75th Anniversary of Women's Right to Vote in Québec - The Chief Electoral Officer Launches a Website and Commemorative Logo

QUEBEC CITY, April 23, 2015 /CNW Telbec/ - To mark the 75th anniversary of Québec women getting the right to vote and the right to run for office in provincial elections, the Chief Electoral Officer of Québec is adding a commemorative logo to its institutional signature. The logo will appear whenever the Chief Electoral Officer's signature is disseminated in the coming weeks as a reminder of a major turning point in the Québec democratic history. In addition, the Chief Electoral Officer is launching today the new website www.votedesfemmes.quebec as another way to mark this 75th anniversary. The website leads to a variety of content related to women's voting rights and directs visitors to other websites dedicated to the event. Moreover, the Chief Electoral Officer has collaborated with the Québec National Assembly on the Aux urnes citoyennes! exhibit opening in the provincial parliament building in Québec City.

It was on April 25, 1940 that was sanctioned the law granting women the right to vote and to run for elected office. "We should remember with pride the efforts of the women who demanded their right as citizens to be able to vote," said the Chief Electoral Officer Me Lucie Fiset, adding "we can also rejoice in how far we have come in the last 75 years on a journey that has seen tangible progress for Québec women and for our democracy." The fact is that today more women vote in general elections than men and this holds especially true for younger voters. Also, women are now present in the Québec National Assembly. In this regard, the Chief Electoral Officer published last September a study entitled Femmes et politique: facteurs d'influence, mesures incitatives et exposé de la situation québécoise in order to stimulate discussion on how to increase women's representation in the National Assembly.

The 75th anniversary of Québec women's right to vote and their eligibility to run for elected office coincides with the 70th anniversary this June of the Chief Electoral Officer of Québec. These two anniversaries go hand in hand in view of the Chief Electoral Officer's ongoing efforts to promote the exercise of the right to vote, as well as its involvement in democracy education programs and its support for partners who accompany future candidates at the municipal level.

SOURCE Directeur général des élections

Image with caption: "75th Anniversary of Women's Right to Vote in Québec - The Chief Electoral Officer Launches a Website and Commemorative Logo. (CNW Group/Directeur général des élections)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20150423_C5836_PHOTO_EN_14690.jpg

Denis Dion, Information Officer, [phone] or 1 888 870-3320, [email protected]