Premier
parliamentary
Election name1939 Quebec general election
CountryQuebec
Ongoingno
Party colourno
Party nameno
Previous election1936 Quebec general election
Previous year1936
Previous mps20th Quebec Legislature
Next election1944 Quebec general election
Next year1944
Elected members21st Quebec Legislature
Seats for election86 seats in the 21st Legislative Assembly of Quebec
44 seats were needed for a majority
Election dateOctober 25, 1939
Leader 1Adélard Godbout
Leader since 1June 11, 1936
Leaders seat 1L'Islet
Last election 114 seats, 39.41%
Seats 170
Seat change 156
Percentage 154.05%
Swing 114.64pp
Leader 2Maurice Duplessis
Leader since 2June 20, 1936
Leaders seat 2Trois-Rivières
Last election 276 seats, 56.88%
Seats 215
Seat change 261
Percentage 239.13%
Swing 217.75pp
Before electionMaurice Duplessis
After electionAdélard Godbout
PosttitlePremier after election

The 1939 Quebec general election was held on October 25, 1939, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of the province of Quebec, Canada. The Quebec Liberal Party, led by former premier Adélard Godbout, defeated the incumbent Union Nationale, led by Maurice Duplessis.

This was Godbout's second non-consecutive term of office and his only victory out of four consecutive general elections opposing Duplessis.

The Action libérale nationale, which had won 25 seats in the 1935 election and then merged with the Quebec Conservative Party, was re-formed by Paul Gouin, who had split with Duplessis soon after the formation of the Union Nationale. However the ALN obtained only 4.5% of the vote and no seats. It soon disbanded. Also, a rump Conservative Party ran three candidates who won 0.2% of the vote and no seats. This party also disbanded.

Redistribution of ridings

An Act passed before the election[1] reduced the number of MLAs from 90 to 86 through the following changes:

Abolished ridingsNew ridings
Reorganization of ridings
Mergers of ridings
  1. ^ also absorbed part of Maisonneuve
  2. ^ Joseph-Philias Morin (Champlain) elected under Conservative banner but siding with the UN; joined UN caucus after election.
  3. ^ Formed during the 20th Legislature, when five MLAs broke from the UN. Only René Chaloult (Lotbinière) ran for re-election under the Nationalist ticket, and he declared himself as an Independent-Liberal after the election
  4. ^ Camillien Houde was elected in Montréal–Sainte-Marie
  5. ^ Candidates oppositing the UN
  6. ^ Edgar Rochette (Charlevoix—Saguenay), for the Liberals
  7. ^ including spoilt ballots
  8. ^ Affiliations without candidates gaining 1st or 2nd place results provincewide, or otherwise not receiving more than 1% of the total vote, are grouped under "I-Oth" or "Other"
  9. ^ Edgar Rochette had previously been MLA until 1936
  10. ^ René Chaloult was previously elected in Kamouraska under the UN banner
  11. ^ William Ross Bulloch (1,298 votes) was previously elected as the UN MLA in Westmount
  12. ^ Gilbert Layton was previously elected in Montréal–Saint-Georges under the UN banner

Campaign

Riding contests, by number of candidates (1939)[2]
CandidatesLibUNConALNNatIndCCFI-ConI-LibI-ALNI-UNLabALN-LabCommTotal
Acclaimed11
224241150
3484844211144
477711112128
555522212125
Total85841561513313311248

Results

[2] |- ! colspan=2 rowspan=2 | Political party ! rowspan=2 | Party leader ! colspan=4 | MLAs ! colspan=4 | Votes |- ! Candidates !1936 !1939 !± !# ! ± !% ! ± (pp) |-

|style="text-align:left;"|Adélard Godbout |85 |14 |69 |55 |301,382 |77,008 |53.50 |14.09 |- |rowspan="3" |   |style="text-align:left;" colspan="10"|Union Nationale and allies |- |style="text-align:left;" | |style="text-align:left;"|Maurice Duplessis |84 |76 |14 |62 |217,413 |106,399 |38.60 |18.28 |- |style="text-align:left;" |[a 2] |style="text-align:left;"|– |1 |– |1 |1 |2,989 | |0.53 | |- | style="background-color:#D9B2FF;" |   | style="text-align:left;" |Action libérale nationale |style="text-align:left;"|Paul Gouin |56 |– |– |– |25,295 | |4.49 | |- | style="background-color:#FF5555;" |   | style="text-align:left;" |Parti national[a 3] |style="text-align:left;" |– |1 |– |1 |1 |3,074 | |0.55 | |- |rowspan="11" |   |style="text-align:left;" colspan="10"|Other candidates |- |style="text-align:left;" |[a 4] |style="text-align:left;"|– |5 |– |1 |1 |6,281 |5,514 |1.12 |0.99 |- |style="text-align:left;" | |style="text-align:left;"|– |1 |– |– |– |2,513 |1,044 |0.45 |0.19 |- |style="text-align:left;" |[a 5] |style="text-align:left;"|– |3 |– |– |– |1,679 |191 |0.30 |0.03 |- |style="text-align:left;" | |style="text-align:left;"|– |3 |– |– |– |788 |8,958 |0.14 |1.57 |- |style="text-align:left;" | |style="text-align:left;"|– |1 |– |– |– |617 | |0.11 | |- |style="text-align:left;" | |style="text-align:left;"|– |3 |– |– |– |469 |1,459 |0.08 |0.26 |- |style="text-align:left;" | |style="text-align:left;"|– |3 |– |– |– |410 |331 |0.07 |0.06 |- |style="text-align:left;" | |style="text-align:left;"|– |1 |– |– |– |228 | |0.04 | |- |style="text-align:left;" | |style="text-align:left;"|– |1 |– |– |– |159 |886 |0.03 |0.15 |- |style="text-align:left;" | |style="text-align:left;"|– |colspan="8" style="text-align:center;"|did not campaign |- ! colspan="3" style="text-align:left;" | Total | 248 | 90 ! " colspan="2"| 86 ! " colspan="2"| 563,297 ! " colspan="2"| 100% |- | colspan="7" style="text-align:left;" | Rejected ballots | 7,334 | 2,404 | colspan="2"| |- | colspan="7" style="text-align:left;" | Voter turnout | 570,631 | 3,624 | 77.00 | 0.06 |- | colspan="7" style="text-align:left;" | Registered electors (contested ridings only) | 741,131 | 5,283 | colspan="2"| |- | colspan="5" style="text-align:left;" | Candidates returned by acclamation[a 6] | 1 | 1 | colspan="4"| |}

Synopsis of results

Results by riding - 1939 Quebec general election[2][3][4]
RidingWinning partyTurnout
[a 7]
Votes[a 8]
Name1936PartyVotesShareMargin
#
Margin
%
LibUNCon-GALNNatIndCCFCon-OI-OthOtherTotal
 
AbitibiUNLib7,48856.39%3,02022.74%69.71%7,4884,468–396––––927–13,279
ArgenteuilLibLib2,67058.89%95421.04%78.26%2,6701,716–148––––––4,534
ArthabaskaUNLib3,44856.53%79713.07%86.40%3,4482,651––––––––6,099
BagotLibLib2,18352.14%1794.28%89.51%2,1832,004––––––––4,187
BeauceUNLib3,39542.83%1351.70%76.38%3,3953,260–1,272––––––7,927
BeauharnoisUNUN2,61446.88%1021.83%82.47%2,5122,614–450––––––5,576
BellechasseUNLib2,51553.25%3848.13%83.88%2,5152,131–77––––––4,723
BerthierLibLib2,66454.01%3968.03%88.65%2,6642,268––––––––4,932
BonaventureUNLib4,26555.62%86211.24%81.69%4,2653,403––––––––7,668
BromeUNUN1,79553.52%2367.04%82.33%1,5591,795––––––––3,354
ChamblyUNLib3,59859.93%1,60326.70%76.16%3,5981,995–209–––202––6,004
ChamplainUNCon2,98950.70%831.41%76.15%2,906–2,989–––––––5,895
Charlevoix—Saguenay[a 9]UNLibacclaimed
Châteauguay-LaprairieNewLib3,04952.26%4327.40%84.71%3,0492,617–168––––––5,834
ChicoutimiUNUN5,96850.59%1,53713.03%77.39%4,4315,968–1,398––––––11,797
ComptonUNLib2,45547.93%2875.60%80.29%2,4552,168–499––––––5,122
Deux-MontagnesUNUN1,93053.26%2366.51%84.35%1,6941,930––––––––3,624
DorchesterUNUN3,23552.72%5979.73%78.11%2,6383,235–263––––––6,136
DrummondUNLib3,95053.81%1,02713.99%80.26%3,9502,923–467––––––7,340
FrontenacUNLib2,24244.00%831.63%78.81%2,2422,159–694––––––5,095
Gaspé-NordUNLib1,54852.44%2759.32%82.49%1,5481,273––––––131–2,952
Gaspé-SudUNUN3,33853.83%4757.66%81.52%2,8633,338––––––––6,201
GatineauUNLib3,59261.22%1,31722.45%76.59%3,5922,275––––––––5,867
HullUNLib2,83350.08%2374.19%76.92%2,8332,596–––––––2285,657
HuntingdonUNLib1,72958.14%48416.27%81.95%1,7291,245––––––––2,974
IbervilleLibLib1,14647.26%341.40%87.61%1,1461,112–––167––––2,425
Îles-de-la-MadeleineUNUN1,03053.59%1387.18%89.84%8921,030––––––––1,922
Jacques-CartierUNLib7,34168.05%3,89536.11%78.74%7,3413,446––––––––10,787
JolietteUNUN3,46651.82%2433.63%87.08%3,2233,466––––––––6,689
Kamouraska–Rivière-du-LoupNewLib6,69158.67%2,14818.83%81.46%6,6914,543–171––––––11,405
L'AssomptionUNLib2,04355.82%63317.30%84.92%2,0431,410–207––––––3,660
L'IsletUNLib2,45956.39%56612.98%84.20%2,4591,893–9––––––4,361
LabelleUNUN2,22654.17%3438.35%78.32%1,8832,226––––––––4,109
Lac-Saint-JeanUNLib2,48251.05%1352.78%89.15%2,4822,347–33––––––4,862
LavalUNLib7,20055.72%2,22617.23%75.31%7,2004,974–748––––––12,922
LavioletteUNLib2,83849.13%3395.87%72.98%2,8382,499–439––––––5,776
LévisUNLib4,34256.03%93412.05%85.60%4,3423,408––––––––7,750
LotbinièreUNNat3,07457.58%2,26542.42%80.39%–2,265––3,074
[a 10]
–––––5,339
MaisonneuveUNLib7,01958.79%2,68522.49%74.31%7,0194,334–586––––––11,939
MaskinongéUNLib2,15557.76%57915.52%80.76%2,1551,576––––––––3,731
MataneUNUN2,89249.65%100.17%77.61%2,8822,892–51––––––5,825
MatapédiaUNLib3,08956.37%84015.33%78.87%3,0892,249–142––––––5,480
MéganticUNLib4,17452.64%4185.27%83.35%4,1743,756––––––––7,930
MissisquoiUNLib2,33449.60%1553.29%79.40%2,3342,179–193––––––4,706
MontcalmUNLib1,65447.49%1163.33%87.12%1,6541,538–291––––––3,483
MontmagnyUNLib2,32653.63%64014.76%76.14%2,3261,686–325––––––4,337
MontmorencyUNLib1,96050.91%48912.70%87.21%1,9601,471–373–46––––3,850
Montréal–Jeanne-ManceNewLib6,97860.01%3,07226.42%71.43%6,9783,906–745––––––11,629
Montréal-LaurierLibLib5,05051.03%1,02810.39%68.22%5,0504,022–824––––––9,896
Montréal-MercierUNLib6,21553.77%2,43121.03%72.21%6,2153,784–1,524––––35–11,558
Montréal–Notre-Dame-de-GrâceNewLib6,82774.95%5,52960.70%62.16%6,827694–111–––1,477
[a 11]
––9,109
Montréal-OutremontNewLib6,86979.29%5,36861.96%62.62%6,8691,501–293––––––8,663
Montréal–Saint-HenriUNLib6,26164.28%3,79638.97%67.73%6,2612,465–611––––2291749,740
Montreal–Saint-JacquesUNLib3,81052.84%1,35918.85%66.87%3,8102,451–490–301–––1597,211
Montréal–Saint-LouisLibLib5,08464.92%3,32442.45%63.09%5,0841,760–987––––––7,831
Montreal–Sainte-AnneLibLib5,77076.62%4,20655.85%64.92%5,7701,564–197––––––7,531
Montréal–Sainte-MarieUNInd4,51747.67%1,99721.07%68.95%2,5202,002–330–4,517–––1079,476
Montréal-VerdunUNLib4,44950.91%1,93622.15%63.15%4,4491,415–362––2,513–––8,739
NicoletUNLib3,35153.97%82513.29%79.35%3,3512,526–332––––––6,209
PapineauUNUN3,61749.82%7049.70%74.92%2,9133,617–730––––––7,260
PontiacLibLib1,99850.85%671.71%65.21%1,9981,931––––––––3,929
PortneufUNLib3,75948.45%2903.74%80.53%3,7593,469–531––––––7,759
Québec-CentreUNLib4,29659.05%1,92126.41%76.86%4,2962,375–604––––––7,275
Québec-ComtéUNLib3,53947.17%87611.68%86.24%3,5392,663–1,052––––249–7,503
Québec-EstUNLib6,43164.11%2,83128.22%80.44%6,4313,600––––––––10,031
Québec-OuestLibLib2,80362.66%1,36630.54%77.19%2,8031,437–233––––––4,473
Richelieu-VerchèresNewLib4,77658.32%2,13726.09%84.24%4,7762,639–775––––––8,190
RichmondUNLib2,99852.55%68411.99%82.92%2,9982,314–393––––––5,705
RimouskiUNLib3,58454.63%69010.52%83.28%3,5842,894–83––––––6,561
RobervalUNLib3,42450.69%5898.72%82.75%3,4242,835–496––––––6,755
RouvilleUNLib1,76150.01%10.03%81.83%1,7611,760––––––––3,521
Saint-HyacintheLibLib3,61555.39%70310.77%83.38%3,6152,912––––––––6,527
Saint-Jean–NapiervilleNewLib3,83359.89%1,30920.45%83.23%3,8332,524–43––––––6,400
Saint-MauriceUNLib3,46246.54%1341.80%80.23%3,4623,328–648––––––7,438
Saint-SauveurUNLib4,97256.56%1,84821.02%85.59%4,9723,124–566–––––1298,791
SheffordUNLib3,37050.55%5988.97%80.27%3,3702,772–525––––––6,667
SherbrookeUNUN3,91446.90%981.17%75.23%3,8163,914–615––––––8,345
StansteadUNLib2,84650.18%5529.73%76.83%2,8462,294–532––––––5,672
TémiscamingueUNLib4,76056.52%1,86122.10%65.61%4,7602,899–460––––303–8,422
TémiscouataUNLib2,36253.63%3738.47%83.48%2,3621,989–53––––––4,404
TerrebonneUNLib4,89153.17%1,04411.35%83.15%4,8913,847–460––––––9,198
Trois-RivièresUNUN5,27859.69%1,71319.37%87.91%3,5655,278––––––––8,843
Vaudreuil-SoulangesNewLib2,93356.01%71013.56%85.33%2,9332,223–81––––––5,237
Westmount–Saint-GeorgesNewLib5,38576.25%4,13558.55%64.97%5,385427–––1,250
[a 12]
––––7,062
WolfeUNLib2,03552.56%1985.11%87.47%2,0351,837––––––––3,872
YamaskaUNUN2,08954.97%3789.95%87.32%1,7112,089––––––––3,800
= open seat
= turnout is above provincial average
= winning candidate was in previous Legislature
= incumbent had switched allegiance
= not incumbent; was previously elected to the Legislature
= incumbency arose from byelection gain
= previously incumbent in another riding
= other incumbents renominated
= previously an MP in the House of Commons of Canada
= multiple candidates

Analysis

Party candidates in 2nd place[2]
Party in 1st placeParty in 2nd placeTotal
LibUNIndCCFI-Con
6511168
1414
11
11
11
Total166611185
Candidates ranked 1st to 5th place, by party[2]
PartiesAcclaimed1st2nd3rd4th5thTotal
1681685
1466484
11125
11
11
123
11
523156
123
11
11
213
123
11
Resulting composition of the 21st Quebec Legislative Assembly[3]
SourceParty
LibUNConNatIndTotal
Seats retainedIncumbents returned61420
Ouster of incumbent changing allegiance11
Byelection loss reversed - previous incumbent returned11
Byelection loss reversed - new MLA elected11
Seats changing handsIncumbents defeated - previous incumbent returned10111
Incumbents defeated - new MLAs elected25126
Open seats gained - previous incumbent returned33
Open seats gained - new MLAs elected9110
Acclamation - previous incumbent returned11
Incumbent changed allegiance11
New ridingsIncumbent returned in new seat33
New MLA elected66
Total681411186

See also

References

  1. ^ An Act respecting the electoral districts of the Province, S.Q. 1939, c. 7.
  2. ^ Drouilly, Pierre (December 4, 2017). "Élections québécoises de 1939". donneesquebec.ca. Atlas des élections au Québec.
  3. ^ "Les membres de l'Assemblée nationale par circonscription" [National Assembly members by riding] (in French). National Assembly of Quebec. Retrieved September 13, 2023.
  4. ^ "Results by Ridings Outside City; Figures for Ridings on Island". Montreal Gazette. October 26, 1939. p. 6.