Richard Martel (born March 23, 1961) is 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 ...

politician and former

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two o ...

coach. He last coached the

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

Brûleurs de Loups The Brûleurs de Loups (French for ''Wolfs Burners'') are a professional ice hockey team that play in Grenoble, France. History The club was founded in 1963 under the name Grenoble Hockey Club. Since 1992, the club has been known as the Brûleur ...

in the French

Ligue Magnus The Ligue Magnus, currently known as Synerglace Ligue Magnus for sponsorship reasons, is the top men's division of the French ice hockey pyramid, established in 1906. The league operated under a variety of names before taking that of its champio ...

. Martel was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in a by-election on June 18, 2018. He represents the electoral district of

Chicoutimi—Le Fjord Chicoutimi—Le Fjord (formerly known as Chicoutimi) is a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1925. The riding consists of the northern part of the Chicoutimi borough o ...

as a member of the

Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada (french: Parti conservateur du Canada), colloquially known as the Tories, is a federal political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main right-leaning parties, the Progressive Con ...

Coaching career

Martel was an assistant coach under

Jos Canale Jos Canale (born Giuseppe Canale; September 21, 1949) is a Canadian former ice hockey coach, commonly known as Joe Canale. He was the 1991 recipient of the Coach of the Year Award in the Canadian Hockey League (CHL), and later coached the Can ...

from 1991 to 1993 in Chicoutimi. Between 1993 and 2011, Martel served as a head coach in the

Quebec Major Junior Hockey League The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (french: Ligue de hockey junior majeur du Québec; abbreviated ''QMJHL'' in English, ''LHJMQ'' in French) is one of the three major junior ice hockey leagues that constitute the Canadian Hockey League. The l ...

(QMJHL) where he twice won the

Ron Lapointe Trophy The Ron Lapointe Trophy is awarded annually by the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League to the "Coach of the Year." The award is named for Ron Lapointe. Winners List of "Coach of the Year" winners. Winners in bold also won the Brian Kilrea Coach of t ...

as the QMJHL coach of the year. On February 28, 2010, Martel became the most successful coach in the history of the QMJHL when he coached the

Chicoutimi Saguenéens The Chicoutimi Saguenéens are a junior ice hockey team which plays in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). The team is based out of Chicoutimi, Quebec, Canada (now a part of the city of Saguenay) and owned by the City of Saguenay. T ...

to a 3–1 victory over the

Baie-Comeau Drakkar The Baie-Comeau Drakkar is a junior ice hockey team in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League that plays at Centre Henry-Leonard in Baie-Comeau, Quebec, Canada. The name "Drakkar" refers to a type of longship. History The Drakkar first played in ...

to win his 570th QMJHL game, surpassing the record previously held by

Guy Chouinard Guy Camil Chouinard (born October 20, 1956) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played in the 1970s and 80's for the Atlanta Flames, Calgary Flames, and St. Louis Blues. He has also had a lengthy career as a coach in the QMJH ...

Coaching record

QMJHL

Source
Career profile

Awards and honours

Politics

On December 20, 2017, Martel was named the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

candidate for an upcoming by-election in the federal electoral district of

, as a

star candidate A star candidate (french: candidat vedette) refers to a high-profile individual who has been recruited as a candidate by a political party. Star candidates have usually excelled in fields outside politics such as academia, business, entertainmen ...

. Martel was recruited by a former player, Antoine Tardif, who served as the party's chief organizer in Quebec. Martel had previously been courted to run for mayor of Saguenay as well as the

National Assembly of Quebec The National Assembly of Quebec (officially in french: link=no, Assemblée nationale du Québec) is the legislative body of the province of Quebec in Canada. Legislators are called MNAs (Members of the National Assembly; french: link=no, déput ...

. Martel was elected as a Member of Parliament on June 18, 2018, gaining the seat from the Liberals. He was reelected in the

2019 Canadian federal election The 2019 Canadian federal election was held on October 21, 2019. Members of the House of Commons were elected to the 43rd Canadian Parliament. In keeping with the maximum four-year term under a 2007 amendment to the ''Canada Elections Act'', t ...

. On September 2, 2020, Conservative leader

Erin O'Toole Erin Michael O'Toole (born January 22, 1973) is a Canadian politician who has been the member of Parliament (MP) for Durham since 2012. A member of the Conservative Party, O'Toole served as the party's leader and the leader of the Offici ...

announced that Martel would serve as the party's Quebec lieutenant, succeeding

Alain Rayes Alain Rayes (born December 11, 1971) is a Canadian politician, who was elected to represent the electoral district (Canada), riding of Richmond—Arthabaska in the House of Commons of Canada in the 2015 Canadian federal election, and reelected ...

. Martel served in the role until November 8, 2021, when he was succeeded by Rayes.

Electoral record

References

External links

Richard Martel's staff ptofile at Eliteprospects.com
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Martel, Richard 1961 births 21st-century Canadian politicians Baie-Comeau Drakkar coaches Canadian ice hockey coaches Canadian sportsperson-politicians Chicoutimi Saguenéens coaches Conservative Party of Canada MPs French Quebecers Ice hockey people from Quebec Living people Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Quebec Politicians from Saguenay, Quebec Saint-Hyacinthe Laser coaches Sportspeople from Saguenay, Quebec Val-d'Or Foreurs coaches