Parti rouge

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The Parti rouge (alternatively known as the parti democratique) was formed in what is now Quebec, Canada, around 1848 by radical French-Canadians inspired by the ideas of Louis-Joseph Papineau, the Institut canadien de Montréal, and the Patriotes Rebellions of 1837. 

The party was a successor to the Parti patriote. The radical reformist rouges were supporters of responsible government, and advocates of republicanism, anti-clericalism and abolition of the semi-feudal seigneurial system of land ownership. They opposed the union of Upper Canada and Lower Canada into the United Province of Canada, and demanded its termination. When talks for Canadian confederation began, its members either opposed the idea, or suggested a decentralized confederation. They were opposed to the ultramontane politics of the Catholic clergy of Quebec and the Parti bleu.

For a short period, the elected Rouges allied with the Clear Grits in the legislature of the united province of Canada. The coalition government it produced quickly collapsed. After the failure of most of the party's political actions, its more moderate members joined the Liberal Party of Canada or the Liberal Party of Quebec.

See also:

• Political parties of Canada
• Politics of Quebec