Communist Party of Quebec

The Communist Party of Quebec (French: Parti communiste du Québec, PCQ-PCC) is a provincial political party in Quebec. It is affiliated with, but officially independent from, the Communist Party of Canada (CPC). The PCQ-PCC publishes the newspaper Clarté.

Communists have run in elections in Quebec since 1936. The CPC was banned in 1941 and its branch in Quebec was consequently renamed the Parti ouvrier-progressiste (Labor-Progressive Party). The party restored its original name in English and French in 1959. In 1965, CPC members in Quebec established the Parti communiste du Québec. Sam Walsh was leader of the party from 1962 to 1990.

In 2002, the PCQ-PCC joined in a federation with the Rassemblement pour l'alternative progressiste and the Parti de la démocratie socialiste to form the Union des forces progressistes, which in turn merged with Option Citoyenne to form Québec solidaire. The PCQ-PCC left Québec solidaire in 2017, when Québec solidaire merged with Option nationale.

In 2005, party leader André Parizeau and his supporters were expelled from the PCQ-PCC for factionalism. Parizeau had called for the CPC and PCQ-PCC to demand the immediate independence of Quebec; he was swiftly rebuked by other provincial party leaders and the federal leadership. From 2005 to 2012, Parizeau retained the party's registration with Élections Québec; the PCQ-PCC's requests to register as Parti communiste du Québec were consequently rejected by Élections Québec during this period. In 2023, the PCQ-PCC under the CPC reregistered with Élections Québec as the Parti communiste du Québec.