1962 Quebec general election

1962 Quebec general election

← 1960 November 14, 1962 1966 →
← outgoing members elected members →
95 seats in the 27th Legislative Assembly of Quebec 48 seats were needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader Jean Lesage Daniel Johnson Sr. Party Liberal Union Nationale Leader since May 31, 1958 September 23, 1961 Leader's seat Québec-Ouest Bagot Last election 51 seats, 51.38% 43 seats, 46.61% Seats won 63 31 Seat change 12 12 Popular vote 1,205,253 900,817 Percentage 56.40% 42.15% Swing 5.02% 4.46%
Premier before election Jean Lesage Liberal Premier after election Jean Lesage Liberal

The 1962 Quebec general election was held on November 14, 1962, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Quebec, Canada. The incumbent Quebec Liberal Party, led by Jean Lesage, was re-elected, defeating the Union Nationale (UN) led by Daniel Johnson, Sr.

In an unusual move, the election was called just two years after the previous 1960 general election. Lesage sought a mandate for the Nationalization of the electricity industry, with the slogan Maîtres chez nous (Masters in Our Own Home), declaring it a single issue important enough to stake his political career on it.

A few days before the election, the Union Nationale's chief organizer André Lagarde was arrested for fraud. The Liberals claimed this was proof of lingering corruption dating from the Maurice Duplessis era, but the UN cried foul and was vindicated after the election. However, the incident may well have contributed to the UN's defeat.

The Liberal Party won an increased number of seats and a higher percentage of the popular vote, and the nationalization program was carried out. Future Parti Québécois founder René Lévesque served as a cabinet minister in the Lesage government and spearheaded the nationalization of power utilities for a great expansion of Hydro-Québec.

Action provinciale, a new group founded by Hertel Larocque (a former secretary of Camillien Houde),^[1] fielded 11 candidates in the election but failed to gather a significant number of votes. Johnson opted not to have the UN join forces with it, keeping in mind the failure the Liberals had had in attempting the same manoeuvre with the Créditistes in 1956.^[1] However, Social Credit was still a force to reckon with even while not campaigning on the provincial scene,^[1] and Johnson did not hesitate to use its vocabulary in his speeches while on the campaign trail.^[2]