Mario Beaulieu (politician)

Mario Beaulieu MP
Member of the Canadian Parliament for La Pointe-de-l'Île
Incumbent
Assumed office November 4, 2015
Preceded by	Ève Péclet
Leader of the Bloc Québécois
In office June 25, 2014 – June 10, 2015[1]
Preceded by	Daniel Paillé
Succeeded by	Gilles Duceppe
President of the Bloc Québécois
Incumbent
Assumed office June 25, 2014
Preceded by	Daniel Paillé
80th President of the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society of Montreal
In office 2009–2014
Preceded by	Jean Dorion
Succeeded by	Maxime Laporte
Personal details
Born	1959 Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada[2]
Political party	Bloc Québécois, Parti Québécois

Mario Beaulieu (French pronunciation: ​[maʁjo boljø]; born 1959) is a Québécois nationalist, who is president (2014–present) and was leader (2014–2015) of the Bloc Québécois. He was the president of the sovereigntist Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste of Montreal from 2009 to 2014, and has been the spokesman for the Mouvement Québec français, a coalition of organizations in favour of the preservation and defence of the French language in Quebec.^[3][4]

Life and career

Mario Beaulieu was born in 1959 in Sherbrooke; at age 4, his family moved to Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue.

Bealieu was the president of the Parti Québécois's riding association in Montreal Centre from 1997 to 2002 and was an unsuccessful Bloc Québécois candidate in the 1997 federal election, losing to federal cabinet minister Pierre Pettigrew in Papineau—Saint-Denis. He has been a long-time advocate for strengthening measures requiring the predominance of the French language in Québec, as well as for Quebec independence.

Bloc Québécois leader

In April 2014, he declared his candidacy for the leadership of the Bloc Québécois and received the endorsement of the executive of the Bloc's youth wing,^[5][6] former Parti Québécois legislative members Bernard Landry and Pierre Curzi, and the former president of the Mouvement Desjardins, Claude Béland.^[7] Beaulieu, viewed as a "hardline" sovereigntist, promised to prioritize achieving Quebec independence above everything else.^[8] On June 14, 2014, he defeated BQ Member of Parliament André Bellavance for the Bloc leadership with 53.5% of the vote.^[9] Beaulieu took office as Bloc leader at the party's convention on June 25, 2014.

Shortly after his election, Beaulieu attracted controversy from within the party due to statements in his acceptance speech associated with the Front de libération du Québec and separate statements seemingly critical about the past leaders of the party, which drew criticism from former Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe and resulted in two party members announcing their intentions to leave the party.^[10] In the weeks following his election, a number of riding executive members quit the party to protest Beaulieu's leadership and a number of individuals who had been considering running for the party in the next election removed themselves from consideration.^[11] On August 12, 2014, the party's parliamentary caucus was reduced to 3 MPs after House Leader Jean-François Fortin quit the party to sit as an Independent MP. Fortin accused Beaulieu of "pushing a unidimensional, intransigent agenda that lacks rigour has put an end to the credibility established by (former leaders) Gilles Duceppe and followed up by Daniel Paillé, two leaders who merit great respect.”^[11] On August 25, 2014, André Bellavance, who had lost to Beaulieu in the leadership vote also resigned, reducing the Bloc to two MPs.^[12] Bellavance told a press conference, in regards to Beaulieu: “His vision and orientation for the Bloc are diametrically opposed to mine. Mr. Beaulieu says he can unite the party; for me it’s not the case.”^[13]

Return of Duceppe

With the party languishing as it was about to enter the 2015 federal election, Beaulieu entered into discussions with former party leader Gilles Duceppe in hopes of saving the Bloc from extinction. On June 10, 2015, Beaulieu and Duceppe jointly announced that Gilles Duceppe would be returning to lead the party into the election campaign while Beaulieu would relinquish the leadership but remain party president.^[14] The party executive agreed on June 9, 2015, to split the positions of president and party leader in order to facilitate Duceppe's return. The changes were ratified by the party's general council on July 1.^[15][16]

2015 election

In the 2015 election, Beaulieu was elected in the riding of La Pointe-de-l'Île, the only Bloc MP elected on the island of Montreal.

Electoral record

Canadian federal election, 2015: La Pointe-de-l'Île
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%	Expenditures
	Bloc Québécois	Mario Beaulieu	18,545	33.58	+1.21	–
	Liberal	Marie-Chantale Simard	15,777	28.57	+18.47	–
	New Democratic	Ève Péclet	14,777	26.76	-20.77	–
	Conservative	Guy Morissette	4,408	7.98	+0.33	–
	Green	David J. Cox	1,130	2.05	+0.16	–
	Rhinoceros	Ben 97 Benoit	358	0.65	–	–
	Strength in Democracy	Jean-François Larose	135	0.24	–	–
	Marxist–Leninist	Geneviève Royer	96	0.17	–	–
Total valid votes/Expense limit			55,226	100.00		$222,398.73
Total rejected ballots			912	1.62	–
Turnout			56,138	65.43[17]	–
Eligible voters			84,507
	Bloc Québécois gain from New Democratic		Swing		+10.99
Source: Elections Canada[18][19]

Canadian federal election, 1997: Papineau—Saint-Denis
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%	Expenditures
	Liberal	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	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.

References

1. "DUCEPPE, Gilles". House of Commons of Canada. Retrieved August 8, 2015.
2. "Mario Beaulieu élu chef du Bloc québécois". La Presse. June 14, 2014. Retrieved June 14, 2014.
3. http://www.cjad.com/cjad-news/2014/04/29/mario-beaulieu-to-join-leadership-race-of-bloc-qubecois
4. http://translate.google.ca/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://etats-generaux-quebec.org/le-conseil-dadministration/&prev=/search%3Fq%3DMario%2BBeaulieu%2Bbiographie%26safe%3Doff%26biw%3D1093%26bih%3D480
5. Pilon-Larose, Hugo. "Mario Beaulieu se présente à la direction du Bloc québécois". La Presse. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
6. "Plusieurs jeunes bloquistes signent une lettre d'appui à André Bellavance". La Nouvelle Union. May 1, 2014. Retrieved May 4, 2014.
7. http://journalmetro.com/actualites/national/508144/chefferie-du-bloc-les-candidats-devoilent-leurs-appuis/
8. "Mario Beaulieu named new Bloc Québécois leader". June 14, 2014. Retrieved June 14, 2014.
9. "Bloc Quebecois chooses Mario Beaulieu as new leader as federal party rebuilds". Vancouver Sun. June 14, 2014. Retrieved June 14, 2014.
10. "Bloc Québécois members quit over new leader Mario Beaulieu". CBC News. June 15, 2014. Retrieved June 15, 2014.
11. "Bloc Quebecois MP quits to sit as independent, says new leader is trying to radicalize the party". National Post. August 12, 2014.
12. "Another Bloc MP quits party, leaving only two in Parliament". Globe and Mail. August 25, 2014. Retrieved August 25, 2014.
13. "MP André Bellavance leaves Bloc Québécois Will spend the rest of his term as an independent". Montreal Gazette. August 25, 2014. Retrieved August 25, 2014.
14. "illes Duceppe returns to lead Bloc Quebecois". CTV News. June 10, 2015. Retrieved June 10, 2015.
15. "Gilles Duceppe announces return to Bloc Québécois leadership". CBC News. June 10, 2015.
16. http://www.cbc.ca/m/news/canada/montreal/gilles-duceppe-officially-named-leader-of-bloc-qu%C3%A9b%C3%A9cois-1.3135046
17. http://enr.elections.ca/ElectoralDistricts.aspx?ed=2102
18. Elections Canada – Confirmed candidates for La Pointe-de-l'Île, 30 September 2015
19. Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates