Claude Wagner

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Claude Wagner, PC , QC , BA , B.Ph , B.CI. (April 4, 1925 - July 11, 1979) was a judge and politician in the Province of Quebec, Canada. In his career, Wagner was a Crown prosecutor, professor of criminal law and judge. He earned a "law and order" reputation when he served successively as Solicitor General, Attorney General, and Minister of Justice from 1964 to 1966 in the government of Quebec Premier Jean Lesage.

After losing the Quebec Liberal Party leadership race to Robert Bourassa in 1970, Wagner left politics to return to the bench. He then entered federal politics, and was elected as the Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament for Saint-Hyacinthe in the 1972 federal election. He was re-elected in the 1974 election, and stood as a candidate at the Progressive Conservative leadership convention of 1976. Wagner attracted support amongst Tories who believed that having a leader from Quebec would enable the party to break the Liberal Party's stranglehold on the province, and from right-wing Tories attracted by his law and order reputation. Wagner led on the first three ballots, but lost to Joe Clark.

In 1978, he was elevated to the Canadian Senate by Pierre Trudeau and sat as a Progressive Conservative. He died of cancer the next year at the age of 54.

[edit] See also

• Quebec federalism
• List of Mauriciens

[edit] External links

• National Assembly biography (French)
• Federal Political Biography from the Library of Parliament

Parliament of Canada
Preceded by Théogène Ricard	Member of Parliament from Saint-Hyacinthe 1972–1978	Succeeded by Marcel Ostiguy