Rhéal Éloi Fortin () is a Canadian lawyer and politician, who is the member of the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

for Rivière-du-Nord. A lawyer by profession, he is the president of Bissonnette Fortin Giroux, a law firm in

Saint-Jérôme Saint-Jérôme () ( 2021 population 80,213) is a suburban city located about northwest of Montreal on the Rivière du Nord. It is part of the North Shore sector of Greater Montreal. It is a gateway to the Laurentian Mountains and its reso ...

. He studied law at University of Sherbrooke. He was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 2015 election for Rivière-du-Nord 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 ...

, Fortin was named interim leader of the Bloc Québécois on October 22, 2015 following the resignation of

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 ...

as leader after Duceppe was unable to win his seat in the election. He served as interim leader of the party until the next leader,

Martine Ouellet Martine Ouellet (; born April 8, 1969) is a Canadian politician who served as leader of the Bloc Québécois from 2017 to 2018. She was the Minister of Natural Resources in the Quebec government from 2012 to 2014. Ouellet was first elected to t ...

was named on March 18, 2017. Fortin and six other Bloc MPs resigned from the Bloc's caucus to sit as independent MPs on February 28, 2018 citing conflicts with Ouellet's leadership. Fortin then served as leader of the party formed by the dissidents,

Québec debout Québec debout (), sometimes styled Québec Debout ( Stand Up, Quebec or Rise Up, Quebec), formerly the Groupe parlementaire québécois () was a Quebec-based parliamentary group in the House of Commons of Canada during the 42nd Canadian Parliam ...

. He rejoined the Bloc Québécois caucus on September 17, 2018.

Biography

Fortin was born in Laval-des-Rapides, Quebec. He started working when he was 18. He completed a

CEGEP A CEGEP ( or ; , ; also written CÉGEP and cegep) is a publicly funded college providing general, professional, academic or a mix of programs; they are exclusive to the province of Quebec's education system. A loanword from French, it ori ...

electrician's diploma, equivalent to

junior college A junior college is a type of post-secondary institution that offers vocational and academic training that is designed to prepare students for either skilled trades and technical occupations or support roles in professions such as engineering, a ...

. He was a worker in a factory in Laval from 1977 to 1985, then left to attend university to study law. After completing his legal education, he began practising law in Saint-Jérôme in 1992.

Political career

He has been politically active ever since high school, when he volunteered to put up lawn signs for the

Parti Québécois The Parti Québécois (PQ; , ) is a sovereignist and social democratic provincial political party in Quebec, Canada. The PQ advocates national sovereignty for Quebec involving independence of the province of Quebec from Canada and establishi ...

. He ran for the Parti Québécois nomination for the election for the

National Assembly of Quebec The National Assembly of Quebec (, ) is the Legislature, legislative body of the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec in Canada. Legislators are called MNAs (Members of the National Assembly; ). The lieutenant governor of Que ...

for Prévost, but lost to

Gilles Robert Gilles Robert (born March 5, 1955) is a Canadian politician and teacher. Robert represented the riding of Prévost in the National Assembly of Quebec from 2008 to 2012. He is a member of the Parti Québécois. Born in Saint-Jérôme, Quebec, R ...

. In 2015 he ran for the Bloc Québécois in the riding Rivière-du-Nord and won. He became the interim leader of Bloc Québécois on October 22, 2015. On December 7, 2016, he announced that he would not be seeking the permanent leadership of the party at its leadership election in 2017. He served as the BQ's critic for intergovernmental affairs, human rights, justice, and access to information in the House of Commons until February 2018, when he and six other Bloc MPs quit the caucus and formed the Groupe parlementaire québécois in protest of

's leadership style. Fortin was named the group's spokesperson on March 21, 2018. Since 2021 he has served as the justice critic in the Bloc Québécois Shadow Cabinet.

Electoral record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fortin, Rheal Living people Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Quebec Bloc Québécois leaders Bloc Québécois MPs Lawyers in Quebec People from Saint-Jérôme Politicians from Laval, Quebec Université de Sherbrooke alumni Québec debout MPs Leaders of political parties in Canada Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century members of the House of Commons of Canada