What was the 1976 Parti Québécois election victory?

The November 15, 1976 Quebec provincial election victory of René Lévesque's Parti Québécois (PQ) was a watershed in Canadian political history. The PQ won 71 of 110 seats and 41.4 per cent of the popular vote, forming the first government in Canadian history committed to provincial separation from Canada. The Liberal government of Robert Bourassa, which had held power since 1970, fell to 26 seats and 33.8 per cent. The PQ victory shocked English Canada and produced a constitutional debate that culminated in the 1980 Quebec referendum.

The Parti Québécois was founded on October 11, 1968 by René Lévesque, who had broken with the Quebec Liberal Party in October 1967 over its rejection of his sovereignty-association proposal. The PQ initially merged Lévesque's Mouvement souveraineté-association with the Ralliement national (a small rural-nationalist party). The PQ's founding ideology was social-democratic and pro-sovereignty, advocating an economically and politically sovereign Quebec while maintaining association with Canada (the 'sovereignty-association' formula). The party absorbed much of the energy of the 1960s Quebec left-wing nationalism. The Rassemblement pour l'indépendance nationale (RIN, founded 1960) had dissolved into the PQ in 1968.

The PQ ran in the April 29, 1970 Quebec election as a new party and won 7 seats with 23.1 per cent of the vote (Lévesque himself was defeated in his own riding of Laurier). In the October 29, 1973 Quebec election the PQ won 6 seats with 30.2 per cent (Lévesque was again defeated in Dorion-Saint-Pierre). Premier Robert Bourassa called an early election on November 15, 1976 hoping to consolidate his Liberal Party's position before economic difficulties worsened. The election surprised observers when the PQ won decisively.

The PQ government's policy programme was extensive. Bill 101 (the Charter of the French Language, August 26, 1977) established French as the only official language of Quebec and required French signage and French-medium education for most non-anglophone immigrants. The agricultural land protection law of 1978 (the Loi sur la protection du territoire agricole) protected farm land from urban encroachment. The election finance reform of 1977 (the Loi sur le financement des partis politiques) banned corporate and union donations to provincial parties, requiring individual donations from Quebec voters only. These reforms remain among the most consequential acts of any Quebec government. The 1980 Quebec referendum on sovereignty-association was the central political event of Lévesque's first term. The PQ won the April 13, 1981 election (winning 80 of 122 seats) but was defeated on December 2, 1985 after Lévesque's resignation. The PQ won again in 1994 under Jacques Parizeau and held the 1995 second referendum. The PQ's first 1976 victory permanently changed the Quebec and Canadian political landscapes.