1939 Quebec general election

The 1939 Quebec general election was held on October 25, 1939, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Quebec, Canada. The Quebec Liberal Party, led by former premier Adélard Godbout, defeated the incumbent Union Nationale, led by Maurice Duplessis.

1939 Quebec general election

October 25, 1939

90 seats in the 21st Legislative Assembly of Quebec
46 seats were needed for a majority
  First party Second party
 
Leader Adélard Godbout Maurice Duplessis
Party Liberal Union Nationale
Leader since June 11, 1936 June 20, 1936
Leader's seat L'Islet Trois-Rivières
Last election 14 seats, 39.41% 76 seats, 56.88%
Seats won 70 15
Seat change Increase56 Decrease61
Percentage 54.05% 39.13%
Swing Increase14.64pp Decrease17.75pp

Premier before election

Maurice Duplessis
Union Nationale

Premier after election

Adélard Godbout
Liberal

This was Godbout's second non-consecutive term of office and his only victory out of four consecutive general elections opposing Duplessis.

The Action libérale nationale, which had won 25 seats in the 1935 election and then merged with the Quebec Conservative Party, was re-formed by Paul Gouin, who had split with Duplessis soon after the formation of the Union Nationale. However the ALN obtained only 4.5% of the vote and no seats. It soon disbanded. Also, a rump Conservative Party ran three candidates who won 0.2% of the vote and no seats. This party also disbanded.

Redistribution of ridings

An Act passed before the election[1] reduced the number of MLAs from 90 to 86 through the following changes:

Abolished ridingsNew ridings
Reorganization of ridings
Mergers of ridings
  1. also absorbed part of Maisonneuve

Results

[2]

Elections to the Legislative Assembly of Quebec (1939)
Political party Party leader MPPs Votes
Candidates 1936 1939 ± # ± % ± (pp)
Liberal Adélard Godbout 85 14 69 55Increase 301,382 77,008Increase 53.50 14.09Increase
  Union Nationale and allies
 Union Nationale Maurice Duplessis 84 76 14 62Decrease 217,413 106,399Decrease 38.60 18.28Decrease
 Conservative[a 1] 1 1 1Increase 2,989 New 0.53 New
  Action libérale nationale Paul Gouin 56 25,295 New 4.49 New
  Parti national[a 2] 1 1 1Increase 3,074 New 0.55 New
  Other candidates
 Independent[a 3] 5 1 1Increase 6,281 5,514Increase 1.12 0.99Increase
 Co-operative Commonwealth 1 2,513 1,044Increase 0.45 0.19Increase
 Independent-Conservative 3 1,679 191Decrease 0.30 0.03Decrease
 Independent-Liberal 3 788 8,958Decrease 0.14 1.57Decrease
 Independent-ALN 1 617 New 0.11 New
 Independent-Unionist 3 469 1,459Decrease 0.08 0.26Decrease
 Labour 3 410 331Increase 0.07 0.06Increase
 ALN-Labour 1 228 New 0.04 New
 Communist 1 159 886Decrease 0.03 0.15Decrease
 Candidat du peuple did not campaign
Total 248 90 86 563,297 100%
Rejected ballots 7,334 2,404Decrease
Voter turnout 570,631 3,624Decrease 77.00 0.06Increase
Registered electors (contested ridings only) 741,131 5,283Decrease
Candidates returned by acclamation[a 4] 1 1Increase
  1. Joseph-Philias Morin (Champlain) elected under Conservative banner; joined UN caucus after election.
  2. Formed during the 20th Legislature, when five MLAs broke from the UN. Only René Chaloult (Lotbinière) ran for re-election under the Nationalist ticket, and he declared himself as an Independent-Liberal after the election
  3. Camillien Houde was elected in Montréal–Sainte-Marie
  4. Edgar Rochette (Charlevoix-Saguenay), for the Liberals


Popular vote
PLQ
54.05%
UN
39.13%
Others
6.82%
Seats summary
PLQ
81.40%
UN
17.44%
Others
1.16%

See also

References

  1. An Act respecting the electoral districts of the Province, S.Q. 1939, c. 7.
  2. Drouilly, Pierre (December 4, 2017). "Élections québécoises de 1939". donneesquebec.ca. Atlas des élections au Québec.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.