Joseph-Goderic Blanchet
Encyclopedia
Queen's Privy Council for Canada
The Queen's Privy Council for Canada ), sometimes called Her Majesty's Privy Council for Canada or simply the Privy Council, is the full group of personal consultants to the monarch of Canada on state and constitutional affairs, though responsible government requires the sovereign or her viceroy,...
(June 7, 1829 – January 1, 1890) was 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...
physician and politician. He was the only person to serve as both Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons
Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons
The Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada is the presiding officer of the lower house of the Parliament of Canada and is elected at the beginning of each new parliament by fellow Members of Parliament...
and Speaker
Speaker (politics)
The term speaker is a title often given to the presiding officer of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body. The speaker's official role is to moderate debate, make rulings on procedure, announce the results of votes, and the like. The speaker decides who may speak and has the...
of a provincial legislature
Legislature
A legislature is a kind of deliberative assembly with the power to pass, amend, and repeal laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law. In addition to enacting laws, legislatures usually have exclusive authority to raise or lower taxes and adopt the budget and...
. He represented Lévis
Lévis (electoral district)
Lévis was a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1867 to 2004. It was created by the British North America Act of 1867. From 1998 to 2003, it was known as Lévis-et-Chutes-de-la-Chaudière...
in 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...
as a Liberal-Conservative member from 1867 to 1873 and from 1879 to 1883; he represented Bellechasse
Bellechasse (electoral district)
Bellechasse was a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1867 until the 1997 election, when it became Bellechasse—Etchemins—Montmagny—L'Islet. After redistribution prior to the 2004 election, that riding became...
from 1875 to 1878. He also represented Lévis
Lévis (provincial electoral district)
Lévis is a provincial electoral district in the province of Quebec, Canada. Situated in the Chaudière-Appalaches region, the riding, which includes most of the city of Lévis was created in 1853.-Members of Legislative Assembly:...
in the Legislative Assembly of Quebec
Legislative Assembly of Quebec
The Legislative Assembly of Quebec was the name of the lower house of Quebec's legislature until 1968, when it was renamed the National Assembly of Quebec. At the same time, the upper house of the legislature, the Legislative Council, was abolished...
from 1867 to 1875.
He was born in Saint-Pierre-de-la-Rivière-du-Sud
Saint-Pierre-de-la-Rivière-du-Sud, Quebec
Saint-Pierre-de-la-Rivière-du-Sud is a parish municipality in Quebec....
, Lower Canada
Lower Canada
The Province of Lower Canada was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence...
in 1825. He studied at the Petit Séminaire de Québec
Petit Séminaire de Québec
Le Petit Séminaire de Québec is a private French-language Roman Catholic secondary school in the Vieux-Québec area of Quebec City which was originally part of the Séminaire de Québec...
and Collège de Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière. He then studied medicine with his uncle Jean Blanchet
Jean Blanchet (physician)
Jean Blanchet was a physician and political figure in Canada East.He was born in Saint-Pierre-de-la-Rivière-du-Sud in 1795. He studied at the Petit Séminaire de Quebec and then studied medicine with his uncle François Blanchet. He completed his medical training in London and Paris; he returned and...
and qualified as a doctor in 1850. A popular physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
, Blanchet entered politics with his election as Mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of Notre-Dame-de-la-Victoire, now part of Lévis
Lévis, Quebec
Lévis is a city in eastern Quebec, Canada. It is located on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, opposite Quebec City. A ferry links Old Quebec with Old Lévis, and two bridges, the Quebec Bridge and the Pierre Laporte Bridge, connect western Lévis with Quebec City. The Société de transport de...
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....
(then Canada East
Canada East
Canada East was the eastern portion of the United Province of Canada. It consisted of the southern portion of the modern-day Canadian Province of Quebec, and was primarily a French-speaking region....
) in 1845 at the age of 25. With the Province of Canada
Province of Canada
The Province of Canada, United Province of Canada, or the United Canadas was a British colony in North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham in the Report on the Affairs of British North America following the Rebellions of...
on military alert due to the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, Blanchet joined the militia
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
and raised a battalion to defend the frontier against raids from the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. During the Fenian Raids of 1866 and 1870, he was in command of the militia on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River.
Blanchet was a Conservative
Conservative Party of Canada (historical)
The Conservative Party of Canada has gone by a variety of names over the years since Canadian Confederation. Initially known as the "Liberal-Conservative Party", it dropped "Liberal" from its name in 1873, although many of its candidates continued to use this name.As a result of World War I and the...
and first ran for election to the Legislative Assembly
Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada
The Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada was the lower house of the legislature for the Province of Canada, which consisted of the former provinces of Lower Canada, then known as Canada East and later the province of Quebec, and Upper Canada, then known as Canada West and later the...
in 1857 but was defeated. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly for Lévis in 1861 and 1863. He supported Canadian Confederation
Canadian Confederation
Canadian Confederation was the process by which the federal Dominion of Canada was formed on July 1, 1867. On that day, three British colonies were formed into four Canadian provinces...
as a means of defending British North America
British North America
British North America is a historical term. It consisted of the colonies and territories of the British Empire in continental North America after the end of the American Revolutionary War and the recognition of American independence in 1783.At the start of the Revolutionary War in 1775 the British...
against possible attack by the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
He was concurrently elected in the 1867 federal election
Canadian federal election, 1867
The Canadian federal election of 1867, held from August 7 to September 20, was the first election for the new nation of Canada. It was held to elect members to the Canadian House of Commons, representing electoral districts in the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec in the...
to the new 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...
and to the Quebec Legislative Assembly. Under the law of the day, he was allowed to be a member of both legislatures at the same time.
He became Speaker of the provincial legislature and served in that position for two terms.
In the federal House of Commons, he was named by Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald
John A. Macdonald
Sir John Alexander Macdonald, GCB, KCMG, PC, PC , QC was the first Prime Minister of Canada. The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, his political career spanned almost half a century...
to a committee investigating the Pacific Scandal
Pacific Scandal
The Pacific Scandal was a political scandal in Canada involving allegations of bribes being accepted by the Conservative government in the attempts of private interests to influence the bidding for a national rail contract...
.
The federal election law was changed in 1874 to prohibit Members 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,...
(MPs) from concurrently sitting in a provincial legislature. Blanchet chose to resign his seat in the federal House of Commons. After losing his seat in the Quebec legislature to the much younger Étienne-Théodore Pâquet
Étienne-Théodore Pâquet
Étienne-Théodore Pâquet was a French-Canadian civil law notary, and provincial politician and civil servant. In 1879, he was one of four Liberal Members of the Legislative Assembly who crossed the floor in the middle of a parliamentary crisis, causing the Joly de Lotbinière government to...
in the 1875 Quebec provincial election
Quebec general election, 1875
The Quebec general election of 1875 was held on July 7, 1875 to elect members of the 3rd Legislative Assembly for the Province of Quebec, Canada...
, he won a federal by-election
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
in 1875 and returned to Ottawa as MP for Bellechasse. In the 1878 federal election
Canadian federal election, 1878
The Canadian federal election of 1878 was held on September 17 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 4th Parliament of Canada. It resulted in the end of Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie's Liberal government after only one term in office. Canada suffered an economic depression...
, he ran in his old riding of Lévis. The election returned the Conservatives to power, and Macdonald nominated Blanchet to be Speaker of the House of Commons.
Due to the tradition of alternating between English and French Speakers after each election, he returned to the backbenches following the 1882 election
Canadian federal election, 1882
The Canadian federal election of 1882 was held on June 20, 1882 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 5th Parliament of Canada.Prime Minister Sir John A...
despite a successful term as Speaker. In 1883, he resigned from Parliament in order to accept a position as Collector of Customs for the Port of Quebec
Port of Quebec
The Port of Quebec is an inland port located in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. It is the oldest port in Canada, and the second largest in Quebec after the Port of Montreal.-History:...
and served in that position until his death at Lévis in 1890 at the age of 70. He was buried in the crypt of Notre-Dame Church of Lévis.