Louis Plamondon
Encyclopedia
Louis Plamondon is a politician in the Canadian
province of Quebec
and the current interim parliamentary leader of the Bloc Québécois
(BQ).
Plamondon has represented Bas-Richelieu—Nicolet—Bécancour
(formerly known as Richelieu) in the Canadian House of Commons
since 1984. Originally elected as a Progressive Conservative
, Plamondon was a founding member of the BQ in 1990 and has been re-elected under its banner in every election since then. He became the party's interim parliamentary leader on June 2, 2011, after it was reduced to only four seats in parliament in that spring's federal election. With the Bloc Québécois leadership vacant since the defeat of Gilles Duceppe
in the election, Plamondon is the most senior member of the BQ caucus.
He is the Dean of the House
, the longest-serving current member of the House of Commons.
, the brother of Quebec-born lyricist Luc Plamondon
. He has a teaching certificate from L'École normale
Maurice L. Duplessis (1964), a Bachelor of Arts
degree from Laval University (1968), and a B.A.An. from the University of Montreal (1976). He was a math teacher and restaurant owner before entering political life. Plamondon supported the "oui" side in Quebec's 1980 referendum on sovereignty.
, defeating Liberal Party
incumbent Jean-Louis Leduc
in Richelieu. The Progressive Conservatives won a landslide majority government
in this election under Brian Mulroney
's leadership, and Plamondon entered parliament as a government backbencher. He was associated with the Quebec nationalist
wing of his party and soon became known as a maverick. In 1986, he criticized justice minister
John Crosbie
for appointing an anglophone to replace the sole francophone judge on the Ontario Court of Appeal
. He later criticized industry minister
Sinclair Stevens
for awarding an multi-million-dollar untendered contract to a shipbuilding company in Quebec City
. Plamondon also expressed sympathy with fellow MP Robert Toupin
, who left the Progressive Conservatives in May 1986 to sit as an independent.
Plamondon was on the socially liberal
wing of the Progressive Conservative Party. He voted against a motion to re-introduce capital punishment
in 1987 and later opposed efforts to restrict abortion
services. He strongly supported the Mulroney government's efforts to strengthen official bilingualism and criticized dissident anglophone Tory MPs who tried to weaken the government's reforms.
Plamondon was also one of the more pro-labour members of the Tory caucus. In 1985, he promoted a partnership between the federal and Quebec governments and the Quebec Federation of Labour's Solidarity Fund. Two years later, he stood with striking letter carriers in Sorel and criticized his own government's decision to approve replacement workers. He was prominent among a group of Quebec Tory MPs who tried to reduce the party's reliance on corporate donations. Ricardo López
, a right-wing Quebec Tory MP, once suggested that Plamondon would be more suited to the social democratic New Democratic Party
.
Plamondon was re-elected without difficulty in the 1988 federal election
, as the Progressive Conservatives won a second majority government across the country. Over the following year, he became even more strongly aligned with the Quebec nationalist wing of his party. He supported Quebec premier
Robert Bourassa
's use of the Canadian constitution's notwithstanding clause to prohibit outdoor English-language signs, and expressed regret that the ban was not extended to indoor signs. He also criticized D'Iberville Fortier
, Canada's official languages commissioner, for suggesting that Quebec was acting in an unjust manner toward its anglophone minority.
Consistent with his nationalist views, Plamondon was a vocal supporter of the Mulroney government's proposed Meech Lake Accord
on constitutional reform and opposed Jean Charest
's efforts to modify the accord in early 1990. During this period, Plamondon speculated that sovereignty-association between Quebec and Canada would be "logical and reasonable" if the accord failed and added that he might become a "Quebec-only MP" in that event. When the accord was rejected in June 1990, Plamondon resigned from the Progressive Conservative caucus and informed the House of Commons that he could no longer support a united Canada.
Plamondon was one of a group of Progressive Conservative and Liberal MPs from Quebec who left their parties after the failure of the Meech Lake Accord. This group soon coalesced as the Bloc Québécois
under the leadership of Lucien Bouchard
. The Bloc was not initially given official recognition in the House of Commons, and its members were designated as independent MPs. Plamondon was recognized as the Bloc's house leader in 1992.
In its original form, the Bloc Québécois was a loose alliance of parliamentarians rather than a formal political party. Plamondon was one the first Bloquistes to promote the creation of a strong party organization to challenge the Progressive Conservative Party's Quebec machine in the next federal election. Others, including Lucien Bouchard, initially favoured a weaker party structure that would simply allow Bloc candidates to have their party designation appear on the ballot. The vision favoured by Plamondon ultimately won out, and the Bloc became a strong political organization throughout Quebec.
Shortly after joining the BQ, Plamondon asked the federal government to apologize to the province of Quebec and provide financial compensation for those who were wrongly arrested under the War Measures Act
in the 1970 FLQ Crisis. He later spoke against a bid by Izzy Asper
to bring his Global Television Network
to Montreal
, arguing that the market was already saturated. In 1992, he described Mordechai Richler's book Oh Canada! Oh Quebec! as hate literature.
Plamondon was charged with attempting to hire a prostitute during an undercover sting operation in April 1993. He claimed innocence, saying that the charge was the result of a "bad joke between friends which lasted 45 seconds," but he nevertheless resigned as his party's house leader pending resolution of the matter. He was renominated as the Bloc candidate for Richelieu despite the controversy, and Lucien Bouchard remarked that the matter was unrelated to Plamondon's duties as an MP.
Chrétien administration (1993-2003)
Plamondon was re-elected without difficulty in the 1993 federal election
, as the Bloc won fifty-four out of seventy-five seats in Quebec to become the official opposition in the House of Commons. The Liberal Party
won a majority government
under the leadership of Jean Chrétien
. At his own request, Plamondon was left out of the Bloc's initial shadow cabinet
. He pleaded guilty to the charge against him in April 1994, maintaining his innocence but adding that he simply wanted to resolve the matter as quickly as possible. He received an absolute discharge and does not have a criminal record.
Plamondon co-chaired a funding and membership drive for the Bloc in early 1995. He opposed finance minister
Paul Martin
's austerity budget in the same year, arguing that it placed an unfair financial burden on the provinces to fight the federal deficit. He personally opposed the Chrétien government's gun registry
legislation, which the Bloc supported, and he absented himself from the parliamentary vote that led to its passage.
After a narrow federalist victory in Quebec's 1995 referendum on sovereignty, Lucien Bouchard left the Bloc Québécois to become leader of its provincial counterpart, the Parti Québécois
(PQ). Plamondon initially favoured Bernard Landry
to become the Bloc's new leader, arguing that he was the best positioned of all candidates to unite the party's different factions. Landry decided not to run, and Gilles Duceppe
eventually succeeded Bouchard as leader.
Plamondon supported the Chrétien government's choice of Dyane Adam
to become Canada's official language commissioner in 1998, saying that she would be "tougher" than her predecessor Victor Goldbloom
(whom he nonetheless acknowledged had done good work on education matters). He endorsed Adam's criticism of the Chrétien government in 2000, when she wrote that it was not sufficiently committed to defending official bilingualism. Plamondon strongly opposed the Clarity Act
legislation introduced by intergovernmental affairs minister
Stéphane Dion
in 1999, arguing that it would create confusion in any future referendum on Quebec sovereignty.
Martin administration (2003-06)
Paul Martin
replaced Jean Chrétien as Liberal Party leader and prime minister in late 2003. Shortly before he was sworn in, Plamondon published a short book entitled Le mythe Paul Martin. As its title implies, the work was highly critical of its subject: Plamondon accused Martin of damaging Quebec's interests during his time in the Chrétien cabinet. He also argued that Martin would become an ally of United States president
George W. Bush
, neglect the low-income citizens of Canada and Quebec, and favour the interests of English Canada. The Bloc distributed one thousand free copies of the book, and a further fifteen hundred copies were put on sale in bookstores. Martin's supporters dismissed the work as a negative campaign ploy lacking any progressive vision, and Liberal MP Don Boudria
asked the speaker of the House of Commons
to investigate whether Plamondon had broken parliamentary rules by using publicly funded research staff to help compile the book.
It was initially believed that Paul Martin's Liberals would win a majority of seats in Quebec at the expense of the Bloc, but the Liberal Party's fortunes were instead damaged by the sponsorship scandal
, in which some advertising revenues approved by the Chrétien government to promote Canadian federalism in Quebec were found to have been misused. The Bloc soon re-established itself as the dominant federal party in Quebec, and the Liberals were reduced to a minority government
in the 2004 federal election
. Plamondon was chosen as BQ caucus chair in the new parliament.
When Bernard Landry
resigned as Parti Québécois leader in 2005, rumours circulated that Gilles Duceppe would run to succeed him. Plamondon said that most Bloc MPs wanted Duceppe to stay in federal politics but would respect his decision one way or the other. Duceppe chose to remain with the Bloc, and André Boisclair
became PQ leader.
Harper administration (2006-present)
Plamondon was elected to a seventh term in the 2006 federal election
, as the Conservative Party
won a minority government
under the leadership of Stephen Harper
. Widely respected as an electoral strategist, Plamondon later prepared an internal brief examining why the Bloc lost seats in the Quebec City
area to the Conservatives. He remained as the Bloc's caucus chair.
André Boisclair resigned as Parti Québécois leader after a poor showing in the 2007 provincial election
, and rumours again circulated that Duceppe would run to succeed him. This time, Plamondon told reporters that Duceppe should run for the provincial leadership to impose discipline on the notoriously unruly party. Some in the PQ objected to this comment, which galvanized resistance to a Duceppe candidacy. Duceppe eventually entered the leadership contest, but withdrew after only one day due to poor polling and a growing sense that the sovereigntist movement would be divided if he won. He stayed as leader of the Bloc, and Plamondon helped ensure his successful transition back to the federal scene.
When Brian Mulroney
released his memoirs in September 2007, he alleged that Lucien Bouchard had conspired with Jacques Parizeau
to create the Bloc Québécois while still a federal cabinet minister. Plamondon rejected this, arguing that Bouchard was loyal to Mulroney until resigning in protest against the government's handling of the Meech Lake Accord. Plamondon also criticized Jean Chrétien
later in the year, when Chrétien wrote in his memoirs that he would not have recognized a narrow sovereigntist victory in the 1995 referendum.
Plamondon was re-elected to an eighth term in the 2008 election
as the Conservatives won a second consecutive minority government. He was again chosen as BQ caucus chair and, as the longest-serving member of the House of Commons, was was also recognized as Dean of the House
. Plamondon presided over the Commons when it re-elected Peter Milliken
as its speaker in October 2008 and acknowledged the irony that an MP from a sovereigntist party would hold this position.
Plamondon was returned by the narrowest margin of his career in the 2011 federal election against a strong challenge from a New Democratic Party
(NDP) candidate. The NDP won fifty-nine seats across Quebec, while the BQ won only four seats and lost official party status in the House of Commons (where twelve seats are required). Gilles Duceppe was personally defeated in his riding and subsequently resigned as party leader. Plamondon was later chosen as the Bloc's acting house leader and, in the absence of a full-time leader, has become its main parliamentary spokesperson. He remains Dean of the House and presided over the Commons when it chose Andrew Scheer
to be Milliken's successor as speaker on June 2, 2011.
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...
province of 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....
and the current interim parliamentary leader of the 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...
(BQ).
Plamondon has represented Bas-Richelieu—Nicolet—Bécancour
Bas-Richelieu—Nicolet—Bécancour
Bas-Richelieu—Nicolet—Bécancour is a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1968.-Geography:...
(formerly known as Richelieu) 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...
since 1984. Originally elected as a Progressive Conservative
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....
, Plamondon was a founding member of the BQ in 1990 and has been re-elected under its banner in every election since then. He became the party's interim parliamentary leader on June 2, 2011, after it was reduced to only four seats in parliament in that spring's federal election. With the Bloc Québécois leadership vacant since the defeat of Gilles Duceppe
Gilles Duceppe
Gilles Duceppe is a Canadian politician, and proponent of the Québec sovereignty movement. He was a Member of Parliament in the Canadian House of Commons for over 20 years and was the leader of the sovereigntist Bloc Québécois for almost 15 years. He is the son of a well-known Quebec actor, Jean...
in the election, Plamondon is the most senior member of the BQ caucus.
He is the Dean of the House
Dean of the House (Canada)
In Canada, the Dean of the House is the Member of the House of Commons with the longest unbroken record of service who is not a Cabinet Minister, party Leader, House Leader or Whip. The Dean is responsible for presiding over the election of the Speaker of the House of Commons at the beginning of...
, the longest-serving current member of the House of Commons.
Early life and career
Plamondon was born in Saint-Raymond-de-Portneuf, QuebecSaint-Raymond, Quebec
Saint-Raymond, also called Saint-Raymond de Portneuf, is a city in Quebec, Canada, located about north-west of Quebec City. It is the largest city in population and area of the Portneuf Regional County Municipality.- Economy :...
, the brother of Quebec-born lyricist Luc Plamondon
Luc Plamondon
Luc Plamondon, OC, CQ is a French-Canadian lyricist.-Career:Plamondon has written for many artists, notably the Québécois singers Bruno Pelletier, Diane Dufresne, Robert Charlebois, Céline Dion, Ginette Reno, Fabienne Thibeault, Martine St. Clair, and Garou, as well as the French singers Julien...
. He has a teaching certificate from L'École normale
Normal school
A normal school is a school created to train high school graduates to be teachers. Its purpose is to establish teaching standards or norms, hence its name...
Maurice L. Duplessis (1964), a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree from Laval University (1968), and a B.A.An. from the University of Montreal (1976). He was a math teacher and restaurant owner before entering political life. Plamondon supported the "oui" side in Quebec's 1980 referendum on sovereignty.
Progressive Conservative MP
Plamondon was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 1984 federal electionCanadian federal election, 1984
The Canadian federal election of 1984 was held on September 4 of that year to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 33rd Parliament of Canada...
, defeating Liberal Party
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...
incumbent Jean-Louis Leduc
Jean-Louis Leduc
Jean-Louis Leduc was a Liberal party member of the Canadian House of Commons. He was born in Sainte-Victoire-de-Sorel, Quebec and became a professor and businessman by career....
in Richelieu. The Progressive Conservatives won a landslide majority government
Majority government
A majority government is when the governing party has an absolute majority of seats in the legislature or parliament in a parliamentary system. This is as opposed to a minority government, where even the largest party wins only a plurality of seats and thus must constantly bargain for support from...
in this election under Brian Mulroney
Brian Mulroney
Martin Brian Mulroney, was the 18th Prime Minister of Canada from September 17, 1984, to June 25, 1993 and was leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1983 to 1993. His tenure as Prime Minister was marked by the introduction of major economic reforms, such as the Canada-U.S...
's leadership, and Plamondon entered parliament as a government backbencher. He was associated with the Quebec nationalist
Quebec nationalism
Quebec nationalism is a nationalist movement in the Canadian province of Quebec .-1534–1774:Canada was first a french colony. Jacques Cartier claimed it for France in 1534, and permanent French settlement began in 1608. It was part of New France, which constituted all French colonies in North America...
wing of his party and soon became known as a maverick. In 1986, he criticized justice minister
Minister of Justice (Canada)
The Minister of Justice is the Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for the Department of Justice and is also Attorney General of Canada .This cabinet position is usually reserved for someone with formal legal training...
John Crosbie
John Crosbie
John Carnell Crosbie, PC, OC, ONL, QC is a retired provincial and federal politician and the 12th Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada...
for appointing an anglophone to replace the sole francophone judge on the Ontario Court of Appeal
Ontario Court of Appeal
The Court of Appeal for Ontario is headquartered in downtown Toronto, in historic Osgoode Hall....
. He later criticized industry minister
Minister of Industry (Canada)
The Minister of Industry is the Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for overseeing the federal government's economic development and corporate affairs department, Industry Canada. The Minister of Industry is also the minister responsible for Statistics Canada...
Sinclair Stevens
Sinclair Stevens
Sinclair McKnight Stevens, PC is a Canadian lawyer, businessman and former parliamentarian.-Early life:He was born in Esquesing Township , the third child of Northern Irish immigrants Robert Murray Stevens and Anna Bailey McKnight...
for awarding an multi-million-dollar untendered contract to a shipbuilding company in Quebec City
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...
. Plamondon also expressed sympathy with fellow MP Robert Toupin
Robert Toupin
Robert Toupin, LL.B , LL.M is a former Canadian Member of Parliament.Toupin had been a worker for the Quebec Liberal Party when he joined the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada following Brian Mulroney's election as party leader...
, who left the Progressive Conservatives in May 1986 to sit as an independent.
Plamondon was on the socially liberal
Social liberalism
Social liberalism is the belief that liberalism should include social justice. It differs from classical liberalism in that it believes the legitimate role of the state includes addressing economic and social issues such as unemployment, health care, and education while simultaneously expanding...
wing of the Progressive Conservative Party. He voted against a motion to re-introduce capital punishment
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
in 1987 and later opposed efforts to restrict abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
services. He strongly supported the Mulroney government's efforts to strengthen official bilingualism and criticized dissident anglophone Tory MPs who tried to weaken the government's reforms.
Plamondon was also one of the more pro-labour members of the Tory caucus. In 1985, he promoted a partnership between the federal and Quebec governments and the Quebec Federation of Labour's Solidarity Fund. Two years later, he stood with striking letter carriers in Sorel and criticized his own government's decision to approve replacement workers. He was prominent among a group of Quebec Tory MPs who tried to reduce the party's reliance on corporate donations. Ricardo López
Ricardo López (politician)
Ricardo López was a member of the Canadian House of Commons. He was a businessman by career.He represented the Quebec riding of Châteauguay where he was first elected in the 1984 federal election and re-elected in 1988, therefore becoming a member in the 33rd and 34th Canadian Parliaments. He was...
, a right-wing Quebec Tory MP, once suggested that Plamondon would be more suited to the social democratic New Democratic Party
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...
.
Plamondon was re-elected without difficulty in the 1988 federal election
Canadian federal election, 1988
The Canadian federal election of 1988 was held November 21, 1988, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 34th Parliament of Canada. It was an election largely fought on a single issue: the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement ....
, as the Progressive Conservatives won a second majority government across the country. Over the following year, he became even more strongly aligned with the Quebec nationalist wing of his party. He supported Quebec premier
Premier of Quebec
The Premier of Quebec is the first minister of the Canadian province of Quebec. The Premier is the province's head of government and his title is Premier and President of the Executive Council....
Robert Bourassa
Robert Bourassa
Jean-Robert Bourassa, was a politician in Quebec, Canada. He served as the 22nd Premier of Quebec in two different mandates, first from May 12, 1970, to November 25, 1976, and then from December 12, 1985, to January 11, 1994, serving a total of just under 15 years as Provincial Premier.-Early...
's use of the Canadian constitution's notwithstanding clause to prohibit outdoor English-language signs, and expressed regret that the ban was not extended to indoor signs. He also criticized D'Iberville Fortier
D'Iberville Fortier
D'Iberville Fortier, was a Canadian diplomat and the third Commissioner of Official Languages from 1984 to 1991....
, Canada's official languages commissioner, for suggesting that Quebec was acting in an unjust manner toward its anglophone minority.
Consistent with his nationalist views, Plamondon was a vocal supporter of the Mulroney government's proposed Meech Lake Accord
Meech Lake Accord
The Meech Lake Accord was a package of proposed amendments to the Constitution of Canada negotiated in 1987 by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and ten provincial premiers. It was intended to persuade the government of the Province of Quebec to endorse the 1982 Canadian Constitution and increase...
on constitutional reform and opposed Jean Charest
Jean Charest
John James "Jean" Charest, PC, MNA is a Canadian politician who has been the 29th Premier of Quebec since 2003. He was leader of the federal Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1993 to 1998 and has been leader of the Quebec Liberal Party since 1998....
's efforts to modify the accord in early 1990. During this period, Plamondon speculated that sovereignty-association between Quebec and Canada would be "logical and reasonable" if the accord failed and added that he might become a "Quebec-only MP" in that event. When the accord was rejected in June 1990, Plamondon resigned from the Progressive Conservative caucus and informed the House of Commons that he could no longer support a united Canada.
Bloc Québécois MP
Mulroney and Campbell administrations (1990-93)Plamondon was one of a group of Progressive Conservative and Liberal MPs from Quebec who left their parties after the failure of the Meech Lake Accord. This group soon coalesced as the 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...
under the leadership of Lucien Bouchard
Lucien Bouchard
Lucien Bouchard, is a Canadian lawyer, diplomat, politician and former Minister of the Environment of the Canadian Federal Government. He was the Leader of Opposition in the Canadian House of Commons from 1993 to 1996, and the 27th Premier of Quebec from January 29, 1996 to March 8, 2001...
. The Bloc was not initially given official recognition in the House of Commons, and its members were designated as independent MPs. Plamondon was recognized as the Bloc's house leader in 1992.
In its original form, the Bloc Québécois was a loose alliance of parliamentarians rather than a formal political party. Plamondon was one the first Bloquistes to promote the creation of a strong party organization to challenge the Progressive Conservative Party's Quebec machine in the next federal election. Others, including Lucien Bouchard, initially favoured a weaker party structure that would simply allow Bloc candidates to have their party designation appear on the ballot. The vision favoured by Plamondon ultimately won out, and the Bloc became a strong political organization throughout Quebec.
Shortly after joining the BQ, Plamondon asked the federal government to apologize to the province of Quebec and provide financial compensation for those who were wrongly arrested under the War Measures Act
War Measures Act
The War Measures Act was a Canadian statute that allowed the government to assume sweeping emergency powers in the event of "war, invasion or insurrection, real or apprehended"...
in the 1970 FLQ Crisis. He later spoke against a bid by Izzy Asper
Izzy Asper
Israel Harold "Izzy" Asper, , Canadian tax lawyer and media magnate, was the founder of the now defunct CanWest Global Communications Corp and father to its former CEO and President Leonard Asper, former director and corporate secretary Gail Asper, as well as Executive Vice President David Asper...
to bring his Global Television Network
Global Television Network
Global Television Network is an English language privately owned television network in Canada, owned by Calgary-based Shaw Communications, as part of its Shaw Media division...
to 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...
, arguing that the market was already saturated. In 1992, he described Mordechai Richler's book Oh Canada! Oh Quebec! as hate literature.
Plamondon was charged with attempting to hire a prostitute during an undercover sting operation in April 1993. He claimed innocence, saying that the charge was the result of a "bad joke between friends which lasted 45 seconds," but he nevertheless resigned as his party's house leader pending resolution of the matter. He was renominated as the Bloc candidate for Richelieu despite the controversy, and Lucien Bouchard remarked that the matter was unrelated to Plamondon's duties as an MP.
Chrétien administration (1993-2003)
Plamondon was re-elected without difficulty in the 1993 federal election
Canadian federal election, 1993
The Canadian federal election of 1993 was held on October 25 of that year to elect members to the Canadian House of Commons of the 35th Parliament of Canada. Fourteen parties competed for the 295 seats in the House at that time...
, as the Bloc won fifty-four out of seventy-five seats in Quebec to become the official opposition in the House of Commons. The Liberal Party
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...
won a majority government
Majority government
A majority government is when the governing party has an absolute majority of seats in the legislature or parliament in a parliamentary system. This is as opposed to a minority government, where even the largest party wins only a plurality of seats and thus must constantly bargain for support from...
under the leadership of Jean Chrétien
Jean Chrétien
Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien , known commonly as Jean Chrétien is a former Canadian politician who was the 20th Prime Minister of Canada. He served in the position for over ten years, from November 4, 1993 to December 12, 2003....
. At his own request, Plamondon was left out of the Bloc's initial shadow cabinet
Shadow Cabinet
The Shadow Cabinet is a senior group of opposition spokespeople in the Westminster system of government who together under the leadership of the Leader of the Opposition form an alternative cabinet to the government's, whose members shadow or mark each individual member of the government...
. He pleaded guilty to the charge against him in April 1994, maintaining his innocence but adding that he simply wanted to resolve the matter as quickly as possible. He received an absolute discharge and does not have a criminal record.
Plamondon co-chaired a funding and membership drive for the Bloc in early 1995. He opposed finance minister
Minister of Finance (Canada)
The Minister of Finance is the Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible each year for presenting the federal government's budget...
Paul Martin
Paul Martin
Paul Edgar Philippe Martin, PC , also known as Paul Martin, Jr. is a Canadian politician who was the 21st Prime Minister of Canada, as well as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada....
's austerity budget in the same year, arguing that it placed an unfair financial burden on the provinces to fight the federal deficit. He personally opposed the Chrétien government's gun registry
Canadian gun registry
The Canadian Firearms Registry is part of the Firearms Act and is managed by the Canadian Firearms Program of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police . It requires the registration of all guns in Canada. It was introduced by the Liberal government of Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and implemented by...
legislation, which the Bloc supported, and he absented himself from the parliamentary vote that led to its passage.
After a narrow federalist victory in Quebec's 1995 referendum on sovereignty, Lucien Bouchard left the Bloc Québécois to become leader of its provincial counterpart, the Parti Québécois
Parti Québécois
The Parti Québécois is a centre-left political party that advocates national sovereignty for the province of Quebec and secession from Canada. The Party traditionally has support from the labour movement. Unlike many other social-democratic parties, its ties with the labour movement are informal...
(PQ). Plamondon initially favoured Bernard Landry
Bernard Landry
Bernard Landry, is a Quebec lawyer, teacher, politician, who served as the 28th Premier of Quebec , leader of the Opposition and leader of the Parti Québécois .-Personal:...
to become the Bloc's new leader, arguing that he was the best positioned of all candidates to unite the party's different factions. Landry decided not to run, and Gilles Duceppe
Gilles Duceppe
Gilles Duceppe is a Canadian politician, and proponent of the Québec sovereignty movement. He was a Member of Parliament in the Canadian House of Commons for over 20 years and was the leader of the sovereigntist Bloc Québécois for almost 15 years. He is the son of a well-known Quebec actor, Jean...
eventually succeeded Bouchard as leader.
Plamondon supported the Chrétien government's choice of Dyane Adam
Dyane Adam
Dyane Adam was the Canadian Official Languages Commissioner. She was responsible for promoting bilingualism within the government of Canada.-External links:*...
to become Canada's official language commissioner in 1998, saying that she would be "tougher" than her predecessor Victor Goldbloom
Victor Goldbloom
Victor Charles Goldbloom, is a Canadian pediatrician, lecturer, and politician.He was born in Montreal, the son of Alton Goldbloom and Annie Ballon. He studied at Selwyn House and Lower Canada College. He studied at McGill University receiving his BSc in 1944, his MD in 1945, his DipEd in 1950...
(whom he nonetheless acknowledged had done good work on education matters). He endorsed Adam's criticism of the Chrétien government in 2000, when she wrote that it was not sufficiently committed to defending official bilingualism. Plamondon strongly opposed the Clarity Act
Clarity Act
The Clarity Act is legislation passed by the Parliament of Canada that established the conditions under which the Government of Canada would enter into negotiations that might lead to secession following such a vote by one of the provinces. The Clarity Bill was tabled for first reading in the...
legislation introduced by intergovernmental affairs minister
Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs (Canada)
The Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs is the Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for the federal government's relations with the governments of the provinces and territories of Canada...
Stéphane Dion
Stéphane Dion
Stéphane Maurice Dion, PC, MP is a Canadian politician who has been the Member of Parliament for the riding of Saint-Laurent–Cartierville in Montreal since 1996. He was the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and the Leader of the Opposition in the Canadian House of Commons from 2006 to 2008...
in 1999, arguing that it would create confusion in any future referendum on Quebec sovereignty.
Martin administration (2003-06)
Paul Martin
Paul Martin
Paul Edgar Philippe Martin, PC , also known as Paul Martin, Jr. is a Canadian politician who was the 21st Prime Minister of Canada, as well as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada....
replaced Jean Chrétien as Liberal Party leader and prime minister in late 2003. Shortly before he was sworn in, Plamondon published a short book entitled Le mythe Paul Martin. As its title implies, the work was highly critical of its subject: Plamondon accused Martin of damaging Quebec's interests during his time in the Chrétien cabinet. He also argued that Martin would become an ally of United States president
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
, neglect the low-income citizens of Canada and Quebec, and favour the interests of English Canada. The Bloc distributed one thousand free copies of the book, and a further fifteen hundred copies were put on sale in bookstores. Martin's supporters dismissed the work as a negative campaign ploy lacking any progressive vision, and Liberal MP Don Boudria
Don Boudria
Donald "Don" Boudria, PC is a former Canadian politician. He served in the Canadian House of Commons from 1984 to 2005 as a member of the Liberal Party of Canada, and was a cabinet minister in the government of Jean Chrétien....
asked the speaker of the 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...
to investigate whether Plamondon had broken parliamentary rules by using publicly funded research staff to help compile the book.
It was initially believed that Paul Martin's Liberals would win a majority of seats in Quebec at the expense of the Bloc, but the Liberal Party's fortunes were instead damaged by the sponsorship scandal
Sponsorship scandal
The sponsorship scandal, "AdScam", "Sponsorship" or Sponsorgate, is a scandal that came as a result of a Canadian federal government "sponsorship program" in the province of Quebec and involving the Liberal Party of Canada, which was in power from 1993 to 2006...
, in which some advertising revenues approved by the Chrétien government to promote Canadian federalism in Quebec were found to have been misused. The Bloc soon re-established itself as the dominant federal party in Quebec, and the Liberals were reduced to a minority government
Minority government
A minority government or a minority cabinet is a cabinet of a parliamentary system formed when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in the parliament but is sworn into government to break a Hung Parliament election result. It is also known as a...
in the 2004 federal election
Canadian federal election, 2004
The Canadian federal election, 2004 , was held on June 28, 2004 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 38th Parliament of Canada. The Liberal government of Prime Minister Paul Martin lost its majority, but was able to form a minority government after the elections...
. Plamondon was chosen as BQ caucus chair in the new parliament.
When Bernard Landry
Bernard Landry
Bernard Landry, is a Quebec lawyer, teacher, politician, who served as the 28th Premier of Quebec , leader of the Opposition and leader of the Parti Québécois .-Personal:...
resigned as Parti Québécois leader in 2005, rumours circulated that Gilles Duceppe would run to succeed him. Plamondon said that most Bloc MPs wanted Duceppe to stay in federal politics but would respect his decision one way or the other. Duceppe chose to remain with the Bloc, and André Boisclair
André Boisclair
André Boisclair is a politician in Quebec, Canada. He was the leader of the Parti Québécois, a social democratic and separatist party in Quebec....
became PQ leader.
Harper administration (2006-present)
Plamondon was elected to a seventh term 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 Party
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...
won a minority government
Minority government
A minority government or a minority cabinet is a cabinet of a parliamentary system formed when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in the parliament but is sworn into government to break a Hung Parliament election result. It is also known as a...
under the leadership of Stephen Harper
Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...
. Widely respected as an electoral strategist, Plamondon later prepared an internal brief examining why the Bloc lost seats in the Quebec City
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...
area to the Conservatives. He remained as the Bloc's caucus chair.
André Boisclair resigned as Parti Québécois leader after a poor showing in the 2007 provincial election
Quebec general election, 2007
The Quebec general election of 2007 was held in the Canadian province of Quebec on March 26, 2007 to elect members of the 38th National Assembly of Quebec. The Quebec Liberal Party led by Jean Charest managed to win a plurality of seats, but were reduced to a minority government, Quebec's first in...
, and rumours again circulated that Duceppe would run to succeed him. This time, Plamondon told reporters that Duceppe should run for the provincial leadership to impose discipline on the notoriously unruly party. Some in the PQ objected to this comment, which galvanized resistance to a Duceppe candidacy. Duceppe eventually entered the leadership contest, but withdrew after only one day due to poor polling and a growing sense that the sovereigntist movement would be divided if he won. He stayed as leader of the Bloc, and Plamondon helped ensure his successful transition back to the federal scene.
When Brian Mulroney
Brian Mulroney
Martin Brian Mulroney, was the 18th Prime Minister of Canada from September 17, 1984, to June 25, 1993 and was leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1983 to 1993. His tenure as Prime Minister was marked by the introduction of major economic reforms, such as the Canada-U.S...
released his memoirs in September 2007, he alleged that Lucien Bouchard had conspired with Jacques Parizeau
Jacques Parizeau
Jacques Parizeau, is an economist and noted Quebec sovereignist who was the 26th Premier of the Canadian province of Quebec from September 26, 1994 to January 29, 1996.-Early life and career:...
to create the Bloc Québécois while still a federal cabinet minister. Plamondon rejected this, arguing that Bouchard was loyal to Mulroney until resigning in protest against the government's handling of the Meech Lake Accord. Plamondon also criticized Jean Chrétien
Jean Chrétien
Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien , known commonly as Jean Chrétien is a former Canadian politician who was the 20th Prime Minister of Canada. He served in the position for over ten years, from November 4, 1993 to December 12, 2003....
later in the year, when Chrétien wrote in his memoirs that he would not have recognized a narrow sovereigntist victory in the 1995 referendum.
Plamondon was re-elected to an eighth term in the 2008 election
Canadian federal election, 2008
The 2008 Canadian federal election was held on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 to elect members to the Canadian House of Commons of the 40th Canadian Parliament after the previous parliament had been dissolved by the Governor General on September 7, 2008...
as the Conservatives won a second consecutive minority government. He was again chosen as BQ caucus chair and, as the longest-serving member of the House of Commons, was was also recognized as Dean of the House
Dean of the House (Canada)
In Canada, the Dean of the House is the Member of the House of Commons with the longest unbroken record of service who is not a Cabinet Minister, party Leader, House Leader or Whip. The Dean is responsible for presiding over the election of the Speaker of the House of Commons at the beginning of...
. Plamondon presided over the Commons when it re-elected Peter Milliken
Peter Milliken
Peter Andrew Stewart Milliken, UE is a Canadian lawyer and politician. He was a member of the Canadian House of Commons from 1988 until his retirement in 2011 and served as Speaker of the House for 10 years beginning in 2001. Milliken represented the Ontario riding of Kingston and the Islands as a...
as its speaker in October 2008 and acknowledged the irony that an MP from a sovereigntist party would hold this position.
Plamondon was returned by the narrowest margin of his career in the 2011 federal election against a strong challenge from a New Democratic Party
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...
(NDP) candidate. The NDP won fifty-nine seats across Quebec, while the BQ won only four seats and lost official party status in the House of Commons (where twelve seats are required). Gilles Duceppe was personally defeated in his riding and subsequently resigned as party leader. Plamondon was later chosen as the Bloc's acting house leader and, in the absence of a full-time leader, has become its main parliamentary spokesperson. He remains Dean of the House and presided over the Commons when it chose Andrew Scheer
Andrew Scheer
Andrew Scheer is a Canadian Member of Parliament and the Speaker of the House of Commons. At the age of 32, he is the youngest person to serve in this capacity in Canadian parliamentarian history.-Early life and career:...
to be Milliken's successor as speaker on June 2, 2011.