1936 Quebec general election

The 1936 Quebec general election was held on August 17, 1936 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Quebec, Canada. The Union Nationale, led by Maurice Duplessis, defeated the incumbent Quebec Liberal Party, led by Adélard Godbout.

1936 Quebec general election

August 17, 1936
90 seats in the 19th Legislative Assembly of Quebec 46 seats were needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader Maurice Duplessis Adélard Godbout Party Union Nationale Liberal Leader since June 20, 1936 June 11, 1936 Leader's seat Trois-Rivières L'Islet Last election 42 seats, 48.41%^1 47 seats, 46.53% Seats won 76 14 Seat change 34 33 Percentage 56.88% 39.41% Swing 8.47pp^1 7.12pp
Premier before election Adélard Godbout Liberal Premier after election Maurice Duplessis Union Nationale

This marked the end of slightly more than 39 consecutive years in power for the Liberals, who had governed Quebec since the 1897 election.

This 1936 election had been called less than one year after the 1935 election after Liberal premier Louis-Alexandre Taschereau resigned because of a scandal. He was replaced by Godbout as Liberal leader and premier.

This was Duplessis's first term in office. After losing the subsequent 1939 election, he later won four more general elections in a row, and became the dominant politician of his time. It was also the Union Nationale's first election, having been formed from a merger between the Action libérale nationale and the Quebec Conservative Party.

Results

Party		Party leader	# of candidates	Seats			Popular Vote
				1935	Elected	% Change	#	%	% Change
	Union Nationale^1	Maurice Duplessis		42	76	+81.0%		56.88%	+8.5%
	Liberal	Adélard Godbout		47	14	-70.2%		39.41%	-7.1%
	Other			-	-	-		3.71%	-1.4%
Total				89	90	+1.1%		100%

Note:

^1 Results change is compared to the combined totals of the Conservative and Action libérale nationale parties in 1935.

Popular vote UN   56.88% PLQ   39.41% Others   3.71%

Seats summary UN   84.44% PLQ   15.56%

See also

• List of Quebec premiers
• Politics of Quebec
• Timeline of Quebec history
• List of Quebec political parties
• 20th Legislative Assembly of Quebec