Pierrette Ringuette (born December 31, 1955), also formerly known as Pierrette Ringuette-Maltais, is a

Canadian Senator The Senate of Canada (french: region=CA, Sénat du Canada) is the upper house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the House of Commons, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The Senate is modelled after the Bri ...

. Ringuette, a businesswoman and professor, was the first francophone woman to be elected to the

Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known ...

. She sat in the body as a member of the New Brunswick Liberal Party beginning in 1987, and resigned her seat once she was elected as a

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 ...

(MP). She was succeeded by her predecessor,

Percy Mockler Percy Paul Mockler (born April 14, 1949 in St. Leonard, New Brunswick) is a Canadian politician serving as a Canadian Senator from New Brunswick since 2009. A member of the Conservative Party of Canada, Mockler previously served two non-consec ...

, in a provincial

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

in 1993. In the 1993 federal election, she won a seat in the House of Commons of Canada as the

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 ...

MP for Madawaska—Victoria by defeating Progressive Conservative Cabinet Minister Bernard Valcourt. She was defeated in the subsequent 1997 federal election, one of a number of

Maritime Maritime may refer to: Geography * Maritime Alps, a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps * Maritime Region, a region in Togo * Maritime Southeast Asia * The Maritimes, the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prin ...

Liberal MPs who lost their seats that year. After her electoral defeat, she joined Canada Post Corporation in a senior position as manager of the international trade development unit. On December 12, 2002, she was appointed to the Senate on the recommendation of

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Jean Chrétien. On January 29, 2014, Liberal Party leader

Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau ( , ; born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada. He has served as the prime minister of Canada since 2015 and as the leader of the Liberal Party since 2 ...

announced all Liberal Senators, including Ringuette, were removed from the Liberal caucus, and would continue sitting as Independents. The Senators referred to themselves as the

Senate Liberal Caucus The Senate Liberal Caucus (french: Caucus libéral du Sénat), also known as the Senate Liberals (french: libéraux au Sénat), was, from 2014 to 2019, a parliamentary grouping in the Senate of Canada made up of independent senators who were ind ...

even though they are no longer members of the parliamentary Liberal caucus. Ringuette announced, on February 2, 2016 that she was leaving the Senate Liberal caucus to sit as an Independent saying, in a statement, that "Canadians have been clear in their desire for a non-partisan Senate. The status quo is not acceptable." She has a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

from the

University of Moncton A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

and a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accoun ...

from the

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (french: Université d'Ottawa), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ottaw ...

. She has completed the coursework for a Master of Industrial Relations.

Electoral record

Federal

, - ,

, Pierrette Ringuette , align="right", 16,058 , align="right", 48.8 , align="right", +5.0 , - , style="width: 150px" , Progressive Conservative , Bernard Valcourt , align="right", 15,045 , align="right", 45.7 , align="right", -2.5 , - , - , New Democratic Party , Parise Martin , align="right", 844 , align="right", 2.6 , align="right", -5.4 , - bgcolor="white" !align="left" colspan=3, Total !align="right", 32,902 !align="right", !align="right",

Provincial

References

;Notes ;Sources
Official biography on Parliament of Canada websitePersonal senatorial website

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ringuette, Pierrette 1955 births Acadian people Canadian senators from New Brunswick Women members of the House of Commons of Canada Women members of the Senate of Canada Liberal Party of Canada MPs Liberal Party of Canada senators Independent Canadian senators Living people Members of the House of Commons of Canada from New Brunswick New Brunswick Liberal Association MLAs People from Edmundston Université de Moncton alumni University of Ottawa alumni Women MLAs in New Brunswick 21st-century Canadian politicians 21st-century Canadian women politicians Independent Senators Group