Gilles Caouette (February 16, 1940 – August 13, 2009) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

politician and

member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

. Caouette was born in

Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec Rouyn-Noranda ( 2021 population 42,313) is a city on Osisko Lake in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region of Quebec, Canada. The city of Rouyn-Noranda is a coextensive with a territory equivalent to a regional county municipality (TE) and census ...

. His father,

Réal Caouette David Réal Caouette (September 26, 1917 – December 16, 1976) was a Canadian politician from Quebec. He was a member of Parliament (MP) and leader of the Social Credit Party of Canada and founder of the '' Ralliement des créditistes''. Outsid ...

, was a prominent Social Credit politician, and leader of the ''

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 ...

'' and later the

Social Credit Party of Canada The Social Credit Party of Canada (french: Parti Crédit social du Canada), colloquially known as the Socreds, was a populist political party in Canada that promoted social credit theories of monetary reform. It was the federal wing of the Canadi ...

. Gilles followed in his father’s footsteps, and ran unsuccessfully for election to 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 ...

as a ''Ralliement créditiste'' or Social Credit candidate three times (1963, 1964 and 1965). He finally won election from

Charlevoix Charlevoix ( , ) is a cultural and natural region in Quebec, on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River as well as in the Laurentian Mountains area of the Canadian Shield. This dramatic landscape includes rolling terrain, fjords, headlands ...

in the 1972 election with a margin of 159 votes. Gilles was defeated in the 1974 election, and in a 1975 by-election in Hochelaga. His father died in 1976, resulting in a by-election in the Témiscamingue riding that his father had held since 1962. Gilles won the May 24, 1977 by-election, and returned to the House of Commons. On June 24, 1977, Réal’s successor as Social Credit party leader,

André-Gilles Fortin André-Gilles Fortin (November 13, 1943 – June 24, 1977) was a Canadian politician. Fortin was a member of the House of Commons of Canada for Lotbinière. He was first elected in the 1968 federal election for the Ralliement Créditiste ...

, died at the age of 33. Gilles became acting party leader on June 29. He had intended to run at the party's

leadership convention {{Politics of Canada In Canadian politics, a leadership convention is held by a political party when the party needs to choose a leader due to a vacancy or a challenge to the incumbent leader. Overview In Canada, leaders of a party generally rem ...

but refused to run and resigned as interim leader when the party's executive council decided to hold the convention earlier rather than later and hold it in

Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

instead of Quebec where most party members (and all of its Members of Parliament) lived. He was replaced as interim leader by Charles-Arthur Gauthier."Gauthier named interim Socred leader as Caouette quits post, Matte leaves party", by Jeffrey Simpson, ''Globe and Mail'', April 12, 1978 Caouette ran in the 1979 election but lost his seat in the House of Commons. Outside politics he worked as an administrator, draftsman, research director, and as a technician.

Electoral record

References

Source
History of the Federal Electoral Ridings since 1867
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caouette, Gilles 1940 births 2009 deaths Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Quebec Social Credit Party of Canada MPs Social Credit Party of Canada leaders People from Rouyn-Noranda