Maurice Bourget, (October 20, 1907 – March 29, 1979) 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 who was

Speaker of the Senate of Canada The speaker of the Senate of Canada (french: président du Sénat du Canada) is the presiding officer of the Senate of Canada. The speaker represents the Senate at official functions, rules on questions of parliamentary procedure and parliamentar ...

from April 27, 1963 to January 6, 1966. Bourget was born in

Lauzon, Quebec Lauzon is a former city in southern Quebec, Canada, located on the St. Lawrence River northeast of Lévis. Founded in 1867 as a village it became a town in 1910, Lauzon had a population of about 14,500 when it merged with Lévis in 1989. The th ...

and played semi-professional baseball and softball in Levis as a young man. He trained as a civil engineer and practiced in Levis. A

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 ...

since the age of 19, Bourget was first elected 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 Liberal in 1940. Bourget and several other Quebec Liberal MPs had broken with their party the year before during the

Conscription Crisis of 1944 The Conscription Crisis of 1944 was a political and military crisis following the introduction of forced military service for men in Canada during World War II. It was similar to the Conscription Crisis of 1917, but not as politically damaging. ...

, quitting the Liberal caucus in order to oppose the government's decision to deploy

National Resources Mobilization Act The ''National Resources Mobilization Act, 1940'' (4 George VI, Chap. 13) was a statute of the Parliament of Canada passed to provide for better planning of a much greater Canadian war effort, both overseas and in military production at home. Sco ...

conscripts overseas. Previously, conscripts had only been used for "home defence" and kept within Canada."Quebec rebuks Houde and Bracken's hidden men", ''Toronto Daily Star'', June 12, 1945 He ran and was re-elected as an "

Independent Liberal Independent Liberal is a description allowed in politics to denote party affiliation. It is used to designate a politician as a liberal, yet independent of the official Liberal Party of a country. Those parties were the Liberal Party of Canada, ...

" in 1945 defeating his only opponent, a

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 ...

candidate. Bourget reconciled with the Liberal Party in the post-war period and was again elected as a Liberal in 1949 and was re-elected in subsequent elections until his defeat in 1962 due to an upsurge in support for the Social Credit party. As an MP, Bourget served as a delegate to the

United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...

in 1951. From 1953 to 1957 he served as parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Public Works. He returned to parliament in 1963 when he was appointed to the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

on the advice of the newly elected Liberal Prime Minister,

Lester Pearson Lester Bowles "Mike" Pearson (23 April 1897 – 27 December 1972) was a Canadian scholar, statesman, diplomat, and politician who served as the 14th prime minister of Canada from 1963 to 1968. Born in Newtonbrook, Ontario (now part of ...

and was concurrently appointed Speaker of the upper house. As such, he also served as Joint Chairman of the Canadian delegation to the meeting of the Canada-U.S.A. Inter parliamentary Group at Washington in January 1964 and Joint Chairman of the Inter parliamentary Conference held in Ottawa in September 1965. Bourget stepped down as Speaker in January 1966 and was appointed to the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

in February. He remained a Senator until his death in 1979.

References

External links

*
Speakers of the Senate biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bourget, Maurice 1907 births 1979 deaths Canadian senators from Quebec Speakers of the Senate of Canada Liberal Party of Canada MPs Independent Liberal MPs in Canada Liberal Party of Canada senators Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Quebec Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada