Gaétan Barrette

Gaétan Barrette
Minister of Health
Incumbent
Assumed office April 23, 2014
Preceded by	Réjean Hébert
MNA for La Pinière
Incumbent
Assumed office April 7, 2014
Preceded by	Fatima Houda-Pepin
Personal details
Born	July 5, 1956 La Tuque, Quebec
Political party	Quebec Liberal Party CAQ (formerly)
Alma mater	Université de Montréal University of Grenoble University of San Diego
Profession	Radiologist

Gaétan Barrette (born July 5, 1956) is a Canadian politician in Quebec, who was elected to the National Assembly of Quebec in the 2014 election.^[1] He represents the electoral district of La Pinière as a member of the Quebec Liberal Party.

Prior to his election to the legislature, he was a radiologist at Montreal's Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont. He ran in the 2012 election as a candidate of the Coalition Avenir Québec in Terrebonne, but ran as a Liberal in 2014.^[2] He was named Minister of Health and Social Services on April 24, 2014.

M. Barrette caused uproar when, despite being also a health professional, he managed to confuse rare autoinflammatory diseases with BMW and Mercedes cars. One onlooker told him to "keep your chin up, and I mean all of them".

Electoral Record

Quebec general election, 2014: La Pinière
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Liberal	Gaétan Barrette	25,955	58.29	+9.04
	Independent	Fatima Houda-Pepin	10,452	23.47	-25.78
	Coalition Avenir Québec	Jin Kim	5,600	12.58	-11.91
	Québec solidaire	Johane Beaupré	1,728	3.88	-0.51
	Option nationale	François Létourneau-Prézeau	534	1.20	+0.16
	Conservative	Sebastian Fernandez	256	0.57	-0.07
Total valid votes			44,525	98.85	–
Total rejected ballots			520	1.15	–
Turnout			45,045	74.77	+2.64
Electors on the lists			60,247	–	–

Quebec general election, 2012: Terrebonne
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Parti Québécois	Mathieu Traversy	19,077	44.53	-0.69
	Coalition Avenir Québec	Gaétan Barrette	15,429	36.02	+14.45*
	Liberal	Josée Gingras	5,646	13.18	-14.33
	Québec solidaire	Yan Smith	1,380	3.22	+0.61
	Green	Benoit Carignan	635	1.48	-1.61
	Option nationale	Marc-André Dénommée	510	1.19	–
	Coalition pour la constituante	Patrick Dubé	160	0.37	–
Total valid votes			42,837	98.72	–
Total rejected ballots			554	1.28	–
Turnout			43,391	80.21	+19.74
Electors on the lists			54,100	–	–

* Result compared to Action démocratique

References

1. "La Pinière elects Liberal, not independent Houda-Pépin". Global News, April 7, 2014.
2. "Gaétan Barrette sera candidat pour le PLQ". Le Journal de Montréal, March 3, 2014.