Michael M. Fortier, (born January 10, 1962) 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 ...
financier, lawyer and former politician. A member of the
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
, he served as
Minister of Public Works and Government Services
The minister of public services and procurement (french: ministre des services publics et de l’approvisionnement) is the minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for overseeing the Government of Canada's "common service ...
from 2006 to 2008, and
Minister of International Trade
The Minister of International Trade Diversification () was a minister of the Crown position in the Canadian Cabinet who was responsible for the federal government's international trade portfolio.
Along with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and t ...
in 2008 under Prime Minister
Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...
. Fortier served in
Cabinet of Canada
The Cabinet of Canada (french: Cabinet du Canada) is a body of Minister of the Crown, ministers of the Crown that, along with the Canadian monarch, and within the tenets of the Westminster system, forms the government of Canada. Chaired by the ...
while a
Senator
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 ...
, which proved controversial. In 2008, he resigned from the Senate to run for a seat in the
House of Commons in the
2008 election
This electoral calendar 2008 lists the national/federal direct elections held in 2008 in the de jure and de facto sovereign states and their dependent territories. Referendums are included, even though they are not elections. By-elections are no ...
;
[Fortier resigns from Senate to run for Tories](_blank)
www.cbc.ca, September 8, 2008. he placed second in riding of
Vaudreuil-Soulanges.
As a former member of the Canadian Cabinet, he is a member of the
Queen's Privy Council for Canada
The 's Privy Council for Canada (french: Conseil privé du Roi pour le Canada),) during the reign of a queen. sometimes called Majesty's Privy Council for Canada or simply the Privy Council (PC), is the full group of personal consultants to the ...
and thus has the right to the style
The Honourable
''The Honourable'' (British English) or ''The Honorable'' (American English; see spelling differences) (abbreviation: ''Hon.'', ''Hon'ble'', or variations) is an honorific style that is used as a prefix before the names or titles of certain ...
and the post-nominal designation PC for life. He is the brother of former
Quebec Liberal Party
The Quebec Liberal Party (QLP; french: Parti libéral du Québec, PLQ) is a provincial political party in Quebec. It has been independent of the federal Liberal Party of Canada since 1955. The QLP has always been associated with the colour red; e ...
MNA
Margaret Delisle
Margaret Fortier Delisle (born July 4, 1946) is a politician in Quebec, Canada. She was a member of the National Assembly (MNA) in the National Assembly of Quebec for the constituency of Jean-Talon. She was first elected in 1994,
and sat as a m ...
.
Business career
Before entering the Cabinet, Fortier was a partner at
Ogilvy Renault
Ogilvy Renault LLP was a Canadian law firm with 450 members in offices in Montreal, Ottawa, Quebec, Toronto, Calgary and London, England. Ogilvy Renault offered services in the areas of business law, litigation and ADR, employment and labour law a ...
, a leading Montreal law firm. One of his colleagues was
Brian Mulroney
Martin Brian Mulroney ( ; born March 20, 1939) is a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician who served as the 18th prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993.
Born in the eastern Quebec city of Baie-Comeau, Mulroney studied political sci ...
. He specialized in
securities,
mergers and acquisitions
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...
. From 1992 to 1996, he managed Ogilvy Renault’s office in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, England.
In 1999, he became the Managing Director and Senior Advisor (Eastern Canada) at
Crédit Suisse First Boston
Credit Suisse First Boston (also known as CSFB and CS First Boston) is the investment banking affiliate of Credit Suisse headquartered in New York.
The company was created by the merger of First Boston Corporation and Credit Suisse Group in 198 ...
. In 2004, Fortier became Corporate Financing Director (Quebec) for TD Securities. Two days after his appointment to Cabinet
Montreal Gazette
The ''Montreal Gazette'', formerly titled ''The Gazette'', is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Three other daily English-language newspapers shuttered at various times during the second half of th ...
columnist Ian McDonald claimed that Fortier "was easily making $1 million a year running the Montreal office of TD Securities."
Fortier is currently Vice Chairman of
RBC Capital Markets.
Political career
Early career
Fortier ran in the
1998 Progressive Conservative leadership election
The 1998 Progressive Conservative leadership election was held on October 24 and November 14, 1998 to choose a successor to Jean Charest. This was the first time the Progressive Conservatives used a one member, one vote system to choose a leader ...
but came in last with 4% of the vote. Fortier was a Progressive Conservative candidate in the Montreal-area riding of
Laval West
Laval West (french: Laval-Ouest; formerly known as Mille-Iles and Laval) was a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1979 to 2004.
It was created as the riding of "Mille-Iles" ...
during the
2000 federal election placing fourth. In 2003, he was co-chair of Harper's campaign to lead the new Conservative Party.
Fortier and veteran MP
John Reynolds were the co-chairs of the Conservative campaign in the 2006 election.
Cabinet minister
Fortier was appointed to Cabinet as
Minister of Public Works on 6 February 2006, the day
Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...
's
minority government
A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and Cabinet (government), cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or Coalition government, coalition of parties do ...
took office. In a cabinet reshuffle in June 2008, he shifted to the International Trade portfolio.
A financier and lawyer from
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
, he had not been elected as a member of the
House of Commons at the time he was appointed, nor was he a member of the Senate. Harper announced that Fortier would be appointed to the Senate, but would be expected to step down and run for a seat in the House of Commons at the
next election.
On February 27, 2006, Fortier was formally summoned to the Senate. This practice is unusual in modern Canada, but there is precedent for such a practice: in 1979, former Prime Minister
Joe Clark appointed Quebec Senator
Jacques Flynn Minister of Justice because of his lack of representation in that province.
In 1972, when Trudeau failed to win a single seat west of Manitoba, he appointed senators to cabinet as well. 19th century Prime Ministers
John Abbott
Sir John Joseph Caldwell Abbott (March 12, 1821 – October 30, 1893) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the third prime minister of Canada from 1891 to 1892. He held office as the leader of the Conservative Party.
Abbot ...
and
Mackenzie Bowell
Sir Mackenzie Bowell (; December 27, 1823 – December 10, 1917) was a Canadian newspaper publisher and politician, who served as the fifth prime minister of Canada, in office from 1894 to 1896.
Bowell was born in Rickinghall, Suffolk, En ...
served their entire terms in government as Senators.
Harper intended for Fortier to represent Montreal in Cabinet. No Montreal-area
riding has elected a Conservative or any member of the party's predecessors—the
Progressive Conservatives, the
Canadian Alliance and the
Reform Party—since
1988
File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...
. Since then, right-of-centre candidates have rarely even competed in Montreal except in landslides.
Controversy over Senate appointment
Fortier's appointment to Cabinet drew considerable controversy. The main charge was that Fortier's appointment was a significant departure from past Conservative policy. The Conservatives, and before them Reform and the Alliance, had strongly opposed Senate appointments and unelected Cabinet ministers while in
opposition
Opposition may refer to:
Arts and media
* ''Opposition'' (Altars EP), 2011 EP by Christian metalcore band Altars
* The Opposition (band), a London post-punk band
* ''The Opposition with Jordan Klepper'', a late-night television series on Comed ...
. Opponents of Fortier's appointment also note that in doing so, Harper broke a promise made on
Radio-Canada
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...
television during the election campaign.
As a Senator, Fortier did not attend
Question Period
Question Period (french: période des questions), known officially as Oral Questions (french: questions orales) occurs each sitting day in the House of Commons of Canada, in which members of the parliament ask questions of government ministers (i ...
to respond to questions from the opposition parties in the House. His
Parliamentary Secretaries,
James Moore at Public Works and
Gerald Keddy
Gerald Gordon Keddy (born February 15, 1953) is a Canadian politician. Keddy is a former Christmas tree grower, and offshore drill operator and was a Member of Parliament from 1997 to 2015, first sitting with the Progressive Conservative Party o ...
at International Trade, answered questions on his behalf. Fortier was subject to questioning in the Senate, but the
Bloc Québécois
The Bloc Québécois (BQ; , "Québécois people, Quebecer Voting bloc, Bloc") is a list of federal political parties in Canada, federal political party in Canada devoted to Quebec nationalism and the promotion of Quebec sovereignty movement, Que ...
and
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic:
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* t ...
were not represented in that body (One senator,
Lillian Dyck
Lillian Eva Quan Dyck, (born August 24, 1945) is a retired Canadian senator from Saskatchewan. A member of the Cree Gordon First Nation in Saskatchewan, and a first generation Chinese Canadian, she is the first female First Nations senator an ...
, was appointed as an NDP Senator, but the NDP opposes the existence of the Senate and does not recognize her as part of its caucu
. The Department of Public Works was at the centre of the
sponsorship scandal and spends billions of dollars per year, and the Conservatives singled the department out for criticism as an example of what they saw as a lack of accountability.
Fortier himself claimed he didn't run for a seat because "I didn't want to run in the election. I had a great career, five young kids, and so it wasn't the right situation for me to run when the election came around. That's just the simple truth.
In his
blog
A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...
,
Andrew Coyne commented that "it is a fine thing for a Prime Minister elected on a platform of democratic accountability, who promised he would not appoint anyone who was not elected, either to cabinet or to the Senate, to then turn around and do both at one go.
Jeffrey Simpson of ''
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 ...
'' wrote that "with breathtaking insouciance, Prime Minister Stephen Harper jettisoned, or at least delayed, his promise to only elect senators"
However, the ''
Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...
s
Chantal Hébert
Chantal St-Cyr Hébert (born 1954) is a Canadian journalist and political commentator.
Life and career
Hébert was born on April 24, 1954, in Ottawa, Ontario. She is the oldest of five children. In 1966 her family moved to Toronto where the 12 ...
defended the appointments of Fortier and Emerson to Cabinet, arguing that the problem is with the
first-past-the-post system
In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...
which allows entire parts of the country (such as large cities) to be unrepresented in government. For example, the Conservatives were unable to win any seats in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
,
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
and
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
in the last election, while the Liberals have only won four seats in
Edmonton
Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...
since
1968
The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide.
Events January–February
* January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia.
* Januar ...
and have only elected three MPs from
Calgary
Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...
since
Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
joined Confederation in 1905.
Michael Fortier was loudly booed at the opening ceremonies of the
2006 World Outgames
The 1st World Outgames took place in Montréal, Quebec, Canada from July 26, 2006, to August 5, 2006. The international conference was held from July 26 to the 29. The sporting events were held from July 29 to August 5.
History
The event evolved o ...
, an
LGBT
' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
The LGBT term is a ...
sporting event and cultural festival held in Montreal. The Conservative senator's speech was interrupted as he attempted to welcome the estimated crowd of 40,000 at the
Olympic Stadium
''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games. An Olympic stadium is the site of the opening and closing ceremonies. Many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words ''Olympic Stadium'' as ...
that evening. Montreal Mayor
Gérald Tremblay
Gérald Tremblay (born September 20, 1942) is a former Canadian politician and businessman who served as mayor of Montreal from 2002 until his resignation in 2012. He also served as president of the Montreal Metropolitan Community. Before b ...
, who was greeted with sustained applause, intervened (unsuccessfully) to urge the crowd to listen "with respect" to the representative of the Canadian government.
Promise to seek election
On November 21, 2006, Fortier announced that he would seek election to the House of Commons in the riding of
Vaudreuil-Soulanges in the
next federal election, which he lost. The opposition parties pressured him to run in the by-election on November 27 in
Repentigny. However, Fortier repeated his original promise to run in the next general electio
Fortier dismisses advisor connected to Julie Couillard
Fortier confirmed June 11, 2008 that he dismissed senior Quebec adviser Bernard Cote after learning that Cote briefly dated
Julie Couillard last year while she was attempting to win a government contract. Cote had to resign because of a perceived conflict of interest, since Public Works was handling the building contracts Couillard was bidding on, Fortier said. Fortier told reporters that Cote, "should have actually recused himself from this matter, which he didn't do, hence his resignation." Couillard sparked the resignation of foreign minister
Maxime Bernier in May 2008 when she went public with the fact her former paramour had forgotten classified NATO briefing documents at her Montreal home for more than a month.
2008 federal election
While he chose not to run in an earlier by-election, Fortier was a candidate for the riding of Vaudreuil-Soulanges in the 2008 federal election, in fulfillment of his promise made at the time of his 2006 Senate appointment. In order to fulfill this promise, on September 8, 2008, he resigned from the Senate to run in the general election.
On election night, he was soundly defeated by popular
Bloc Québécois
The Bloc Québécois (BQ; , "Québécois people, Quebecer Voting bloc, Bloc") is a list of federal political parties in Canada, federal political party in Canada devoted to Quebec nationalism and the promotion of Quebec sovereignty movement, Que ...
incumbent
Meili Faille
Meili Faille (born June 18, 1972) is a Canadian politician. She was a Bloc Québécois member of the House of Commons of Canada, being first elected in the 2004 election in the district of Vaudreuil-Soulanges. Prior to being elected, Faille ...
,
who captured 41.34% of the vote compared to Fortier's 23.69%.
See also
*
Université Laval
References
External links
*
Michael Fortier Senate appointment announcement
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fortier, Michael
1962 births
Canadian senators from Quebec
Conservative Party of Canada candidates for the Canadian House of Commons
Conservative Party of Canada senators
Anglophone Quebec people
Businesspeople from Montreal
French Quebecers
Lawyers in Quebec
Living people
Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada
Members of the 28th Canadian Ministry
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada candidates for the Canadian House of Commons
Candidates in the 2000 Canadian federal election
Université Laval Faculté de droit alumni
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada leadership candidates