NEW GOVERNMENT IN QUEBEC

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21865, 19 August 1936, Page 11

NEW GOVERNMENT IN QUEBEC

Sweeping Victory For Conservatives LONG PERIOD OF LIBERAL CONTROL ENDED (UNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION —COPVSIviHT.)t (Received August 18, 7.5 p.m) MONTREAL, August 18. For the first time in 39 years the Liberals have lost control of the Quebec Legislature, to-day’s provincial elections giving 75 seats to the Conservative Opposition party, the Liberals winning a bare 14, with one seat doubtful. The Premier (Mr A. Godbout), who came into power with the displacement of Mr L. A. Taschereau, was defeated. Mr Maurice Duplessis, who allied himself with a group of insurgent Liberals, in what is styled the “Union Nationale,” will assume the Premiership, The state of the parties in the Quebec Legislative Assembly at the last election in November, 1935, was; Liberals 48, Conservatives 16, Action Liberale Nationale 26. Members are elected for five years, but with a majority of only six, instead of the usual 35 or 40, Mr Taschereau was unable to carry on and exercised his right of asking for a new election. The Action Liberale Nationale, with whom Mr Duplessis allied himself, is a provincial party with no mission in the federal sphere. The movement is a revolt by young Liberals against old Liberals and it has also drawn support from the more radical of the Catholic clergy. Quebec has been in the hands of the Liberal party since 1897 and Mr Taschereau has held office for 16 yeats. In 1934 a group of young Liberals demanded reform, both in appointments and in the adoption of more liberal social policies. The demand being refused, the young Liberal movement was founded, which, in the elections of last November, all but defeated Mr Taschereau. Mr Paul Gouin, the leader of the movement, allied with the Conservatives and gained 26 seats at the elections.