Richard Décarie is a Canadian politician and business consultant from

Montréal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-p ...

Québec Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...

Background

Décarie holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from

Université du Québec à Montréal The Université du Québec à Montréal (English: University of Quebec in Montreal), also known as UQAM, is a French-language public university based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the largest constituent element of the Université du Québe ...

, and a

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in philosophy from

Université de Sherbrooke The University of Sherbrooke ( French: Université de Sherbrooke) (UdS) is a large public French-language university in Quebec, Canada with campuses located in Sherbrooke and Longueuil, a suburb of Montreal approximately west of Sherbrooke. It ...

Business and media career

Décarie has worked for

World Vision Canada World Vision Canada is a Christian relief, development, and advocacy organization working to create lasting change in the lives of children, families, and communities to overcome poverty and injustice. Based in Mississauga, Ontario, World Vision ...

, the Quebec Food Processing Council (CTAQ), and the ''Associations touristiques régionales associées du Québec'' (ATRAQ). In 2014, Décarie co-hosted the lunchtime talk show ''Duhaime le midi'' with

Éric Duhaime Éric Duhaime (born April 15, 1969) is a Canadian conservative columnist, radio host, and politician serving as leader of the Conservative Party of Quebec since April 17, 2021. Early life and education Born on April 15, 1969, in Montreal, Du ...

RNC Media RNC Media (formerly ''Radio-Nord Communications'') is a Canadian broadcasting group based in Westmount, Quebec, with offices in Gatineau and Rouyn-Noranda. The company operates five television stations and several radio stations, mostly in Quebe ...

’s Radio X Montréal 91.9FM. From September 2014 to August 2015, Décarie was the political commentator on the same station’s daily morning talk show, ''Lemieux in the Morning''.

Political career

Décarie was deputy chief of staff to

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, ...

while he was the Leader of the Official Opposition, after he became leader of the

Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada (french: Parti conservateur du Canada), colloquially known as the Tories, is a federal political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main right-leaning parties, the Progressive Con ...

. He had previously been chief of staff and senior advisor to then

Premier of Quebec The premier of Quebec ( French: ''premier ministre du Québec'' (masculine) or ''première ministre du Québec'' (feminine)) is the head of government of the Canadian province of Quebec. The current premier of Quebec is François Legault of the ...

Daniel Johnson Jr. Daniel Johnson Jr. (born December 24, 1944) is a former Canadian politician. He was a member of the Liberal Party of Quebec and was the 25th premier of Quebec for nine months in 1994 until his party's defeat in the provincial general election. ...

Conservative leadership campaign

Décarie announced his candidacy for the 2020 Conservative Party leadership race. Public and party criticism followed his statements regarding LGBTQ2 rights after mentioning he would "defund abortion", that being gay is a "choice" and that marriage should be reserved for a "man and a woman." The Conservative Party's Leadership Candidate Nomination Committee decided not to approve Décarie's candidacy for party leadership in the month following these statements.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Decarie, Richard Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Canadian political consultants Conservative Party of Canada politicians