1936 Quebec general election

1936 Quebec general election

← 1935 August 17, 1936 1939 →
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90 seats in the 20th 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 (lost re-election) 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 8.47pp1 7.12pp
Premier before election Adélard Godbout Liberal Premier after election Maurice Duplessis Union Nationale

This article is part of a series about Maurice Duplessis
Family Law career Premiership Pre-premiership politics (1923-1935) Conservative Party of Quebec 1923 campaign 1927 election 1931 election 1935 election First premiership (1936-1939) 1936 election Union Nationale (Action libérale nationale) Great Depression in Canada Padlock Law (Switzman v Elbling) 1939 election (opposition to conscription) Return to the Official Opposition Second premiership (1944-1959) Politics Elections (1944, 1948, 1952, 1956) Flag of Quebec Autonomism in Quebec (Fight for provincial autonomy, Tremblay Commission) Censorship Natural gas scandal [fr] (Salvas Commission [fr]) Harassment of Jehovah's Witnesses (R v Boucher, Roncarelli v Duplessis) Economy Post-World War II economic expansion Baby boom Labour strikes (Montreal Cottons, Asbestos, Louiseville [fr], Murdochville) Investments (Quebec North Shore and Labrador Railway, Office de l'électrification rurale [fr], Manicouagan, Autoroutes of Quebec) Legacy and cultural references Grande Noirceur Opposition press (Le Devoir (The Negro-King theory [fr]), Cité Libre) Charbonneau et le Chef [fr] Duplessis Orphans Duplessis (TV series) Toponyms (autoroute, provincial riding, Boulevard Maurice-Duplessis [fr])
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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.^[1]

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.