Parti canadien
Encyclopedia
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
in what is now Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
founded by members of the liberal elite of Lower Canada at the beginning of the 19th century. Its members included François Blanchet
François Blanchet (physician)
François Blanchet was a physician, businessman, seigneur and political figure in Lower Canada.He was born in Saint-Pierre-de-la-Rivière-du-Sud in 1776 and studied at the Petit Séminaire of Quebec. He went on to study medicine with James Fisher and then at Columbia College where he received a...
, Pierre-Stanislas Bédard
Pierre-Stanislas Bédard
Pierre-Stanislas Bédard was a lawyer, judge, journalist and political figure in Lower Canada.He was born in Charlesbourg in 1762, descended from French ancestors who had first arrived in New France before 1660. He studied at the Petit Séminaire de Québec, articled in law and was called to the bar...
, John Neilson
John Neilson
John Neilson was a Scots-Quebecer editor of the newspaper La Gazette de Québec/The Quebec Gazette and a politician.- Biography :...
, Jean-Thomas Taschereau
Jean-Thomas Taschereau
Jean-Thomas Taschereau may refer to:* Jean-Thomas Taschereau , Canadian politician and judge* Jean-Thomas Taschereau , Canadian jurist, his son...
, James Stuart, Louis Bourdages
Louis Bourdages
Louis Bourdages was a businessman and political figure in Lower Canada.He was born Louis-Marie Bourdages in Jeune-Lorette, Quebec in 1764, the son of Raymond Bourdages, an Acadian doctor and merchant. Bourdages studied at the Petit Séminaire de Québec, where he met Pierre-Stanislas Bédard...
, Denis-Benjamin Viger
Denis-Benjamin Viger
Denis-Benjamin Viger was a 19th century Lower Canadian politician, lawyer, businessman, and Patriote movement member.Viger was part of the militia in the early 19th century and then a captain in the War of 1812...
, Daniel Tracey
Daniel Tracey
Daniel Tracey born in Roscrea, Tipperary County, Ireland, was a doctor, journalist and Canadian politician.He arrived in the Province of Lower Canada with his younger siblings in 1825.-The Vindicator:...
, Edmund Bailey O'Callaghan
Edmund Bailey O'Callaghan
Edmund Bailey O'Callaghan, was a doctor and journalist.Born in Mallow, County Cork, Ireland, he studied medicine in Paris and immigrated to Lower Canada in 1823 where he became involved in the political reform movement of the Parti patriote...
, Andrew Stuart
Andrew Stuart (Canadian politician)
Andrew Stuart was a lawyer and political figure in Lower Canada.He was born at Cataraqui in 1785, the son of Anglican priest John Stuart, a United Empire Loyalist, and studied with the Reverend John Strachan and then at Union College in New York...
, and Louis-Joseph Papineau
Louis-Joseph Papineau
Louis-Joseph Papineau , born in Montreal, Quebec, was a politician, lawyer, and the landlord of the seigneurie de la Petite-Nation. He was the leader of the reformist Patriote movement before the Lower Canada Rebellion of 1837–1838. His father was Joseph Papineau, also a famous politician in Quebec...
.
History
Under the leadership of Pierre-Stanislas Bédard, the party campaigned for ministerial responsibility and a responsible government in which the members of the Legislative Council of QuebecLegislative Council of Quebec
From 1867 until 1968, the Legislative Council of Quebec was the unelected upper house of the bicameral legislature in the Canadian province of Quebec...
would be appointed by the Legislative Assembly's
Legislative Assembly of Quebec
The Legislative Assembly of Quebec was the name of the lower house of Quebec's legislature until 1968, when it was renamed the National Assembly of Quebec. At the same time, the upper house of the legislature, the Legislative Council, was abolished...
majority party. At that time, the council was chosen by an appointed British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
governor, whom the Parti canadien considered to be seriously corrupt and hostile to the interests of the majority of the population.
In 1806 the Parti canadien imitated its political adversaries, the Tory
Tory
Toryism is a traditionalist and conservative political philosophy which grew out of the Cavalier faction in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It is a prominent ideology in the politics of the United Kingdom, but also features in parts of The Commonwealth, particularly in Canada...
Château Clique
Château Clique
The Clique du Château or Château Clique was a group of wealthy families in Lower Canada in the early 19th century. They were the Lower Canadian equivalent of the Family Compact in Upper Canada...
, in founding a newspaper named Le Canadien
Le Canadien
Le Canadien was a French language newspaper published in Lower Canada from November 22, 1806 to March 14, 1810. Its motto was: "Nos institutions, notre langue et nos droits"...
. In 1810 Bédard and some of his colleagues at the newspaper were arrested and imprisoned without trial for a comment published in Le Canadien.
In 1811 James Stuart became leader of the Parti canadien in the assembly and, in 1815, reformer Louis-Joseph Papineau was elected Assembly Speaker. Papineau's reformist ideas gained in authority and popularity until the suspension of the Constitutional Act
Constitutional Act of 1791
The Constitutional Act of 1791, formally The Clergy Endowments Act, 1791 , is an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain...
in 1837.
In 1826 the party took the name of Parti patriote following a change of strategy. The new strategy was considered too radical by some of its members, most notably John Neilson
John Neilson
John Neilson was a Scots-Quebecer editor of the newspaper La Gazette de Québec/The Quebec Gazette and a politician.- Biography :...
, who eventually left the party.
Newspapers
- Le CanadienLe CanadienLe Canadien was a French language newspaper published in Lower Canada from November 22, 1806 to March 14, 1810. Its motto was: "Nos institutions, notre langue et nos droits"...
(1806-1837) - La MinerveLa MinerveLa Minerve was a newspaper founded in Montreal, Lower Canada by Augustin-Norbert Morin to promote the political goals of Louis-Joseph Papineau's Parti patriote. It was notably directed by Ludger Duvernay in its earlier years. It existed from 1826 to 1837, and again from 1842 to May 27, 1899...
(1826-1837) - The Canadian Vindicator (1828-1837)
- Le Libéral (1837)
- L'Écho du Pays (1834)
See also
- LiberalismLiberalismLiberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
- Contributions to liberal theoryContributions to liberal theoryIndividual contributors to classical liberalism and political liberalism are associated with philosophers of the Enlightenment. Liberalism as a specifically named ideology begins in the late 18th century as a movement towards self-government and away from aristocracy...
- Liberalism worldwideLiberalism worldwideThis article gives information on liberalism in diverse countries around the world. It is an overview of parties that adhere more or less to the ideas of political liberalism and is therefore a list of liberal parties around the world....
- List of liberal parties
- Liberal democracyLiberal democracyLiberal democracy, also known as constitutional democracy, is a common form of representative democracy. According to the principles of liberal democracy, elections should be free and fair, and the political process should be competitive...
- Timeline of Quebec historyTimeline of Quebec historyThis article presents a detailed timeline of Quebec history. Events taking place outside Quebec, for example in English Canada, the United States, Britain or France, may be included when they are considered to have had a significant impact on Quebec's history....
- Liberalism in CanadaLiberalism in CanadaLiberalism has been a strong force in Canadian politics since the late 18th Century. While Canada has the same features of other liberal democracies in the Western democratic political tradition, it is, in some respects, an exemplar of liberalism. This article gives an overview of liberalism in...
- Lower Canada RebellionLower Canada RebellionThe Lower Canada Rebellion , commonly referred to as the Patriots' War by Quebeckers, is the name given to the armed conflict between the rebels of Lower Canada and the British colonial power of that province...
- List of Canadian political parties
- Parti rougeParti rougeThe Parti rouge was formed in the Province of Quebec, around 1848 by radical French-Canadians inspired by the ideas of Louis-Joseph Papineau, the Institut canadien de Montréal, and the reformist movement led by the Parti patriote of the 1830s.The party was a successor to the Parti patriote...