Louis Plamondon

Not to be confused with Louis Plamondon (1785 –1828)
Louis Plamondon
MP
Parliamentary leader of the Bloc Québécois (interim)
Incumbent
Assumed office
June 2, 2011
Preceded by Pierre Paquette (House Leader)
Dean of the Canadian House of Commons
Incumbent
Assumed office
October 14, 2008
Preceded by Bill Blaikie
Member of the Canadian House of Commons for Bas-Richelieu-Nicolet-Bécancour[1]
Incumbent
Assumed office
September 4, 1984
Preceded by Jean-Louis Leduc
Personal details
Born July 31, 1943 (1943-07-31) (age 68)
Saint-Raymond, Quebec, Canada
Political party Bloc Québécois (1990–present)
Other political
affiliations		 Progressive Conservative Party (Before 1990)
Alma mater Laval University
University of Montreal
Profession Businessperson
Professor

Louis Plamondon (born July 31, 1943) is a politician in the Canadian province of Quebec and the current interim parliamentary leader of the Bloc Québécois (BQ).

Plamondon has represented Bas-Richelieu—Nicolet—Bécancour (formerly known as Richelieu) in the Canadian House of Commons since 1984. Originally elected as a Progressive Conservative, Plamondon was a founding member of the BQ in 1990 and has been re-elected under its banner in every election since then. He became the party's interim parliamentary leader on June 2, 2011, after it was reduced to only four seats in parliament in that spring's federal election. With the Bloc Québécois leadership vacant since the defeat of Gilles Duceppe in the election, Plamondon is the most senior member of the BQ caucus.

He is the Dean of the House, the longest-serving current member of the House of Commons.

Contents

Early life and career

Plamondon was born in Saint-Raymond-de-Portneuf, Quebec, the brother of Quebec-born lyricist Luc Plamondon.[2] He has a teaching certificate from L'École normale Maurice L. Duplessis (1964), a Bachelor of Arts degree from Laval University (1968), and a B.A.An. from the University of Montreal (1976). He was a math teacher and restaurant owner before entering political life.[3] Plamondon supported the "oui" side in Quebec's 1980 referendum on sovereignty.[4]

Member of Parliament

Progressive Conservative MP

Plamondon was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 1984 federal election, defeating Liberal Party incumbent Jean-Louis Leduc in Richelieu. The Progressive Conservatives won a landslide majority government in this election under Brian Mulroney's leadership, and Plamondon entered parliament as a government backbencher. He was associated with the Quebec nationalist wing of his party and soon became known as a maverick.[5] In 1986, he criticized justice minister John Crosbie for appointing an anglophone to replace the sole francophone judge on the Ontario Court of Appeal.[6] He later criticized industry minister Sinclair Stevens for awarding an multi-million-dollar untendered contract to a shipbuilding company in Quebec City.[7] Plamondon also expressed sympathy with fellow MP Robert Toupin, who left the Progressive Conservatives in May 1986 to sit as an independent.[8]

Plamondon was on the socially liberal wing of the Progressive Conservative Party. He voted against a motion to re-introduce capital punishment in 1987 and later opposed efforts to restrict abortion services.[9] He strongly supported the Mulroney government's efforts to strengthen official bilingualism and criticized dissident anglophone Tory MPs who tried to weaken the government's reforms.[10]

Plamondon was also one of the more pro-labour members of the Tory caucus. In 1985, he promoted a partnership between the federal and Quebec governments and the Quebec Federation of Labour's Solidarity Fund.[11] Two years later, he stood with striking letter carriers in Sorel and criticized his own government's decision to approve replacement workers.[12] He was prominent among a group of Quebec Tory MPs who tried to reduce the party's reliance on corporate donations.[13] Ricardo López, a right-wing Quebec Tory MP, once suggested that Plamondon would be more suited to the social democratic New Democratic Party.[14]

Plamondon was re-elected without difficulty in the 1988 federal election, as the Progressive Conservatives won a second majority government across the country. Over the following year, he became even more strongly aligned with the Quebec nationalist wing of his party. He supported Quebec premier Robert Bourassa's use of the Canadian constitution's notwithstanding clause to prohibit outdoor English-language signs, and expressed regret that the ban was not extended to indoor signs.[15] He also criticized D'Iberville Fortier, Canada's official languages commissioner, for suggesting that Quebec was acting in an unjust manner toward its anglophone minority.[16]

Consistent with his nationalist views, Plamondon was a vocal supporter of the Mulroney government's proposed Meech Lake Accord on constitutional reform and opposed Jean Charest's efforts to modify the accord in early 1990.[17] During this period, Plamondon speculated that sovereignty-association between Quebec and Canada would be "logical and reasonable" if the accord failed and added that he might become a "Quebec-only MP" in that event.[18] When the accord was rejected in June 1990, Plamondon resigned from the Progressive Conservative caucus and informed the House of Commons that he could no longer support a united Canada.[19]

Bloc Québécois MP

Mulroney and Campbell administrations (1990–93)

Plamondon was one of a group of Progressive Conservative and Liberal MPs from Quebec who left their parties after the failure of the Meech Lake Accord. This group soon coalesced as the Bloc Québécois under the leadership of Lucien Bouchard. The Bloc was not initially given official recognition in the House of Commons, and its members were designated as independent MPs. Plamondon was recognized as the Bloc's house leader in 1992.

In its original form, the Bloc Québécois was a loose alliance of parliamentarians rather than a formal political party. Plamondon was one the first Bloquistes to promote the creation of a strong party organization to challenge the Progressive Conservative Party's Quebec machine in the next federal election. Others, including Lucien Bouchard, initially favoured a weaker party structure that would simply allow Bloc candidates to have their party designation appear on the ballot.[20] The vision favoured by Plamondon ultimately won out, and the Bloc became a strong political organization throughout Quebec.

Shortly after joining the BQ, Plamondon asked the federal government to apologize to the province of Quebec and provide financial compensation for those who were wrongly arrested under the War Measures Act in the 1970 FLQ Crisis.[21] He later spoke against a bid by Izzy Asper to bring his Global Television Network to Montreal, arguing that the market was already saturated.[22] In 1992, he described Mordechai Richler's book Oh Canada! Oh Quebec! as hate literature.[23]

Plamondon was charged with attempting to hire a prostitute during an undercover sting operation in April 1993.[24] He claimed innocence, saying that the charge was the result of a "bad joke between friends which lasted 45 seconds," but he nevertheless resigned as his party's house leader pending resolution of the matter.[25] He was renominated as the Bloc candidate for Richelieu despite the controversy, and Lucien Bouchard remarked that the matter was unrelated to Plamondon's duties as an MP.[26]

Chrétien administration (1993–2003)

Plamondon was re-elected without difficulty in the 1993 federal election, as the Bloc won fifty-four out of seventy-five seats in Quebec to become the official opposition in the House of Commons. The Liberal Party won a majority government under the leadership of Jean Chrétien. At his own request, Plamondon was left out of the Bloc's initial shadow cabinet.[27] He pleaded guilty to the charge against him in April 1994, maintaining his innocence but adding that he simply wanted to resolve the matter as quickly as possible. He received an absolute discharge and does not have a criminal record.[28]

Plamondon co-chaired a funding and membership drive for the Bloc in early 1995.[29] He opposed finance minister Paul Martin's austerity budget in the same year, arguing that it placed an unfair financial burden on the provinces to fight the federal deficit.[30] He personally opposed the Chrétien government's gun registry legislation, which the Bloc supported, and he absented himself from the parliamentary vote that led to its passage.[31]

After a narrow federalist victory in Quebec's 1995 referendum on sovereignty, Lucien Bouchard left the Bloc Québécois to become leader of its provincial counterpart, the Parti Québécois (PQ). Plamondon initially favoured Bernard Landry to become the Bloc's new leader, arguing that he was the best positioned of all candidates to unite the party's different factions.[32] Landry decided not to run, and Gilles Duceppe eventually succeeded Bouchard as leader.[33]

Plamondon supported the Chrétien government's choice of Dyane Adam to become Canada's official language commissioner in 1998, saying that she would be "tougher" than her predecessor Victor Goldbloom (whom he nonetheless acknowledged had done good work on education matters).[34] He endorsed Adam's criticism of the Chrétien government in 2000, when she wrote that it was not sufficiently committed to defending official bilingualism.[35] Plamondon strongly opposed the Clarity Act legislation introduced by intergovernmental affairs minister Stéphane Dion in 1999, arguing that it would create confusion in any future referendum on Quebec sovereignty.[36]

Martin administration (2003–06)

Paul Martin replaced Jean Chrétien as Liberal Party leader and prime minister in late 2003. Shortly before he was sworn in, Plamondon published a short book entitled Le mythe Paul Martin.[37] As its title implies, the work was highly critical of its subject: Plamondon accused Martin of damaging Quebec's interests during his time in the Chrétien cabinet.[38] He also argued that Martin would become an ally of United States president George W. Bush, neglect the low-income citizens of Canada and Quebec, and favour the interests of English Canada. The Bloc distributed one thousand free copies of the book, and a further fifteen hundred copies were put on sale in bookstores. Martin's supporters dismissed the work as a negative campaign ploy lacking any progressive vision,[39] and Liberal MP Don Boudria asked the speaker of the House of Commons to investigate whether Plamondon had broken parliamentary rules by using publicly funded research staff to help compile the book.[40]

It was initially believed that Paul Martin's Liberals would win a majority of seats in Quebec at the expense of the Bloc, but the Liberal Party's fortunes were instead damaged by the sponsorship scandal, in which some advertising revenues approved by the Chrétien government to promote Canadian federalism in Quebec were found to have been misused. The Bloc soon re-established itself as the dominant federal party in Quebec,[41] and the Liberals were reduced to a minority government in the 2004 federal election. Plamondon was chosen as BQ caucus chair in the new parliament.[42]

When Bernard Landry resigned as Parti Québécois leader in 2005, rumours circulated that Gilles Duceppe would run to succeed him. Plamondon said that most Bloc MPs wanted Duceppe to stay in federal politics but would respect his decision one way or the other.[43] Duceppe chose to remain with the Bloc, and André Boisclair became PQ leader.

Harper administration (2006–present)

Plamondon was elected to a seventh term in the 2006 federal election, as the Conservative Party won a minority government under the leadership of Stephen Harper. Widely respected as an electoral strategist, Plamondon later prepared an internal brief examining why the Bloc lost seats in the Quebec City area to the Conservatives.[44] He remained as the Bloc's caucus chair.[45]

André Boisclair resigned as Parti Québécois leader after a poor showing in the 2007 provincial election, and rumours again circulated that Duceppe would run to succeed him. This time, Plamondon told reporters that Duceppe should run for the provincial leadership to impose discipline on the notoriously unruly party.[46] Some in the PQ objected to this comment, which galvanized resistance to a Duceppe candidacy.[47] Duceppe eventually entered the leadership contest, but withdrew after only one day due to poor polling and a growing sense that the sovereigntist movement would be divided if he won. He stayed as leader of the Bloc, and Plamondon helped ensure his successful transition back to the federal scene.[48]

When Brian Mulroney released his memoirs in September 2007, he alleged that Lucien Bouchard had conspired with Jacques Parizeau to create the Bloc Québécois while still a federal cabinet minister. Plamondon rejected this, arguing that Bouchard was loyal to Mulroney until resigning in protest against the government's handling of the Meech Lake Accord.[49] Plamondon also criticized Jean Chrétien later in the year, when Chrétien wrote in his memoirs that he would not have recognized a narrow sovereigntist victory in the 1995 referendum.[50]

Plamondon was re-elected to an eighth term in the 2008 election as the Conservatives won a second consecutive minority government. He was again chosen as BQ caucus chair and, as the longest-serving member of the House of Commons, was was also recognized as Dean of the House. Plamondon presided over the Commons when it re-elected Peter Milliken as its speaker in October 2008 and acknowledged the irony that an MP from a sovereigntist party would hold this position.[51]

Plamondon was returned by the narrowest margin of his career in the 2011 federal election against a strong challenge from a New Democratic Party (NDP) candidate. The NDP won fifty-nine seats across Quebec, while the BQ won only four seats and lost official party status in the House of Commons (where twelve seats are required). Gilles Duceppe was personally defeated in his riding and subsequently resigned as party leader. Plamondon was later chosen as the Bloc's acting house leader and, in the absence of a full-time leader, has become its main parliamentary spokesperson.[52] He remains Dean of the House and presided over the Commons when it chose Andrew Scheer to be Milliken's successor as speaker on June 2, 2011.[53]

Publications

Electoral record

References

  1. ^ The riding was known as Richelieu before 1998 and again for part of 2004.
  2. ^ Elizabeth Thompson, "Passion and Tears: Jean Sworn In," Montreal Gazette, 28 September 2005, A1.
  3. ^ Canada Votes 2004: Richelieu, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 2004, accessed 6 August 2009.
  4. ^ Alan Freeman, "Quebec MPs take lead from Bourassa, not PM," Globe and Mail, 17 March 1990, A9; Alan Freeman and Ross Howard, "3 Quebec Tory MPs, 1 Liberal quit over rejection of Meech," Globe and Mail, 27 June 1990, A1.
  5. ^ Robert McKenzie, "Bourassa's support of Tories could backfire badly," Toronto Star, 6 November 1988, B3.
  6. ^ See Richard Cleroux, "Crosbie defends naming of judge," Globe and Mail, 8 February 1986, A11.
  7. ^ Joel Ruimy, "Quebec's Tories: Trying to delay a big headache," Toronto Star, 31 May 1986, B6.
  8. ^ Richard Cleroux and Francois Shalom, "Tory MP turns independent, cites profound disagreement," Globe and Mail, 15 May 1986, A1.
  9. ^ "How the MPs voted on capital punishment," Toronto Star, 30 June 1987, A10; David Vienneau, "MPs reject all abortion options," Toronto Star, 21 July 1988, A1; David Vienneau, "New abortion law won't end the fighting," Toronto Star, 26 May 1990, SA2.
  10. ^ Linda Diebel, "Ottawa moves to stop 'dinosaurs'," Toronto Star, 5 July 1988, A3.
  11. ^ "Maker of fire trucks plans modernization," Globe and Mail, 5 July 1985, B6.
  12. ^ David Stewart-Patterson, "PM won't cross picket line but backs postal policy," Globe and Mail, 27 June 1987, A9.
  13. ^ Richard Clereux and Susan Delacourt, "Cote gets little sympathy from vexed Tory caucus," Globe and Mail, 4 February 1988, A4.
  14. ^ Richard Clereux, "Quebec Tory MPs seek to edge dissident colleague from caucus," Globe and Mail, 15 October 1987, A5. The article title refers to Fernand Jourdenais, not Plamondon.
  15. ^ Richard Clereux and Hugh Winsor, "Override clause incompatible with rights charter, Mulroney says," Globe and Mail, 20 December 1988, A5; "Tories told to stay silent over signs storm," Toronto Star, 22 December 1988, A10; Richard Clereux, "Quebec PC supports Bourassa on clause," Globe and Mail, 14 April 1989, D14.
  16. ^ "MP demands resignation of languages commissioner," Globe and Mail, 22 June 1989, A12.
  17. ^ Graham Fraser and Susan Delacourt, "Meech Lake accord must be ratified as is, federal minister says," Globe and Mail, 27 March 1990, A13.
  18. ^ Rosemary Speirs, "Stakes too high for failure of Meech," Toronto Star, 29 April 1990, A1; Alan Freeman, "QUEBEC AFTER MEECH PART 1 PCs still committed to accord, loyal to PM," Globe and Mail, 12 May 1990, A10.
  19. ^ "TWO MORE QUEBECERS QUIT CANADA GOVERNMENT," Reuters News, 26 June 1990; Patrick Doyle, "4 federal MPs quit parties to back Quebec cause," Toronto Star, 27 June 1990, A1.
  20. ^ Patricia Poirier, "Bloc Québécois to seek party status in House of Commons," Globe and Mail, 11 February 1991, A1.
  21. ^ "MP demands apology, payment," Globe and Mail, 10 October 1990, A6.
  22. ^ John Partridge, "Izzy Asper stars in broadcast dealings," Globe and Mail, 15 March 1991, B1.
  23. ^ Graham Fraser, "BQ urges Ottawa to ban Richler book," Globe and Mail, 17 March 1992, A1.
  24. ^ "MP nabbed in red light district sweep," Toronto Star, 24 April 1993, A10.
  25. ^ "MP resigns post in Bloc Québécois over sex allegation," Toronto Star, 27 April 1993, A9.
  26. ^ "THE WEEK IN REVIEW: Monday, August 2, 1993, to Friday, August 6, 1993," Financial Post, 7 August 1993, 2.
  27. ^ "Bouchard criticizes Chrétien over Parliament opening delay," Kitchener-Waterloo Record, 11 November 1993, A5.
  28. ^ "MP pleads guilty," Financial Post, 7 April 1994, 2; "Bloc MP to remain in caucus after guilty plea: Bouchard," Winnipeg Free Press, 7 April 1994.
  29. ^ "Bloc launches funding drive," Winnipeg Free Press, 23 January 1995.
  30. ^ Paul Waldie and Terry Weber, "Critics rail at Liberals' missed chance to attack deficit," Financial Post, 28 February 1995, B6.
  31. ^ Tu Thanh Ha, "Firearms registry Ottawa's next project," Globe and Mail, 14 June 1995, A1. He later joined with three other Bloc MPs to vote against new funding for the program in June 2005. See Sylvain Larocque, "Duceppe semonce quatre députés qui ont voté contre le registre des armes," 15 June 2005, 04:28pm.
  32. ^ Rheal Seguin, "Bouchard to go for PQ job," Globe and Mail, 21 November 1995, A1; "Separatists confident Bouchard will lead them: Decision could spark new drive for separation," Hamilton Spectator, 21 November 1995, A3.
  33. ^ Michel Gauthier also served as interim leader for a time.
  34. ^ Edison Stewart, "Toronto woman candidate for language job," Toronto Star, 4 December 1998, A8.
  35. ^ Stephen Thorne, "Federal government failing bilingualism "at highest levels," says watchdog," Canadian Press, 5 October 2000, 3:24pm.
  36. ^ Graham Fraser, "PM dismisses Quebec legislation," Globe and Mail, 17 December 1999, A8.
  37. ^ Brian Laghi and Campbell Clark, "Opposition parties move fast to target Martin," Globe and Mail, 18 November 2003, A4.
  38. ^ "Le Bloc lance un livre contre Paul Martin et suscite des réactions," Nouvelles Tele-Radio, 24 November 2003, 3:24pm; Sylvain Larocque, "Le Bloc québécois lance un essai pour montrer "l'autre côté" de Paul Martin," La Presse Canadienne, 24 November 2003, 6:13pm.
  39. ^ Daniel LeBlanc, "Bloc MP produces anti-Martin volume," Globe and Mail, 25 November 2003, A9.
  40. ^ Elizabeth Thompson, "Liberals 'outraged' Bloc used staff for Martin book," National Post, 26 November 2003, A4.
  41. ^ Graham Fraser, "Bloc cashing in on Liberal scandals; Audit report boosts Duceppe," Toronto Star, 3 April 2004, F1.
  42. ^ Norman Delisle, "Il faut régler le déséquilibre fiscal pour mieux financer la santé, selon Duceppe," La Presse Canadienne, 26 August 2004, 02:17pm.
  43. ^ Isabelle Rodrigue and Sylvain Larocque, "Les députés du Bloc veulent convaincre leur chef de rester en poste," La Presse Canadienne, 6 June 2005, 5:47pm; Kevin Doherty and Elizabeth Thompson, "Legault won't run for PQ leadership: Cites family reasons, won't rule out future bid," Montreal Gazette, 5 June 2005, A10.
  44. ^ "Louis Plamondon assure que le Bloc sera attentif à Québec lors des prochaines élections," La Presse Canadienne, 11 February 2007, 11:13am. See also "Mario Laframboise sera l'organiseur électoral en chef pour le Bloc québécois," Nouvelles Tele-Radio, 3 April 2007, 10:30pm.
  45. ^ Graham Fraser, "Gilles Duceppe's tricky high-wire act," Toronto Star, 8 April 2006, F03.
  46. ^ Alexander Panetta, "Bloc MPs tell Duceppe to seek PQ leadership, 'kick party's butt'," Canadian Press, 9 May 2007, 5:00pm; Elizabeth Thompson and Philip Authier, "Duceppe should leave Bloc to save PQ, MPs say," Ottawa Citizen, 10 May 2007, A3.
  47. ^ Hubert Bauch, "Leadership race over before it ever began; Poll favouring Marois might have fuelled Duceppe's decision," Montreal Gazette, 13 May 2007, A4.
  48. ^ Elizabeth Thompson and Philip Authier, "Duceppe's shocking 'unity' bid," Ottawa Citizen, 13 May 2007, A3; Lina Dib, "Difficile retour à Ottawa pour Duceppe: il demande l'appui de ses députés," La Presse Canadienne, 13 May 2007, 2:53pm.
  49. ^ Hubert Bauch, "Plamondon rejects PQ conspiracy claim," Montreal Gazette, 8 September 2007, A13.
  50. ^ Marianne White, "Ex-PM would not have recognized referendum Yes," National Post, 15 October 2007, A1.
  51. ^ Fannie Olivier, "Le Bloc ne semble pas s'inquiéter de deux départs en deux mois,"La Presse Canadienne, 25 June 2009, 4:18pm; Bill Curry, "NDP's Blaikie decides against running again; Bloc MP could be Commons' dean," Globe and Mail, 16 March 2007, A4; "Longest-serving MP sits for so-called temporary party," Montreal Gazette, 17 October 2008, A3.
  52. ^ Parliamentarian File - Federal Experience: Louis Plamondon, Parliament of Canada, accessed 30 June 2011; [http://www.cyberpresse.ca/le-nouvelliste/actualites/201106/29/01-4413491-louis-plamondon-le-quebec-se-cherche.php Louis Plante, "Louis Plamondon: «Le Québec se cherche»," Le Nouvelliste, 29 June 2011, accessed 30 June 2011. The latter piece incorrectly describes Plamondon as the Bloc's interim leader.
  53. ^ Althia Raj, "Youngest-ever Speaker elected; Job comes with $233,247-a-year salary, two homes," Montreal Gazette, 3 June 2011, A15.

External links