Daniel Petit

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Daniel Petit (born September 27, 1948 in Doische, Belgium) is a Canadian politician.

A lawyer by profession, Petit is a graduate of Université Laval and was called to the Quebec bar in 1973. He is a founder and partner of the firm Petit, Beaudoin, Société nominale d'avocats. Petit specialized in labour and administrative law and has organized for the Conservatives and the Progressive Conservatives since the 1980s.

He was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 2006 federal election as the Conservative Member of Parliament for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles. He defeated incumbent Bloc Québécois MP Richard Marceau to win the seat.

On September 21, 2006, in reference to the Dawson College shooting, Petit stated that the $1 billion spent on the gun registry in the Montréal area would be better spent on integration programs for immigrants, suggesting that this would be more effective in reducing gun crime. In response to these comments, Liberal MPs Ralph Goodale and Denis Coderre both public called for his removal from the Conservative caucus [1].