Suzanne Blais-Grenier (March 2, 1936 – June 13, 2017) 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. Blais-Grenier was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 1984 federal election that brought Brian Mulroney to power. She represented the riding of Rosemont,

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 ...

. She was appointed to the Cabinet as

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Mulroney's first

Minister of the Environment An environment minister (sometimes minister of the environment or secretary of the environment) is a cabinet position charged with protecting the natural environment and promoting wildlife conservation. The areas associated with the duties of an ...

. She faced mounting criticism from

environmentalists An environmentalist is a person who is concerned with and/or advocates for the protection of the environment. An environmentalist can be considered a supporter of the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that se ...

following cuts to various programs, her lackluster performance over several months when being targeted by the

Opposition Opposition may refer to: Arts and media * ''Opposition'' (Altars EP), 2011 EP by Christian metalcore band Altars * The Opposition (band), a London post-punk band * '' The Opposition with Jordan Klepper'', a late-night television series on Com ...

in the House of Commons during

question period Question Period (french: période des questions), known officially as Oral Questions (french: questions orales) occurs each sitting day in the House of Commons of Canada, in which members of the parliament ask questions of government ministers (i ...

and her spending on foreign travel. Blais-Grenier was demoted in 1985 to the position of

Minister of State Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In ...

for Transport. Following the demotion, Blais-Grenier became increasingly critical of the Mulroney government. At the end of 1985, she resigned from Cabinet to protest the government's refusal to prevent the closure of an oil refinery in

Montreal 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 ...

. On September 20, 1988, she was expelled from the Progressive Conservative caucus for refusing to withdraw allegations of kickbacks involving the

wing of the party. She ran as an independent candidate in the November 1988 general election, but was defeated by Progressive Conservative Benoît Tremblay, and came in fourth place with 2,060 votes.

Electoral record (partial)

External links

* 1936 births 2017 deaths Progressive Conservative Party of Canada MPs Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Quebec Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada French Quebecers Women members of the House of Commons of Canada Women in Quebec politics Members of the 24th Canadian Ministry 20th-century Canadian women politicians Women government ministers of Canada {{Quebec-MP-stub