Action démocratique du Québec

The Action démocratique du Québec ( ADQ ) was a conservative and nationalist political party in the Canadian province of Québec. It was founded in 1994. The officially registered name is Action démocratique du Québec / Équipe Mario Dumont. The party advocated autonomy of individuals, autonomy of municipalities and autonomy of Quebec within Canada. However, they did not strive explicitly to the independence of the province. In addition, it is committed to the reduction of the state administration, electoral reform and tax cuts one.

Members and supporters of the party were called adéquistes, derived from the French pronunciation of the abbreviation. In the elections on December 8, 2008, the ADQ received 7 of 125 seats in the National Assembly of Quebec. In January 2012, she went on in the Coalition Avenir Québec ( CAQ ).

History

The party was founded in 1994 by a group of Quebec nationalists who advocated a decentralized to a large extent the state and thus a greater autonomy of the provinces. After the failure of the Meech Lake Accord of the ( ultimately rejected in a referendum ) Charlottetown Accord should allow more autonomy. However, individual members of the Parti du Québec libéral felt the new agreement go far enough and resigned from the party.

The first chairman of the party was Jean Allaire, however after a few months resigned for health reasons. On him Mario Dumont, President of the Youth Commission of the Liberals had been followed and was considered a rising star in the province of politics. Despite limited financial resources and lack of attention by the media, he succeeded in the 1994 elections, to win a seat. Although the ADQ was able to increase its share of the vote in 1998 to nearly double, but except Dumont made ​​it not a candidate to be elected.

Dissatisfaction with the government of the Parti Québécois and also with the strongest opposition party, the Parti libéral, in 2002 led to a series of victories for ADQ candidate in elections and to an increase in popularity. But due to heavy negative campaigns by political opponents, the ADQ in the 2003 elections was not as expected profits booked seat. Another reason was the unclear positioning of the party on specific issues, particularly in the sovereignty of Quebec.

In the following years, the party consolidated its position as an alternative to the established parties. The ADQ supported the Conservative party in the Canadian House of Commons elections in 2006. In the elections to the National Assembly in September 2007, the ADQ could achieve almost one third of all votes. Among the previous four seats they won added 37 and thus became the strongest opposition party. However, she was represented mainly in rural areas and did not have a single seat in Montréal. In December 2008, the ADQ fell in early elections back to 7 seats and Mario Dumont was immediately on the party chairmanship.

2012 went to the party in the Coalition Avenir Québec.

Election results

Party chairman

• Jean Allaire (1994 )
• Mario Dumont (1994-2009)
• Sylvie Roy (since 2009, an interim basis )