Gerry St. Germain (born November 6, 1937) is a former

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. St. Germain served as a

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senator for

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and previously served as a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

Early life and career

Born in

Manitoba , image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg , map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada , Label_map = yes , coordinates = , capital = Winn ...

Metis Metis or Métis may refer to: Ethnic groups * Métis, recognized Indigenous communities in Canada and America whose distinct culture and language emerged after early intermarriage between First Nations peoples and early European settlers, prima ...

descent, he moved to

. St. Germain had various jobs prior to entering politics, working variously as a

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...

pilot, police officer (Winnipeg and Vancouver Police Departments), building contractor, businessman and poultry farmer.

Member of Parliament

A strong Tory supporter, St. Germain was parachuted as a Progressive Conservative into the Mission-Port Moody riding for the byelection there in 1983. St. Germain was elected as a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of Canada at a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

held on the same day in 1983 that Brian Mulroney was elected. St. Germain was

for the now defunct riding of Mission—Port Moody from then until 1988. In March 1988, St. Germain joined the

Canadian Cabinet The Cabinet of Canada (french: Cabinet du Canada) is a body of ministers of the Crown that, along with the Canadian monarch, and within the tenets of the Westminster system, forms the government of Canada. Chaired by the prime minister, the ...

as Minister of Transport (Canada) and was later appointed as Minister of Forestry. He was also the political minister for BC at this time. After his riding's boundaries were changed to create the new riding of Mission-Coquitlam, St. Germain was defeated in the 1988 general election by Joy Langan. From 1989 to 1995, he was the President of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada.

Senate

In June 1993, he was appointed to the Senate of Canada just prior to Mulroney's retirement as

Prime Minister of Canada The prime minister of Canada (french: premier ministre du Canada, link=no) is the head of government of Canada. Under the Westminster system, the prime minister governs with the confidence of a majority the elected House of Commons; as su ...

. He chose to adopt the division of

Langley Langley may refer to: People * Langley (surname), a common English surname, including a list of notable people with the name * Dawn Langley Simmons (1922–2000), English author and biographer * Elizabeth Langley (born 1933), Canadian perfor ...

- Pemberton- Whistler; such Senate divisions are merely symbolic outside Quebec. In 1998, while still a Progressive Conservative, St. Germain explored the United Alternative option, formed by

Reform Party of Canada The Reform Party of Canada (french: Parti réformiste du Canada) was a right-wing populist and conservative federal political party in Canada that existed under that name from 1987 to 2000. Reform was founded as a Western Canada-based protest ...

leader

Preston Manning Ernest Preston Manning (born June 10, 1942) is a Canadian retired politician. He was the founder and the only leader of the Reform Party of Canada, a Canadian federal political party that evolved into the Canadian Alliance in 2000 which in tur ...

, which was an attempt to unite the right. In June 2000, he sat as an Independent Conservative senator, and in October 2000 he became the only

Canadian Alliance The Canadian Alliance (french: Alliance canadienne), formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance (french: Alliance réformiste-conservatrice canadienne), was a centre-right to right-wing federal political party in Canada that existed ...

senator. Since the Canadian Alliance formed the Official Opposition in the House of Commons, St. Germain argued that he should be the Leader of the Official Opposition in the Senate, but his arguments were rejected by the

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

. At the request of Canadian Alliance Leader Stephen Harper, St. Germain led the negotiations to unite the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party. When the two parties merged in December 2003, St. Germain a member of the Conservative Party of Canada. On 6 November 2012, St. Germain reached the Senate's mandatory retirement age, 75. Gerry St. Germain was listed as the top spender for expenses in the Canadian Senate spending $378,292 in one year according to a National Post article.

References

External links

Gerry St. Germain's Home Page
* {{DEFAULTSORT:St. Germain, Gerry 1937 births Living people Members of the 24th Canadian Ministry Members of the House of Commons of Canada from British Columbia Canadian senators from British Columbia Progressive Conservative Party of Canada MPs Progressive Conservative Party of Canada senators Conservative Party of Canada senators Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada Politicians from Winnipeg Canadian people of Métis descent Indspire Awards 21st-century Canadian politicians Indigenous Canadian senators