Michael Fortier
Michael M. Fortier PC (born January 10, 1962 ) is a Canadian politician . He was initially Minister of Public Works and Government Services and later briefly Minister of International Trade in Canada's 28th Cabinet .
The Conservative was an appointed Senator for Québec and a member of the Canadian Privy Council . His appointment to the Senate caused considerable controversy as it was in direct contradiction to Prime Minister Stephen Harper's election promise to appoint only elected senators. Before the 2008 election , he resigned to run for the House of Commons , but was unsuccessful.
Profession and Politics
Fortier began his career as a lawyer with the major Montreal law firm Ogilvy Renault . There he specialized in securities and corporate takeovers. From 1992 to 1996 he headed Ogilvy Renault's London office. Since 1999 he has been Managing Director and Senior Advisor (Eastern Canada) for Credit Suisse First Boston . In 2004, he finally became finance director for TD Securities.
In the 1990s he was chairman of the Progressive Conservative Party , but failed in the 1998 board election with only 4% of the vote. In the general election in 2000 , he stood for the progressive conservatives in the Laval West constituency in Montreal, but failed and only reached fourth place.
After the unification of the Progressive Conservatives with the Canadian Alliance , he was together with John Reynolds senior campaign manager of the successful Conservatives in 2006, but did not stand for election for the House of Commons.
Appointment controversy
Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed Fortier Minister for Public Works and Government Services on February 6, 2006. Fortier was neither a member of the House of Commons nor of the Senate at the time. Harper announced that he would appoint Fortier as a senator; he will face the voters in the next general election. The process of appointing a non-elected minister has few models in recent Canadian history: In 1979, Joe Clark appointed the Senator for Québec Jacques Flynn as Minister of Justice; in the 19th century, Prime Ministers John Abbott and Mackenzie Bowell served from the Senate.
Fortier ran for the Senate on February 27. He represented the concerns of the city of Montreal in the Canadian cabinet. The conservative party or one of its predecessors (Progressive Conservative Party, Canadian Alliance or Reform Party ) had not won a seat there since 1988. Candidates from the conservative part of the political spectrum often do not run at all in Montreal; they usually only win seats in conservative landslide victories across Canada.
The appointment was particularly controversial, as the conservatives during the opposition period criticized both the appointment - and not the election - of senators as much as the appointment of ministers who could not show a direct mandate through a lower house election. Harper himself had promised in a television interview with Radio Canada that he would only appoint senators who were previously legitimized by election.
As a Senator, Fortier was not allowed to answer small questions in front of the House of Commons and delegated this to his Parliamentary State Secretary James Moore. In the Senate, however, he had to face speech, although the important opposition parties Bloc Québécois and the New Democratic Party are not represented there.
As part of a cabinet reshuffle, Fortier resigned his post as Minister of Public Works and State Services in June 2008 and took over the post of Minister of Commerce until October 2008.
In accordance with the promise made, Fortier ran in the 2008 general election in the Vaudreuil-Soulanges constituency, which is why he resigned as senator on September 8, 2008. On election day he was clearly defeated by incumbent Meili Faille from the Bloc Québécois.
Web links
- Michael Fortier - biographical information on the website of the Canadian Parliament (English)
- Video from Fortier of his appointment on Mike Duffy Live (according to the weather report) February 14, 2006: [1]
Individual evidence
- ↑ Cabinet includes defector and senator-to-be , CBC News , February 6, 2006
- ↑ cyberpresse.ca "Michael Fortier veut prendre Vaudreuil-Soulanges"
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Fortier, Michael |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Fortier, Michael M. |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Canadian politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 10, 1962 |