Gerald J. Comeau (February 1, 1946 – December 4, 2023) was a Canadian politician who served as a

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

and as a member of Parliament.

Early life

Born in Meteghan Station, Nova Scotia, Comeau was an accountant by training. Comeau received his B.Comm and his B.Ed from the

Université de Moncton The Université de Moncton is a Canadian French-language university in New Brunswick. It includes campuses in Edmundston, Moncton, and Shippagan. The university was founded in 1963 following the recommendations of the royal commission on hig ...

. Comeau was a member of Nova Scotia's

Acadia Acadia (; ) was a colony of New France in northeastern North America which included parts of what are now the The Maritimes, Maritime provinces, the Gaspé Peninsula and Maine to the Kennebec River. The population of Acadia included the various ...

n minority.

Political career

Comeau was elected to 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 ...

as part of the Progressive Conservative landslide win in the 1984 election. The member of Parliament for South West Nova, Comeau was a government

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 t ...

er throughout his term and was defeated in the 1988 election due in part to the unpopularity of the

Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement The Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement (CUSFTA), official name as the Free Trade Agreement between Canada and the United States of America (), was a bilateral trade agreement reached by negotiators for Canada and the United States on ...

Atlantic Canada Atlantic Canada, also called the Atlantic provinces (), is the list of regions of Canada, region of Eastern Canada comprising four provinces: New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. As of 2021, the landma ...

. In 1990, Comeau was appointed to the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

Governor General Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...

Ray Hnatyshyn Ramon John Hnatyshyn ( ; March 16, 1934December 18, 2002) was a Canadian lawyer and statesman who served as the 24th governor general of Canada from 1990 to 1995. Hnatyshyn was born and educated in Saskatchewan and served in the Royal Canadian ...

, on the advice of

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Brian Mulroney Martin Brian Mulroney (March 20, 1939 – February 29, 2024) was a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician who served as the 18th prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993. Born in the eastern Quebec city of Baie-Comeau, Mulroney studi ...

. He sat as a Progressive Conservative until February 2004. He then became a Conservative Party senator after the merger of the Progressive Conservative and the

Canadian Alliance The Canadian Alliance (), formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance (), was a centre-right to right-wing federal political party in Canada that existed under that name from 2000 to 2003. The Canadian Alliance was the new name of the ...

parties. He served as deputy leader of the Government in the Senate from February 23, 2006 to May 24, 2011. On January 19, 2013, Governor General

David Johnston David Johnston or Dave Johnston may refer to: Politics *David Johnston (governor general) David Lloyd Johnston (born June 28, 1941) is a Canadian academic, author, and statesman who served as the 28th governor general of Canada from 2010 to ...

, on the advice of 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 ...

, appointed Comeau to the Privy Council. Comeau retired from the Senate on November 30, 2013, seven years before reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75.

Death

Comeau died from cancer at a hospital in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia on December 4, 2023, at the age of 77.

Electoral record

References

External links

* 1946 births 2023 deaths Politicians of Acadian descent Deaths from cancer in Nova Scotia Canadian senators from Nova Scotia Conservative Party of Canada senators Progressive Conservative Party of Canada senators Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Nova Scotia Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada Progressive Conservative Party of Canada MPs People from Digby County, Nova Scotia Université de Moncton alumni 21st-century members of the Senate of Canada 20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada 20th-century members of the Senate of Canada {{NovaScotia-MP-stub