Neil Gaudry (September 19, 1937 – February 18, 1999) was a politician in

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

, Canada. He was a member of the

Legislative Assembly of Manitoba The Legislative Assembly of Manitoba () is the deliberative assembly of the Manitoba Legislature in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. Fifty-seven members are elected to this assembly at List of Manitoba genera ...

from 1988 until his death, sitting as a Liberal. The son of Véronique Chartrand and Ernest Gaudry, he was born in St. Laurent, Manitoba and was educated there. In 1962, he married Leona Rainville. Before entering public life, Gaudry worked as an accountant and office manager. He was the secretary-treasurer of ''Malcolm Construction Ltd.'' for twenty-five years, and was active in the community of Interlake before moving to

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

in his later years. Gaudry was first elected to the Manitoba legislature in the provincial election of 1988, in the Winnipeg riding of St. Boniface. This historically

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 ...

riding had been represented by Laurent Desjardins almost continuously since 1959; originally a Liberal, Desjardins crossed to the

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Editors of ''Encyclopædia Britann ...

in 1969 and was re-elected four times under that party's banner. Desjardins retired in 1988 when the Manitoba NDP was experiencing a sharp decline in popularity, and Gaudry recaptured St. Boniface for the Liberals with 61 percent of the vote of the vote. The election was won by the Progressive Conservatives, and Gaudry joined 19 other Liberals in the official opposition. Gaudry was easily elected again in the 1990 election, with only a slightly reduced plurality. His share of the popular vote fell to below 50% in the provincial election of 1995, but he was still re-elected by a nearly 2-to-1 margin over the NDP, despite the Liberals winning only two other seats in the rest of the province. The Manitoba Liberal Party experienced internal divisions in 1997, due to disgruntlement with the leadership of Ginny Hasselfield. At one stage,

Kevin Lamoureux Kevin Lamoureux (born January 22, 1962) is a politician in Manitoba, Canada. On November 29, 2010, he was elected to the House of Commons of Canada for the constituency of Winnipeg North in a by-election. He was re-elected during the 2011 ele ...

and Gary Kowalski broke from the official party caucus to sit as Independent Liberals; Gaudry was the only Liberal MLA to continue supporting the official party leadership during this period. Neil Gaudry died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

on February 18, 1999, while attending the

Festival du Voyageur The Festival du Voyageur is an annual 10-day winter festival that takes place in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The event is held each February in Winnipeg's French quarter, Saint Boniface, Winnipeg, Saint-Boniface, and is western Canada's largest ...

in St. Boniface and the legislature passed a motion of condolence in his memory on April 26 of the same year. Gaudry frequently championed francophone causes during his time in the legislature. He sought to have

Louis Riel Louis Riel (; ; 22 October 1844 – 16 November 1885) was a Canadian politician, a founder of the province of Manitoba, and a political leader of the Métis in Canada, Métis people. He led two resistance movements against the Government of ...

recognized as a

Father of Confederation The Fathers of Confederation are the 36 people who attended at least one of the Charlottetown Conference of 1864 (23 attendees), the Quebec Conference of 1864 (33 attendees), and the London Conference of 1866 (16 attendees), preceding Canadian ...

, and was an active member in ''l'Assemblee internationale des parlementaires de la langue francaise''. Despite partisan differences, he also assisted the Progressive Conservative government of

Gary Filmon Gary Albert Filmon (born August 24, 1942) is a Canadian politician from Manitoba who served as the 19th premier of Manitoba. He was the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba from 1983 to 2000, and served as the premier from ...

on matters relating to francophone education.

Election results

, Progressive Conservative , Kim F. Sigurdson , style="text-align:right;" , 1,686 , style="text-align:right;" , 19.07 , style="text-align:right;" , -2.53 , style="text-align:right;" , , Independent , Yvan Lecuyer , style="text-align:right;" , 306 , style="text-align:right;" , 3.46 , style="text-align:right;" , n/a , style="text-align:right;" ,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaudry, Neil 1937 births 1999 deaths Franco-Manitoban people Manitoba Liberal Party MLAs Politicians from Winnipeg Métis politicians 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba