Daniel Petit is a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 politician.

A lawyer by profession, Petit is a graduate of Université Laval

Université Laval

Laval University is the oldest centre of education in Canada and was the first institution in North America to offer higher education in French...

 and was called to the Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

 bar in 1973. He is a founder and partner of the firm Petit, Beaudoin, Société nominale d'avocats. Petit specialized in labour and administrative law and has organized for the Conservatives and the Progressive Conservatives

Progressive Conservative Party of Canada

The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....

 since the 1980s.

He was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons

Canadian House of Commons

The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...

 in the 2006 federal election

Canadian federal election, 2006

The 2006 Canadian federal election was held on January 23, 2006, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 39th Parliament of Canada. The Conservative Party of Canada won the greatest number of seats: 40.3% of seats, or 124 out of 308, up from 99 seats in 2004, and 36.3% of votes:...

 as the Conservative

Conservative Party of Canada

The Conservative Party of Canada , is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum...

 Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles

Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles

Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles is a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 2004.It was created as "Charlesbourg" riding in 2003 from parts of Charlesbourg—Jacques-Cartier riding...

. He defeated incumbent Bloc Québécois

Bloc Québécois

The Bloc Québécois is a federal political party in Canada devoted to the protection of Quebec's interests in the House of Commons of Canada, and the promotion of Quebec sovereignty. The Bloc was originally a party made of Quebec nationalists who defected from the federal Progressive Conservative...

 MP Richard Marceau

Richard Marceau

Richard Marceau is a Canadian politician.A lawyer in both Québec and Ontario, Marceau was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the Canadian federal election, 1997 for the Bloc Québécois in the riding of Charlesbourg at the age of 26...

 to win the seat.

On September 21, 2006, in reference to the Dawson College shooting

Dawson College shooting

The Dawson College shooting occurred on September 13, 2006 at Dawson College, a CEGEP in Westmount near downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The perpetrator, Kimveer Gill, began shooting outside the de Maisonneuve Boulevard entrance to the school, and moved towards the atrium by the cafeteria on the...

, Petit stated that the $1 billion spent on the gun registry in the Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

 area would be better spent on integration programs for immigrants, suggesting that this would be more effective in reducing gun crime. In response to these comments, Liberal

Liberal Party of Canada

The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...

 MPs Ralph Goodale

Ralph Goodale

Ralph Edward Goodale, PC, MP was Canada's Minister of Finance from 2003 to 2006 and continues to be a Liberal Member of Parliament...

 and Denis Coderre

Denis Coderre

Denis Coderre, PC, MP is a Canadian politician from Quebec, Canada. Coderre is the Liberal Member of Parliament for the Montreal riding of Bourassa.-Background:...

both public called for his removal from the Conservative caucus http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2006/09/22/petit-comments.html.

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