Québec's ruling political party, formed 1968, drawing support from the Ralliement National pour l'Indépendance du Québec (RIN) and Mouvement Souveraineté Association (MSA), both of which soon disbanded - the hubris resulting from the previous year's Vive le Québec Libre! helped cement things. They were, at first, a social-democratic party that advocated Quebec independence. The PQ rose from fringe party to winning the 1976 election, thanks to its charismatic leader/founder, René Lévesque, but by the 1980 referendum (see: neverendum), "independence" was softened to "souveraineté-association" (a vague pseudo-autonomy within Canada, an idea harkening back to the days of the MSA) - the PQ lost anyway. Current leader is the inexplicably-charismatic Lucien Bouchard; the leftist aspects were ditched long ago.

Leaders of the Parti Quebecois, past and present, as of April 2008:

• René Lévesque (1968-1985; Premier 1976-1985)
• Pierre-Marc Johnson (1985-1987; Premier 1985)
• Guy Chevrette (1987) (interim leader)
• Jacques Parizeau (1987-1996; Premier 1994-1996)
• Lucien Bouchard (1996-2001; Premier 1996-2001)
• Bernard Landry (2001-2005; Premier 2001-2003)
• Louise Harel (2005) (interim leader)
• André Boisclair (2005-2007)
• François Gendron (2007) (interim leader)
• Pauline Marois (2007-present)

Interim leaders are designated by the caucus until the party's general assembly elects a new leader.