Royal Galipeau (January 5, 1947 – January 27, 2018) was a Canadian politician who was Member of Parliament for the Ottawa—Orléans federal constituency. He was first elected as a Conservative Party candidate in the

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

election, and was reelected in

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

and

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

. He was one of the Deputy Speakers of the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

between the 2006 and 2008 elections. He was defeated in the

2015 election Africa * 2015 Beninese parliamentary election 26 April 2015 * 2015 Burkinabé general election 29 November 2015 * 2015 Burundian legislative election 29 June 2015 * 2015 Burundian presidential election 21 July 2015 * 2015-16 Central African g ...

by retired

Canadian Forces The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; , FAC) are the unified Military, military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air commands referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force. Under the ''National Defenc ...

Lieutenant-General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was normall ...

Andrew Leslie. In February 2014, he revealed that he was battling

multiple myeloma Multiple myeloma (MM), also known as plasma cell myeloma and simply myeloma, is a cancer of plasma cells, a type of white blood cell that normally produces antibody, antibodies. Often, no symptoms are noticed initially. As it progresses, bone ...

, but insisted he would run for office again in the 2015 election. Galipeau died from the disease in 2018.

Municipal politics and early career

In 1982, he was elected to

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

City Council. On city council, he helped introduce equal opportunity hiring policies and unsuccessfully pushed to replace the term "alderman" with a gender-neutral term. In 1985, he ran for mayor of Gloucester, finishing third behind fellow councillor Harry Allen and interim mayor Mitch Owens. Galipeau was appointed in 2001 by the Council of the newly amalgamated city of Ottawa as Trustee of the Ottawa Public Library, where he helped introduce content-filtered Internet access to city public libraries to protect from Internet pornography on library computers. In 2004, he was the only Trustee of the previous term to be reappointed by City Council. He was twice elected as vice-chair of the Board. Furthermore, he served on the Ottawa-Carleton Regional District Health Council, helping prepare a policy for the delivery of minority language health services. In 2005, Galipeau was involved in the East-West Light Rail Transit Corridor Environmental Assessment Committee, studying implementation of a rapid transit system across Ottawa. Galipeau has also served two terms as a director of

TVOntario TVO (stylized in all lowercase as tvo), formerly known as TVOntario, is a Canadian Public broadcasting, publicly funded English-language educational television network and media organization serving the Canadian province of Ontario. It operates ...

. In this role, he helped bring about the launch of the Francophone

TFO TFO is a Canadian French language educational television channel and media organization serving the province of Ontario. It is operated by the Ontario French-language Educational Communications Authority (OTELFO), a Crown corporation owned by t ...

service.

Federal politics

Galipeau started politics as a Liberal and worked for MPs

Mauril Bélanger Mauril Adrien Jules Bélanger (June 15, 1955 – August 15, 2016) was a Canadian politician. A member of the Liberal Party of Canada, he represented Ottawa—Vanier in the House of Commons through a by-election victory in 1995 until his deat ...

and

Eugène Bellemare Eugène Bellemare (April 6, 1932 — July 6, 2018) was a Canadian politician. Bellemare was a former Member of Parliament of the Liberal Party of Canada in the House of Commons of Canada, representing the riding of Ottawa—Orléans between 200 ...

. He also served as campaign manager for the unsuccessful Liberal candidate in Carleton in the 1995 Ontario provincial election. However, in May 2005, he decided to run for the Conservatives. The riding of Ottawa—Orléans was a Conservative target. In the 2004 federal election, Walter Robinson, the high-profile head of the

Canadian Taxpayers Federation The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF; ) is a federally incorporated, non-profit organization in Canada. It describes itself as a taxpayers advocacy group, and the organization advocates lower taxes, less waste, and an increase in government ...

, failed to capture the seat, losing to Liberal newcomer Marc Godbout by 2,800 votes. Galipeau won the 2006 election by less than 2000 votes. From April 2006 to November 2008, Galipeau was Deputy Chair of Committees of the Whole, which allowed him to sit in the Speaker's chair when the Speaker and Deputy Speaker were both absent. In May 2007, Galipeau apologized for an incident in which he broke parliamentary rules by crossing the floor to argue with Liberal MP

David McGuinty David Joseph McGuinty (born February 25, 1960) is a Canadian lawyer and politician who has been the Minister of National Defence since May 2025. A member of the Liberal Party, McGuinty has served as the member of Parliament (MP) for Ottawa S ...

after a heated exchange over the Conservative MP's record on Francophone rights. After being re-elected in the 2008 election, Galipeau ran to replace

Peter Milliken Peter Andrew Stewart Milliken (born November 12, 1946) is a Canadian lawyer and politician. He was a member of the House of Commons of Canada from 1988 until his retirement in 2011 and served as Speaker of the House for 10 years beginning in 2 ...

Speaker of the House The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England. Usage The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hung ...

, but lost. Galipeau was re-elected in the 2011 election, but was defeated by a nearly 2-to-1 margin in the 2015 federal election to former Lieutenant-General Andrew Leslie of the Liberal Party. Galipeau was an

anti-abortion Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its Abortion by country, legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in r ...

MP and attended and spoke at the

Campaign Life Coalition The Campaign Life Coalition (sometimes shortened to Campaign Life) is a Canadian political lobbyist organization founded in 1978. Based in Hamilton, Ontario, the organization advocates for socially conservative values. Campaign Life Coalition op ...

's annual March for Life event on

Parliament Hill Parliament Hill (), colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern bank of the Ottawa River that houses the Parliament of Canada in downtown Ottawa, Ontario. It accommodates a suite of Gothic revival buildings whose ...

several times, including in 2011, 2013, and 2015. Diagnosed with

, a form of cancer, in 2015, he died of the disease on January 27, 2018.

Electoral history

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Galipeau, Royal 1947 births 2018 deaths Activists from Ontario Businesspeople from Ottawa Canadian anti-abortion activists Conservative Party of Canada MPs Deaths from multiple myeloma in Canada Franco-Ontarian people Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario Ontario municipal councillors Politicians from Ottawa People from the United Counties of Prescott and Russell 21st-century members of the House of Commons of Canada Deaths from cancer in Ontario