Pierre Laporte

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Pierre Laporte (born February 25, 1921 in Montreal , † October 17, 1970 ) was a Canadian politician . He was the Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Labor of the Province of Quebec. In October 1970 he was kidnapped and murdered by terrorists from the Québec Liberation Front (FLQ) during the October Crisis .

biography

Laporte studied law at the Université de Montréal and was admitted to the bar in 1945. However, he aspired to a journalistic career and worked for the newspaper Le Devoir until 1961 . Laporte was a parliamentary correspondent and an avowed opponent of the traditionalist clerical policy of the Union nationale of Maurice Duplessis . In 1956 he ran as an independent candidate for a seat in the National Assembly of Québec , but was not elected.

The new Liberal Prime Minister of Québec, Jean Lesage , persuaded Laporte to re-enter politics. He was elected as a candidate for the Parti libéral du Québec on December 14, 1961. From December 1962 to June 1966 he was Minister for Municipalities in Lesage's cabinet, and from September 1964 he was also Minister of Culture. In 1969 he ran for party chairman, but was defeated by Robert Bourassa . After four years in the opposition, the Liberals won the April 1970 elections. Bourassa appointed Laporte as his deputy and labor minister.

On October 10, 1970, Laporte was kidnapped from his home in Saint-Lambert by members of the FLQ Chénier Cell , five days after the kidnapping of British diplomat James Richard Cross . The terrorists held him hostage and referred to him in their communications as "Minister for Unemployment and Assimilation". The federal government declared a state of emergency on October 16 . An anonymous caller told a radio station that Laporte had been killed. The same day police found him strangled in the trunk of a car parked near Saint-Hubert airport . His kidnappers were later arrested and sentenced to long prison terms, but were released after only seven to eleven years in prison.

Three days after his murder, Laporte was buried in the Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery in Montréal. The Pont Pierre-Laporte , a suspension bridge in the city of Québec , is named after him .

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personal data
SURNAME Laporte, Pierre
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian politician
DATE OF BIRTH February 25, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH Montreal
DATE OF DEATH 17th October 1970