The Ralliement créditiste du Québec was a political party in Québec, Canada that operated under several names from 1970-1980. It promoted social credit theories of monetary reform, and acted as an outlet for the expression of rural discontent.

On January 25, 1970, the federal Ralliement créditiste party established a provincial wing, the Ralliement créditiste du Québec, to compete in the next provincial elections. Camil Samson, the new party's president was elected as a Member of the National Assembly (MNA) for the riding of Rouyn-Noranda in a by-election. He was elected leader of the party on March 22, 1970.

In the April 29, 1970 elections, the créditistes benefited from the decline of the conservative Union Nationale party and made a modest breakthrough, winning 12 seats in the National Assembly and 11.2% of the vote. The party was never able to build on this initial success because it was wracked continually by internal divisions.

On February 13, 1972, faced by challenges from within his party, Camil Samson resigned as leader, and a leadership convention was planned for March 18-19, 1972: Armand Bois (MNA for Saint-Sauveur) was chosen interim leader on February 21.

On March 16, Camil Samson was expelled from the party by nine of the créditiste MNAs (organized by Armand Bois) for criticizing some of the caucus members, and for not attending party meetings. On March 19, Samson declared himself to be the leader of a new créditiste group, and demanded to be seated in the National Assembly as a member of the 'Registered Ralliement créditiste du Québec', along with two other créditiste MNAs, Aurèle Audet (Abitibi-Ouest) and Bernard Dumont (Mégantic). However, the speaker of the National Assembly recognized Armand Bois as parliamentary leader of the party. On August 11, Samson, Dumont and Audet rejoined the Ralliement créditiste du Québec.

On February 4, 1973, Yvon Dupuis was elected leader of the Ralliement créditiste du Québec over Samson. The party was renamed the Parti créditiste. Samson was named leader in the National Assembly. On February 21, Armand Bois, the former interim leader, was expelled from the party for saying at the February 4 leadership convention that Yvon Dupuis’s entourage included members of the Montréal underworld. Bois sat as an independent créditiste until October 3, when he apologized for his statements and asked to be readmitted to the party.

Dupuis failed to win a by-election to enter the National Assembly, and was pressured to quit the leadership of the party. On May 5, 1973, Yvon Dupuis resigned as leader of the Parti créditiste, and formed the Parti présidentiel. Dupuis resigned as leader of that party on October 21, 1973, and ended his political career. The Parti présidentiel was merged into the Union nationale a year later.

In the October 29, 1973 election, after campaigning under the name Parti créditiste, only two party members won election to the National Assembly, Fabien Roy and Camil Samson, although the party won 9.9% of the popular vote.

On December 1, 1974, Armand Bois announced the foundation of a new créditiste party, the Parti réformateur, of which nothing further is known.

Before the 1976 election, there was a further split as the only two sitting Parti créditiste MNAs went their separate ways. Camil Samson became leader of the party, again called the Ralliement créditiste du Québec, on May 11, 1975. Fabien Roy was expelled from the party. It is not clear whether Roy was expelled on January 15, 1974 or November 3, 1975.

On December 14, 1975, Roy teamed up with former Liberal Jérôme Choquette to form the Parti national populaire under Choquette's leadership. The PNP and the Union Nationale, led by Rodrigue Biron, announced the merger of their two parties, but the idea was abandoned by the Union Nationale one month later.

In the November 15, 1976 general election, Camil Samson was the only créditiste elected, although the party won 4.63% of the popular vote across the province. (The PNP's Roy also won his seat, while Choquette was defeated.)

On November 12, 1978, Camil Samson founded a new party, Les Démocrates, bringing the Ralliement créditiste du Québec to an end as a provinicial party. Samson’s partner in establishing the new party was Pierre Sévigny, a federal cabinet minister in the Progressive Conservative government of John Diefenbaker. Sévigny had resigned from the federal cabinet in disgrace because of his relationship with Gerda Munsinger, who was later revealed to be a spy for East Germany.

On January 1, 1980, Samson renamed Les Démocrates the Parti démocrate créditiste. On September 2, 1980, Samson joined the Quebec Liberal Party caucus. He was defeated as a Liberal candidate in the 1981 provincial election.

According to the Quebec poltical website, geniesenherbe.org (http://www.geniesenherbe.org/politique/partis/cs-en.html), the Ralliement créditiste du Québec (this may refer to the Parti démocrate créditiste) and the PNP merged in 1981 to form the Parti crédit social uni (PCSU). Another source indicates that the Parti crédit social uni was accredited on September 13, 1979.

The PCSU nominated candidates in the 1981 election, 1985 election and 1989 election, each time winning less than 0.1% of the popular vote.

Election results

General election	# of candidates	# of seats won	% of popular vote
1970 (RC)	99	12	11.19%
1973 (PC)	109	2	9.92%
1976 (RC)	109	1	4.63%
1976 (PNP)	36	1	0.92%
1981 (CSU)	16	0	0.04%
1985 (CSU)	12	0	0.05%
1989 (CSU)	11	0	0.09%

See also

• Parti créditiste
• Parti présidentiel
• Parti national populaire
• Les Démocrates/Parti démocrate créditiste
• Politics of Quebec
• List of Quebec general elections
• List of Quebec premiers
• List of Quebec leaders of the Opposition
• National Assembly of Quebec
• Timeline of Quebec history
• Political parties in Quebec

External links

• National Assembly historical information (http://www.assnat.qc.ca/fra/patrimoine/)
• National Assembly of Quebec Chronology (http://www.assnat.qc.ca/fra/patrimoine/chronologie/chrono3.html)
• La Politique québécoise sur le Web (http://www.quebecpolitique.com/)