Gaspard Fauteux, (August 27, 1898 – March 29, 1963) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) 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 ...

parliamentarian,

Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada The speaker of the House of Commons (french: président de la Chambre des communes) is the presiding officer of the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. A member of Parliament (MP), they are elected at the beginning of each new parliament ...

(1945–1949), and the

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Lieutenant Governor of Quebec The lieutenant governor of Quebec (; French (masculine): ''Lieutenant-gouverneur du Québec'', or (feminine): ''Lieutenante-gouverneure du Québec'') is the viceregal representative in Quebec of the , who operates distinctly within the province ...

(1950–1958). He was born in S^t-Hyacinthe, Quebec, to a political family. His grandfather,

Honoré Mercier Honoré Mercier (October 15, 1840 – October 30, 1894) was a Canadian lawyer, journalist and politician in Quebec. He was the ninth premier of Quebec from January 27, 1887, to December 21, 1891, as leader of the Parti National or Quebec Libe ...

and his uncle,

Lomer Gouin Sir Jean Lomer Gouin, (March 19, 1861 – March 28, 1929) was a Canadian politician. He served as 13th premier of Quebec, as a Cabinet minister in the federal government of Canada, and as the 15th lieutenant governor of Quebec. Biography ...

, were both former Premiers of Quebec. His grandmother's second husband was Liberal

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

(MP) and later

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Joseph Godbout Joseph Godbout (May 12, 1850 – April 1, 1923) was a physician and political figure in Quebec. He represented Beauce in the House of Commons of Canada from 1887 to 1901 as an independent Liberal and then Liberal member. He sat for La Salle ...

. His brother was the judge Gérald Fauteux. Fauteux married Marguerite Barré, daughter of the Canadian artist and animator Raoul Barré, on September 18, 1923. The couple had 4 children; Roger, Paul, Marie (Mimi) and Gaspard Jr. A dentist by training and then a businessman, he first entered politics at the provincial election defeating Quebec Conservative Party leader and

Mayor of Montreal The mayor of Montreal is head of the executive branch of the Montreal City Council. The current mayor is Valérie Plante, who was elected into office on November 5, 2017, and sworn in on November 16. The office of the mayor administers all ...

Camillien Houde to win a seat in the

Quebec legislature The Quebec Legislature (officially Parliament of Quebec, french: Parlement du Québec) is the legislature of the province of Quebec, Canada. The legislature is made of two elements: the King of Canada, represented by the lieutenant governor of Q ...

for the

Quebec Liberal Party The Quebec Liberal Party (QLP; french: Parti libéral du Québec, PLQ) is a provincial political party in Quebec. It has been independent of the federal Liberal Party of Canada since 1955. The QLP has always been associated with the colour red; e ...

. He lost his seat in

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * January 12 – Amelia Earhart bec ...

and returned to business. He was first elected to the House of Commons of Canada from the Quebec riding of St. Mary in a 1942

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election ( Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election use ...

, and was re-elected in the 1945 federal election by again defeating Camillien Houde. He was re-elected in the 1949 election. In Parliament, Fauteux opposed conscription and was a delegate to the

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Relief and Rehabilitation Conference that followed

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. Despite his lack of legal training or long tenure in the House, he was tapped by Prime Minister

William Lyon Mackenzie King William Lyon Mackenzie King (December 17, 1874 – July 22, 1950) was a Canadian statesman and politician who served as the tenth prime minister of Canada for three non-consecutive terms from 1921 to 1926, 1926 to 1930, and 1935 to 1948. A L ...

to become Speaker following the 1945 election. His inexperience in parliamentary procedure caused him difficulties in the Chair. He had a habit of making decisions before MPs had presented their arguments. He preferred the social aspects of the position and entertained and travelled frequently. He returned to the

backbench In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the " ...

es after the 1949 election and, in 1950 was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec by

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Harold Alexander, Earl Alexander of Tunis, on the advice of his prime minister,

Louis St. Laurent Louis Stephen St. Laurent (''Saint-Laurent'' or ''St-Laurent'' in French, baptized Louis-Étienne St-Laurent; February 1, 1882 – July 25, 1973) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 12th prime minister of Canada from 19 ...

. After his death in 1963, he was entombed at the

Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery (french: Cimetière Notre-Dame-des-Neiges) is a rural cemetery located in the borough of Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Montreal, Quebec, Canada which was founded in 1854. The entrance and the grounds run ...

in Montreal.

References

*
The Quebec History Encyclopedia entry
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fauteux, Gaspard 1898 births 1963 deaths Speakers of the House of Commons of Canada Lieutenant Governors of Quebec Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada Quebec Liberal Party MNAs Businesspeople from Quebec Canadian dentists People from Saint-Hyacinthe Burials at Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery 20th-century dentists