Roger Lapointe (born September 10, 1940) 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 ...

politician in the province of

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the 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 one of the thirtee ...

. He was 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 ...

member of the

National Assembly of Quebec The National Assembly of Quebec (officially in french: link=no, Assemblée nationale du Québec) is the legislative body of the province of Quebec in Canada. Legislators are called MNAs (Members of the National Assembly; french: link=no, déput ...

from 1973 to 1976 and has been the mayor of

Mont-Saint-Michel Mont-Saint-Michel (; Norman: ''Mont Saint Miché''; ) is a tidal island and mainland commune in Normandy, France. The island lies approximately off the country's north-western coast, at the mouth of the Couesnon River near Avranches and is ...

since 1997.

Early life and career

Lapointe was born in

Ferme-Neuve, Quebec Ferme-Neuve (French for "New Farm") is a municipality part of the Antoine-Labelle Regional County Municipality, in the Laurentides (region), Laurentides region of Quebec, Canada. It is the largest incorporated municipality of the Laurentides regio ...

. He 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 years ...

degree (1961) and a teaching degree (1962) from the

Université Laval Université Laval is a public research university in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The university was founded by royal charter issued by Queen Victoria in 1852, with roots in the founding of the Séminaire de Québec in 1663 by François de Montmo ...

, and in 1971 he earned a degree in educational administration from the

Université de Montréal The Université de Montréal (UdeM; ; translates to University of Montreal) is a French-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university's main campus is located in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood of Côte-de ...

. Lapointe taught math and sciences in

Mont-Laurier Mont-Laurier () is a town and incorporated municipality in northwest Quebec, Canada, located on the banks of the Lièvre River (''Rivière du Lièvre''), a tributary of the Ottawa River. Known as the "Capital of the Haute-Laurentides", the motto ...

in the Commission scolaire Henri-Bourassa from 1962 to 1966, was coordinator of education from 1966 to 1970, and served as director of education from 1970 to 1973. Lapointe was founder and president of the Commission scolaire Henri-Bourassa teaching association, and from 1964 to 1966 he was a member of the provincial council of the Corporation des enseignants du Québec. He also served as president of the board of directors of the Notre-Dame-de-Sainte-Croix hospital in Mont-Laurier in the early 1970s.

Legislator

Lapointe was elected to the National Assembly of Quebec in the 1973 provincial election, defeating Union Nationale incumbent Fernand Lafontaine in the division of Labelle. The Liberal Party won a landslide

majority government A majority government is a government by one or more governing parties that hold an absolute majority of seats in a legislature. This is as opposed to a minority government, where the largest party in a legislature only has a plurality of seats. ...

in this election under

Robert Bourassa Robert Bourassa (; July 14, 1933 – October 2, 1996) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd premier of Quebec from 1970 to 1976 and from 1985 to 1994. A member of the Liberal Party of Quebec, he served a total of just un ...

's leadership, and Lapointe served for the next three years as a government

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 " ...

er. He was defeated by

Parti Québécois The Parti Québécois (; ; PQ) is a sovereignist and social democratic provincial political party in Quebec, Canada. The PQ advocates national sovereignty for Quebec involving independence of the province of Quebec from Canada and establishin ...

candidate

Jacques Léonard Jacques Léonard (born December 2, 1936) is a Canadian accountant, educator, and politician in the province of Quebec. He served in the National Assembly of Quebec from 1976 to 1985 and again from 1989 to 2001 and was a cabinet minister in the go ...

in the 1976 provincial election.

Return to education

Lapointe was director of educational services at the Commission scolaire Henri-Bourassa from 1979 to 1982, when he was hired in the same position at the

Commission scolaire Pierre-Neveu The Centre de services scolaire Pierre-Neveu is serving 5 school districts located in the Antoine-Labelle Regional County Municipality in the Laurentides region of the Canadian province of Quebec. The board, which was established in 1972, was name ...

. He was promoted to director general of the latter institution in 1985 and served in this role until 1997. From 1998 to 2003, he worked as an investment broker.

Mayor

Lapointe was elected as mayor of Mont-Saint-Michel in

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

and has been re-elected without opposition in every election since. He became prefect of the municipalité régionale de comté d'Antoine-Labelle in 2005 and was re-elected in 2007 and 2009. On that latter occasion, he said that he would continue to work in areas such as road expansion, high speed internet access, and economic diversification planning. Lapointe is also active with the

Fédération Québécoise des Municipalités The Fédération Québécoise des Municipalités (FQM) is an organization representing municipalities in the Canadian province of Quebec. Its stated purpose is to provide political and strategic leadership to represent the interests of local and reg ...

. In 2006, he accused the

Quebec Federation of Labour Quebec ( ; )According to the 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 one of the thirtee ...

of unnecessarily dragging out a strike in Ferme-Neuve."Forestry workers clash: Strikers accuse union of dragging out talks," ''Montreal Gazette'', 15 November 2006, A9.

Electoral record

;Municipal ''Source
Résultants 2009
Affaires municipales, Régions et Occupation du territoire Québec.'' ''Source
Élections municipales 2005 - Résultats des élections pour les postes de maire et de conseiller
Affaires municipales, Régions et Occupation du territoire Québec.'' ''Source
Élections municipales 2001 - Résultats des élections pour le poste de maire
Affaires municipales, Régions et Occupation du territoire Québec.'' ;Provincial ''Source
Official Results, Le Directeur général des élections du Québec
'' ''Source
Official Results, Le Directeur général des élections du Québec
''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lapointe, Roger 1940 births Quebec Liberal Party MNAs Living people Université Laval alumni Université de Montréal alumni