René Louis Piché (May 5, 1931 – January 22, 2011) was a politician in

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the

Legislative Assembly of Ontario The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA, french: Assemblée législative de l'Ontario) is the legislative chamber of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). Bills passed by ...

from 1981 to 1985 who represented the northern Ontario riding of

Cochrane North Cochrane may refer to: Places Australia *Cochrane railway station, Sydney, a railway station on the closed Ropes Creek railway line Canada * Cochrane, Alberta * Cochrane Lake, Alberta * Cochrane District, Ontario ** Cochrane, Ontario, a town wi ...

. He served as a minister without portfolio in the cabinet of Frank Miller. He was mayor of

Kapuskasing Kapuskasing is a town on the Kapuskasing River in the Cochrane District of Northern Ontario, Canada, approximately east of Hearst. The town was known as MacPherson until 1917, when the name was changed so as not to conflict with another railw ...

from 1971 to 1980 and again from 1991 to 1993.

Background

Piché was born in Cache Bay,

in 1931 to parents Louis Piché and Églantine Nadon. He was one of four children. He lived in

and later Orleans, Ontario. In 1951, he married Olga Kowaluk and together they raised four children. In 1961 he founded a newspaper called the Northern Times and remained president and publisher until 1998. He was also the founding chairman of Northeastern Ontario Municipalities Action Group, serving for nine years as its chairman between 1972 and 1980. In addition, Piché served as a member of the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission for seven years from 1973 to 1980.

Politics

In 1971, Piché was elected mayor of

and served in that position until 1980. In the 1981 provincial election he ran as the Progressive Conservative candidate in the riding of

, defeating

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 ...

candidate Jean-Paul Bourgeault by 188 votes. He served as a

backbench In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the " ...

supporter of

Bill Davis William Grenville Davis, (July 30, 1929 – August 8, 2021) was a Canadian politician who served as the 18th premier of Ontario from 1971 to 1985. Davis was first elected as the member of provincial Parliament for Peel in the 1959 provincia ...

's government for four years. In 1983 he was appointed as Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Revenue. When Frank Miller became Premier in 1985, he appointed Piché as

Minister without portfolio A minister without portfolio is either a government minister with no specific responsibilities or a minister who does not head a particular ministry. The sinecure is particularly common in countries ruled by coalition governments and a cabinet w ...

responsible for northern transportation. The Progressive Conservatives were reduced to a tenuous

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 ...

in the 1985 provincial election. Piché was defeated losing to Liberal

René Fontaine Jacques Noe René Fontaine (November 5, 1933 – March 17, 2012) was a politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Ontario Liberal Party, Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1985 to 1990, and was a cabinet minister in the ...

by 1,910 votes. He formally resigned from cabinet on May 17, 1985. Piché attempted to return to the Ontario legislature in the 1990 provincial election, but finished third against

New Democrat New Democrats, also known as centrist Democrats, Clinton Democrats, or moderate Democrats, are a centrist ideological faction within the Democratic Party in the United States. As the Third Way faction of the party, they are seen as culturall ...

Len Wood Leonard Wood (born February 4, 1942) is a former Canadians, Canadian politician. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1990 to 1999, sitting for the New Democratic Party of Ontario. Background Wood completed a four-year mi ...

. He later returned to municipal politics, and again served as Kapuskasing's mayor in the 1991 and served one term until 1993.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Piche, Rene 1931 births 2011 deaths Franco-Ontarian people Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs Mayors of places in Ontario People from West Nipissing