Equality Party (Quebec)

The Equality Party ( _fr. Parti Égalité) is a political party in Quebec, Canada, that promotes the use of English in Quebec on an equal basis with French. The party did not run any candidates in the 2007 Quebec election and appears to be moribund.

History

The party was formed as a reaction to then-Premier Robert Bourassa invoking the notwithstanding clause of the Canadian constitution to override a Supreme Court ruling overturning parts of the Charter of the French Language (commonly known as "Bill 101"). Another issue that fed its support was the Quebec Liberal Party's forcing anglophone MNAs to officially condemn a report from the Official Languages Commissioner suggesting Quebec anglophones felt humiliated.

The party first came to prominence in the 1989 general election, when it won four seats on Montreal Island in the National Assembly. Along with its then-sister party, the Unity Party (which ran candidates outside the Montreal Island), it won 4.7% of the provincial popular vote. Winning candidates, however, won popular votes of from 41 per cent to 58 percent.

The party platform called for equality of both languages (French and English) in Quebec, opposing Bill 101 which made French the sole official language of Quebec and imposed restrictions on the use of English on public signs. The Equality Party drew virtually all of its support from elements of Quebec's anglophone minority, and only ran candidates in electoral districts with very high anglophone populations.

Internal divisiveness proved to be the party's downfall. Three of its four elected members, including the party's leader, quit the party before the next election. In a bizarre turn of events, one of the party's sitting members, Richard Holden, member for the Westmount electoral district, defected to the ideologically diametrically opposed Parti Québécois.

It never repeated its electoral success of 1989. All of the party's candidates and incumbents were defeated in the 1994 general election, and the party was reduced to marginal status. Two subsequent general elections in 1998 and 2003 did nothing to improve the party's fortunes.

The party remained active until 2003, promoting the issue that a unilateral declaration of independence by Quebec was unconstitutional (a debate ultimately leading to the federal Clarity Act) and the partition of Quebec in the wake of the 1995 referendum on sovereignty. Provincial issues it championed included municipal de-mergers. Additionally, most of its remaining members became active in Alliance Quebec.

Following the party's poor showing in the 2003 election, its leader, Keith Henderson, announced his resignation effective once a new leader was chosen. No leadership contest was ever held. It declared only $55 in membership fees collected for 2007 (translating into 11 members at $5 per member) [cite web |author=Director General of Elections of Quebec |url=http://www.electionsquebec.qc.ca/en/include/liste_rapport_financier_prov_2007.asp |title=Equality Party Information] . It did not run any candidates in the 2007 Quebec general election. The party appears to have ceased all activity other than annually filing the paperwork necessary to maintain its status as an officially registered party.

Leaders of the Equality Party

* Robert Libman (1989-1993)
* Keith Henderson (1994-2003)

Election results

General election	# of candidates	# of elected candidates	% of popular vote
1989	19	4	3.69%
1994	17	0	0.29%
1998	24	0	0.31%
2003	21	0	0.11%
2007	0	-	----

ee also

* Politics of Quebec
* List of Quebec general elections
* List of Quebec premiers
* List of Quebec leaders of the Opposition
* National Assembly of Quebec
* Timeline of Quebec history
* Political parties in Quebec

References

External links

* [http://www.equality.qc.ca/ Equality Party website] (No longer working as of 23 June 2006)
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20050306010247/http://www.equality.qc.ca/index.html Equality Party website] (from archive.org)
* [http://www.assnat.qc.ca/fra/patrimoine/ National Assembly historical information]
* [http://www.quebecpolitique.com/partis/ep-en.html History of the Equality Party] quebecpolitique.com
* [http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dg6n6657_155hchcmrdz Bill 199] Charter of the French and English Languages