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1944 Quebec general election

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1944 Quebec general election

← 1939 August 8, 1944 1948 →

91 seats in the 22nd Legislative Assembly of Quebec
46 seats were needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Maurice Duplessis Adélard Godbout André Laurendeau
Party Union Nationale Liberal Bloc populaire
Leader since June 20, 1936 June 11, 1936 July 6, 1942
Leader's seat Trois-Rivières L'Islet Montréal-Laurier
Last election 15 seats, 39.13% 70 seats, 54.05% pre-creation
Seats won 48 37 4
Seat change Increase33 Decrease33 Increase4
Popular vote 505,661 523,316 191,564
Percentage 38.02% 39.35% 14.40%
Swing Decrease1.11pp Decrease14.7pp Increase14.40pp

Premier before election

Adélard Godbout
Liberal

Premier after election

Maurice Duplessis
Union Nationale

The 1944 Quebec general election was held on August 8, 1944 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Quebec, Canada. The Union Nationale, led by former premier Maurice Duplessis, defeated the incumbent Quebec Liberal Party, led by Adélard Godbout. This was the first Quebec provincial election in which women were allowed to vote, having been granted suffrage at the provincial level in 1941[1] (much later than what had been fully attained at the federal level in 1919).[2]

This election marked Duplessis's comeback after having defeated Godbout in the 1936 election and having lost to him in the 1939 election. Unlike in the 1939 election, when the alcoholic Duplessis was clearly drunk at numerous campaign rallies, le chef had benefited from the time he had spent in an American sanatorium in 1942-43, where he had sobered up, and in the 1944 election, Duplessis refrained from drinking.

The biggest issue during this election was provincial autonomy. In order to appeal to nationalist voters, Duplessis attacked the incumbent premier, claiming that he was not taking a strong enough stand against Ottawa. He mainly criticized Godbout for agreeing to transfer unemployment insurance from the province to the federal government. He also criticized the Rowell-Sirois Commission for its stance on unemployment insurance and equalization payments.[3]

Another reason Duplessis won the election was by appealing to anti-Semitic prejudices in Quebec by making the false claim in a violently anti-Semitic speech that the Dominion government together with the Godbout government had made a secret deal with the "International Zionist Brotherhood" to settle 100,000 Jewish refugees left homeless by the Holocaust in Quebec after the war in exchange for Jewish campaign contributions to both the federal and provincial Liberal parties.[4] By contrast, Duplessis claimed that he was not taking any money from the Jews, and if he were elected Premier, he would stop this plan to bring Jewish refugees to Quebec. To further push on the message, the Union Nationale handed out campaign pamphlets warning about the alleged plan to bring 100,000 Jewish refugees to Quebec, which featured a cartoon of the standard stereotype of an evil-looking, hook-nosed Jew handing bags of money to Godbout while in the background a vast horde of dirty, disreputable-looking, hook-nosed Jewish refugees were ready to descend on la belle province.[5] Through Duplessis's story about the plan to settle 100,000 Jewish refugees in Quebec was entirely false, his story was widely believed in Quebec, and ensured he won the election.[4] Duplessis's biographer Conrad Black argued that Duplessis was in no way personally anti-Semitic, but because the majority of Quebecois were at the time, Duplessis had merely used antisemitism to win the 1944 election.[6] Duplessis won another three elections in a row, for a total of five terms of office (four consecutive), before dying in office in 1959.

In this wartime election, Godbout's support for Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King in the Conscription Crisis of 1944 may have contributed to his defeat.

The Bloc Populaire won four seats on an anti-conscription platform. More importantly, they siphoned off enough votes from the Liberals to deny them a second term. Even though the Liberals narrowly won the popular vote, massive vote-splitting with the Bloc Populaire allowed the Union Nationals to win a narrow majority of seats.

The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (predecessor of the New Democratic Party) won one seat. Party member David Côté was elected to the legislature, but in July 1945, he decided to sit as an independent.

Redistribution of ridings

[edit]

An Act passed before the election[7] increased the number of MLAs from 86 to 91 through the following changes:

Abolished ridings New ridings
Drawn from parts of other ridings
Reorganization of ridings
Division of ridings
  1. ^ taken from part of Témiscamingue

Campaign

[edit]
Riding contests, by number of candidates (1944)[8]
Candidates UN Lib BP CCF UdE Nat Ind I-Lib Lab Lab-Pr I-UN I-CCF I-BP CdP Total
2 5 4 1 10
3 45 45 40 1 2 1 1 135
4 25 25 24 10 7 5 3 1 100
5 12 12 12 9 3 7 1 2 1 1 60
6 1 1 1 1 1 1 6
7 2 2 2 2 1 2 1 2 14
8 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 8
Total 91 90 80 24 12 2 16 7 2 3 3 1 1 1 333

Results

[edit]
Elections to the Legislative Assembly of Quebec (1944)[8]
Political party Party leader MLAs Votes
Candidates 1939 1944 ± # ± % ± (pp)
Union Nationale[a 1] Maurice Duplessis 91 15 48 33Increase 505,661 285,259Increase 38.02 1.11Decrease
Liberal Adélard Godbout 90 69 37 32Decrease 523,316 221,934Increase 39.35 14.15Decrease
Bloc populaire André Laurendeau 80 4 4Increase 191,564 New 14.40 New
Co-operative Commonwealth Romuald-Joseph Lamoureux[a 2] 24 1 1Increase 33,986 31,473Increase 2.56 2.11Increase
Union des électeurs   12 16,542 New 1.24 New
  Action libérale nationale   did not campaign
  Other candidates
 Independent 16 1 1Decrease 12,766 6,485Increase 0.96 0.03Decrease
 Nationalist[a 3][a 4] 2 1 1 Steady 8,711 5,637Increase 0.65 0.10Increase
 Independent-Liberal 7 8,656 7,868Increase 0.65 0.51Increase
 Labour 2 8,355 7,945Increase 0.63 0.56Increase
 Labor–Progressive[a 5] 3 7,873 7,714Increase 0.59 0.56Increase
 Independent-Unionist 3 6,775 6,306Increase 0.51 0.43Increase
 Independent-CCF 1 3,015 New 0.23 New
 Candidat du peuple 1 2,583 New 0.19 New
 Independent-Bloc 1 156 New 0.01 New
Total 333 86 91 1,329,959 100%
Rejected ballots 15,552 8,218Increase
Voter turnout 1,345,511 774,880Increase 71.98 5.02Decrease
Registered electors[a 6] 1,869,396 1,128,265Increase
Candidates returned by acclamation 1Decrease
  1. ^ 1939 includes Joseph-Philias Morin (Champlain), who was elected under the Conservative banner and served only one term
  2. ^ Defeated in Montréal–Saint-Henri. David Côté was elected in Rouyn-Noranda.
  3. ^ René Chaloult was elected in Québec-Comté
  4. ^ results compared against performance under the Parti national banner in 1939
  5. ^ formerly Communist
  6. ^ Electorate expanded on adoption of An Act granting to women the right to vote and to be eligible as candidates, S.Q. 1940, c. 7
Popular vote
PLQ
39.35%
UN
38.02%
BP
14.40%
CCF
2.56%
Others
5.67%
Seats summary
UN
52.75%
PLQ
40.66%
BP
4.40%
CCF
1.10%
Others
1.10%

Synopsis of results

[edit]
Results by riding - 1944 Quebec general election[8][9]
Riding Winning party Turnout
[a 1]
Votes[a 2]
Name 1939 Party Votes Share Margin
#
Margin
%
UN Lib BP CCF UdE Nat Ind I-Lib Lab LP Other Total
 
Abitibi-Est New Lib 5,410 38.24% 1,434 10.14% 79.76% 3,976 5,410 2,010 889 1,862 14,147
Abitibi-Ouest New UN 3,729 38.82% 1,174 12.22% 86.03% 3,729 2,555 1,494 1,828 9,606
Argenteuil Lib Lib 6,084 61.84% 3,791 38.53% 77.87% 1,461 6,084 2,293 9,838
Arthabaska Lib Lib 5,511 40.80% 33 0.24% 86.01% 5,478 5,511 2,519 13,508
Bagot Lib Lib 3,781 47.78% 127 1.60% 83.39% 3,654 3,781 479 7,914
Beauce Lib BP 5,466 29.30% 164 0.88% 85.91% 5,302 5,099 5,466 2,790 18,657
Beauharnois UN BP 7,186 45.87% 1,266 8.08% 83.18% 5,920 2,560 7,186 15,666
Bellechasse Lib Lib 4,762 49.72% 545 5.69% 79.16% 4,217 4,762 599 9,578
Berthier Lib Lib 5,138 49.96% 823 8.00% 85.38% 4,315 5,138 832 10,285
Bonaventure Lib UN 6,031 45.03% 1,542 11.51% 73.27% 6,031 1,651 1,223 4,489 13,394
Brome UN UN 2,860 51.36% 655 11.76% 74.69% 2,860 2,205 503 5,568
Chambly Lib Lib 6,638 42.25% 1,110 7.06% 70.11% 5,528 6,638 2,140 1,406 15,712
Champlain Con UN 7,632 54.41% 2,494 17.78% 81.92% 7,632 5,138 1,258 14,028
Charlevoix—Saguenay Lib UN 11,173 79.17% 8,234 58.35% 59.07% 11,173 2,939 14,112
Châteauguay New Lib 3,128 44.55% 839 11.95% 82.05% 2,289 3,128 1,604 7,021
Chicoutimi UN UN 17,752 50.49% 8,906 25.33% 79.12% 17,752 8,846 6,256 2,307 35,161
Compton Lib Lib 4,566 49.99% 1,729 18.93% 76.38% 2,837 4,566 1,730 9,133
Deux-Montagnes UN UN 3,599 50.78% 1,509 21.29% 79.15% 3,599 2,090 1,313 86 7,088
Dorchester UN UN 6,887 52.95% 2,215 17.03% 81.21% 6,887 4,672 1,447 13,006
Drummond Lib UN 6,965 42.39% 1,979 12.04% 84.59% 6,965 4,986 4,481 16,432
Frontenac Lib UN 4,599 41.95% 1,307 11.92% 86.18% 4,599 3,292 1,604 1,417 52 10,964
Gaspé-Nord Lib UN 3,198 47.31% 539 7.97% 89.13% 3,198 2,659 150 753 6,760
Gaspé-Sud UN UN 6,090 53.64% 2,600 22.90% 79.13% 6,090 3,490 1,773 11,353
Gatineau Lib Lib 5,471 49.27% 1,592 14.34% 72.78% 3,879 5,471 942 813 11,105
Hull Lib UN 9,051 55.49% 4,084 25.04% 76.66% 9,051 4,967 2,293 16,311
Huntingdon Lib Lib 2,865 54.26% 1,114 21.10% 74.22% 1,751 2,865 664 5,280
Iberville Lib UN 1,910 38.81% 426 8.66% 82.43% 1,910 1,484 956 572 4,922
Îles-de-la-Madeleine UN UN 2,092 55.49% 414 10.98% 90.09% 2,092 1,678 3,770
Jacques-Cartier Lib Lib 13,349 52.04% 5,208 20.30% 66.89% 8,141 13,349 4,163 25,653
Joliette UN UN 8,652 61.83% 3,655 26.12% 82.60% 8,652 4,997 344 13,993
Kamouraska New Lib 5,175 52.04% 695 6.99% 77.88% 4,480 5,175 289 9,944
L'Assomption Lib UN 3,522 40.02% 368 4.18% 83.98% 3,522 3,154 2,124 8,800
L'Islet Lib Lib 4,834 55.14% 902 10.29% 81.25% 3,932 4,834 8,766
Labelle UN UN 5,517 66.18% 3,678 44.12% 78.83% 5,517 1,839 796 184 8,336
Lac-Saint-Jean Lib Lib 3,718 38.07% 109 1.12% 89.49% 3,609 3,718 1,944 495 9,766
Laval Lib Lib 11,642 35.22% 2,511 7.60% 62.20% 7,648 11,642 9,131 4,632 33,053
Laviolette Lib UN 7,455 55.04% 3,342 24.67% 79.48% 7,455 4,113 1,785 192 13,545
Lévis Lib UN 8,101 45.94% 921 5.22% 79.79% 8,101 7,180 2,352 17,633
Lotbinière Nat Lib 4,472 41.74% 812 7.58% 83.46% 3,660 4,472 2,583 10,715
Maisonneuve Lib UN 10,584 32.50% 51 0.16% 65.05% 10,584 10,533 8,245 1,380 1,824 32,566
Maskinongé Lib UN 4,475 54.98% 1,340 16.46% 85.85% 4,475 3,135 530 8,140
Matane UN UN 8,684 64.07% 4,130 30.47% 85.30% 8,684 4,554 316 13,554
Matapédia Lib UN 4,979 45.14% 678 6.15% 82.20% 4,979 4,301 1,548 201 11,029
Mégantic Lib UN 9,713 57.22% 2,450 14.43% 87.36% 9,713 7,263 16,976
Missisquoi Lib Lib 5,515 57.25% 3,044 31.60% 77.26% 2,471 5,515 1,647 9,633
Montcalm Lib UN 3,079 45.30% 926 13.62% 81.66% 3,079 2,153 1,565 6,797
Montmagny Lib Lib 4,781 55.87% 1,004 11.73% 73.39% 3,777 4,781 8,558
Montmorency Lib Lib 3,764 48.42% 1,052 13.53% 80.89% 2,712 3,764 168 1,130 7,774
Montréal–Jeanne-Mance Lib Lib 11,662 36.45% 1,570 4.91% 64.25% 6,859 11,662 10,092 2,897 485 31,995
Montréal-Laurier Lib BP 9,540 34.62% 647 2.35% 62.08% 8,350 8,893 9,540 438 333 27,554
Montréal-Mercier Lib Lib 12,977 39.78% 1,566 4.80% 63.23% 11,411 12,977 8,235 32,623
Montréal–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Lib Lib 20,140 78.13% 17,709 68.70% 56.62% 699 20,140 1,070 2,431 1,437 25,777
Montréal-Outremont Lib Lib 17,704 77.18% 15,540 67.74% 56.32% 1,417 17,704 2,164 1,654 22,939
Montréal–Saint-Henri Lib UN 9,569 36.34% 288 1.09% 61.13% 9,569 9,281 4,752 2,732 26,334
Montréal–Saint-Jacques Lib UN 11,400 43.11% 1,504 5.69% 56.06% 11,400 9,896 3,860 1,285 26,441
Montréal–Saint-Louis Lib Lib 9,754 40.72% 2,881 12.03% 60.04% 2,890 9,754 2,421 1,241 773 6,873 23,952
Montréal–Sainte-Anne Lib Lib 13,180 56.61% 8,711 37.42% 53.68% 4,469 13,180 1,659 3,974 23,282
Montréal–Sainte-Marie Ind UN 9,299 35.34% 1,607 6.11% 57.94% 9,299 7,692 6,766 1,090 521 944 26,312
Montréal-Verdun Lib Lib 8,793 36.62% 2,754 11.47% 64.06% 2,899 8,793 3,263 6,039 3,015 24,009
Napierville-Laprairie New UN 3,665 41.47% 415 4.70% 79.39% 3,665 3,250 1,922 8,837
Nicolet Lib UN 5,639 44.48% 708 5.58% 78.54% 5,639 4,931 2,107 12,677
Papineau UN UN 8,842 60.71% 4,773 32.77% 78.58% 8,842 4,069 1,654 14,565
Pontiac Lib Lib 3,667 48.29% 882 11.62% 71.40% 2,785 3,667 1,141 7,593
Portneuf Lib UN 6,489 39.04% 1,550 9.32% 80.70% 6,489 4,879 4,939 160 156 16,623
Québec-Centre Lib Lib 8,755 52.47% 2,817 16.88% 69.10% 5,938 8,755 1,487 290 216 16,686
Québec-Comté Lib Nat 6,587 34.79% 363 1.92% 79.17% 6,120 6,224 6,587 18,931
Québec-Est Lib Lib 7,370 31.13% 839 3.54% 74.85% 5,734 7,370 2,832 169 986 6,531 56 23,678
Québec-Ouest Lib Lib 6,006 54.35% 2,505 22.67% 69.70% 3,501 6,006 1,365 179 11,051
Richelieu New Lib 7,636 55.98% 4,292 31.46% 77.73% 3,344 7,636 2,661 13,641
Richmond Lib UN 5,626 45.03% 282 2.26% 81.48% 5,626 5,344 1,525 12,495
Rimouski Lib UN 7,437 51.73% 1,417 9.86% 79.93% 7,437 6,020 920 14,377
Rivière-du-Loup New Lib 7,061 50.37% 901 6.43% 84.20% 6,160 7,061 797 14,018
Roberval Lib UN 6,071 42.86% 708 5.00% 85.57% 6,071 5,363 1,509 1,222 14,165
Rouville Lib UN 3,529 45.46% 17 0.22% 84.13% 3,529 3,512 722 7,763
Rouyn-Noranda New CCF 2,100 21.03% 250 2.50% 75.46% 1,643 1,753 1,850 2,100 1,411 14 1,215 9,986
Saint-Hyacinthe Lib UN 5,962 44.97% 995 7.50% 70.64% 5,962 4,967 1,716 614 13,259
Saint-Jean New UN 5,525 55.33% 1,804 18.07% 79.91% 5,525 3,721 739 9,985
Saint-Maurice Lib UN 9,933 51.86% 5,219 27.25% 82.65% 9,933 4,317 4,714 189 19,153
Saint-Sauveur Lib Lib 8,796 45.88% 1,590 8.29% 79.02% 7,206 8,796 1,189 172 1,810 19,173
Shefford Lib UN 6,473 42.85% 1,297 8.59% 80.97% 6,473 5,176 2,916 541 15,106
Sherbrooke UN UN 10,559 52.03% 3,649 17.98% 74.64% 10,559 6,910 2,825 20,294
Stanstead Lib BP 3,522 29.16% 404 3.34% 75.40% 3,118 2,785 3,522 553 2,100 12,078
Témiscamingue Lib UN 2,225 34.50% 335 5.19% 80.35% 2,225 1,890 1,486 848 6,449
Témiscouata Lib UN 4,326 48.88% 734 8.29% 83.40% 4,326 3,592 933 8,851
Terrebonne Lib UN 11,471 49.16% 1,040 4.46% 82.65% 11,471 10,431 1,432 23,334
Trois-Rivières UN UN 12,576 66.74% 7,258 38.52% 80.41% 12,576 5,318 950 18,844
Vaudreuil-Soulanges Lib Lib 4,714 46.00% 351 3.43% 79.46% 4,363 4,714 1,170 10,247
Verchères New Lib 4,036 62.78% 2,203 34.27% 76.97% 1,833 4,036 560 6,429
Westmount–Saint-Georges Lib Lib 14,271 75.74% 12,340 65.49% 45.27% 1,296 14,271 1,931 1,344 18,842
Wolfe Lib UN 3,478 46.74% 61 0.82% 88.07% 3,478 3,417 546 7,441
Yamaska UN UN 4,166 62.93% 2,201 33.25% 77.43% 4,166 1,965 489 6,620
  1. ^ including spoilt ballots
  2. ^ Affiliations without candidates gaining 1st or 2nd place results provincewide, or otherwise not receiving more than 1% of the total vote, are grouped under "Other"
  = open seat
  = turnout is above provincial average
  = winning candidate was in previous Legislature
  = incumbent had switched allegiance
  = not incumbent; was previously elected to the Legislature
  = incumbency arose from byelection gain
  = previously incumbent in another riding
  = other incumbents renominated
  = previously an MP in the House of Commons of Canada
  = multiple candidates

Effect of redistribution

[edit]

The reorganized ridings returned the following MLAs:

1939 1944
Riding Party Riding Party
Témiscamingue  Liberal Témiscamingue  Union Nationale
Rouyn-Noranda  Co-operative Commonwealth
Châteauguay-Laprairie  Liberal
Saint-Jean–Napierville  Liberal
Châteauguay  Liberal
Napierville-Laprairie  Union Nationale
Saint-Jean  Union Nationale
Abitibi  Liberal Abitibi-Est  Liberal
Abitibi-Ouest  Union Nationale
Kamouraska–Rivière-du-Loup  Liberal Kamouraska  Liberal
Rivière-du-Loup  Liberal
Richelieu-Verchères  Liberal Richelieu  Liberal
Verchères  Liberal

Analysis

[edit]
Party candidates in 2nd place[8]
Party in 1st place Party in 2nd place Total
UN Lib BP CCF Ind I-Lib Lab LP
Union Nationale 44 2 1 1 48
Liberal 28 4 3 1 1 37
Bloc populaire 3 1 4
Co-operative Commonwealth 1 1
Nationalist 1 1
Total 31 46 7 3 1 1 1 1 91
Candidates ranked 1st to 5th place, by party[8]
Parties 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th Total
 Union Nationale 48 31 8 2 2 91
 Liberal 37 46 7 90
 Bloc populaire 4 7 60 9 80
 Co-operative Commonwealth 1 3 2 13 4 23
 Nationalist 1 1 2
 Independent 1 3 5 4 13
 Independent Liberal 1 1 2 4
 Labour 1 1 2
 Labor–Progressive 1 1 2
 Union des électeurs 2 7 3 12
 Independent Unionist 1 1 1 3
 Candidat du peuple 1 1
 Independent-CCF 1 1
 Independent Bloc 1 1
Resulting composition of the 22nd Quebec Legislative Assembly[9]
Source Party
UN Lib BP CCF Nat Total
Seats retained Incumbents returned 13 24 37
Open seats held 1 6 7
Seats changing hands Incumbents defeated - by previous incumbent 10 10
Incumbents defeated - by new MLAs 6 4 10
Open seats gained - previous incumbents returned 7 7
Open seats gained - new MLAs 7 1 8
Byelection gains held 1 1
Incumbent switched riding 1 1
New ridings Incumbent returned in new seat 1 2 3
Previous member of Legislature reelected 1 1
MP migrated from Parliament of Canada 1 1
New MLA elected 1 3 1 5
Total 48 37 4 1 1 91

References

[edit]
  1. ^ An Act granting to women the right to vote and to be eligible as candidates, S.Q. 1940, c. 7 , coming into force on January 1, 1941
  2. ^ An Act to confer the Electoral Franchise upon Women, S.C. 1918, c. 20
  3. ^ Sarra-Bournet, Michel. "Biography - DUPLESSIS, MAURICE LE NOBLET". Dictionary of Canadian Biography.
  4. ^ a b Knowles, Valerie Strangers at Our Gates: Canadian Immigration and Immigration Policy, 1540-2006, Toronto: Dundun Press, 2007 page 149.
  5. ^ Abella, Irving & Troper, Harold None is too many: Canada and the Jews of Europe, 1933-1948, Toronto: L & O Denny, 1986 page 162.
  6. ^ Black, Conrad Duplesisis, Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1977 page 719
  7. ^ An Act respecting the Electoral Districts of the Province, S.Q. 1944, c. 6
  8. ^ a b c d e Drouilly, Pierre (December 4, 2017). "Élections québécoises de 1944". donneesquebec.ca. Atlas des élections au Québec.
  9. ^ a b "Les membres de l'Assemblée nationale par circonscription" [National Assembly members by riding] (in French). National Assembly of Quebec. Retrieved September 13, 2023.

See also

[edit]