Civic Party of Montreal

Civic Party of Montreal Parti civique de Montréal
Former municipal party
Leader	Jean Drapeau
Founded	1960 (1960)
Dissolved	1994 (1994)
Ideology	municipal reformism, conservatism
Official colours	Green
Politics of Montreal Political parties

The Civic Party of Montreal (French: Parti Civique de Montréal) was a municipal political party in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It existed from 1960 to 1994. Throughout its history the Civic Party was dominated by the personality of its leader Jean Drapeau.

Origins

It was established in September 1960 when 17 out of the 33 Civic Action League (French: Ligue d'Action Civique or LAC) Councillors, led by Jean Drapeau, crossed the floor to create a new party.

Achievements

The Civic Party won two thirds of the City Council's seats as well as the office of Mayor in 1960 and remained in power until 1986. It is credited with:

• the abolition of council seats reserved for home owners;
• the construction of the Montreal Metro system and the Place des Arts concert hall and
• the advent of Expo 67 and the 1976 Summer Olympics.

It also helped bringing Major League Baseball to Montreal with the creation of the Montreal Expos.

Decline

In the 1980s the party steadily lost support to the Montreal Citizens' Movement (RCM). It was voted out of office after Mayor Jean Drapeau retired from politics. Only one of its candidates, Germain Prégent, was elected in 1986. Prégent sat as an Independent by 1988. The party survived for a few years. It even managed to win a by-election in 1989 and another one in 1992. It regained the status of Official Opposition by merging with the Parti Municipal (Municipal Party) in July 1992. However, it changed its name in 1994 when it became the Parti Montréalais (Montrealers’ Party), led by Jérôme Choquette. ^[1] Choquette ran for Mayor in 1994 and finished third with 13% of the vote. Only two of his candidates were elected to City Hall.

Mayoral Candidates

	Election	Mayoral Candidate	Popular Vote for Mayor	Number of Councillors
	1960	Jean Drapeau	53%	44/66
	1962	Jean Drapeau	88%	39/45
	1966	Jean Drapeau	94%	45/48
	1970	Jean Drapeau	92%	52/52
	1974	Jean Drapeau	55%	37/55
	1978	Jean Drapeau	61%	52/54
	1982	Jean Drapeau	48%	39/57
	1986	Claude Dupras [2]	29%	1/58
	1990	Nicole Gagnon-Larocque [3]	21%	1/50

Victories are indicated with bold fonts.

Footnotes

1. ^ La politique municipale à Montréal dans les années 1990 : du « réformisme populaire » au « populisme gestionnaire », Serge Belley, Érudit, 2003
2. ^ Claude Dupras ran as the Progressive Conservative candidate in the district of Saint-Henri—Westmount against Liberal incumbent Don Johnston in 1980. He finished second with 18% of the vote.
3. ^ Nicole Gagnon-Larocque was the Civic City Councillor for the district of Octave-Crémazie from 1978 to 1986.