1976 Quebec general election

The 1976 Quebec general election was held on November 15, 1976 to elect members to National Assembly of the Province of Quebec, Canada. It was one of the most significant elections in Quebec history, rivalled only by the 1960 general election, and caused major repercussions in the rest of Canada. The Parti Québécois, led by René Lévesque, defeated the incumbent Quebec Liberal Party, led by Premier Robert Bourassa.

The Parti Québécois's campaign focused on providing good government, in contrast the many scandals that had plagued the Liberals since 1973, The PQ's stated goal of achieving independence for Quebec from Canada was portrayed as only secondary, but the election of a sovereigntist government in Quebec caused great upset in the rest of Canada and led to extensive discussions about reforming the Canadian Confederation and finding ways of accommodating Quebec.

The Parti Québécois used its term in office to introduce numerous bills to implement its agenda. The first bill introduced in the new session of the National Assembly was legislation to confirm French as the sole official language of Quebec, and to implement measures to make this a social reality. The legislative number of this bill, "Bill One," was intended to signify the importance of the bill for the new government. The bill was withdrawn and significantly altered, however, and was eventually re-introduced as "Bill 101" (or la Loi 101 in French), also known as the Charter of the French Language. With some modifications, the Charter of the French Language remains in effect today and has shaped modern Quebec society in far-reaching ways.

The 1976 election also set the stage for the 1980 Quebec referendum on the PQ's proposal for political independence in an economic union with the rest of Canada called sovereignty-association. The proposal was soundly defeated in the referendum.

Bourassa had called the election after only three years, well before the maximum possible term of five years. It is possible that he may have counted on a boost from his successful rescue of the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal after cost overruns and construction delays by the Montreal municipal government of Mayor Jean Drapeau. If so, he badly miscalculated. He not only lost the election, but was resoundingly defeated in his own riding by a PQ challenger. Bourassa resigned as Liberal leader, and his political career appeared to be over. He left Quebec and took up teaching positions in the United States and Europe. However, he later made a remarkable comeback in the 1985 general election.

The once-powerful Union Nationale made a modest comeback after being evicted from the legislature three years earlier. It won 11 seats under Rodrigue Biron and, for the first time, won significant support from some anglophone voters. An anglophone UN member, William Shaw was elected to the National Assembly. However, this proved to be the party's last hurrah. Successive floor-crossings, retirements, and resignations reduced the UN to only five members during the term. The party lost all of those remaining seats five years later, never to return; it would continue to exist nominally until 1989.

Campaign
The Liberals and péquistes both fielded full slates. The Unionists and the créditistes decided not to nominate candidates in Beauce-Sud, in order to clear the way for the pénépiste Fabien Roy to hold the riding. The Unionists did not have a candidate in Outremont. Otherwise, all other constituencies experienced at least four-way contests.

The election also saw the emergence of two other political groups. The Democratic Alliance, led by Nick Auf der Maur, ran 13 candidates in the anglophone areas of the Island of Montreal, while the Parti national populaire (founded by Fabien Roy and Jérôme Choquette) had 36 candidates provincewide but ran a less-organized campaign. The PNP had attempted to merge with the UN earlier in August, but the effort was called off  in September because of a falling-out between Choquette and the UN leader Rodrigue Biron.

Results
! colspan=2 rowspan=2 | Political party ! rowspan=2 | Party leader ! colspan=4 | MPPs ! colspan=4 | Votes ! Candidates !1973 !1976 !± !# ! ± !% ! ± (pp)


 * style="text-align:left;"|René Lévesque
 * 110 || 6  || 71  || 65  || 1,390,351  || 492,542  || 41.37% || 11.15


 * style="text-align:left;"|Robert Bourassa
 * 110 || 102  || 26  || 76 || 1,135,056  || 488,678 || 33.78% || 20.87


 * style="text-align:left;"|Rodrigue Biron
 * 108 || – || 11  || 11  || 611,666  || 465,457  || 18.20% || 13.28


 * style="text-align:left;"|Camil Samson
 * 109 || 2  || 1  || 1 || 155,451  || 139,255 || 4.63% || 5.29


 * style="text-align:left;"|Jérôme Choquette
 * 36 || – || 1  || 1  || 31,043  || 31,043  || 0.92% || New


 * style="text-align:left;"|Nick Auf der Maur
 * 13 || – || – || – || 17,762  || 17,762  || 0.53% || New

-RMS coalition
 * || 22 || – || – || – || 12,984  || 6,023  || 0.39% || 0.16
 * style="text-align:left;"|Henri-François Gautrin
 * 21 || – || – || – || 3,080  || 3,080  || 0.09% || New


 * style="text-align:left;"|Sam Walsh
 * 14 || – || – || – || 1,776  || 1,612  || 0.05% || 0.04


 * style="text-align:left;"|
 * 12 || – || – || – || 1,249  || 1,249  || 0.04% || New

! colspan="3" style="text-align:left;" | Total ! " colspan="2"|110 ! " colspan="2"|3,360,506 ! " colspan="2"| 100.00%
 * style="text-align:left;"|
 * 1 || – || – || – || 88  || 88  || – || New
 * 556||108
 * colspan="7" style="text-align:left;" | Rejected ballots
 * 70,446
 * 15,686
 * colspan="2"|
 * colspan="7" style="text-align:left;" | Voter turnout
 * 3,430,952
 * 405,214
 * 85.27
 * 4.89
 * colspan="7" style="text-align:left;" | Registered electors
 * 4,023,743
 * 259,132
 * colspan="2"|
 * }
 * 259,132
 * colspan="2"|
 * }

Synopsis of results

 * = open seat
 * = turnout is above provincial average
 * = winning candidate was in previous Legislature
 * = incumbent had switched allegiance
 * = previously incumbent in another riding
 * = not incumbent; was previously elected to the Legislature
 * = incumbency arose from byelection gain
 * = other incumbents renominated
 * = previously an MP in the House of Commons of Canada
 * = multiple candidates

MPPs elected by region and riding
Party designations are as follows:

{{legend|#87CEFA|PQ }} {{legend|#EA6D6A|Liberal}} {{legend|#0088C2|UN}} {{legend|#90EE90|Créditiste}} {{legend|#923746|Parti national populaire}}


 * Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine and Bas-Saint-Laurent
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Bonaventure: Gérard D. Levesque}}
 * {{legend|#0088C2|Gaspé: Michel Le Moignan}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Îles-de-la-Madeleine: Denise Leblanc}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Kamouraska-Témiscouata: Léonard Lévesque}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Matane:Yves Bérubé }}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Matapédia: Léopold Marquis}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Rimouski: Alain Marcoux}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Rivière-du-Loup: Jules Boucher}}


 * Côte-Nord and Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Chicoutimi: Marc-André Bédard}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Dubuc: Hubert Desbiens}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Duplessis: Denis Perron}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Jonquière: Claude Vaillancourt}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Lac-Saint-Jean: Jacques Brassard}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Roberval: Robert Lamontagne}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Saguenay: Lucien Lessard}}


 * Capitale-Nationale
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Charlesbourg: Denis de Belleval}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Charlevoix: Raymond Mailloux}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Chauveau: Louis O'Neill}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Jean-Talon: Raymond Garneau}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Limoilou: Raymond Gravel}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Louis-Hébert: Claude Morin}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Montmorency: Clément Richard}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Portneuf: Michel Pagé}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Taschereau: Richard Guay}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Vanier: Jean-François Bertrand}}


 * Mauricie
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Champlain: Marcel Gagnon}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Laviolette: Jean-Pierre Jolivet}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Maskinongé: Yvon Picotte}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Saint-Maurice: Yves Duhaime}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Trois-Rivières: Denis Vaugeois}}


 * Chaudière-Appalaches and Centre-du-Québec
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Arthabaska: Jacques Baril}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Beauce-Nord: Adrien Ouellette}}
 * {{legend|#923746|Beauce-Sud: Fabien Roy}}
 * {{legend|#0088C2|Bellechasse: Bertrand Goulet}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Drummond: Michel Clair}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Frontenac: Gilles Grégoire}}
 * {{legend|#0088C2|Johnson: Maurice Bellemare}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Lévis: Jean Garon}}
 * {{legend|#0088C2|Lotbinière: Rodrigue Biron}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Montmagny-L'Islet: Julien Giasson}}
 * {{legend|#0088C2|Nicolet-Yamaska: Serge Fontaine}}


 * Estrie
 * {{legend|#0088C2|Mégantic-Compton: Fernand Grenier}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Orford: Georges Vaillancourt}}
 * {{legend|#0088C2|Richmond: Yvon Brochu}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Saint-François: Réal Rancourt}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Sherbrooke: Gérard Gosselin}}


 * Montérégie
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Beauharnois: Laurent Lavigne}}
 * {{legend|#0088C2|Brome-Missisquoi: Armand Russell}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Chambly: Denis Lazure}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Châteauguay: Roland Dussault}}
 * {{legend|#0088C2|Huntingdon: Claude Dubois}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Iberville: Jacques Beauséjour}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Laporte: Pierre Marois}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Laprairie: Gilles Michaud}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Richelieu: Maurice Martel}}
 * {{legend|#0088C2|Saint-Hyacinthe: Fabien Cordeau}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Saint-Jean: Jérôme Proulx}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Shefford: Richard Verreault}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Taillon: René Lévesque}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Vaudreuil-Soulanges: Louise Sauvé Cuerrier}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Verchères: Jean-Pierre Charbonneau}}


 * Montreal East
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Anjou: Pierre-Marc Johnson}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Bourassa: Patrice Laplante}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Bourget: Camille Laurin}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Crémazie: Guy Tardif}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Dorion: Lise Payette}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Gouin: Rodrigue Tremblay}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Jeanne-Mance: Henri-E. Laberge}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|LaFontaine: Marcel Léger}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Laurier: André Marchand}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Maisonneuve: Robert Burns}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Mercier: Gérald Godin}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Rosemont: Gilbert Paquette}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Saint-Jacques: Claude Charron}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Sainte-Marie: Guy Bisaillon}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Sauvé: Jacques-Yvan Morin}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Viau: Charles-A. Lefebvre}}


 * Montreal West
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|L'Acadie: Thérèse Lavoie-Roux}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|D'Arcy-McGee: Victor Charles Goldbloom}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Jacques-Cartier: Noël Saint-Germain}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Marguerite-Bourgeoys: Fernand Lalonde}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Mont-Royal: John Ciaccia}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Notre-Dame-de-Grâce: Bryce Mackasey}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Outremont: André Raynauld}}
 * {{legend|#0088C2|Pointe-Claire: William Shaw}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Robert-Baldwin: John O'Gallagher}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Sainte-Anne: Jean-Marc Lacoste}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Saint-Henri: Jacques Couture}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Saint-Laurent: Claude Forget}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Saint-Louis: Harry Blank}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Verdun: Lucien Caron}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Westmount: George Springate}}


 * Laval
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Fabre: Bernard Landry}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Laval: Jean-Noël Lavoie}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Mille-Îles: Guy Joron}}


 * Laurentides
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Argenteuil: Zoël Saindon}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Deux-Montagnes: Pierre de Bellefeuille}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Laurentides-Labelle: Jacques Léonard}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Prévost: Jean-Guy Cardinal}}


 * Lanaudière
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Berthier: Jean-Guy Mercier}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Joliette-Montcalm: Guy Chevrette}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|L'Assomption: Jacques Parizeau}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Terrebonne: Élie Fallu}}


 * Outaouais
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Gatineau: Michel Gratton}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Hull: Jocelyne Ouellette}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Papineau: Jean Alfred}}
 * {{legend|#EA6D6A|Pontiac-Témiscamingue: Jean-Guy Larivière}}


 * Abitibi-Témiscamingue and Nord-du-Québec
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Abitibi-Est: Jean-Paul Bordeleau}}
 * {{legend|#87CEFA|Abitibi-Ouest: François Gendron}}
 * {{legend|#90EE90|Rouyn-Noranda: Camil Samson}}