Neil Gaudry (September 19, 1937 – February 18, 1999) was a politician in

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

, Canada. He was a member of the

Legislative Assembly of Manitoba The Legislative Assembly of Manitoba (french: Assemblée législative du Manitoba) is the deliberative assembly of the Manitoba Legislature in the Canadian province of Manitoba. Fifty-seven members are elected to this assembly at provincial gener ...

from 1988 until his death, sitting as 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 ...

. The son of Véronique Chartrand and Ernest Gaudry, he was born in

St. Laurent, Manitoba St. Laurent (French: ''Saint-Laurent'') is a community on the eastern shore of Lake Manitoba. It lies within the boundaries of the Rural Municipality of St. Laurent, from Winnipeg. A historically-Métis settlement, St. Laurent is one of the ...

and was educated there. In 1962, he married Leona Rainville. Before entering public life, Gaudry worked as an accountant and office manager. He was the secretary-treasurer of ''Malcolm Construction Ltd.'' for twenty-five years, and was active in the community of

Interlake Interlake was a provincial electoral division in the Canadian province of Manitoba. It was created by redistribution in 1979, and has formally existed since the 1981 provincial election. Previously, much of the Interlake region was include ...

before moving to

Winnipeg 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 ...

in his later years. Gaudry was first elected to the Manitoba legislature in the provincial election of 1988, in the Winnipeg riding of

St. Boniface Boniface, OSB ( la, Bonifatius; 675 – 5 June 754) was an English Benedictine monk and leading figure in the Anglo-Saxon mission to the Germanic parts of the Frankish Empire during the eighth century. He organised significant foundations of ...

. This historically

francophone French became an international language in the Middle Ages, when the power of the Kingdom of France made it the second international language, alongside Latin. This status continued to grow into the 18th century, by which time French was the l ...

riding had been represented by

Laurent Desjardins Laurent Louis "Larry" Desjardins (March 15, 1923 – February 7, 2012) was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served as a member of the Manitoba legislature for most of the period from 1959 to 1988, and was a cabinet minister under New Democ ...

almost continuously since 1959; originally a Liberal, Desjardins crossed to the

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 ...

in 1969 and was re-elected four times under that party's banner. Desjardins retired in 1988 when the Manitoba NDP was experiencing a sharp decline in popularity, and Gaudry recaptured St. Boniface for the Liberals with 61 percent of the vote of the vote. The election was won by the Progressive Conservatives, and Gaudry joined 19 other Liberals in the official opposition. Gaudry was easily elected again in the 1990 election, with only a slightly reduced plurality. His share of the popular vote fell to below 50% in the provincial election of 1995, but he was still re-elected by a nearly 2-to-1 margin over the NDP, despite the Liberals winning only two other seats in the rest of the province. The Manitoba Liberal Party experienced internal divisions in 1997, due to disgruntlement with the leadership of

Ginny Hasselfield Ginny Hasselfield is a Canadian politician, and was the leader of the Manitoba Liberal Party between 1996 and 1998. A former Manitoba teacher and principal, she was also president and co-founder of Cross Cultural Communications International Inc. ...

. At one stage,

Kevin Lamoureux Kevin Lamoureux (born January 22, 1962) is a politician in Manitoba, Canada. On November 29, 2010, he was elected to the House of Commons of Canada for the constituency of Winnipeg North in a by-election. He was re-elected during the 2011 ele ...

and Gary Kowalski broke from the official party caucus to sit as Independent Liberals; Gaudry was the only Liberal MLA to continue supporting the official party leadership during this period. Neil Gaudry died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

on February 18, 1999, while attending the

Festival du Voyageur The Festival du Voyageur is an annual 10-day winter festival that takes place in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The event is held during each February in Winnipeg's French quarter, Saint-Boniface, and is western Canada's largest winter festival. It ...

and the legislature passed a motion of condolence in his memory on April 26 of the same year. Gaudry frequently championed francophone causes during his time in the legislature. He sought to have

Louis Riel Louis Riel (; ; 22 October 1844 – 16 November 1885) was a Canadian politician, a founder of the province of Manitoba, and a political leader of the Métis people. He led two resistance movements against the Government of Canada and its first ...

recognized as a

Father of Confederation The Fathers of Confederation are the 36 people who attended at least one of the Charlottetown Conference of 1864 (23 attendees), the Quebec Conference of 1864 (33 attendees), and the London Conference of 1866 (16 attendees), preceding Canadian ...

, and was an active member in ''l'Assemblee internationale des parlementaires de la langue francaise''. Despite partisan differences, he also assisted the Progressive Conservative government of

Gary Filmon Gary Albert Filmon (born August 24, 1942) is Canadian politician from Manitoba. He was the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba from 1983 to 2000, and served as the 19th premier of Manitoba from 1988 to 1999. Political care ...

on matters relating to francophone education.

Election results

, Progressive Conservative , Kim F. Sigurdson , style="text-align:right;" , 1,686 , style="text-align:right;" , 19.07 , style="text-align:right;" , -2.53 , style="text-align:right;" , , Independent , Yvan Lecuyer , style="text-align:right;" , 306 , style="text-align:right;" , 3.46 , style="text-align:right;" , n/a , style="text-align:right;" ,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaudry, Neil 1937 births 1999 deaths Franco-Manitoban people Manitoba Liberal Party MLAs Politicians from Winnipeg Métis politicians