Benoît Sauvageau (November 22, 1963 – August 28, 2006) was a Canadian politician, who served as a

Bloc Québécois The Bloc Québécois (, , BQ) is a centre-left politics, centre-left and list of federal political parties in Canada, federal political party in Canada devoted to Quebec nationalism, Quebecois nationalism, social democracy, and the promotion o ...

member of 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 1993 until his death in 2006. Born in

Charlemagne, Quebec Charlemagne () is a city in the Canadian province of Québec on the north shore of the Rivière des Prairies, northeast of the city of Montréal’s downtown core. As of 2021, the population was 6,302. Charlemagne is the birthplace and child ...

, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree and was a professor before entering politics. In

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

, he was elected to the

for the

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

riding of Terrebonne. He was subsequently re-elected in the

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

, and 2004 elections in the redistricted riding of

Repentigny Repentigny () is an off-island suburbs, off-island suburb of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located North Shore (Laval), north of the city on the lower end of the L'Assomption River, and on the Saint Lawrence River. Repentigny and Ch ...

. From 2003 to 2004, he was the Deputy Whip of the Bloc Québécois. In the federal election that fell on January 23, 2006, Sauvageau garnered over 62% of the vote in his riding for a landslide victory over the Conservatives and the Liberals, who were still reeling from their political fallout from the

sponsorship scandal The sponsorship scandal, AdScam or Sponsorgate, was a scandal in Canada that came as a result of a federal government " sponsorship program" in the province of Quebec involving the Liberal Party of Canada, which was in power from 1993 to 2006. ...

. Admired for his warmth and good nature by friend and adversary alike, Sauvageau championed

fiscal responsibility A balanced budget (particularly that of a government) is a budget in which revenues are equal to expenditures. Thus, neither a budget deficit nor a budget surplus exists (the accounts "balance"). More generally, it is a budget that has no budget ...

on the Public Accounts committee and the language rights of

francophone The Francophonie or Francophone world is the whole body of people and organisations around the world who use the French language regularly for private or public purposes. The term was coined by Onésime Reclus in 1880 and became important a ...

s on the Official Languages committee.

Death

Sauvageau died in a car accident in his riding of

on August 28, 2006, while on the way to a constituency event.CTV.ca , BQ MP Benoit Sauvageau killed in traffic accident
LCN initially reported that just a few minutes before the accident, his wife Jacinthe had called

9-1-1 911, sometimes written , is an emergency telephone number for Argentina, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Fiji, Jordan, Mexico, Pakistan, Maldives, Palau, Panama, Iraq, the Philippines, Sint Maarten, the United States, and Uruguay, as well as ...

because Sauvageau had allegedly threatened to commit suicide shortly before leaving their home. However, a

coroner A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into the manner or cause of death. The official may also investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within th ...

's report concluded in August 2007 that Sauvageau did not intentionally crash his vehicle, and confirmed that he was distracted by his cellphone. Bloc leader

Gilles Duceppe Gilles Duceppe (; born July 22, 1947) is a Canadian retired politician, proponent of the Quebec sovereignty movement and former leader of the federal political party, Bloc Québécois. He was a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of Ca ...

described him "as a hard working and determined MP who knew everyone in his riding". Prime Minister

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. He is to date the only prime minister to have come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ser ...

said in a statement that: "Mr. Sauvageau was proud of his francophone roots, and was a dedicated MP who served his constituents well. He was appreciated by his colleagues for his integrity and human values and he will be missed." Long-time colleague, and then interim Liberal leader, Bill Graham stated that Sauvageau "brought to his job a great dedication and a willingness to work for the common good that made him an admired colleague for all."Liberal.ca :: Reportage non trouvé

Electoral record (partial)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sauvageau, Benoit 1963 births 2006 deaths Bloc Québécois MPs Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Quebec Road incident deaths in Canada Accidental deaths in Quebec People from Repentigny, Quebec People from Charlemagne, Quebec 21st-century members of the House of Commons of Canada