Michel Dugré

Michel Dugré is a veteran Canadian political activist. A member of the Revolutionary Workers League in the 1970s and 1980s, he later joined the successor Communist League and served on its Central Committee. Since 1979, he has been a candidate in seven federal, two provincial, and three municipal elections.

Dugré is a garment presser and has worked as a meat packer.^[1] He has also written for the Communist League and affiliated groups. In 1987, the journal New International published Dugré's essay, "Land, labor, and the Canadian socialist revolution," which reviewed the history of Canadian farming policy and the potential for a farmer-labour political alliance.^[2]

Dugré was one of the Communist League's leading proponents for a "oui" vote in the 1995 Quebec referendum on sovereignty. He said that a vote for Quebec sovereignty would reflect "the long-standing and legitimate aspirations of the French-speaking majority in [Quebec] for equality and justice" and "[make] it possible to unite working people across Canada against the capitalist rulers' attacks on our unions, our social services, and our rights."^[3]

When Dugré ran for mayor of Montreal in the 1998 Montreal municipal election, he called for the creation of a workers and farmers government and said that he would introduce a thirty-hour work week for municipal employees without a cut in pay.^[4] In the 2006 Toronto election, he pledged to stop deportations and legalize all immigrants and indicated that he supported the Six Nations in Grand River land dispute.^[5]

Electoral record

2008 Canadian federal election results: Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Bloc Québécois	(x)Bernard Bigras	27,260	52.00	$51,364
	Liberal	Marjorie Théodore	9,785	18.67	$30,634
	New Democratic Party	Alexandre Boulerice	8,522	16.26	$23,296
	Conservative	Sylvie Boulianne	3,876	7.39	$85,754
	Green	Vincent Larochelle	2,406	4.59	$903
	neorhino.ca	Jean-Patrick Berthiaume	319	0.61	$270
	Marxist-Leninist	Stéphane Chénier	170	0.32	none listed
	N/A (Communist League)	Michel Dugré	83	0.16	$690
Total valid votes			52,421	100.00
Total rejected ballots			614
Turnout			53,035	64.65
Electors on the lists			82,037

Sources: Official Results, Elections Canada and Financial Returns, Elections Canada. Italicized expenditure figures refer to totals submitted by the candidates and not reviewed by Elections Canada.

2006 Toronto municipal election results: Councillor, Ward Twelve

Candidate	Total votes	% of total votes
(x)Frank Di Giorgio	4,980	48.19
Nick Dominelli	2,725	26.37
Joe Renda	1,419	13.73
Keith Sweeney	1,054	10.20
Michel Dugré	157	1.52
Total valid votes	10,335	100

Source: Declaration of Results of Voting; Monday, November 13, 2006, City of Toronto.

2000 Canadian federal election results: Parkdale—High Park

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Liberal	(x)Sarmite Bulte	20,676	49.41	$58,030
	New Democratic Party	Paul Schmidt	7,947	18.99	$22,078
	Progressive Conservative	David Strycharz	5,681	13.58	$14,911
	Canadian Alliance	Vicki Vancas	4,882	11.67	$7,470
	Green	Neil Spiegel	1,161	2.77	$2,942
	Marijuana	Terry Parker	775	1.85	none listed
	Canadian Action	Greg Robertson	317	0.76	$1,107
	Communist	Wilfred Szczesny	155	0.37	$202
	N/A (Communist League)	Michel Dugré	132	0.32	$149
	Marxist-Leninist	Lorne Gershuny	122	0.29	$8
Total valid votes			41,848	100.00
Total rejected ballots			227
Turnout			42,075	58.22
Electors on the lists			72,274

Sources: Official Results, Elections Canada and Financial Returns, Elections Canada.

1998 Montreal mayoral election results

Party	Candidate	Total votes	% of total votes
Vision Montreal	(x)Pierre Bourque	141,814	45.52
New Montreal	Jacques Duchesneau	84,289	27.05
Montreal Citizens' Movement	Michel Prescott	46,298	14.86
Team Montreal	Jean Doré	32,167	10.32
PM2000	Michel Bédard	3,004	0.96
Independent	Patricia Métivier	2,224	0.71
Independent	Michel Dugré	989	0.32
Independent	Laurent Alie	784	0.25
Total valid votes		311,569	100

Source: Official Results, City of Montreal

1997 Canadian federal election results: Papineau—Saint-Denis

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Liberal	(x)Pierre Pettigrew	26,260	53.90	$53,271
	Bloc Québécois	Mario Beaulieu	14,083	28.91	$25,032
	Progressive Conservative	Yannis Felemegos	6,227	12.78	$19,274
	New Democratic Party	Gaby Kombé	1,196	2.45	$3,030
	Marxist-Leninist	Peter Macrisopoulos	481	0.99	$0
	N/A (Communist League)	Michel Dugré	471	0.97	$270
Total valid votes			48,718	100.00
Total rejected ballots			1,676
Turnout			50,394	75.55
Electors on the lists			66,706

Sources: Official Results, Elections Canada and official contributions and expenses submitted by the candidates, provided by Elections Canada.

1993 Canadian federal election results: Laurier—Sainte-Marie

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	+/-	Expenditures
	Bloc Québécois	(x)Gilles Duceppe	25,060	61.79		$39,969
	Liberal	Robert Desbiens	9,940	24.51	-14.56	$41,625
	Progressive Conservative	Yvan Routhier	2,156	5.32	-24.34	$19,947
	New Democratic Party	Alain Gravel	1,237	3.05	-18.57	$5,169
	Green	John Tromp	1,050	2.59	-0.93	$1,304
	Natural Law	Pierre Bergeron	652	1.61		$0
	Marxist-Leninist	Normand Chouinard	205	0.51	+0.19	$80
	N/A (Communist League)	Michel Dugré	131	0.32		$507
	Commonwealth	Sophie Brassard	127	0.31	+0.12	$0
Total valid votes			40,558	100.00
Total rejected ballots			1,592
Turnout			42,150	71.29	+1.96
Electors on the lists			59,126

Source: Thirty-fifth General Election, 1993: Official Voting Results, Published by the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada. Financial figures taken from the official contributions and expenses submitted by the candidates, provided by Elections Canada. Percentage change figures are made in relation to the 1988 general election, not the 1990 by-election.

1990 Montreal mayoral election results

Party	Candidate	Total votes	% of total votes
Montreal Citizens' Movement	(x)Jean Doré	129,209	59.20
Civic Party of Montreal	Nicole Gagnon-Larocque	45,221	20.72
Municipal Party	Alain André	22,732	10.42
Democratic Coalition	Pierre-Yves Melancon	10,282	4.71
White Elephant Party	Michel Bédard	5,025	2.30
Independent	Michel Dugré	2,098	0.96
Independent	Patricia Métivier	1,858	0.85
Independent	Abraham Weizfeld	1,831	0.84
Total valid votes		218,256	100

Source: Election results, 1833-2005 (in French), City of Montreal.

1989 Quebec provincial election results: Laurier

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	(x)Christos Sirros	11,027	54.98
	Parti Québécois	Elpis Santas	5,656	28.20
	Green	Nathalie Sapina	1,170	5.83
	New Democratic Party	Victor Bilodeau	777	3.87
	Marxist-Leninist	Panagiotis Macrisopoulos	382	1.90
	Independent	Jacques Dubuc	349	1.74
	Non-affiliated	Nicholas Vlahos	299	1.49
	Communist	Suzanne Dagenais	174	0.87
	Socialist Movement	Jean-Roch Gauvin	148	0.74
	N/A (Revolutionary Workers League)	Michel Dugré	73	0.36
Total valid votes			20,055	100.00
Rejected and declined votes			519
Turnout			20,574	67.24
Electors on the lists			30,599

Source: Official Results, Le Directeur général des élections du Québec.

1988 Canadian federal election results: Papineau-Saint-Michel

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Liberal	(x)André Ouellet	18,122	45.99	$43,413
	Progressive Conservative	Frank Venneri	13,094	33.23	$39,468
	New Democratic Party	Giovanni Adamo	5,948	15.10	$22,192
	Rhinoceros	Carole Ola Clermont	987	2.51	$0
	Green	H. Joseph Vega	469	1.19	$0
	Communist	Line Chabot	235	0.60	$18
	N/A (Marxist-Leninist)	Francine Tremblay	193	0.49	$130
	N/A (Revolutionary Workers League)	Michel Dugré	178	0.45	$513
	Commonwealth	Normand Bélanger	174	0.44	$0
Total valid votes			39,400	100.00
Total rejected ballots			907
Turnout			40,307	70.14
Electors on the lists			57,470

Source: Report of the Chief Electoral Officer, Thirty-fourth General Election, 1988.

1984 Canadian federal election results: Bourassa

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	(x)Carlo Rossi	20,221	43.94
	Progressive Conservative	Raymond-J. Rochon	18,703	40.64
	New Democratic Party	Roderick Charters	3,741	8.13
	Rhinoceros	Dominique Pique-Nique Malouin	1,618	3.52
	Parti nationaliste	J-André Perey	1,169	2.54
	Social Credit	Roland Boudreau	236	0.51
	Commonwealth	Carl Paradis	125	0.27
	N/A (Revolutionary Workers League)	Michel Dugré	103	0.22
	Non-affiliated	Gérard Ledoux	101	0.22
Total valid votes			46,017	100.00
Total rejected ballots			871
Turnout			46,888	71.45
Electors on the lists			65,626

Source: Report of the Chief Electoral Officer, Thirty-third General Election, 1984.

1981 Quebec provincial election results: Saint-Jacques

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Parti Québécois	(x)Claude Charron	15,727	63.44
	Liberal	Marcel Tremblay	8,142	32.84
	Union Nationale	Denis Simard	443	1.79
	Workers Communist	Suzanne Lortie	204	0.82
	Workers	Johanne Perreault	100	0.40
	United Social Credit	André Poulin	62	0.25
	N/A (Revolutionary Workers League)	Michel Dugré	62	0.25
	Marxist-Leninist	Arnold August	51	0.21
Total valid votes			24,791	100.00
Rejected and declined votes			340
Turnout			25,131	72.45
Electors on the lists			34,687

Source: Official Results, Le Directeur général des élections du Québec.

1979 Canadian federal election results: Hochelaga—Maisonneuve

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	(x)Serge Joyal	21,059	61.90
	Social Credit	André Aubry	3,769	11.08
	Progressive Conservative	André Coutu	3,605	10.60
	Independent	(x)Jacques Lavoie	1,837	5.40
	New Democratic Party	Marie-Ange Gagnon-Sirois	1,746	5.13
	Rhinoceros	Daniel Bouf Bouf Bouffard	1,097	3.22
	Union Populaire	Reggie Chartrand	644	1.89
	Marxist-Leninist	Pierre Chénier	114	0.34
	Communist	Danielle Ferland	92	0.27
	N/A (Revolutionary Workers League)	Michel Dugré	60	0.18
Total valid votes			34,023	100.00
Total rejected ballots			1,077
Turnout			35,100	68.78
Electors on the lists			51,034

Source: Report of the Chief Electoral Officer, Thirty-first General Election, 1979.

References

^ Irwin Block, "Pettigrew expected to cruise to win: Federal minister, first elected in a by-election, is running again in longtime Liberal territory," Montreal Gazette, 23 May 1997, p. 1; History of Federal Ridings since 1867: ROSEMONT--LA PETITE-PATRIE (2008/10/14), Parliament of Canada, accessed 2 September 2011.
^ Michel Dugré, "Land labor, and the Canadian revolution," New International, Number 6, 1987, pp. 159-247.
^ Michel Prairie, "Communist League calls for 'Yes' vote as part of struggle", The Militant, Vol. 59, no. 37, 9 October 1995.
^ "Communist Candidate In The Race For Mayor In Montreal", The Militant, 13 July 1998. This article is a translation of an article of the same title that appeared in the 21 June 1998 edition of La Presse.
^ "Toronto Council," Toronto Star, 9 November 2006, p. 2.

Persondata
Name	Dugré, Michel
Alternative names
Short description	Canadian politician
Date of birth
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death