Hec Clouthier

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Hector Daniel Clouthier (born October 18, 1949 in Pembroke) is a past Liberal Member of Parliament for the riding of Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke in Ontario, Canada. He is known for wearing a flamboyant red fedora and his election slogan, "Give 'em Hec".

Prior to being elected Clouthier was Vice-President of Hec Clouthier and Sons Inc., a well known lumbering firm in the Upper Ottawa Valley. Also, he volunteered as Campaign Chair United Way Upper Ottawa Valley , Board member Pembroke General Hospital, Board member St. Joseph's Non Profit Housing and was President Pembroke and Area Chamber of Commerce.

He originally tried for the Liberal nomination in Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke before the 1993 election, but his candidacy was denied by then-party leader Jean Chrétien in favour of sitting MP Len Hopkins. Clouthier ran as an Independent and received more than 10,000 votes finishing second to Hopkins. In 1997 Hopkins announced he would not be a candidate in the next Federal election. There was a spirited battle for the Liberal nomination with over 4,000 memberships sold. At the convention over 2,500 voted and Clouthier won over three other candidates. Subsequently he won the general election and became M.P. for Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke. He was elected by his fellow M.P.'s as Chair of Eastern Ontario caucus and was named by the Prime Minister as Parliamentary- Secretary to the Minister of National Defence in 2000.

In the 2000 election, he was defeated because of his controversial endorsement of gun control, which had become highly unpopular in the region. After his electoral defeat he was chosen as caucus liaison by Prime Minister Chrétien. He served in that position until Paul Martin took over as Prime Minister. In the fall of 2002 an interesting meeting took place between Hector and President George W. Bush. It was in Detroit at a border conference and the President was " smitten" ( Globe and Mail story Nov.30 ,2002) by Hector's fedora and asked for one, so Clouthier had a fedora made for the President and sent it to the White House.

Currently he is the Executive Director of the Ontario Horse Racing Industry Association .

Clouthier holds a professional harness horse driver's license and is an avid marathon runner having ran 19 marathons in the last 7 years including the Boston Marathon in 2005.

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Preceded by
Len Hopkins, Liberal		 Member of Parliament from Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke
1997-2000		 Succeeded by
Cheryl Gallant, Conservative