Action d mocratique du Qu bec

Logo de l'Action Démocratique du Québec
Action Démocratique du Québec
Current Leader:Mario Dumont
Mario Dumont
Founded:January 6, 1994
Headquarters:740 Saint-Maurice Street
Office #108
Montreal, Quebec
H3C 1L5
(514) 270-4413 & 1-800-370-3221
adq@adq.qc.ca (mailto:adq@adq.qc.ca)
Colours:Blue (also Red)
Political ideology:Fiscal Conservative

The Action démocratique du Québec (ADQ) is a political party in Quebec. Its official registered name is Action démocratique du Québec / Équipe Mario Dumont. It is the most conservative of the three major provincial parties in Quebec. Its members are referred to as adéquistes.

Contents

History

The party was formed in 1994 by former members of the Parti libéral du Québec who left that party due to its reluctance to commit to Quebec sovereignty following the defeat of the Charlottetown Accord.

Initially, the party was led by former Liberal MNA Jean Allaire, but he resigned within a few months and was succeeded by former Liberal youth committee president Mario Dumont, who has retained the leadership to this day. Dumont won a seat in the Quebec National Assembly in the 1994 Quebec election, the only adéquiste candidate to do so.

In the 1995 Quebec referendum, Dumont campaigned for the "Yes" side. However, in subsequent election campaigns he has promised a moratorium on the sovereignty question.

The 1998 Quebec election gave the same result as before: Dumont was the only candidate from his party to win a seat.

Although Dumont was a very popular leader, ADQ support always lagged behind his personal support. Dumont remained his party's only sitting MNA until 2002, when voter dissatisfaction with both the Parti Québécois government of Bernard Landry and the Liberal alternative presented by Jean Charest led the ADQ to an unexpected victory in a series of by-elections, bringing the party caucus to five members.

Suddenly the ADQ soared in popularity, leading the established parties in public opinion polling for the first time in its existence. However, the party's conservative platform was now subjected to increased scrutiny, and its support faltered once more.

In the 2003 Quebec election, the ADQ lost the four seats it had gained in the by-elections, but picked up three other seats previously held by the PQ, and pulled enough votes from the PQ to give the victory to Charest's Liberals. The party obtained 18 per cent of the popular vote in that election, its best result to date.

On September 20th, the ADQ candidate for the by-election in Vanier managed to pull off a victory and raised the numbers of MNA of the ADQ to 5. A few days after, the ADQ held its congress in Drummondville where its members adopted the new constitutional position of the ADQ which can be defined as autonomist. ADQ members also elected ex-liberal minister Yvon Picotte as president of the ADQ to replace Guy Laforest.

Ex-PQ treasury board president, Joseph Facal, said that with these two events, the ADQ managed to remove itself from intensive care and become once again a major political force.

Leaders of the Action démocratique du Québec

Election results

General election # of candidates # of seats won % of popular vote
1994 80 1 6.46%
1998 125 1 11.81%
2003 125 4 18.18%

See also

External links



fr:Action démocratique du Québec

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