Pierre Lemieux

Pierre Lemieux
Member of Parliament for Glengarry—Prescott—Russell
In office January 23, 2006 – October 19, 2015
Preceded by	Don Boudria
Succeeded by	Francis Drouin
Personal details
Born	(1963-04-09) April 9, 1963 Embrun, Ontario
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Audrey Lemieux
Residence	Casselman, Ontario
Profession	consultant, mechanical engineer
Religion	Roman Catholic

Pierre Lemieux (born April 9, 1963) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was the MP for the riding of Glengarry—Prescott—Russell from 2006 to 2015, first elected in Canada's 39th general election and defeated in the 42nd. He represented the Conservative Party of Canada. While in office, he served as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs, Erin O'Toole. He has declared his candidacy for the next Conservative Party of Canada leadership election in 2017.

Background

Lemieux was born in Embrun, Ontario. He has a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering and a Masters of Science from the Royal Military College of Canada. He has been a Professional Engineer since 1994 and is a certified Project Management Professional.

Lemieux served in the Canadian Forces for 20 years and retired at the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. He then worked for a number of years in the Ottawa high tech sector, most notably for JDS Uniphase. He then started his own company, offering project management and consulting services to government departments and charitable organizations.

Politics

Electoral history

Lemieux was first elected in the 2006 Canadian federal election that brought Stephen Harper's Conservatives into Government. Lemieux narrowly defeated Liberal René Berthiaume, becoming the Conservative MP for Glengarry—Prescott—Russell. It had been one of the longest held Liberal ridings in Eastern Ontario. The results were not entirely unexpected, however, as the region as a whole has been trending toward the Conservatives in recent years at the federal level. Lemieux improved his election results with larger margins of victory in 2008 and 2011.

In 2015, Lemieux was defeated by Liberal Francis Drouin by over 10 000 votes, in an election that replaced Harper's Conservative government with Justin Trudeau's Liberals.

Parliamentary roles

In October 2007 Lemieux was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Official Languages and Deputy Government Whip.^[1] In November 2008 he was replaced as Parliamentary Secretary for Official Languages by Manitoba Member of Parliament Shelly Glover^[2] and became Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Gerry Ritz. On January 23, 2015, Lemieux was moved from Agriculture to Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs, Erin O'Toole.^[3]

Party leadership election

In August 2016 Lemieux declared his candidacy for the 2017 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election, highlighting his social conservative views, in particular opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage (see below).^[4] His candidacy has been endorsed by pro-life advocacy group Campaign Life Coalition.^[5]

Views on abortion and marriage

Lemieux is a social conservative. Campaign Life Coalition, a pro-life advocacy group, rates Lemieux as a "pro-life, pro-family" Member of Parliament.^[6] He voted in favour of Stephen Woodworth's Motion 312, which would have made Parliament study whether a child in the womb is a human being. He also voted against Bill C-279 (known as "The Bathroom Bill"), which would have allowed transgender individuals to use washrooms based on their gender identity. Furthermore, he spoke in favour of Mark Warawa's Motion 408, which asked that Parliament ban sex-selective abortions.^[7] Finally, in August 2014 Lemieux awarded certificates from his office to participants in the Crossroads Pro-Life Walk, an annual pro-life activism event.^[8]

References

External links

• Pierre Lemieux
• Glengarry-Prescott-Russell Conservative Party Riding Association
• Pierre Lemieux – Parliament of Canada biography