Jeremiah Léoda Gauthier (December 29, 1904 – January 17, 1964) 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 ...

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 o ...

from 1945 to 1958.C.M. Wallace and Ashley Thomson, ''Sudbury: Rail Town to Regional Capital''.

Dundurn Press Dundurn Press is one of the largest Canadian-owned book publishing companies of adult and children's fiction and non-fiction. The company publishes Canadian literature, history, biography, politics and arts. Dundurn has about 2500 books in print, ...

, 1993. . p. 209. A member of the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

caucus, he represented three different ridings over the course of his career as the city of Sudbury grew in size and importance to warrant one, and then two, ridings of its own."Northern MP For 13 Years, Retired in 1958". ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'', January 18, 1964.

Background

Born in

Copper Cliff, Ontario This is a list of neighbourhoods in the urban core of Greater Sudbury, Ontario. This list includes only those neighbourhoods that fall within the pre-2001 city limits of Sudbury — for communities within the former suburban municipalities, see ...

, Gauthier owned a

lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...

company in the Sudbury area, and was one of the founding shareholders in Sudbury Broadcasting, F. Baxter Ricard's radio company which established CHNO and CFBR. He was active in politics as an organizer, and as campaign manager for provincial MPP James Cooper. He also served on the boards of the Sudbury Wolves and the

Victorian Order of Nurses The Victorian Order of Nurses (VON) has been leading home and community care in Canada for over a century. Today, VON provides home and community support services to over 10,000 people every day across Ontario and Nova Scotia. It is registered as a ...

Political career

In the 1945 election, he was first elected to represent the riding of Nipissing, which he represented for a single term. In 1947, he was one of several MPs from

Northern Ontario Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on part of the Superior Geological Pro ...

who lobbied the government to provide tax relief to the region's

gold mine Gold Mine may refer to: * Gold Mine (board game) *Gold Mine (Long Beach), an arena *"Gold Mine", a song by Joyner Lucas from the 2020 album ''ADHD Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characteri ...

s. The following year, he was one of six MPs who demanded that the government of Mackenzie King reinstitute food subsidies and remove the sales tax from food, to counter the rising

cost of living Cost of living is the cost of maintaining a certain standard of living. Changes in the cost of living over time can be operationalized in a cost-of-living index. Cost of living calculations are also used to compare the cost of maintaining a cer ...

and the emerging power of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation. In the 1949 election, he shifted to the new riding of Sudbury, which he also represented for a single term. In the 1953 election, he became the first MP for

Nickel Belt Nickel Belt is one of two federal electoral districts serving the city of Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. It has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1953. Geography It consists of: * the part of the Territorial District ...

, During his time as an MP, he played a role in securing government funding for the construction of the

Sudbury Airport Sudbury Airport or Greater Sudbury Airport is an airport in the Canadian city of Greater Sudbury, Ontario and is located northeast of the downtown area, on Municipal Road 86 between the communities of Garson and Skead. Although in many conte ...

, although he raised a public objection when he did not receive a formal invitation to the airport's official opening in 1954."Finance at large". ''

'', February 3, 1954. He was reelected in the 1957 election, which resulted in the election of

John Diefenbaker John George Diefenbaker ( ; September 18, 1895 – August 16, 1979) was the 13th prime minister of Canada, serving from 1957 to 1963. He was the only Progressive Conservative party leader between 1930 and 1979 to lead the party to an electi ...

's short-lived minority government, but retired at the 1958 election for health reasons. He died on January 17, 1964, at Memorial Hospital in Sudbury.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gauthier, Leoda 1904 births 1964 deaths Liberal Party of Canada MPs Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario Franco-Ontarian people Businesspeople from Greater Sudbury Politicians from Greater Sudbury