Ludger Dionne (March 1, 1888 – June 4, 1962) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

businessman and a politician, who represented the electoral district of Beauce in the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada () is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of Ca ...

from 1945 to 1949. As a businessman, he operated a shoe factory, a heel factory and a rayon mill in Saint-Georges. He was first elected to the House of Commons in the 1945 election. When faced with a worker's strike in his rayon mill in 1947, Dionne went to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

and "hired" 100 Polish Catholic women and emigrated them to Canada to work as either nuns or to work in his rayon mill. During his visit to Poland, he was interviewed by Will Lang Jr. of ''

Life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...

'' and discussed with Lang his intentions. When Dionne returned to Canada, the striking workers protested to the Canadian government about the immigrants stealing their jobs. Outraged by Dionne's actions, the Canadian Parliament voted on June 21, 1947, to pass several laws regarding displaced foreign refugees. The controversy also contributed to his defeat in the 1949 election. He also ran in the 1957 election, but was not re-elected.

References

1888 births 1962 deaths Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Quebec Liberal Party of Canada MPs People from Beauce, Quebec Politicians from Chaudière-Appalaches 20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada {{Liberal-Quebec-MP-stub