Action démocratique du Québec
former Canadian political party
The Action démocratique du Québec ([aksjɔ̃ demɔkʁatik dy kebɛk], lit. 'Democratic Action of Quebec'), commonly referred to as the ADQ, was a right-wing populist and conservative provincial political party in Quebec, Canada. On the sovereignty question, it defined itself as autonomist; it had support from nationalists and federalists. Its members were referred to as adéquistes, a name derived from the French pronunciation of the initials 'ADQ'.
The party was founded by dissidents of the Quebec Liberal Party who did not accept the Charlottetown Accord, and first contested the 1994 provincial election, electing Mario Dumont to the National Assembly. Under longtime leader Dumont, the ADQ had a strong showing in the 2007 provincial election, reducing the ruling Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ) to a minority government and relegating the Parti Québécois (PQ) to third place. The ADQ won 41 seats with 31% of the popular vote to serve as the Official Opposition in the National Assembly. However, the ADQ's popularity declined significantly soon afterward and in the 2008 provincial elections, the party failed to secure at least twenty percent of the popular vote or twelve Members of the National Assembly (MNAs) in the last election, and consequently lost official party status, though in early 2009 it was recognised as an official party by the PLQ and the PQ.
On 21 January 2012, the membership approved a merger with the Coalition Avenir Québec. The merger was recognised by the Directeur général des élections du Québec on 14 February 2012.
History
Foundation and first decade: 1994–2002
The party was formed in 1994 by a group of nationalists, known as les allairistes, that supported the Allaire Report, a document that advocated a decentralized federal system in which the provincial Government of Quebec would have significantly increased powers.
After the failure of the Meech Lake Accord, which made many Québécois feel rejected by the rest of Canada, the Liberals adopted the Allaire Report as their constitutional policy.
“Action démocratique du Québec” enters the record as former Canadian political party. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Action, démocratique and Québec can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q343735. VIAF identifies the subject as 266640650. The Library of Congress control number is n2003096821. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1994, 2007, 2008 and 2009.
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This entry incorporates text from “Action démocratique du Québec” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.