The
Parti rouge was formed in the Province of Quebec, around 1848 by radical French-Canadians inspired by the ideas of
Louis-Joseph PapineauLouis-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...
, the
Institut canadien de MontréalThe Institut canadien de Montréal was founded on 17 December 1844, by a group of 200 young liberal professionals in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Institute was a public library and debating room for the literary and scientific society, which would later come into conflict with the Roman Catholic...
, and the reformist movement led by the Parti patriote of the 1830s.
The party was a successor to the
Parti patriote. The reformist
rouges did not believe that the 1840 Act of Union had truly granted a
responsible governmentResponsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability which is the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy...
to former Upper and Lower Canada. They advocated important
democraticDemocracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
reforms,
republicA republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...
anism, separation of the state and the church. They were perceived as
anti-clericalAnti-clericalism is a historical movement that opposes religious institutional power and influence, real or alleged, in all aspects of public and political life, and the involvement of religion in the everyday life of the citizen...
and radical by their political adversaries. Some of its members desired the abolition of the semi-feudal
seigneurial systemThe seigneurial system of New France was the semi-feudal system of land distribution used in the North American colonies of New France.-Introduction to New France:...
of land ownership, although Papineau was himself a seigneur and a vocal defender of the traditional system, which he wanted reformed, not abolished.
They opposed the union of
Upper CanadaThe Province of Upper Canada was a political division in British Canada established in 1791 by the British Empire to govern the central third of the lands in British North America and to accommodate Loyalist refugees from the United States of America after the American Revolution...
and
Lower CanadaThe Province of Lower Canada was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence...
into the United
Province of CanadaThe Province of Canada, United Province of Canada, or the United Canadas was a British colony in North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham in the Report on the Affairs of British North America following the Rebellions of...
, and demanded its termination. When talks for
Canadian confederationCanadian Confederation was the process by which the federal Dominion of Canada was formed on July 1, 1867. On that day, three British colonies were formed into four Canadian provinces...
began, its members either opposed the idea, or suggested a decentralized confederation. They were opposed to the ultramontane politics of the
CatholicThe word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
clergyClergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. A clergyman, churchman or cleric is a member of the clergy, especially one who is a priest, preacher, pastor, or other religious professional....
of
QuebecQuebec 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....
and the
Parti bleuThe Parti bleu was a moderate political group in Quebec, Canada that emerged in 1854. It was based on the moderate reformist views of Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine, and was a rival to the radical Parti rouge....
.
In 1858, the elected
rouges allied with the
Clear GritsClear Grits were reformers in the Province of Upper Canada, a British colony that is now the Province of Ontario, Canada. Their support was concentrated among southwestern Ontario farmers, who were frustrated and disillusioned by the 1849 Reform government of Robert Baldwin and Louis-Hippolyte...
in the legislature of the united
province of CanadaThe Province of Canada, United Province of Canada, or the United Canadas was a British colony in North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham in the Report on the Affairs of British North America following the Rebellions of...
. This resulted in the shortest-lived government in Canadian history, falling in less than a day. Not long after, the failure of most of the party's political actions caused its downfall and its more moderate members (notably including Sir
Wilfrid LaurierSir Wilfrid Laurier, GCMG, PC, KC, baptized Henri-Charles-Wilfrid Laurier was the seventh Prime Minister of Canada from 11 July 1896 to 6 October 1911....
, Canada's first francophone Prime Minister) formed what became the
Liberal Party of CanadaThe Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
in conjunction with their Upper Canadian Clear-Grit allies.
Manifestoes
- Manifeste du Comité constitutionnel de la réforme et du progrès, 1847 (online)
- Manifeste du Club national démocratique, 1849 (online)
Additional French language information sources
- Lamonde, Yvan (2000). , Montréal: Éditions Fides, 576 p. ISBN 2-7621-2104-3 (online)
- Lamonde, Yvan (1994). , Saint-Laurent: Fides, 369 p. ISBN 2-7621-1736-4
- Lamonde, Yvan (1990). , Montréal: Boréal, 176 p. ISBN 2890523691
- de Lagrave, Jean-Paul (1976). , Montréal: Editions de Lagrave, 150 p.
- Bernard, Jean-Paul (1971). , Montréal: Presses de l'Université du Québec, 394 p. ISBN 0777000288
- Dumont, Fernand, Montminy, Jean-Paul, and Hamelin, Jean ed. (1971). , Québec: Presses de l'Université Laval, 327 p.
See also
- Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
- Liberalism
Liberalism 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 theory
Individual 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 worldwide
This 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 democracy
Liberal 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...
- Liberalism in Canada
Liberalism 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...
- Politics of Quebec
The politics of Quebec are centred on a provincial government resembling that of the other Canadian provinces, namely a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy. The capital of the province is Quebec City, where the Lieutenant Governor, Premier, the legislature, and cabinet reside.The...
- Parti canadien
The Parti canadien or Parti patriote was a political party in what is now Quebec founded by members of the liberal elite of Lower Canada at the beginning of the 19th century...
- early political party with members whom later joined the Parti rouge
- Institut canadien de Montréal
The Institut canadien de Montréal was founded on 17 December 1844, by a group of 200 young liberal professionals in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Institute was a public library and debating room for the literary and scientific society, which would later come into conflict with the Roman Catholic...