Réal Ménard

Réal Ménard (born May 13, 1962) is a Canadian politician, who was a Bloc Québécois member of the House of Commons of Canada from 1993 to 2009. He was the second Canadian member of Parliament to come out as gay.[1]

Réal Ménard
Borough Mayor of Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve and Montreal City Councillor
In office
January 1, 2010 – November 16, 2017
Preceded byLyn Thériault
Succeeded byPierre Lessard-Blais
Member of Parliament
for Hochelaga
(Hochelaga—Maisonneuve; 1993–2004)
In office
October 25, 1993 – September 16, 2009
Preceded byAllan Koury
Succeeded byDaniel Paillé
Personal details
Born (1962-05-13) May 13, 1962
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Political partyBloc Québécois
Coalition Montréal
Vision Montréal (formerly)
ResidenceMontreal
ProfessionPolitical scientist

Ménard is a political scientist with B.A. and M.A. degrees and also holds his law degree from the University of Ottawa.

Federal politics

He first stood for federal office in the 1984 federal election as candidate for the small Parti nationaliste du Québec in Hochelaga–Maisonneuve. Defeated in this first try, he contested the riding in the 1993 election for the new and larger Bloc Québécois. He was elected, and re-elected in the riding in the 1997 and 2000 elections.[2] Following redistricting, he was re-elected in the new riding of Hochelaga in the 2004, 2006 and 2008 federal elections.

Early in his parliamentary career, he served variously as Bloc critic for Health, for science, research and development, for Labour, for National Defence, and for the Federal Office of Regional Development-Quebec. From 1998 to June 29, 1999, he was critic for Citizenship and Immigration and for public housing; he then returned as health critic and served as vice-chair of the Standing Committee for three sessions. On September 14, 2001, he took on additional critic responsibility for the Montreal region.

On February 15, 1994 Ménard was the first member in the house of commons to use the word 'internet' saying "in building the electronic highway, the government will respect areas of provincial jurisdiction and ensure that communications linking us to Internet are also in French" [3]

In March 2006 he was shuffled from the health critic position to become the Bloc Québécois justice critic.

Municipal politics

In June 2009, Ménard announced that he was resigning from the House of Commons, effective September 16, in order to run as a Vision Montreal candidate for borough mayor of Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve in Montreal's 2009 municipal election.[4] Prior to his first election to the House of Commons, he was a political assistant to Louise Harel, Vision Montreal's 2009 candidate for Mayor of Montreal, when she was a provincial MNA.[5]

He won election to the borough mayoralty on November 1, 2009.[6]

Electoral record (incomplete)
Municipal
2009 Montreal municipal election results: Borough Mayor, Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve
Federal
2008 Canadian federal election: Hochelaga
Party Candidate Votes%±%Expenditures
Bloc QuébécoisRéal Ménard22,72049.73−5.85$28,893
LiberalDiane Dicaire9,44220.67+3.43not listed
New DemocraticJean-Claude Rocheleau6,60014.45+5.54$21,479
ConservativeLuc Labbé4,2019.20−3.01$8,586
GreenPhilippe Larochelle1,9464.26−0.60not listed
neorhino.caSimon Landry2300.50–not listed
CommunistMarianne Breton Fontaine1840.40$898
MarijuanaBlair T. Longley1830.40−0.32not listed
Marxist–LeninistChristine Dandenault1770.39−0.09not listed
Total valid votes 45,683 100.00
Total rejected ballots 644
Turnout 46,327 58.24 −0.07
Electors on the lists 79,542
Sources: Official Results, Elections Canada and Financial Returns, Elections Canada.
2006 Canadian federal election: Hochelaga
Party Candidate Votes%±%Expenditures
Bloc QuébécoisRéal Ménard25,57055.58−4.54$25,836
LiberalVicky Harvey7,93217.24−8.39$10,318
ConservativeAudrey Castonguay5,61712.21+8.15$30,705
New DemocraticDavid-Roger Gagnon4,1018.91+3.42$2,780
GreenRolf Bramann2,2354.86+1.88none listed
MarijuanaBlair T. Longley3320.72−0.33none listed
Marxist–LeninistChristine Dandenault2200.48+0.23none listed
Total valid votes 46,007 100.00
Total rejected ballots 723
Turnout 46,730 58.31 +0.52
Electors on the lists 80,142
Sources: Official Results, Elections Canada and Financial Returns, Elections Canada.
2004 Canadian federal election: Hochelaga
Party Candidate Votes%±%Expenditures
Bloc QuébécoisRéal Ménard27,47660.12+9.60$35,055
LiberalBenoit Bouvier11,71225.63−10.06$22,566
New DemocraticDavid Gagnon2,5105.49+3.55$695
ConservativeMario Bernier1,8564.06−3.33$2,131
GreenRolf Bramann1,3612.98$963
MarijuanaAntoine Théorêt-Poupart4821.05–none listed
CommunistPierre Bibeau1900.42$647
Marxist–LeninistChristine Dandenault1120.25none listed
Total valid votes 45,699 100.00
Total rejected ballots 936
Turnout 46,635 57.79
Electors on the lists 80,702
Percentage change figures are factored for redistribution. Conservative Party percentages are contrasted with the combined Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservative figures from 2000. Sources: Official Results, Elections Canada and Financial Returns, Elections Canada.
2000 Canadian federal election: Hochelaga—Maisonneuve
Party Candidate Votes%±%Expenditures
Bloc QuébécoisRéal Ménard21,25049.20+3.18$59,310
LiberalLouis Morena16,14337.38+3.17$52,743
Progressive ConservativeBenoit Harbec1,7514.05−11.86$497
AllianceStephanie Morency1,5023.48$365
MarijuanaAlex Néron1,2272.84–none listed
New DemocraticMilan Mirich7671.78+0.05none listed
Marxist–LeninistChristine Dandenault2750.64−0.29$10
CommunistPierre Bibeau2740.63$187
Total valid votes 43,189 100.00
Total rejected ballots 1,385
Turnout 44,574 58.69 −13.87
Electors on the lists 75,947
Sources: Official Results, Elections Canada and Financial Returns, Elections Canada.
1997 Canadian federal election: Hochelaga—Maisonneuve
Party Candidate Votes%±%Expenditures
Bloc QuébécoisRéal Ménard21,93846.02$51,213
LiberalDenise Malo16,30834.21–$32,101
Progressive ConservativeCharles Boudreault7,58315.91$2,329
New DemocraticMilan Mirich8251.73$0
Natural LawRichard Lauzon5771.21$0
Marxist–LeninistChristine Dandenault4440.93$142
Total valid votes 47,675 100.00
Total rejected ballots 2,188
Turnout 49,863 72.56
Electors on the lists 68,720
Sources: Official Results, Elections Canada and official contributions and expenses submitted by the candidates, provided by Elections Canada.
1993 Canadian federal election: Hochelaga—Maisonneuve
Party Candidate Votes%±%Expenditures
Bloc QuébécoisRéal Ménard26,17061.37$31,198
LiberalJules Léger10,67525.03–$11,028
Progressive ConservativeAllan Koury3,7238.73$43,692
New DemocraticPaul Vachon1,0502.46$2,715
Natural LawRichard Lauzon5881.38$15
Marxist–LeninistChristine Dandenault2590.61$80
Commonwealth of CanadaSteve Bélanger1800.42$0
Total valid votes 42,645 100.00
Total rejected ballots 1,857
Turnout 44,502 74.24
Electors on the lists 59,945
Source: Thirty-fifth General Election, 1993: Official Voting Results, Published by the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada. Financial figures taken from the official contributions and expenses submitted by the candidates, provided by Elections Canada.

References
  1. Bull, Chris (2002-09-17). "Northern enlightenment: Canada has something to teach the U.S. when it comes to equal recognition of gay and lesbian relationships". The Advocate. Archived from the original on 2004-11-02. Retrieved 2007-03-21.
  2. Hill, Tony L. (2002). Canadian politics, riding by riding : an in-depth analysis of Canada's 301 federal electoral districts. Minneapolis: Prospect Park Press. ISBN 0972343601. OCLC 50401264.
  3. "Lipad - 3957111 - Permalink Speech from the Canadian House of Commons".
  4. "Bloc MP runs for municipal politics". CTV News, June 25, 2009.
  5. "Harel bolsters lineup with Bloc MP" Archived June 27, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. The Gazette, June 25, 2009.
  6. Montreal Civic Vote 2009: Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. cbc.ca, November 1, 2009.
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