Suzanne Tremblay (; January 24, 1937 – September 26, 2020) was a Canadian politician from

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...

who served as a

Bloc Québécois The Bloc Québécois (BQ; , " Quebecer Bloc") is a federal political party in Canada devoted to Quebec nationalism and the promotion of Quebec sovereignty. The Bloc was formed by Members of Parliament (MPs) who defected from the federal Progre ...

member of the House of Commons of Canada from 1993 to 2004.

Early life

Born in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

, Tremblay received a

Queen Elizabeth II Scholarship Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mot ...

to attend

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learnin ...

in the United States, where she earned a Master's degree in pre-school education. She then completed a certificate in educational studies at the

Université de Lyon The University of Lyon (french: Université de Lyon), located in Lyon and Saint-Étienne, France, is a center for higher education and research comprising 11 members and 24 associated institutions. The three main universities in this center are: C ...

and a certificate in child care studies at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degre ...

Political career

Tremblay was first elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 1993 federal election for the riding of Rimouski—Témiscouata. She was re-elected in the 1997 election for the riding of Rimouski-Mitis and in the 2000 election for Rimouski-Neigette-et-La Mitis. She announced her intention not to run again in the 2004 federal election. She was occasionally a controversial figure, once pointing out that

Quebec Premier The premier of Quebec ( French: ''premier ministre du Québec'' (masculine) or ''première ministre du Québec'' (feminine)) is the head of government of the Canadian province of Quebec. The current premier of Quebec is François Legault of the ...

Jean Charest John James "Jean" Charest (; born June 24, 1958) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who served as the 29th premier of Quebec from 2003 to 2012 and the fifth deputy prime minister of Canada in 1993. Charest was elected to the House o ...

's first name was really "John" in an attempt to discredit him as a representative of the true Quebec; the Bloc Québécois leader

Gilles Duceppe Gilles Duceppe (; born July 22, 1947) is a Canadian retired politician, proponent of the Quebec sovereignty movement and former leader of the Bloc Québécois. He was a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of Canada for over 20 years an ...

distanced himself from this comment. Tremblay also made similar comments attacking

Radio-Canada The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

journalist

Joyce Napier Joyce Napier (born June 15, 1958) is a Canadian television journalist. Formerly a correspondent for the news division of Société Radio-Canada, the French-language arm of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation,Vancouver Sun The ''Vancouver Sun'', also known as the ''Sun'', is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network. Published s ...

'', October 18, 1995. and pop singer

Céline Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion ( ; born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Noted for her powerful and technically skilled vocals, Dion is the best-selling Canadian recording artist, and the best-selling French-language artist of all time. Her ...

for purportedly turning her back on her Québécoise identity in her pursuit of pop stardom."Does Céline like poutine?" '' The Globe and Mail'', April 13, 1999. Following Tremblay's announcement of her retirement from the House of Commons, Louise Thibault, a municipal councillor in Le Bic, became the Bloc Québécois candidate in the new riding of

Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques (formerly known as Rimouski—Témiscouata) is a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 2004. Geography This eastern Que ...

, and won the 2004 election. Tremblay ran in the resulting

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election ( Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election use ...

to fill Thibault's municipal council seat, running primarily on a campaign of opposing the then-proposed

amalgamation Amalgamation is the process of combining or uniting multiple entities into one form. Amalgamation, amalgam, and other derivatives may refer to: Mathematics and science * Amalgam (chemistry), the combination of mercury with another metal ** Pan am ...

of Le Bic with

Rimouski Rimouski ( ) is a city in Quebec, Canada. Rimouski is located in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region, at the mouth of the Rimouski River. It has a population of 48,935 (as of 2021). Rimouski is the site of Université du Québec à Rimouski (UQAR), t ...

."Défaite surprise pour Suzanne Tremblay"

, October 24, 2004. She lost narrowly to Pierre Garon, a local farmer and trucker who had not previously been active in politics.

Death

Tremblay died on September 26, 2020 from cancer.

Electoral record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tremblay, Suzanne 1937 births 2020 deaths 20th-century Canadian politicians 20th-century Canadian women politicians 21st-century Canadian politicians 21st-century Canadian women politicians Alumni of the University of London Bloc Québécois MPs Deaths from cancer in Quebec French Quebecers Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Quebec Politicians from Montreal Women in Quebec politics Women members of the House of Commons of Canada