Isidore Thibaudeau (September 30, 1819 – August 18, 1893) was a

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

businessman and political figure. He represented Quebec East in the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada () is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of Ca ...

as a Liberal from 1874 to 1877. He was born Pierre-Isidore Thibaudeau in

Pointe-aux-Trembles Pointe-aux-Trembles () was a municipality, founded in 1674, that was annexed by Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1982. This was the last city to be merged into Montreal until the 2002 municipal reorganization. On January 1, 2002 this neighbourhood ...

Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada () was a British colonization of the Americas, British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence established in 1791 and abolished in 1841. It covered the southern portion o ...

in 1819; his father was a merchant of

Acadian The Acadians (; , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Today, most descendants of Acadians live in either the Northern American region of Acadia, ...

origin. He worked as a clerk in the

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

branch of a firm based in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

. In 1847, he became a partner in the branch and, in 1856, a partner in the Montreal operation. Thibaudeau brought his brothers and later his son into the company. He helped establish two banks, the Caisse d’Épargnes de Notre-Dame de Québec and the Banque Nationale, serving as president of the latter from 1879 to 1889. In 1863, he was elected to the

Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada The Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada was the lower house of the Parliament of the Province of Canada. The Province of Canada consisted of the former province of Lower Canada, then known as Canada East (now Quebec), and Upper Canada ...

for Quebec-Centre. In the same year, he was named president of the Executive Council, serving until 1864. He opposed

Confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

. Thibaudeau served as a member of the Legislative Council of Quebec from 1867 to 1874, when he was elected to the federal parliament. He resigned his seat in 1877 to give

Wilfrid Laurier Sir Henri Charles Wilfrid Laurier (November 20, 1841 – February 17, 1919) was a Canadian lawyer, statesman, and Liberal politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Canada from 1896 to 1911. The first French Canadians, French ...

a seat in the house and left politics in 1878 after running unsuccessfully for another federal seat. By 1889, he had become a millionaire. He died in Quebec City in 1893. His brother Joseph-Élie also served in the legislative assembly for the Province of Canada and brother Joseph-Rosaire was a member of the Senate of Canada. His daughter Laura married Esdras Alfred de St-Georges, who served in the Canadian House of Commons.

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* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thibaudeau, Isidore 1819 births 1893 deaths Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada from Canada East Quebec Liberal Party MLCs Liberal Party of Canada MPs Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Quebec 19th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada