Benoît Sauvageau (November 22, 1963 – August 28, 2006) was a Canadian politician, who served as a

Bloc Québécois The Bloc Québécois (BQ; , "Québécois people, Quebecer Voting bloc, Bloc") is a list of federal political parties in Canada, federal political party in Canada devoted to Quebec nationalism and the promotion of Quebec sovereignty movement, Que ...

member of the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada (french: Chambre des communes du Canada) is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The House of Common ...

from 1993 until his death in 2006. Born in

Charlemagne, Quebec Charlemagne () is a city in the Canadian province of Quebec, Canada on the north shore of the Rivière des Prairies, northeast of Montreal's downtown core. In 2021, the population was 6,302. It is the birthplace of singer Celine Dion. The town ...

, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree and was a professor before entering politics. In

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

, he was elected to the

for the

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

riding of

Terrebonne Terrebonne, meaning ''good earth'' in French, is a name of several places in North America: ;Canada *Terrebonne, Quebec, a suburb of Montreal **Terrebonne station, a commuter railway station in Terrebonne, Quebec **Terrebonne City Council, the gov ...

. He was subsequently re-elected in the

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, and

2004 elections 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

in the redistricted riding of Repentigny. From 2003 to 2004, he was the Deputy Whip of the Bloc Québécois. In the federal election that fell on January 23, 2006, Sauvageau garnered over 62% of the vote in his riding for a landslide victory over the Conservatives and the Liberals, who were still reeling from their political fallout from the sponsorship scandal. Admired for his warmth and good nature by friend and adversary alike, Sauvageau championed

fiscal responsibility A balanced budget (particularly that of a government) is a budget in which revenues are equal to expenditures. Thus, neither a budget deficit nor a budget surplus exists (the accounts "balance"). More generally, it is a budget that has no budge ...

on the Public Accounts committee and the language rights of

francophone French became an international language in the Middle Ages, when the power of the Kingdom of France made it the second international language, alongside Latin. This status continued to grow into the 18th century, by which time French was the l ...

s on the Official Languages committee.

Death

Sauvageau died in a car accident in his riding of Repentigny on August 28, 2006, while on the way to a constituency event.CTV.ca , BQ MP Benoit Sauvageau killed in traffic accident
LCN initially reported that just a few minutes before the accident, his wife Jacinthe had called

9-1-1 , usually written 911, is an emergency telephone number for the United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama, Palau, Argentina, Philippines, Jordan, as well as the North American Numbering Plan (NANP), one of eight N11 codes. Like other emergency nu ...

because Sauvageau had allegedly threatened to commit suicide shortly before leaving their home. However, a

coroner A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into Manner of death, the manner or cause of death, and to investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within th ...

's report concluded in August 2007 that Sauvageau did not intentionally crash his vehicle, and confirmed that he was distracted by his cellphone. Bloc leader

Gilles Duceppe Gilles Duceppe (; born July 22, 1947) is a Canadian retired politician, proponent of the Quebec sovereignty movement and former leader of the Bloc Québécois. He was a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of Canada for over 20 years and ...

described him "as a hard working and determined MP who knew everyone in his riding". Prime Minister

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...

said in a statement that: "Mr. Sauvageau was proud of his francophone roots, and was a dedicated MP who served his constituents well. He was appreciated by his colleagues for his integrity and human values and he will be missed." Long-time colleague, and then interim Liberal leader, Bill Graham stated that Sauvageau "brought to his job a great dedication and a willingness to work for the common good that made him an admired colleague for all."Liberal.ca :: Reportage non trouvé

Electoral record (partial)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sauvageau, Benoit 1963 births 2006 deaths Bloc Québécois MPs Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Quebec Road incident deaths in Canada Accidental deaths in Quebec People from Repentigny, Quebec People from Charlemagne, Quebec 21st-century Canadian politicians