1944 Quebec general election

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]

1944 Quebec general election

August 8, 1944

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

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.[6] 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.[7] 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. 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

An Act passed before the election[8] increased the number of MLAs from 86 to 91 through the following changes:

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

Campaign

Riding contests, by number of candidates (1944)[9]
Candidates UN Lib BP CCF UdE Nat Ind I-Lib Lab Lab-Pr I-UN I-CCF I-BP CdP Total
2 54110
3 4545401211135
4 252524107531100
5 121212937121160
6 1111116
7 2222121214
8 11111128
Total 91908024122167233111333

Results

[9]

Elections to the Legislative Assembly of Quebec (1944)
Political party Party leader MPPs 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

Results by riding - 1944 Quebec general election[9][10]
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 5,41038.24%1,43410.14%79.76%3,9765,4102,0108891,86214,147
Abitibi-Ouest New UN 3,72938.82%1,17412.22%86.03%3,7292,5551,4941,8289,606
Argenteuil Lib Lib 6,08461.84%3,79138.53%77.87%1,4616,0842,2939,838
Arthabaska Lib Lib 5,51140.80%330.24%86.01%5,4785,5112,51913,508
Bagot Lib Lib 3,78147.78%1271.60%83.39%3,6543,7814797,914
Beauce Lib BP 5,46629.30%1640.88%85.91%5,3025,0995,4662,79018,657
Beauharnois UN BP 7,18645.87%1,2668.08%83.18%5,9202,5607,18615,666
Bellechasse Lib Lib 4,76249.72%5455.69%79.16%4,2174,7625999,578
Berthier Lib Lib 5,13849.96%8238.00%85.38%4,3155,13883210,285
Bonaventure Lib UN 6,03145.03%1,54211.51%73.27%6,0311,6511,2234,48913,394
Brome UN UN 2,86051.36%65511.76%74.69%2,8602,2055035,568
Chambly Lib Lib 6,63842.25%1,1107.06%70.11%5,5286,6382,1401,40615,712
Champlain Con UN 7,63254.41%2,49417.78%81.92%7,6325,1381,25814,028
Charlevoix—Saguenay Lib UN 11,17379.17%8,23458.35%59.07%11,1732,93914,112
Châteauguay New Lib 3,12844.55%83911.95%82.05%2,2893,1281,6047,021
Chicoutimi UN UN 17,75250.49%8,90625.33%79.12%17,7528,8466,2562,30735,161
Compton Lib Lib 4,56649.99%1,72918.93%76.38%2,8374,5661,7309,133
Deux-Montagnes UN UN 3,59950.78%1,50921.29%79.15%3,5992,0901,313867,088
Dorchester UN UN 6,88752.95%2,21517.03%81.21%6,8874,6721,44713,006
Drummond Lib UN 6,96542.39%1,97912.04%84.59%6,9654,9864,48116,432
Frontenac Lib UN 4,59941.95%1,30711.92%86.18%4,5993,2921,6041,4175210,964
Gaspé-Nord Lib UN 3,19847.31%5397.97%89.13%3,1982,6591507536,760
Gaspé-Sud UN UN 6,09053.64%2,60022.90%79.13%6,0903,4901,77311,353
Gatineau Lib Lib 5,47149.27%1,59214.34%72.78%3,8795,47194281311,105
Hull Lib UN 9,05155.49%4,08425.04%76.66%9,0514,9672,29316,311
Huntingdon Lib Lib 2,86554.26%1,11421.10%74.22%1,7512,8656645,280
Iberville Lib UN 1,91038.81%4268.66%82.43%1,9101,4849565724,922
Îles-de-la-Madeleine UN UN 2,09255.49%41410.98%90.09%2,0921,6783,770
Jacques-Cartier Lib Lib 13,34952.04%5,20820.30%66.89%8,14113,3494,16325,653
Joliette UN UN 8,65261.83%3,65526.12%82.60%8,6524,99734413,993
Kamouraska New Lib 5,17552.04%6956.99%77.88%4,4805,1752899,944
L'Assomption Lib UN 3,52240.02%3684.18%83.98%3,5223,1542,1248,800
L'Islet Lib Lib 4,83455.14%90210.29%81.25%3,9324,8348,766
Labelle UN UN 5,51766.18%3,67844.12%78.83%5,5171,8397961848,336
Lac-Saint-Jean Lib Lib 3,71838.07%1091.12%89.49%3,6093,7181,9444959,766
Laval Lib Lib 11,64235.22%2,5117.60%62.20%7,64811,6429,1314,63233,053
Laviolette Lib UN 7,45555.04%3,34224.67%79.48%7,4554,1131,78519213,545
Lévis Lib UN 8,10145.94%9215.22%79.79%8,1017,1802,35217,633
Lotbinière Nat Lib 4,47241.74%8127.58%83.46%3,6604,4722,58310,715
Maisonneuve Lib UN 10,58432.50%510.16%65.05%10,58410,5338,2451,3801,82432,566
Maskinongé Lib UN 4,47554.98%1,34016.46%85.85%4,4753,1355308,140
Matane UN UN 8,68464.07%4,13030.47%85.30%8,6844,55431613,554
Matapédia Lib UN 4,97945.14%6786.15%82.20%4,9794,3011,54820111,029
Mégantic Lib UN 9,71357.22%2,45014.43%87.36%9,7137,26316,976
Missisquoi Lib Lib 5,51557.25%3,04431.60%77.26%2,4715,5151,6479,633
Montcalm Lib UN 3,07945.30%92613.62%81.66%3,0792,1531,5656,797
Montmagny Lib Lib 4,78155.87%1,00411.73%73.39%3,7774,7818,558
Montmorency Lib Lib 3,76448.42%1,05213.53%80.89%2,7123,7641681,1307,774
Montréal–Jeanne-Mance Lib Lib 11,66236.45%1,5704.91%64.25%6,85911,66210,0922,89748531,995
Montréal-Laurier Lib BP 9,54034.62%6472.35%62.08%8,3508,8939,54043833327,554
Montréal-Mercier Lib Lib 12,97739.78%1,5664.80%63.23%11,41112,9778,23532,623
Montréal–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Lib Lib 20,14078.13%17,70968.70%56.62%69920,1401,0702,4311,43725,777
Montréal-Outremont Lib Lib 17,70477.18%15,54067.74%56.32%1,41717,7042,1641,65422,939
Montréal–Saint-Henri Lib UN 9,56936.34%2881.09%61.13%9,5699,2814,7522,73226,334
Montréal–Saint-Jacques Lib UN 11,40043.11%1,5045.69%56.06%11,4009,8963,8601,28526,441
Montréal–Saint-Louis Lib Lib 9,75440.72%2,88112.03%60.04%2,8909,7542,4211,2417736,87323,952
Montréal–Sainte-Anne Lib Lib 13,18056.61%8,71137.42%53.68%4,46913,1801,6593,97423,282
Montréal–Sainte-Marie Ind UN 9,29935.34%1,6076.11%57.94%9,2997,6926,7661,09052194426,312
Montréal-Verdun Lib Lib 8,79336.62%2,75411.47%64.06%2,8998,7933,2636,0393,01524,009
Napierville-Laprairie New UN 3,66541.47%4154.70%79.39%3,6653,2501,9228,837
Nicolet Lib UN 5,63944.48%7085.58%78.54%5,6394,9312,10712,677
Papineau UN UN 8,84260.71%4,77332.77%78.58%8,8424,0691,65414,565
Pontiac Lib Lib 3,66748.29%88211.62%71.40%2,7853,6671,1417,593
Portneuf Lib UN 6,48939.04%1,5509.32%80.70%6,4894,8794,93916015616,623
Québec-Centre Lib Lib 8,75552.47%2,81716.88%69.10%5,9388,7551,48729021616,686
Québec-Comté Lib Nat 6,58734.79%3631.92%79.17%6,1206,2246,58718,931
Québec-Est Lib Lib 7,37031.13%8393.54%74.85%5,7347,3702,8321699866,5315623,678
Québec-Ouest Lib Lib 6,00654.35%2,50522.67%69.70%3,5016,0061,36517911,051
Richelieu New Lib 7,63655.98%4,29231.46%77.73%3,3447,6362,66113,641
Richmond Lib UN 5,62645.03%2822.26%81.48%5,6265,3441,52512,495
Rimouski Lib UN 7,43751.73%1,4179.86%79.93%7,4376,02092014,377
Rivière-du-Loup New Lib 7,06150.37%9016.43%84.20%6,1607,06179714,018
Roberval Lib UN 6,07142.86%7085.00%85.57%6,0715,3631,5091,22214,165
Rouville Lib UN 3,52945.46%170.22%84.13%3,5293,5127227,763
Rouyn-Noranda New CCF 2,10021.03%2502.50%75.46%1,6431,7531,8502,1001,411141,2159,986
Saint-Hyacinthe Lib UN 5,96244.97%9957.50%70.64%5,9624,9671,71661413,259
Saint-Jean New UN 5,52555.33%1,80418.07%79.91%5,5253,7217399,985
Saint-Maurice Lib UN 9,93351.86%5,21927.25%82.65%9,9334,3174,71418919,153
Saint-Sauveur Lib Lib 8,79645.88%1,5908.29%79.02%7,2068,7961,1891721,81019,173
Shefford Lib UN 6,47342.85%1,2978.59%80.97%6,4735,1762,91654115,106
Sherbrooke UN UN 10,55952.03%3,64917.98%74.64%10,5596,9102,82520,294
Stanstead Lib BP 3,52229.16%4043.34%75.40%3,1182,7853,5225532,10012,078
Témiscamingue Lib UN 2,22534.50%3355.19%80.35%2,2251,8901,4868486,449
Témiscouata Lib UN 4,32648.88%7348.29%83.40%4,3263,5929338,851
Terrebonne Lib UN 11,47149.16%1,0404.46%82.65%11,47110,4311,43223,334
Trois-Rivières UN UN 12,57666.74%7,25838.52%80.41%12,5765,31895018,844
Vaudreuil-Soulanges Lib Lib 4,71446.00%3513.43%79.46%4,3634,7141,17010,247
Verchères New Lib 4,03662.78%2,20334.27%76.97%1,8334,0365606,429
Westmount–Saint-Georges Lib Lib 14,27175.74%12,34065.49%45.27%1,29614,2711,9311,34418,842
Wolfe Lib UN 3,47846.74%610.82%88.07%3,4783,4175467,441
Yamaska UN UN 4,16662.93%2,20133.25%77.43%4,1661,9654896,620
  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

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

Party candidates in 2nd place[9]
Party in 1st placeParty in 2nd placeTotal
UNLibBPCCFIndI-LibLabLP
Union Nationale 4421148
Liberal 28431137
Bloc populaire 314
Co-operative Commonwealth 11
Nationalist 11
Total 314673111191
Candidates ranked 1st to 5th place, by party[9]
Parties1st2nd3rd4th5thTotal
 Union Nationale 483182291
 Liberal 3746790
 Bloc populaire 4760980
 Co-operative Commonwealth 13213423
 Nationalist 112
 Independent 135413
 Independent Liberal 1124
 Labour 112
 Labor–Progressive 112
 Union des électeurs 27312
 Independent Unionist 1113
 Candidat du peuple 11
 Independent-CCF 11
 Independent Bloc 11
Resulting composition of the 22nd Quebec Legislative Assembly[10]
SourceParty
UN Lib BP CCF Nat Total
Seats retainedIncumbents returned 132437
Open seats held 167
Seats changing handsIncumbents defeated - by previous incumbent 1010
Incumbents defeated - by new MPPs 6410
Open seats gained - previous incumbents returned 77
Open seats gained - new MPPs 718
Byelection gains held 11
Incumbent switched riding 11
New ridingsIncumbent returned in new seat 123
Previous member of Legislature reelected 11
MP migrated from Parliament of Canada 11
New MPP elected 1315
Total 483741191

References

  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. 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. Knowles, Valerie Strangers at Our Gates: Canadian Immigration and Immigration Policy, 1540-2006, Toronto: Dundun Press, 2007 page 149.
  7. Black, Conrad Duplesisis, Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1977 page 719
  8. An Act respecting the Electoral Districts of the Province, S.Q. 1944, c. 6
  9. Drouilly, Pierre (December 4, 2017). "Élections québécoises de 1944". donneesquebec.ca. Atlas des élections au Québec.
  10. "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

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