Pierre Lemieux
This article is about the Canadian politician. For the economist and writer, see
Pierre Lemieux (economist).
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 April 9, 1963 (age 54)
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
politician in
Ontario,
Canada. He served as the
Member of Parliamentfor 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 deputy government whip as well as parliamentary secretary to the Ministers of Official Languages, Agriculture, and Veterans Affairs. In 2016 he declared his candidacy for
leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada.
Contents
BackgroundEdit
Lemieux was born in
Embrun, Ontario. He has a
Bachelor of
Mechanical Engineeringand a
Master's 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.
PoliticsEdit
Party Leadership BidEdit
In August 2016 Lemieux declared his candidacy for the
2017 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election.
[1]
His campaign has generally focused on social conservative issues and increased personal liberties including reducing the size and influence of government. This has included a proposed review of firearms laws,
[2] term limits and Parliamentary votes for
Supreme Court judges,
[3] and opposition to a
carbon tax.
[4] He also favours increased government powers for face-to-face immigration screening to combat "
Radical Islamic Terrorism", though opposes a controversial "Canadian values" screening test proposed by another Conservative leadership candidate,
Kellie Leitch, on the grounds that "terrorists won’t share their true values with [Canada's] immigration officials".
[5]
In-line with many other Conservative Party leadership contenders, Lemieux has stated that he strongly supports
Israel and its right to self defence.
[6][7]
Lemieux has been critical of other conservative politicians in Canada that he believes are helping make the country more liberal through their support of socially liberal legislative initiatives such as private member's Bill C-309, which seeks to establish a gender awareness week.
[8] Lemieux has stated that he believes such moves make these politicians "liberal-light" rather than conservative and has called on social conservatives to "not be taken for granted" by more liberal elements of federal and provincial conservative parties.
[9][10]
His policies have been supported by the
pro-life advocacy group
Campaign Life Coalitionas well as University of Toronto Professor
Jordan Peterson.
[11][12]
Social Views: Abortion, Marriage, Conscience RightsEdit
Lemieux has stated that he personally believes in the "inherent dignity of human life from the moment of conception through to natural death...we need to discuss and debate life issues in an open and respectful way, both within society and within Parliament."
[13] He has also stated that he personally believes in the traditional definition of
marriage as the union between one man and one woman.
[14]
In his leadership campaign Lemiuex has committed to end sex-selective abortion
[15] and divert funds that support international abortion services to Canada's military with a mind to meeting Canada's
NATO commitments on defence spending.
[16] He has also been a proponent of protecting
medical conscience rights particularly during considerations of
physician assisted suicide.
[17]
Campaign Life Coalition, a pro-life advocacy group, rated Lemieux as a "pro-life, pro-family" Member of Parliament.
[18] During his time as a Member of Parliament he voted in favour of
Stephen Woodworth's
M-312, which sought to create a Parliamentary Committee that would 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. He also spoke and voted in favour of
Mark Warawa's M-408, which asked that Parliament ban
sex-selective abortions.
[19]
Free Speech & ExpressionEdit
Lemieux has been a vocal critic of restrictions on freedom of speech and expression. He opposes
federal legislation that proposes to add "gender expression" and "gender identify" as defining factors for discrimination in the Criminal Code and Canadian Human Rights Act on the grounds that it negatively impacts free speech. Such negative impacts were noted as including the forced use of
gender neutral pronouns when addressing members of the
LGBT community, for which some in that community have noted their opposition to his campaign.
[20] He has also proposed to empower Parliament to review all speech laws to ensure they properly balance freedom of speech and reasonable limits. These stances have gained the support of controversial University of Toronto Professor
Jordan Peterson, whom he has met on a number of occasions.
[21]
He has also voiced strong opposition to M-103, a Parliamentary Motion of Liberal Member of Parliament
Iqra Khalid, which condemns religious discrimination and makes particular note of
Islamophobia in its preposition.
[22][23]
Electoral historyEdit
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. 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
Stephen Harper's Conservative government with
Justin Trudeau's Liberals.
ReferencesEdit
- ^ Fekete, Jason (August 22, 2016). "Defeated MP Pierre Lemieux to join Conservative leadership race, trumpeting social conservative views". National Post. RetrievedAugust 24, 2016.
- ^ Summers, CJ (2016-12-19). "Meeting the Leadership Candidates: Guns and Politics - Pierre Lemieux". Calibre Magazine. Retrieved 2017-02-19.
- ^ "The Supreme Court Must Change". Campaign Email to Supporters. 2017-01-05.
- ^ "No Carbon Tax". Campaign Email to Supporters. 2017-01-12.
- ^ "Radical Islamic Terrorism". Campaign Email to Supporters. 2017-01-20.
- ^ Csillag, Ron (2017-01-20). "'NO LIGHT BETWEEN HARPER'S COMMITMENT TO ISRAEL AND [MINE]': KELLIE LEITCH". cjnews. Retrieved 2017-02-19.
- ^ "Policy - Pierre Lemieux". Pierre Lemieux Campaign Website. 2017-01-20.
- ^ "C-309 An Act to establish Gender Equality Week". Parliament of Canada. 2017-01-20.
- ^ "Conservative or "Liberal-Light"?". Campaign Email to Supporters. 2017-02-06.
- ^ "Don't Be Taken For Granted". Campaign Email to Supporters. 2016-12-16.
- ^ "Anti-abortion group endorses 'pro-life' Conservative leadership candidates Brad Trost and Pierre Lemieux". National Post. Retrieved September 3, 2016.
- ^ "Free Our Speech". Campaign Email to Supporters. 2017-01-23.
- ^ "Policy - Pierre Lemieux". Pierre Lemieux Campaign Website. 2017-01-20.
- ^ Fekete, Jason (August 22, 2016). "Defeated MP Pierre Lemieux to join Conservative leadership race, trumpeting social conservative views". National Post. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
- ^ "Pierre Lemieux Vows Action Against Sex-Selective Abortion". Huffington Post. 2016-12-11. Retrieved 2017-02-18.
- ^ "Canada's One Percent". Campaign Email to Supporters. 2017-02-04.
- ^ "Devastating Statistics". Campaign Email to Supporters. 2017-01-15.
- ^ "Voting Records - MP Pierre Lemieux". Campaign Life Coalition. Retrieved2014-12-30.
- ^ I Support M-408, Pierre Lemieux on YouTube
- ^ McSheffrey, Elizabeth (2017-01-25). "Tory outed as "transphobic" for platform "run on hate"". National Observer. Retrieved 2017-02-19.
- ^ "Free Our Speech". Campaign Email to Supporters. 2017-01-23.
- ^ "Weekend Roundup – M-103". Campaign Email to Supporters. 2017-02-11.
- ^ "Iqra Khalid - Private Members' Motions - Current Session". Parliament of Canada.
External linksEdit
