The 1960 election set the stage for the Quiet Revolution, a major social transformation of all aspects of Quebec society throughout the 1960s. Among many other changes, the influence and power of the Catholic church fell sharply as Quebec became a secular society.
This election put an end to 16 years of continuous Union Nationale rule, much of it under Maurice Duplessis. Duplessis had died in 1959.
His successor, Paul Sauvé, initiated a "hundred days of change" that began to transform Quebec society after decades of stagnation under Duplessis. The Duplessis period was later derisively referred to as La Grande Noirceur (the Great Darkness). Sauvé died suddenly after only a few months in office. The Union Nationale was thus in disarray when it went into an election under its second new leader (Barrette) in less than a year.
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