National Assembly of Quebec


National Assembly of Quebec - Definition

fr:Assembl�e nationale du Qu�bec

The Quebec Parliament Building at night

The National Assembly is the legislative body of the Canadian province of Quebec. It operates in a fashion similar to that of other British-style parliamentary systems. Since the abolition of the Legislative Council (an "upper house") in 1968, the 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.

Contents

1 History

2 Parliament Building

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 (the "lower house").

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 Eug�ne-�tienne Tach�. It is a unique construction in North America, with a Second Empire style of architecture. Its fa�ade 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

</table> Official seating plan of the Quebec National Assembly. At the present, the 125 seats of the National Assembly are distributed as follows:

****

Party	Number of seats	Number of women	Party Leader
Parti lib�ral du Qu�bec	73	22	Jean Charest
Parti Qu�b�cois	46	16	Bernard Landry
Action d�mocratique du Qu�bec	5	1	Mario Dumont
Independent*	1	0
Vacant	0	0
Total	125	38

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

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

Lib�ral member Marc Bellemare (Vanier) resigned on April 28, 2004. Sylvain L�gar� (ADQ) won the by-election with 46.8% of the vote.

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

Parti Qu�b�cois member Andr� 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 Qu�b�cois - �les-de-la-Madeleine
Vincent Auclair, Lib�ral - Vimont
Michel Audet, Lib�ral - Laporte
Claude Bachand, Lib�ral - Arthabaska
Line Beauchamp, Lib�ral - Bourassa-Sauv�
Denise Beaudoin, Parti Qu�b�cois - Mirabel
Claude B�chard, Lib�ral - Kamouraska-T�miscouata
St�phane B�dard, Parti Qu�b�cois - Chicoutimi
Lawrence S. Bergman, Lib�ral - D'Arcy-McGee
Daniel Bernard, Lib�ral - Rouyn-Noranda--T�miscamingue
Raymond Bernier, Lib�ral - Montmorency
Rosaire Bertrand, Parti Qu�b�cois - Charlevoix
Michel Bissonnet, Lib�ral - Jeanne-Mance--Viger
Karl Blackburn, Lib�ral - Roberval
Yvan Bordelau, Lib�ral - Acadie
Camil Bouchard, Parti Qu�b�cois - Vachon
Daniel Bouchard, Independent - M�gantic-Compton
Claude Boucher, Parti Qu�b�cois - Johnson
Andr� Boulerice, Parti Qu�b�cois - Sainte-Marie--Saint-Jacques
Julie Boulet, Lib�ral - Laviolette
Alexandre Bourdeau, Parti Qu�b�cois - Berthier
Bernard Brodeur, Lib�ral - Shefford
Jocelyne Caron, Parti Qu�b�cois - Terrebonne
Jacques Chagnon, Lib�ral - Westmount--Saint-Louis
No�lla Champagne, Parti Qu�b�cois - Champlain
Jean-Pierre Charbonneau, Parti Qu�b�cois - Borduas
Jean Charest, Lib�ral - Sherbrooke
Nancy Charest, Lib�ral - Matane
Solange Charest, Parti Qu�b�cois - Rimouski
Lucie Charlebois, Lib�ral - Soulanges
Andr� Chenail, Lib�ral - Huntingdon
Roch Cholette, Lib�ral - Hull
Maurice Clermont, Lib�ral - Mille-�les
Russell Copeman, Lib�ral - Notre-Dame-de-Gr�ce
Pierre Corbeil, Lib�ral - Abitibi-Est
Jacques C�t�, Parti Qu�b�cois - Dubuc
Philippe Couillard, Lib�ral - Mont-Royal
Michelle Courchesne, Lib�ral - Fabre
Claude Cousineau, Parti Qu�b�cois - Bertrand
William Cusano, Lib�ral - Viau
Margaret F. Delisle, Lib�ral - Jean-Talon
Pierre Descoteaux, Lib�ral - Groulx
Serge Desli�res, Parti Qu�b�cois - Beauharnois
Michel Despr�s, Lib�ral - Jean-Lesage
L�andre Dion, Parti Qu�b�cois - Saint-Hyacinthe
Rita Dionne-Marsoliar, Parti Qu�b�cois - Rosemont
Danielle Doyer, Pari Qu�b�cois - Matap�dia
Jean Dubuc, Lib�ral - La Prairie
Marjolain Dufour, Parti Qu�b�cois - Ren�-L�vesque
Mario Dumont, A.D.Q. - Rivi�re-du-Loup
Jacques P. Dupuis, Lib�ral - Saint-Laurent
Jean-Marc Fournier, Lib�ral - Ch�teauguay
Andr� Gabias, Lib�ral - Trois-Rivi�res
Monique Gagnon-Tremblay, Lib�ral - Saint-Fran�ois
Francine Gaudet, Lib�ral - Maskinong�
Fran�oise Gauthier, Lib�ral - Jonqui�re
Henri-Fran�ois Gautrin, Lib�ral - Verdun
Fran�ois Gendron, Parti Qu�b�cois - Abitibi-Ouest
Nicolas Girard, Parti Qu�b�cois - Gouin
Janvier Grondin, A.D.Q. - Beauce-Nord
Sam Hamad, Lib�ral - Louis-H�bert
France Hamel, Lib�ral - La Peltrie
Louise Harel, Parti Qu�b�cois - Hochelaga-Maisonneuve
Fatima Houda-Pepin, Lib�ral - La Pini�re
Yolande James, Lib�ral - Nelligan
Monique J�r�me-Forget, Lib�ral - Marguerite-Bourgeoys
Normand Jutras, Parti Qu�b�cois - Drummond
Geoffrey Kelley, Lib�ral - Jacques-Cartier
R�jean Lafreni�re, Lib�ral - Gatineau
Mich�le Lamquin-�thier, Lib�ral - Cr�mazie
Bernard Landry, Parti Qu�b�cois - Verch�res
Diane Leblanc, Lib�ral - Beauce-Sud
Charlotte L'�cuyer, Lib�ral - Pontiac
Elsie Lefebvre, Parti Qu�b�cois - Laurier-Dorion
Sylvain L�gar�, A.D.Q. - Vanier
Diane Legault, Lib�ral - Chambly
Fran�ois Legault, Parti Qu�b�cois - Rousseau
Richard Legendre, Parti Qu�b�cois - Blainville
Nicole L�ger, Parti Qu�b�cois - Pointe-aux-Trembles
Guy Leli�vre, Parti Qu�b�cois - Gasp�
Diane Lemieux, Parti Qu�b�cois - Bourget
Laurent Lessard, Lib�ral - Frontenac
Michel L�tourneau, Parti Qu�b�cois - Ungava
Nicole Loiselle, Lib�ral - Saint-Henri--Sainte-Anne
Norman MacMillan, Lib�ral - Papineau
Agn�s Maltais, Parti Qu�b�cois - Taschereau
Yvon Marcoux, Lib�ral - Vaudreuil
Pauline Marois, Parti Qu�b�cois - Taillon
Pierre Marsan, Lib�ral - Robert-Baldwin
�ric R. Mercier, Lib�ral - Charlesbourg
Pierre Moreau, Lib�ral - Marguerite-D'Youville
Michel Morin, Parti Qu�b�cois - Nicolet-Yamaska
Norbert Monrin, Lib�ral - Montmagny-L'Islet
Thomas J. Mulcair, Lib�ral - Chomedey
Nathalie Normandeau, Lib�ral - Bonaventure
Fran�ois Ouimet, Lib�ral - Marquette
Sylvain Pag�, Parti Qu�b�cois - Labelle
Lucie Papineau, Parti Qu�b�cois - Pr�vost
Alain paquet, Lib�ral - Laval-des-Rapides
Jean-Pierre Paquin, Lib�ral - Saint-Jean
Pierre Paradis, Lib�ral - Brome-Missisquoi
Beno�t Pelletier, Lib�ral - Chapleau
Sarah Perreault, Lib�ral - Chauveau
Marc Picard, A.D.Q. - Chutes-de-la-Chaudi�re
Claude Pinard, Parti Qu�b�cois - Saint-Maurice
Pierre Reid, Lib�ral - Orford
Lorraine Richard, Parti Qu�b�cois - Duplessis
Jean Rioux, Lib�ral - Iberville
H�l�ne Robert, Parti Qu�b�cois - Deux-Montagnes
Sylvie Roy, A.D.Q. - Lotbini�re
Yves S�guin, Lib�ral - Outremont
Sylvain Simard, Parti Qu�b�cois - Richelieu
Jean-Pierre Soucy, Lib�ral - Portneuf
Jean-Claude St-Andr�, Parti Qu�b�cois - L'Assomption
Carole Th�berge, Lib�ral - L�vis
Lise Th�riault, Lib�ral - Anjou
Luc Th�riault, Parti Qu�b�cois - Masson
Tony Tomassi, Lib�ral - LaFontaine
St�phan Tremblay, Parti Qu�b�cois - Lac-Saint-Jean
Daniel Turp, Parti Qu�b�cois - Mercier
Yvon Valli�res, Lib�ral - Richmond
Jonathan Valois, Parti Qu�b�cois - Joliette
C�cile Vermette, Parti Qu�b�cois - Marie-Victorin
Dominique Vien, Lib�ral - Bellechasse
David Whissell, Lib�ral - 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.

External links

National Assembly of Quebec website (http://www.assnat.qc.ca) (in French and English)
National Assembly historical data (http://www.assnat.qc.ca/fra/patrimoine) (in French)
Diagram of the positions in the Assembly (http://www.assnat.qc.ca/fra/Membres/diagramme.htm) (in French)
Data about the current president of the Assembly (http://www.assnat.qc.ca/fra/membres/notices/b/bism1.shtml)

Canadian Legislative Bodies
Parliament of Canada:
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Vancouver \| Calgary \| Edmonton \| Winnipeg \| Hamilton \| Mississauga \| Toronto \| Ottawa \| Montreal \| Quebec City
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