
• Timeline of Quebec history
• Political parties in Quebec

External links

• New Democratic Party of Canada (Quebec)
• National Assembly historical information
• La Politique québécoise sur le Web