2004 Quebec municipal referendums

The 2004 Quebec municipal referendums were held by the Quebec Liberal Party government of Jean Charest that came to power in the 2003 Quebec election, in fulfillment of a campaign promise to allow voters to have a say regarding the municipal reorganization program that had been undertaken by the preceding Parti Québécois administration.

From late 2000 to 2003, the PQ government had amalgamated (merged) many Quebec cities with their suburbs or neighbouring municipalities. This was imposed through legislation by the Quebec government rather than by the initiative of the municipalities themselves. In Canada, municipal governments are creatures of the provincial governments. However, the amalgamation proved unpopular in some places, with residents wishing to de-merge from the newly expanded cities and reconstitute their former municipalities. The 2004 referendums were organized to provide an opportunity to vote on the matter.

Results
As a first step, a minimum threshold of 10% of the population of a former municipality was required to sign a register in order for a referendum to be held. The registers were open from 16 to 20 May 2004. When this criterion was met, referendums were scheduled on June 20, 2004. To be unmerged, they had to obtain a more than 50% of the vote for "yes", representing at least 35% of the electors.