Jean-François Fortin (born September 12, 1973) is 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
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...
. He was elected to represent the riding of
Haute-Gaspésie—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia
Haute-Gaspésie—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia (formerly known as Matapédia—Matane) was a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1979 until 2013. It has the lowest percenta ...
in the
2011 federal election as a member of the
Bloc Québécois, and was chosen interim parliamentary leader of the Bloc on February 26, 2014.
On August 12, 2014, Fortin quit the party to sit as an independent, saying that the Bloc Québécois he had joined no longer exists and that new party leader
Mario Beaulieu had destroyed its credibility.
On October 21, 2014, Fortin, along with
Jean-François Larose, the
NDP
NDP may stand for:
Computing
* Neighbor Discovery Protocol, an Internet protocol
* Nortel Discovery Protocol, a layer two Internet protocol, also called SONMP
* Nondeterministic programming, a type of computer language
Government
* National ...
MP for
Repentigny, announced that they were forming
Strength in Democracy, a new
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 ...
-centred political party dedicated to representing the province's regions. In the
2015 federal election he ran for the new riding of
Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia
Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia is a federal electoral district in Quebec. It encompasses a portion of Quebec previously included in the electoral districts of Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine (21%) and Haute-Gaspésie—La Mitis—Ma ...
and lost to Liberal
Rémi Massé.
Early life
Prior to being elected to parliament, Fortin was a professor of political science at
Cégep de Rimouski
The Cégep de Rimouski is a post-secondary education institution (cégep: College of General and Professional Education) located in Rimouski, Quebec, Canada.
History
The college traces its origins to the merger of several institutions which bec ...
from 2001 until 2011. He was also elected as a city councillor in
Sainte-Flavie in 2003 and served a term as mayor from 2006 until 2009.
Political career
Fortin was one of only four
Bloc Québécois MPs elected in the
2011 federal election which saw the party's caucus reduced from 47 to 4 and was the only non-incumbent Bloc candidate to win election. He won the seat of
Haute-Gaspésie—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia
Haute-Gaspésie—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia (formerly known as Matapédia—Matane) was a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1979 until 2013. It has the lowest percenta ...
, which had been vacated by fellow
Bloc Québécois politician
Jean-Yves Roy who resigned from Parliament in late 2010 because of ill health.
On September 17, 2011, Fortin declared his candidacy in the
Bloc Québécois leadership election that was held to choose a successor to
Gilles Duceppe.
He was defeated on the first ballot on December 11, 2011.
Fortin considered running in the
2014 party leadership election but decided to back
André Bellavance. On August 12, 2014, almost two months after
Mario Beaulieu's upset victory, Fortin quit the Bloc Quebecois to sit as an
Independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
accusing Beaulieu of "pushing a unidimensional, intransigent agenda that lacks rigour has put an end to the credibility established by (former leaders)
Gilles Duceppe and followed up by
Daniel Paillé
Daniel Paillé (; born April 1, 1950) is a Canadian politician, who represented the riding of Prévost in the National Assembly of Quebec from 1994 to 1996 as a member of the Parti Québécois, and represented the district of Hochelaga in t ...
, two leaders who merit great respect." He continued, saying that "Beaulieu is dividing sovereignists instead of uniting them."
In October, Fortin and another MP announced the formation of the
Strength in Democracy party, which sat in the Canadian legislature with Fortin as leader.
In the
2015 federal election Fortin ran for the redistributed riding of
Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia
Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia is a federal electoral district in Quebec. It encompasses a portion of Quebec previously included in the electoral districts of Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine (21%) and Haute-Gaspésie—La Mitis—Ma ...
under the Strength In Democracy banner. He lost to Liberal
Rémi Massé, coming in fourth.
Election results
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fortin, Jean-Francois
1973 births
Living people
Bloc Québécois MPs
Independent MPs in the Canadian House of Commons
Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Quebec
Mayors of places in Quebec
Strength in Democracy MPs
21st-century Canadian politicians
French Quebecers