1970 Quebec general election

The Quebec general election of 1970 was held on April 29, 1970 to elect members of the National Assembly of the Province of Quebec, Canada. The former Legislative Assembly had been renamed the "National Assembly" in 1968. The Quebec Liberal Party, led by Robert Bourassa, defeated the incumbent Union Nationale, led by Jean-Jacques Bertrand.

The Union Nationale, which had governed Quebec through most of the 1940s and 1950s, never held power again.

This election marked the first appearance by a new party, the sovereignist Parti Québécois, led by former Liberal cabinet minister René Lévesque. The PQ won a modest seven seats, although Lévesque was defeated in his own riding. The PQ would later win over many of the Union Nationale's nationalist supporters, contributing to that party's demise.

Only a few months after the election, Quebec faced a severe test with the October Crisis, in which Liberal cabinet minister Pierre Laporte was kidnapped and assassinated by the Front de Liberation du Quebec, a violent pro-independence group.

Results

Party		Party leader	Seats			Popular vote
			1966	Elected	% Change	#	%	% Change	Liberal	Robert Bourassa	50	72	+44.0%	1,304,341	45.40%	-1.9%	Union Nationale	Jean-Jacques Bertrand	56	17	-69.6%	564,544	19.65%	-21.2%	Ralliement creditiste	Camil Samson	*	12	*	321,370	11.19%	*	Parti Québécois	René Lévesque	*	7	*	662,404	23.06%	*	Other1		2	-	-100%	20,311	0.70%	-11.2%
Total			108	108	-	2,872,970	100%

Note:

* Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.

¹ including results of Rassemblement pour l'indépendance nationale and Ralliement national from previous election.

See also

• List of Quebec premiers
• Politics of Quebec
• Timeline of Quebec history
• List of Quebec political parties

Preceded by 1966

List of Quebec general elections

Succeeded by 1973

External link

• CBC TV video clip