Bernard Dumont (January 15, 1927 – September 25, 1974) was a politician in

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 ...

, Canada. He was a member of the House of Commons of Canada and a member of the

National Assembly of Quebec The National Assembly of Quebec (officially in french: link=no, Assemblée nationale du Québec) is the legislative body of the province of Quebec in Canada. Legislators are called MNAs (Members of the National Assembly; french: link=no, déput ...

. Dumont was born near

Lévis, Quebec Lévis () is a city in eastern Quebec, Canada, located on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, opposite Quebec City. A ferry links Old Quebec with Old Lévis, and two bridges, the Quebec and the Pierre-Laporte, connect western Lévis wit ...

. He served as mayor of

Saint-Vallier, Quebec Saint-Vallier is a municipality of about 1,100 people in Bellechasse Regional County Municipality in the Chaudière-Appalaches administrative region of Quebec in Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and thr ...

from 1959 to 1962. He was first elected to Parliament under the

Social Credit Social credit is a distributive philosophy of political economy developed by C. H. Douglas. Douglas attributed economic downturns to discrepancies between the cost of goods and the compensation of the workers who made them. To combat what he ...

banner in the district of Bellechasse in the 1962 federal election, but was defeated by

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

candidate Herman Laverdière the

next year "Next Year" is a song released as the last single from the third Foo Fighters' album ''There Is Nothing Left to Lose''. History A shorter version (running at just 3:21 compared to the original's 4:36) was released as a single in 2000 and wa ...

. He ran and lost as an independent in a 1964 by-election in the district of Dorchester. and in the 1965 election as a candidate of the Ralliement des créditistes in Bellechasse once again. Dumont returned to Parliament as the member for Frontenac in the 1968 election. He resigned on April 6, 1970 to enter provincial politics. That year, he ran successfully as a candidate of the provincial

Ralliement créditiste Historically in Quebec, Canada, there were a number of political parties that were part of the Canadian social credit movement. There were various parties at different times with different names at the provincial level, all broadly following the s ...

in the district of Mégantic. During Dumont's time in the National Assembly, the Ralliement was plagued by internal divisions. Most of the Créditiste MNAs withdrew their support from leader

Camil Samson Camil Samson (January 3, 1935 - December 18, 2012) was a politician in Quebec, Canada, Member of the National Assembly of Quebec (MNA), and leader of the Ralliement créditiste du Québec and other political parties. Background and personal life ...

and gathered under Armand Bois until a new leader was chosen at a convention; Dumont was one of three MNAs who remained loyal to Samson. Eventually, the Samson faction re-joined the party and Yvon Dupuis was chosen as leader. In the 1973 election, Dumont was defeated in the district of Frontenac. Dumont ran once more for the federal Parliament as an independent in the district of Rivière-du-Loup—Témiscouata in the 1974 election and finished a distant fourth. He died later that year. Like many other Créditistes, Dumont was a vocal opponent of

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...

. During a 1969 debate on liberalizing Canada's abortion laws, he was quoted as saying, "As Christians we cannot accept the theory that life only begins at birth."''Winnipeg Free Press'', 25 January 1969, p. 2.

References

See also