Jean-François Fortin (born September 12, 1973) is a

Canadian Canadians () 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 their being ''C ...

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

. He was elected to represent the riding of

Haute-Gaspésie—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia Haute-Gaspésie—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia (formerly known as Matapédia—Matane) was a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1979 until 2013. It has the lowest percenta ...

in the 2011 federal election as a member of the

Bloc Québécois The Bloc Québécois (, , BQ) is a centre-left politics, centre-left and list of federal political parties in Canada, federal political party in Canada devoted to Quebec nationalism, Quebecois nationalism, social democracy, and the promotion o ...

, and was chosen interim parliamentary leader of the Bloc on February 26, 2014. On August 12, 2014, Fortin quit the party to sit as an independent, saying that the Bloc Québécois he had joined no longer exists and that new party leader

Mario Beaulieu Mario A. Beaulieu (; born February 1, 1959) is a Canadian politician. An advocate for nationalism in Quebec, he served as Party leader, leader (2014–2015), Interim leader (Canada), interim leader (2018–2019) and president (2014–2018) of ...

had destroyed its credibility. On October 21, 2014, Fortin, along with

Jean-François Larose Jean-François Larose (born April 15, 1972) is a former Canadian politician who was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 2011 election. He represented the electoral district of Repentigny, initially as a member of the NDP, then as ...

, the

NDP NDP may stand for: Computing * Neighbor Discovery Protocol, an Internet protocol * Nortel Discovery Protocol, a layer two Internet protocol, also called SONMP * Nondeterministic programming, a type of computer language Government * National Dev ...

MP for

Repentigny Repentigny () is an off-island suburbs, off-island suburb of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located North Shore (Laval), north of the city on the lower end of the L'Assomption River, and on the Saint Lawrence River. Repentigny and Ch ...

, announced that they were forming

Strength in Democracy Strength may refer to: Personal trait *Physical strength, as in people or animals *Character strengths like those listed in the Values in Action Inventory *The exercise of willpower Physics * Mechanical strength, the ability to withstand ...

, a new

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, ...

-centred political party dedicated to representing the province's regions. In the 2015 federal election he ran for the new riding of

Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia was a federal electoral district in Quebec. It encompasses a portion of Quebec previously included in the electoral districts of Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine (21%) and Haute-Gaspésie—La Mitis� ...

and lost to Liberal Rémi Massé.

Early life

Prior to being elected to parliament, Fortin was a professor of political science at

Cégep de Rimouski The Cégep de Rimouski () is a post-secondary education institution ( cégep: College of General and Professional Education) located in Rimouski, Quebec, Canada. History The college traces its origins to the merger of several institutions which ...

from 2001 until 2011. He was also elected as a city councillor in Sainte-Flavie in 2003 and served a term as mayor from 2006 until 2009.

Political career

Fortin was one of only four

MPs elected in the 2011 federal election which saw the party's caucus reduced from 47 to 4 and was the only non-incumbent Bloc candidate to win election. He won the seat of

, which had been vacated by fellow

politician

Jean-Yves Roy Jean-Yves Roy (born July 21, 1949) is a retired Canadian politician. He was a Bloc Québécois member of the House of Commons of Canada from the 2000 election until his resignation in 2010. Political career Born in Saint-Charles-Garnier, Qu ...

who resigned from Parliament in late 2010 because of ill health. On September 17, 2011, Fortin declared his candidacy in the Bloc Québécois leadership election that was held to choose a successor to

Gilles Duceppe Gilles Duceppe (; born July 22, 1947) is a Canadian retired politician, proponent of the Quebec sovereignty movement and former leader of the federal political party, Bloc Québécois. He was a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of Ca ...

. He was defeated on the first ballot on December 11, 2011. Fortin considered running in the 2014 party leadership election but decided to back

André Bellavance André Bellavance (born June 3, 1964) is a Canadians, Canadian politician, who served in the House of Commons of Canada from 2004 to 2015 and was the mayor of Victoriaville, Quebec from 2016 to 2021. Born in Victoriaville, Quebec, Bellavance w ...

. On August 12, 2014, almost two months after

's upset victory, Fortin quit the Bloc Quebecois to sit as an

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

accusing Beaulieu of "pushing a unidimensional, intransigent agenda that lacks rigour has put an end to the credibility established by (former leaders)

and followed up by

Daniel Paillé Daniel Paillé (; born April 1, 1950) is a Canadian politician, who represented the riding of Prévost in the National Assembly of Quebec from 1994 to 1996 as a member of the Parti Québécois, and represented the district of Hochelaga in t ...

, two leaders who merit great respect." He continued, saying that "Beaulieu is dividing sovereignists instead of uniting them." In October, Fortin and another MP announced the formation of the

party, which sat in the Canadian legislature with Fortin as leader. In the 2015 federal election Fortin ran for the redistributed riding of

under the Strength In Democracy banner. He lost to Liberal Rémi Massé, coming in fourth.

Election results

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fortin, Jean-Francois 1973 births Living people Bloc Québécois MPs Independent MPs in the Canadian House of Commons Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Quebec Strength in Democracy MPs 21st-century mayors of places in Quebec 21st-century members of the House of Commons of Canada