René Louis Piché (May 5, 1931 – January 22, 2011) was a politician in

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the

Legislative Assembly of Ontario The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA; ) is the legislative chamber of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). Bills passed by the Legislative Assembly are given royal as ...

from 1981 to 1985 who represented the northern Ontario riding of

Cochrane North Cochrane may refer to: Places Australia *Cochrane railway station, Sydney, a railway station on the closed Ropes Creek railway line Canada * Cochrane, Alberta * Cochrane Lake, Alberta * Cochrane District, Ontario ** Cochrane, Ontario, a town wit ...

. He served as a minister without portfolio in the cabinet of

Frank Miller Frank Miller (born January 27, 1957) is an American comic book artist, comic book writer, and screenwriter known for his comic book stories and graphic novels such as his run on ''Daredevil'', for which he created the character Elektra, and ...

. He was mayor of

Kapuskasing Kapuskasing ( ) is a town on the Kapuskasing River in the Cochrane District of Northern Ontario, Canada, approximately east of Hearst, Ontario, Hearst and northwest of Timmins, Ontario, Timmins. The town was known as MacPherson until 1917. ...

from 1971 to 1980 and again from 1991 to 1993.

Background

Piché was born in Cache Bay,

in 1931 to parents Louis Piché and Églantine Nadon. He was one of four children. He lived in

and later

Orleans, Ontario Orleans (; French: ; officially and in French Orléans)The suburb is called ''Orléans'' (with an accent) in French, and is commonly called ''Orleans'' (no accent) in English. The official name in English was changed from ''Orleans'' to ''Orlé ...

. In 1951, he married Olga Kowaluk and together they raised four children. In 1961 he founded a newspaper called the Northern Times and remained president and publisher until 1998. He was also the founding chairman of Northeastern Ontario Municipalities Action Group, serving for nine years as its chairman between 1972 and 1980. In addition, Piché served as a member of the

Ontario Northland Transportation Commission The Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (ONTC), or simply Ontario Northland, is a Crown agency (Ontario), Crown agency of the Government of Ontario responsible for providing transportation services for passengers and goods in Northern ...

for seven years from 1973 to 1980.

Politics

In 1971, Piché was elected mayor of

and served in that position until 1980. In the 1981 provincial election he ran as the Progressive Conservative candidate in the riding of

, defeating Liberal candidate Jean-Paul Bourgeault by 188 votes. He served as a

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 ...

supporter of

Bill Davis William Grenville Davis, (July 30, 1929 – August 8, 2021) was a Canadian politician who served as the 18th premier of Ontario from 1971 to 1985. Behind Oliver Mowat, Davis was the List of premiers of Ontario by time in office, second-longes ...

's government for four years. In 1983 he was appointed as Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Revenue. When

became Premier in 1985, he appointed Piché as

Minister without portfolio A minister without portfolio is a government minister without specific responsibility as head of a government department. The sinecure is particularly common in countries ruled by coalition governments and a cabinet with decision-making authorit ...

responsible for northern transportation. The Progressive Conservatives were reduced to a tenuous

minority government A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in ...

in the 1985 provincial election. Piché was defeated losing to Liberal

René Fontaine Jacques Noe René Fontaine (November 5, 1933 – March 17, 2012) was a politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1985 to 1990, and was a cabinet minister in the government of David Pe ...

by 1,910 votes. He formally resigned from cabinet on May 17, 1985. Piché attempted to return to the Ontario legislature in the 1990 provincial election, but finished third against

New Democrat New Democrats may refer to: * New Democratic Party, a social democratic party in Canada * New Democrats (United States), the ideological centrist faction of the Democratic Party ** New Democrat Coalition, the related caucus in the United States H ...

Len Wood Leonard Wood (born February 4, 1942) is a former Canadian politician. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1990 to 1999, sitting for the New Democratic Party of Ontario. Background Wood completed a four-year millwright co ...

. He later returned to municipal politics, and again served as Kapuskasing's mayor in the 1991 and served one term until 1993.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Piche, Rene 1931 births 2011 deaths Franco-Ontarian people Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs People from West Nipissing 20th-century mayors of places in Ontario 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario People from Kapuskasing