René Joseph Napoléon Brunelle (January 22, 1920 – April 14, 2010) was 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 represented Cochrane North in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1958 to 1981 as a Progressive Conservative member.

Background

Brunelle was born in

Penetanguishene Penetanguishene , sometimes shortened to Penetang, is a town in Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada. It is located on the southeasterly tip of Georgian Bay. Incorporated on February 22, 1882, this bilingual (French and English) community has a populati ...

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 C ...

and educated in

Timmins Timmins ( ) is a city in northeastern Ontario, Canada, located on the Mattagami River. The city is the fourth-largest city in the Northeastern Ontario region with a population of 41,145 (2021). The city's economy is based on natural resource ext ...

, Ottawa, at Khaki University and the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...

. He was a director for the Northern Telephone Company and

Spruce Falls Pulp and Paper Company A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfamil ...

(Kimberly Clark), and joined the Canadian Army in 1943 during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, serving with

Les Fusiliers de Sherbrooke Les Fusiliers de Sherbrooke is a Primary Reserve infantry regiment of the Canadian Army. It is based in Sherbrooke, Quebec, with a sub-unit in Granby. Badge A grenade with the Crown superimposed upon the ball within an annulet inscribed ''Les ...

. Brunelle subsequently worked as a tourism operator at Remi Lake, near Moonbeam.

Politics

He first tried his hand at Federal politics by running in the Canadian election of 1949. He lost to J.A. Bradette in the riding of Cochrane by 2,467 votes. He ran again in 1953 and 1958 losing both times. Shortly after losing the Federal election he entered a provincial by-election in the riding of Cochrane North. This time he won the election. 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 for eight years before he was appointed to cabinet as Minister of Lands and Forests on November 24, 1966. In 1972, he was appointed as Minister of Social and Family Services. In 1975 he was shuffled to a Minister without portfolio role. Two years later he was promoted to Provincial Secretary for Resources Development. In 1981 he announced that he was retiring from politics and would not contest the 1981 election.

Cabinet positions

Later life

After leaving politics he was hired by Spruce Falls Power and Paper Co. Ltd. as a consultant. He died in Magog, Quebec at the age of 90. After his retirement from politics, the René Brunelle Provincial Park near

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 rail ...

was named in his honour.

References

Notes

Citations

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brunelle, Rene 1920 births 2010 deaths Franco-Ontarian people Members of the Executive Council of Ontario People from Penetanguishene People from Cochrane District Politicians from Simcoe County Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs Provincial Secretaries of Ontario University of Toronto alumni