Réal Ménard (born May 13, 1962) 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, who was a

Bloc Québécois The Bloc Québécois (BQ; , " Quebecer Bloc") is a federal political party in Canada devoted to Quebec nationalism and the promotion of Quebec sovereignty. The Bloc was formed by Members of Parliament (MPs) who defected from the federal Progre ...

member of the House of Commons of Canada from 1993 to 2009. He was the second Canadian member of Parliament to come out as gay. Ménard is a

political scientist Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

with B.A. and M.A. degrees and also holds his

law degree A law degree is an academic degree conferred for studies in law. Such degrees are generally preparation for legal careers. But while their curricula may be reviewed by legal authority, they do not confer a license themselves. A legal license is gr ...

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 ...

Federal politics

He first stood for federal office in the 1984 federal election as candidate for the small

Parti nationaliste du Québec The Parti nationaliste du Québec was a fringe Quebec-based federal political party in Canada, that advocated sovereignty of Quebec and was founded by Parti Québécois (PQ) supporters. Its primary goal was to represent Quebec's interests in O ...

Hochelaga–Maisonneuve Hochelaga-Maisonneuve () is a neighbourhood in Montreal, Canada, situated in the east end of the island, generally to the south of the city's Olympic Stadium and east of downtown. Historically a poor neighbourhood, it has experienced significant ...

. Defeated in this first try, he contested the riding in the 1993 election for the new and larger Bloc Québécois. He was elected, and re-elected in the riding in the

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 ...

and

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

elections. Following redistricting, he was re-elected in the new riding of Hochelaga in the

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

, 2006 and

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing ...

federal elections. Early in his parliamentary career, he served variously as Bloc critic for

Health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...

, for science, research and development, for Labour, for National Defence, and for the Federal Office of Regional Development-Quebec. From 1998 to June 29, 1999, he was critic for Citizenship and Immigration and for

public housing Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, d ...

; he then returned as health critic and served as vice-chair of the

Standing Committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

for three sessions. On September 14, 2001, he took on additional critic responsibility for the Montreal region. On February 15, 1994 Ménard was the first member in the house of commons to use the word 'internet' saying "in building the electronic highway, the government will respect areas of provincial jurisdiction and ensure that communications linking us to Internet are also in French" In March 2006 he was shuffled from the health critic position to become the Bloc Québécois justice critic.

Municipal politics

In June 2009, Ménard announced that he was resigning from the House of Commons, effective September 16, in order to run as a Vision Montreal candidate for borough mayor of

Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve is a borough of Montreal, Quebec, Canada located in the southeastern end of the island. History ''See Mercier and Hochelaga-Maisonneuve articles for a more detailed histories of respective areas'' Hochelaga was f ...

in Montreal's 2009 municipal election. Prior to his first election to the House of Commons, he was a political assistant to Louise Harel, Vision Montreal's 2009 candidate for

Mayor of Montreal The mayor of Montreal is head of the executive branch of the Montreal City Council. The current mayor is Valérie Plante, who was elected into office on November 5, 2017, and sworn in on November 16. The office of the mayor administers all ...

, when she was a provincial MNA. He won election to the borough mayoralty on November 1, 2009.Montreal Civic Vote 2009: Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve
cbc.ca, November 1, 2009.

Electoral record (incomplete)

;Municipal ;Federal

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Menard, Real 1962 births Living people Bloc Québécois MPs Canadian LGBT Members of Parliament Canadian political scientists French Quebecers Gay politicians LGBT mayors of places in Canada LGBT rights activists from Canada Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Quebec Montreal city councillors Parti nationaliste du Québec politicians People from Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve University of Ottawa Faculty of Law alumni 21st-century Canadian politicians