|
File
Unknown (L) Jean Allaire (M), leader Mario Dumont (R) Action démocratique du Québec (ADQ) in March 1994 This party was founded in 1994 by Québec LIBERAL PARTY dissidents. After the rejection of the CHARLOTTETOWN ACCORD in October 1992, Mario Dumont, leader of the Young Liberals of Québec, and Jean Allaire a member of the executive committee of the Québec Liberal Party, left the Liberal Party when its members decided not to defend their platform proposition of 22 fields of exclusive jurisdiction claimed on behalf of Québec. The dissidents formed an initial amalgamation, le groupe de Réflexion Québec, followed in December 1993 by Action Québec. The (ADQ) party was founded only the following year, placing Mario Dumont, 23, the youngest party leader in Québec, at its head. The ADQ presented its first electoral platform on 5 and 6 March 1994, when 612 delegates from all the Québec regions adopted a Plan national de redressement (National recovery plan), bearing some twenty propositions aimed at elaborating an economic strategy and stabilizing government finances. In the September 1994 elections, the ADQ elected only a single candidate, Mario Dumont, in Rivière-du-Loup, but still obtained nearly 10 percent support of Quebec voters, even if it did not present candidates in all the electoral districts. In June 1995, Mario Dumont, Lucien BOUCHARD, then leader of the BLOC QUÉBÉCOIS, and Jacques PARIZEAU, leader of the PARTI QUÉBECOIS, signed an agreement that united these three parties within the Yes camp and partnered them for the formulation of the referendum question (see QUÉBEC REFERENDUM 1995). In the 30 November 1998 elections, only Mario Dumont was elected, again in Rivière-du-Loup, if the ADQ increased its percentage of support, by about 500 000 votes. The ADQ did not succeed in passing the critical voting threshold of 15 percent, making it a third party. However, the ADQ fought for proportional representation in the NATIONAL ASSEM
|
|