1952 Quebec general election

The 1952 Quebec general election was held on July 16, 1952, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Quebec, Canada. The incumbent Union Nationale, led by Maurice Duplessis, won re-election, defeating the Quebec Liberal Party, led by Georges-Émile Lapalme.

This was the fourth time (and the third in a row) that Duplessis led his party to a general election victory.

The number of seats won by the Liberals, and their share of the popular vote, were considerably increased over the previous election in 1948.

Campaign

Thérèse Casgrain became the first female leader of a Quebec political party, heading the CCF.

Of the 92 races, 56 were two-way contests between the two major parties:

Outcome

Henri Groulx (Montréal-Outremont) was the first candidate to learn that he had been reelected, but he died within an hour of hearing the news. Georges-Émile Lapalme, who had lost his campaign to take Joliette, would subsequently win the Outremont byelection held on July 9, 1953.

There were two notable results that arose from the election:

• From 1952 until the 1966 election, Frank Hanley (Montréal–Sainte-Anne) would be the only candidate outside the UN and Liberals to win a seat in the Legislature.
• For the first time since the 1936 election, no party other than the UN and the Liberals received more than 1% of the popular vote. This would continue until 1966.

Results

Synopsis of results

  = open seat

  = turnout is above provincial average

  = winning candidate was in previous Legislature

  = incumbent had switched allegiance

  = other incumbents renominated

Analysis

See also

• List of Quebec premiers
• Politics of Quebec
• Timeline of Quebec history
• List of Quebec political parties
• 24th Legislative Assembly of Quebec

References