Green Party of Quebec

The Parti vert du Québec or PVQ (in English: Green Party of Quebec) is a Quebec political party whose platform is the promotion of green values.

A first version of the Parti vert du Québec was founded in the 1980s and had candidates in the 1985, 1989 and 1994 Quebec general elections. It fell into oblivion in 1994 due to its top management leaving for the Parti Québécois (see Jean Ouimet) and lost its recognition as a party in 1998. Ouimet, a strong sovereigntist, maintained a party wholly independent of the federal Greens during his leadership. Members of the Green Party of Canada formed an organization called the Green Party of Canada in Quebec, a predominantly anglophone entity that nominated federal candidates only. There was open antipathy between Ouimet and the GPCQ's leader, Rolf Bramann. Neither was affiliated with Montreal's municipal Green Party of the time, Écologie-Montreal, led by Dmitri Rousopolis.

At the same time as the PVQ began to collapse due to Ouimet's departure, Rolf Bramann was removed from his position. This led to a precipitous decline in federal organization in the province contemporaneous with the collapse of the provincial Greens.

The second (and current) version of the PVQ was founded in 2001. In 2002, three leftist political parties (Rassemblement pour l'alternative progressiste, Parti de la démocratie socialiste and Parti Communiste du Québec) have merged to form the Union des forces progressistes. The PVQ pledged to try to avoid running candidates in ridings where there was a UFP candidate, although it reserved the right to run anywhere it wants to (even ridings with a UFP candidate), and did not merge with the UFP.

In May 2006, the Party has pledged to stay independent after several appeals to join Québec solidaire, the UFP's successor.

Election 1989
The 1989 elections results were also very positive as on average the number of votes collected per candidate were similar to the 2007 and were at that time the strongest showing for any Green Party in Canada. On average candidates collected 5.55%. It was the first concerted effort to organise on a truly provincial scale with a very small budget. The provincial organisational meetings of the party consisted of a triangle of organisers from Montreal, Québec City and Sherbrooke. From there recruitment was successfully conducted in neighboring counties in a very short timeframe. Many more distant counties organised relatively independently and achieved great results as well. Finances in most counties came forth mainly from the membership base who all donated small amounts. Many meetings were held in Montreal at The Commensal, a strong supporter. Attempts were made to involve the various environmental groups but most shied away from officially supporting the PVQ in order to maintain political neutrality and protect financial interests. In the party structure of 1989, sovereignty and economical neutrality (vs left wing) were the norm and one of the main leitmotivs was «not left or right but forward». This caused some strife within that version of the party as many members were more left leaning. Jean Ouimet brought a great deal of energy, commitment and charisma to the party and brought it to the forefront of Québécois politics. Listed here are the top riding results [NB - The below results are in fact from the 1989 Quebec election, and not that of 2007. This list needs to be severely corrected.] :


 * 1) Saguenay, Denis Hubert, 15,45%
 * 2) Beauce-Sud, Yves Castera, 10,28%
 * 3) Joliette, Gaétan Riopel-Savignac, 9,32%
 * 4) Chambly, Jocelyne Décary 8,81%
 * 5) Mercier, Manon Dubé 8,38%
 * 6) Chauveau, Richard Domm 8,37%
 * 7) Saint-Louis, François Chevalier 8,10%
 * 8) Outremont, Mario Bélanger 8,02%


 * 1) Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Nicole Painchaud 7,48%
 * 2) Westmount Tutko, Gregory Lemieux 7,48%
 * 3) Kamouraska-Témiscouata, Marie-Hélène Lemieux 7,23%
 * 4) Saint-Maurice, François Boucher 7,20%
 * 5) Frontenac, Claude Charron 6,77%
 * 6) Montmagny-L'Islet, André Blouin 6,40%
 * 7) La Prairie, France Duclos-Gallant C. 6,29%