Gilles Bernier (Quebec politician)

Gilles Bernier
Gilles Bernier
Member of Parliament; for Beauce
	In office; November 5, 1984 – June 2, 1997
Preceded by	Normand Lapointe
Succeeded by	Claude Drouin
Member of Parliament; for Tobique—Mactaquac
	In office; June 2, 1997 – November 27, 2000
Preceded by	New seat
Succeeded by	Andy Savoy
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Haiti
	In office; 1997–2001
Preceded by	J. Christopher Poole
Succeeded by	Kenneth Murray Cook
Personal details
Born	July 15, 1934 (age 90); Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Political party	Progressive Conservative (1984-1993, 1995-2003); Independent (1993-1995); Conservative (2003-2018); People's (2018-present)
Spouse	Doris Rodrigue
Children	4, including Maxime Bernier
Residence(s)	Saint-Georges, Quebec, Canada
Occupation	Broadcaster

Gilles Bernier (born July 15, 1934) is a former Canadian politician and diplomat. He was the Member of Parliament representing the riding of Beauce from 1984 to 1997, initially as a Progressive Conservative and later as an Independent. He later served as Canada's ambassador to Haiti from 1997 to 2001.

Life and career

Bernier was born in Montreal, Quebec, the son of Annette (Letourneau) and Amedee Bernier.^[1] Bernier moved to the Beauce in 1953^[2] to pursue a radio career at CKRB in Saint-Georges-de-Beauce, and quickly became a local celebrity. Capitalizing on his popularity, he decided to go into politics in the 1984 election. He served two terms as a Tory but was forced to run as an independent in the 1993 election after Prime Minister Kim Campbell, the party's leader, barred him from running under the PC banner due to fraud charges. Bernier was later acquitted of the charges, and re-admitted to the PC caucus by succeeding leader Jean Charest.

In 1997, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien named him ambassador to Haiti,^[3] He chose not to contest Beauce (which was won by Liberal candidate Claude Drouin) in the 1997 election, and instead contested the newly created riding of Tobique—Mactaquac, winning by slightly less than 2,000 votes. Bernier lost re-election at the next federal election in 2000, marking the end of his parliamentary career.

Bernier's son, Maxime Bernier, won Beauce in turn from Drouin in the 2006 federal election, as a candidate of the merged Conservative Party of Canada. Maxime Bernier would serve as Minister of Industry and Minister of Foreign Affairs in the government led by Stephen Harper before resigning from the cabinet in 2008.

Electoral record

v t e 2000 Canadian federal election: Tobique—Mactaquac
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Andy Savoy	10,900	33.6	+3.4
	Progressive Conservative	Gilles Bernier	10,750	33.1	-2.8
	Alliance	Adam Richardson	9,570	29.5	+1.8
	New Democratic	Carolyn Van Dine	1,216	3.7	-2.5
Total			32,436	100.0

v t e 1997 Canadian federal election: Tobique—Mactaquac
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Progressive Conservative	Gilles Bernier	12,125	35.9
	Liberal	Pierrette Ringuette	10,190	30.2
	Reform	Ivan Shaw	9,371	27.7
	New Democratic	Leslie Ann Ferguson	2,093	6.2
Total			33,779	100.0

1993 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Independent	Gilles Bernier	20,238
	Bloc Québécois	Jean-Guy Breton	18,271
	Liberal	Pierre Gravel	7,336
	Progressive Conservative	Jeannine Bourque	4,098
	New Democratic	Tom Vouloumanos	364

1988 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Progressive Conservative	Gilles Bernier	36,212
	Liberal	Pierre-Maurice Vachon	13,641
	New Democratic	Danielle Wolfe	2,856

1984 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Progressive Conservative	Gilles Bernier	25,028
	Liberal	Normand Lapointe	20,323
	New Democratic	Serge L'Italien	1,217
	Parti nationaliste	Paul-Emile Grondin	569

References

^ "Genealogy Gilles Bernier".
^ "Maxime Bernier, nouveau député conservateur | Actualités | Cyberpresse". Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 16 August 2007.
^ "Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada Complete List of Posts". Archived from the original on 1 October 2018. Retrieved 19 December 2009.

External links

Gilles Bernier – Parliament of Canada biography

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[1] "Genealogy Gilles Bernier".

[2] "Maxime Bernier, nouveau député conservateur | Actualités | Cyberpresse". Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 16 August 2007.

[3] "Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada Complete List of Posts". Archived from the original on 1 October 2018. Retrieved 19 December 2009.

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