André Pratte (born May 12, 1957) is a Canadian journalist and former senator who represented the De Salaberry division in Quebec. Before being appointed to the Senate by Prime Minister

Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau (born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who served as the 23rd prime minister of Canada from 2015 to 2025. He led the Liberal Party from 2013 until his resignation in 2025 and was the member of Parliament ...

on March 18, 2016, Pratte was a journalist for over 35 years and was

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

of the

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

newspaper '' La Presse''. He was a member of the

Independent Senators Group The Independent Senators Group (ISG; ) is a parliamentary group in the Senate of Canada. Established on March 10, 2016, the Independent Senators Group is committed to a non-partisan Senate and the modernization of the Upper House of Canada's Parli ...

Biography

Pratte was born in

Quebec City, Quebec Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

and studied political science at the

University of Montreal A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

and graduated in 1980. Before even finishing his degree, he was offered a position at

CKAC CKAC is a Canadian French, French-language radio station located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Owned by Cogeco, the station operates as a commercial travelers' information station, traffic information service branded as ''Radio Circulation 730''. ...

, a francophone radio station in

. Between 1979 and 1986, he worked there as a writer, reporter, parliamentary correspondent in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

and deputy news editor. In 1986, Pratte started his career in print journalism at '' La Presse'' and was employed by the paper until 2015. He worked as a columnist and political editor. Succeeding Alain Dubuc, he became editor-in-chief in 2001, defending the

federalist The term ''federalist'' describes several political beliefs around the world. It may also refer to the concept of parties, whose members or supporters call themselves ''Federalists''. History Europe federation In Europe, proponents of deep ...

and fiscally

centre-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...

political stance of the paper. In 1994, Pratte was suspended from '' La Presse'' after publishing a column entitled “Tout est pourri” t's all rotten in which he criticized

Power Corporation Power Corporation of Canada is a management and holding company that focuses on financial services in North America, Europe and Asia. Its core holdings are insurance, retirement, wealth management and investment management, including a portfolio ...

, the newspaper's owner at the time. After pressure from the newspaper's union of journalists, he was reinstated in his role at ''La Presse''. In 2009, Pratte co-founde
The Federal Idea
a Quebec-based, non-partisan think tank focused on federalism, and served as chair of its board of directors until 2014. Pratte's father, Yves Pratte (1925–1988), was a lawyer, chairperson of

Air Canada Air Canada is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Canada, by size and passengers carried. Air Canada is headquartered in the borough of Saint-Laurent in the city of Montreal. The airline, founded in 1937, provides scheduled and cha ...

(1968–1975), justice on the

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; , ) is the highest court in the judicial system of Canada. It comprises nine justices, whose decisions are the ultimate application of Canadian law, and grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants eac ...

(1977–1979) and director of

and Power Financial. His brother
Guy Pratte
is a partner at

Borden Ladner Gervais Borden Ladner Gervais LLP (abbreviated as BLG) is a leading, full-service law firm in Canada with almost 900 lawyers, intellectual property agents and other professionals. With two hundred years of history going back to the 1823 founding of McMas ...

. Guy Pratte, called to both the Ontario and Quebec Bar, received the Law Society of Ontario Medal in 2019 for exceptional career achievement and contribution to his community. He received the OBA Award of Excellence in Civil Litigation in 2019 from the

Ontario Bar Association The Ontario Bar Association (OBA) is a bar association representing more than 16,000 lawyers, judges, notaries, law teachers, and law students from across Ontario. It is also a branch of the Canadian Bar Association. Approximately two-thirds of a ...

and was also named ''Advocatus Emeritus'' by the Québec Bar for "outstanding contributions to the legal profession."

Senate of Canada

Following a reform of the Senate appointment process, the goal of which was to make the Senate less partisan, Liberal Prime Minister

appointed André Pratte on March 18, 2016, as part of the first wave of independent nominations. Senator Pratte has sponsored four bills in the Upper House: * 2016
Bill C-10, ''An Act to amend the Air Canada Public Participation Act and to provide for certain other measures''
*2017
Bill C-30, ''Canada–European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement Implementation Act''
* 2018
Bill C-86, ''Budget Implementation Act, 2018, No. 2''
* 2019
Bill C-71, ''An Act to amend certain Acts and Regulations in relation to firearms''
Pratte was Deputy Chair of th
Standing Senate Committee on National Finance
a member of th
Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs
and a member of th
Standing Senate Committee on National Security and Defence
He resigned his position on October 21, 2019, the date of the

2019 Canadian federal election The 2019 Canadian federal election was held on October 21, 2019. Members of the House of Commons were elected to the 43rd Canadian Parliament. In keeping with the maximum four-year term under a 2007 amendment to the ''Canada Elections Act'', ...

Publications

In 2005, Pratte was among the group who signed the manifesto " For a clear-eyed vision of Quebec", better known by the French title ''"Pour un Québec lucide"'' and critical of the

social democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

' Quebec Model'. Criticized by some sovereigntists, he has defended his neutrality and has claimed in the book ''Aux pays des merveilles'' to be a soft-

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

and to have a soft-sovereigntist past (with claims of 'Yes' votes in both the

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

and the

1995 Quebec referendum The 1995 Quebec referendum was the second referendum to ask voters in the predominantly French-speaking Canadian province of Quebec whether Quebec should proclaim sovereignty and become an independent country, with the condition precedent of ...

s). He published a number of books at VLB éditeur. The first, ''Le Syndrome de Pinocchio'', discussed dishonesty in politics and earned him a motion of censure from the

National Assembly of Quebec The National Assembly of Quebec (, ) is the Legislature, legislative body of the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec in Canada. Legislators are called MNAs (Members of the National Assembly; ). The lieutenant governor of Que ...

in 1997. He also published a biography of the future

Premier of Quebec The premier of Quebec ( (masculine) or eminine is the head of government of the Canadian province of Quebec. The current premier of Quebec is François Legault of the Coalition Avenir Québec, sworn in on October 18, 2018, following tha ...

Jean Charest John James "Jean" Charest (; born June 24, 1958) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who served as the 29th premier of Quebec from 2003 to 2012. Prior to that, he was a member of Parliament (MP) between 1984 and 1998. After holding se ...

, under the title ''L'Énigme Charest'' in 1997, drawing a paradoxical portrait of the man. He redirected his criticism upon his own journalistic profession in ''Les Oiseaux de malheur'' in 2000. Pratte edited ''Reconquerir le Canada — un nouveau projet pour la nation québécoise'' (published in English as ''Reconquering Canada: Quebec Federalists Speak Up for Change''), a book of essays by several prominent francophone Quebecers to better promote federalism in the province. The authors stated they want Quebec to have a greater role within the federation. Pratte said the province must be better linked with other provinces and that Quebecers must serve on bodies of the federal government. To make progress, Quebecers must change their view of federalism and Canada, and their perception of being a victim, which does not correspond with experience. The book counts 14 authors from various political affiliations: André Pratte, Daniel Fournier, Jean Leclair, Benoît Pelletier, Marie Bernard-Meunier, Patrice Ryan et Frédéric Bérard, François Pratte,

Martin Cauchon Martin Cauchon (born 23 August 1962) is a Canadian lawyer and politician in Quebec Canada. He served as a Liberal Party of Canada, Liberal Cabinet of Canada, Cabinet minister in the government of Jean Chrétien. He unsuccessfully ran for the 2 ...

, Pierre Gerlier-Forest, Hervé Rivet and Fabrice Rivault, Marc Garneau, Mathieu Laberge.

Bibliography

* 1997: ''Le Syndrome de Pinocchio'' inocchio syndrome*1998: ''L'Énigme Charest'' he Charest enigma*2000: ''Les Oiseaux de malheur'' bad omen*2006: ''Aux pays des merveilles—Essai sur les mythes politiques québécois'' elcome to wonderland—An essay on political myths in Quebec*2007: ''Reconquering Canada: Quebec Federalists Speak Up for Change'' *2008: ''Qui a raison? Lettres sur l'avenir du Québec'' ho is right? Letters on the future of Quebec*2011: ''Wilfrid Laurier'' *2016: ''Legacy: How French Canadians Shaped North America.'' (Ed., with

Jonathan Kay Jonathan Hillel Kay (born 1968) is a Canadian journalist. He was the editor-in-chief of ''The Walrus'' (2014–2017), and is a senior editor of ''Quillette''. He was previously comment pages editor, columnist, and blogger for the Toronto-based Ca ...

; reprint 2019) ** 2016: ''Batisseurs d'Amerique. Des Canadiens français qui ont fait l'histoire.'' *2017: ''Biographie d’un discours—Wilfrid Laurier à Québec le 26 juin 1877'' iography of a speech–Wilfrid Laurier in Quebec City on June 26, 1877

Awards

Pratte won the

National Newspaper Award The National Newspaper Awards () are prizes awarded annually for the best work in Canadian newspapers. Synopsis The awards were first given in 1949 by the Toronto Press Club, which ran the awards until 1989. They are now given by an independent ...

for editorial writing in 2007, 2008 and 2010.

References

External links

Article archive
(1996 to 2004) at Vigile.net
Official biography, Senate of Canada
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pratte, Andre 1957 births Living people Politicians from Quebec City Journalists from Quebec Independent Canadian senators Canadian senators from Quebec 21st-century members of the Senate of Canada