Patrick Tobin Asselin
Encyclopedia
Joseph Patrick Tobin Asselin (March 29, 1930 – August 31, 2005), known as Patrick Tobin Asselin, was a Canadian
politician. A Liberal
Member of Parliament
(MP) in the Canadian House of Commons
for two terms in the 1960s, he returned to Parliament a quarter-century later to work as a security guard.
He was born on a farm in Bromptonville, Quebec
in the Eastern Townships
and was educated in Montreal
at both English and French high school
s. Asselin was descended from politicians on both sides of his family. He was the grandson of Edmund William Tobin
, who had spent thirty years in the House of Commons, representing the same Quebec riding Asselin later represented. Tobin was appointed to the Canadian Senate
in 1930.
His father, Joseph Omer Asselin, was chairman of Montreal City Council
's powerful executive committee. His mother, Beatrice Tobin, was a Liberal organizer in the era of William Lyon Mackenzie King
, and served as president of the Women's Liberal Association of Canada in the 1960s. Her two sons both served as Liberal MPs. She had been awarded an Order of the British Empire
during World War II
for her work in establishing an organization to help Canadian Prisoners of War
.
After graduating from high school, Asselin attended St. Mary's College
in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and then returned to his home town to run the family's dairy farm. He was also a Captain in the Canadian Army for ten years.
During the 1963 federal election
, he was serving as president of the Liberal riding association
in Richmond—Wolfe
, the rural Quebec
constituency in which he lived, when the nominated Liberal candidate unexpectedly dropped out of the race 30 days before election day. Asselin stepped in as the new candidate, and defeated incumbent Social Credit
MP André Bernier by 350 votes. Asselin's brother, Edmund Tobin Asselin
, was re-elected in the Montreal riding of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce
in the same election.
The election brought to power a Liberal minority government
under the leadership of Lester Pearson. Pearson appointed Asselin chairman of the House Standing Committee on Agriculture. Under his stewardship, the committee inaugurated Canada's marketing board
system.
Asselin's margin of victory increased to 2,000 votes at the 1965 election
. When Pearson announced his retirement, Asselin supported Pierre Trudeau
's campaign to become Liberal leader at the 1968 Liberal leadership convention. However, despite Trudeaumania
, Asselin lost his seat at the 1968 election
after the right-wing Ralliement Créditiste
attacked the Liberal government in the rural, socially conservative riding over the government's social liberalism, particularly Trudeau's decriminalization of homosexuality
. Both Asselin and Trudeau were accused of being Communist
s by supporters of Asselin's rival, Léonel Beaudoin
.
"I got out of politics because of illness -- the voters got sick of me," said Asselin. His defeat came six months short of the minimum period of service required at the time to qualify for a parliamentary pension. Following his defeat, Asselin worked as an aide to Agriculture minister
Bud Olson
.
He returned to politics to serve as mayor
of Aylmer, Quebec
from 1979 to 1983. He subsequently returned to Ottawa to work as a security supervisor on Parliament Hill.
Warren Allmand
, a former Liberal Canadian cabinet minister, later said of Asselin: "He wasn't egotistical. Even though he had been an MP, he wasn't at all embarrassed to get a job as a security guard in order to earn a living and support his family.... Security work was all he could get, so he did it."
Asselin died in Ottawa in 2005 of a neurological disease.
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 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...
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,...
(MP) 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...
for two terms in the 1960s, he returned to Parliament a quarter-century later to work as a security guard.
He was born on a farm in Bromptonville, Quebec
Bromptonville, Quebec
Brompton is an arrondissement, or borough, of the city of Sherbrooke, Quebec. The borough comprises the former city of Bromptonville, which was amalgamated into the city of Sherbrooke in 2002....
in the Eastern Townships
Eastern Townships
The Eastern Townships is a tourist region and a former administrative region in south-eastern Quebec, lying between the former seigneuries south of the Saint Lawrence River and the United States border. Its northern boundary roughly followed Logan's Line, the geologic boundary between the flat,...
and was educated in 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...
at both English and French high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
s. Asselin was descended from politicians on both sides of his family. He was the grandson of Edmund William Tobin
Edmund William Tobin
Edmund William Tobin was a Canadian politician.Born in Brompton Falls, Canada East, he was a lumber merchant and manufacturer who was President of the Lotbiniere Lumber Company in Lester, Quebec and President of the Trois-Pistoles Pulp Company in Trois-Pistoles, Quebec...
, who had spent thirty years in the House of Commons, representing the same Quebec riding Asselin later represented. Tobin was appointed to the Canadian Senate
Canadian Senate
The Senate of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the House of Commons, and the monarch . The Senate consists of 105 members appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister...
in 1930.
His father, Joseph Omer Asselin, was chairman of Montreal City Council
Montreal City Council
The Montreal City Council is the governing body of Montreal, Quebec. The head of the city government in Montreal is the mayor, who is first among equals in the City Council. The mayor is Gérald Tremblay, who is a member of the Union des citoyens et des citoyennes de l'Île de Montréal...
's powerful executive committee. His mother, Beatrice Tobin, was a Liberal organizer in the era of William Lyon Mackenzie King
William Lyon Mackenzie King
William Lyon Mackenzie King, PC, OM, CMG was the dominant Canadian political leader from the 1920s through the 1940s. He served as the tenth Prime Minister of Canada from December 29, 1921 to June 28, 1926; from September 25, 1926 to August 7, 1930; and from October 23, 1935 to November 15, 1948...
, and served as president of the Women's Liberal Association of Canada in the 1960s. Her two sons both served as Liberal MPs. She had been awarded an Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
for her work in establishing an organization to help Canadian Prisoners of War
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
.
After graduating from high school, Asselin attended St. Mary's College
Saint Mary's University (Halifax)
Saint Mary's University is located in Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada. The school is best known for having nationally lead programs in Business, Astronomy and International Development Studies as well, one of the best football and Men's hockey programs in Canada .The campus is situated in Halifax's...
in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and then returned to his home town to run the family's dairy farm. He was also a Captain in the Canadian Army for ten years.
During the 1963 federal election
Canadian federal election, 1963
The Canadian federal election of 1963 was held on April 8 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 26th Parliament of Canada. It resulted in the defeat of the minority Progressive Conservative government of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker.-Overview:During the Tories' last year in...
, he was serving as president of the Liberal riding association
Riding association
In Canadian politics a riding association , officially called an electoral district association is the basic unit of a political party, that is it is the party's organization at the level of the electoral district, or "riding"...
in Richmond—Wolfe
Richmond—Wolfe
For other electoral districts with similar names, see Richmond Richmond–Wolfe was a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1867 to 1997.It was created as by the British North America Act of 1867.It was abolished in 1966 when...
, the rural 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....
constituency in which he lived, when the nominated Liberal candidate unexpectedly dropped out of the race 30 days before election day. Asselin stepped in as the new candidate, and defeated incumbent Social Credit
Social Credit Party of Canada
The Social Credit Party of Canada was a conservative-populist political party in Canada that promoted social credit theories of monetary reform...
MP André Bernier by 350 votes. Asselin's brother, Edmund Tobin Asselin
Edmund Tobin Asselin
Edmund Tobin Asselin was a Canadian politician, administrator and businessman. He was elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 1962 election as a Member of the Liberal Party representing the riding of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce. He was re-elected in 1963.- External links :*...
, was re-elected in the Montreal riding of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce
Notre-Dame-de-Grâce
Notre-Dame-de-Grâce , also nicknamed NDG, is a residential neighbourhood of Montreal located in the city's west-end. It is one of five districts of the borough of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce...
in the same election.
The election brought to power a Liberal 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 Lester Pearson. Pearson appointed Asselin chairman of the House Standing Committee on Agriculture. Under his stewardship, the committee inaugurated Canada's marketing board
Marketing board
A marketing board is an organization created by many producers to try to market their product and increase consumption and thus prices. They most commonly exist to help sell farm products such as milk, eggs, or beef and are funded by the farmers of those crops. Marketing boards often also receive...
system.
Asselin's margin of victory increased to 2,000 votes at the 1965 election
Canadian federal election, 1965
The Canadian federal election of 1965 was held on November 8 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 27th Parliament of Canada. The Liberal Party of Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson was re-elected with a larger number of seats in the House...
. When Pearson announced his retirement, Asselin supported Pierre Trudeau
Pierre Trudeau
Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau, , usually known as Pierre Trudeau or Pierre Elliott Trudeau, was the 15th Prime Minister of Canada from April 20, 1968 to June 4, 1979, and again from March 3, 1980 to June 30, 1984.Trudeau began his political career campaigning for socialist ideals,...
's campaign to become Liberal leader at the 1968 Liberal leadership convention. However, despite Trudeaumania
Trudeaumania
Trudeaumania was the nickname given in early 1968 to the excitement generated by Pierre Trudeau's entry into the leadership race of the Liberal Party of Canada...
, Asselin lost his seat at the 1968 election
Canadian federal election, 1968
The Canadian federal election of 1968 was held on June 25, 1968, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 28th Parliament of Canada...
after the right-wing Ralliement Créditiste
Ralliement créditiste
Historically in Quebec, Canada, there was a number of political parties that were part of the Canadian social credit movement. There were various parties at different times with different names at the provincial level, all broadly following the social credit philosophy; at various times they had...
attacked the Liberal government in the rural, socially conservative riding over the government's social liberalism, particularly Trudeau's decriminalization of homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
. Both Asselin and Trudeau were accused of being Communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
s by supporters of Asselin's rival, Léonel Beaudoin
Léonel Beaudoin
Léonel Beaudoin is a former Canadian politician and insurance agent. He was elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 1968 federal election as a Member of the Ralliement Créditiste to represent the riding of Richmond...
.
"I got out of politics because of illness -- the voters got sick of me," said Asselin. His defeat came six months short of the minimum period of service required at the time to qualify for a parliamentary pension. Following his defeat, Asselin worked as an aide to Agriculture minister
Minister of Agriculture (Canada)
The Minister of Agriculture is a Minister of the Crown in the Cabinet of Canada, who is responsible for overseeing several organizations including Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Canadian Dairy Commission, Farm Credit Canada, Canadian Food Inspection Agency, National Farm Products Council and...
Bud Olson
Bud Olson
Horace Andrew Olson, PC, AOE was a Canadian businessman, politician, and the 14th Lieutenant Governor of Alberta. He also served as a Canadian Member of Parliament, Senator, Minister of Agriculture, and Minister of Economic and Regional Development...
.
He returned to politics to serve 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 Aylmer, Quebec
Aylmer, Quebec
Aylmer is a former city in Quebec, Canada. It became a sector of the City of Gatineau on January 1, 2002. Located on the Ottawa River and Route 148 it is a part of the National Capital Region. The population in 2006 was 41 882 — approx. 16% of Gatineau...
from 1979 to 1983. He subsequently returned to Ottawa to work as a security supervisor on Parliament Hill.
Warren Allmand
Warren Allmand
William Warren Allmand, is a former Canadian Liberal Party Member of Parliament and was a Cabinet member from 1972 to 1979....
, a former Liberal Canadian cabinet minister, later said of Asselin: "He wasn't egotistical. Even though he had been an MP, he wasn't at all embarrassed to get a job as a security guard in order to earn a living and support his family.... Security work was all he could get, so he did it."
Asselin died in Ottawa in 2005 of a neurological disease.