Denis Coderre
Denis Coderre | |
|---|---|
| Member of Parliament for Bourassa | |
| Assumed office 1997 | |
| Preceded by | Osvaldo Nunez |
| Personal details | |
| Born | July 25, 1963 Joliette, Quebec |
| Political party | Liberal |
| Spouse | Chantale Renaud |
| Residence(s) | Montreal, Quebec |
| Profession | Insurance broker, public relations officer, announcer |
Denis Coderre, PC, MP (born July 25, 1963 in Joliette, Quebec) is a Canadian politician.
Background
Born and raised in Joliette, Quebec, Coderre is a political science graduate from the Université de Montréal and completed a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from University of Ottawa. His wife Chantale Renaud and he have two children, Geneviève and Alexandre.
Unsuccessful Liberal candidate
Coderre ran unsuccessfully three times prior to being elected: first, in the 1988 elections in the riding of Joliette, losing to the Progressive Conservative Party candidate, Gaby Larrivée; second, in a 1990 by-election in the riding of Laurier—Sainte-Marie, losing to Gilles Duceppe; and third, in the 1993 elections in the riding of Bourassa, defeated by the Bloc Québécois candidate, Osvaldo Núñez.
Member of Parliament
He was finally elected as a Member of Parliament in 1997 representing the riding of Bourassa, located in Montreal and was re-elected in the November 2000 election.
Cabinet Member
Coderre entered cabinet in August 1999 when he was appointed Secretary of State for Amateur Sport. In January 2002, was appointed Immigration minister.
On December 12, 2003, Prime Minister Paul Martin advised Governor General Adrienne Clarkson to appoint Coderre to the Cabinet as President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada where he was responsible for a number of files, such as the creation of the new Public Service Human Resources Management Agency. He was also the Federal Interlocutor for Metis and Non-Status Indians, the Minister responsible for La Francophonie and the Minister responsible for the Office of Indian Residential Schools Resolution. Coderre was not re-appointed to Cabinet following the 2004 general election, in which he was re-elected in his riding.
As Minister of Immigration, Coderre supervised the application of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, which came into effect on June 28, 2002. As Secretary of State for Amateur Sport, Coderre successfully negotiated a number of national and international agreements and helped to establish the World Anti-Doping Agency in Montreal.
The Shane Doan incident
During the 2006 election, Coderre accused National Hockey League player Shane Doan of uttering ethnic slurs directed against french-speaking referees at a game in Montreal. Doan was given a gross misconduct penalty for verbal abuse of the officials at the end of the December 13, 2005 game between his team, the Phoenix Coyotes, and the Montreal Canadiens. Referees and linesmen for the game were all francophones from Quebec.
Coderre wrote a letter to the Canadian Olympic Committee asking them to keep Doan off Canada's 2006 hockey team competing at the Olympics in Turin, Italy. Although one of the linesmen, Michel Cormier, filed a report against the player, Doan was cleared by NHL Executive Vice-President Colin Campbell, who is the league's disciplinarian.
In January 2006, Doan sued the politician for character defamation seeking $250,000 in damages with Doan promising to donate all damages awarded to charities to benefit Canadians. On April 2, 2007 Coderre counter-sued Doan for defamation seeking $45,000 in damages after Linesman Michel Cormier reiterated under oath that Doan made a racist comment against him as a Francophone. (Cormier took the time earlier in the game to go to the Phoenix bench warning the hockey team that he "won't tolerate any racist comment against him like Ladislav Nagy just made".)
Opposition Member
Even though Coderre won re-election to the House of Commons in 2006, the Liberals lost the election. The defeat prevented him from being part of the cabinet.
Liberal Leadership
In May 2006, Coderre announced he would not seek the leadership of the Liberal Party. He said the timing was off for a leadership bid because the next leader of the party would likely be from Ontario. He endorsed Michael Ignatieff for leader. This prediction turned out to be wrong, when Stéphane Dion, a Quebecker, won the leadership. He became National Co-Chair of the Michael Ignatieff Campaign for the Liberal leadership.
Trip to Afghanistan
In October 2007, Coderre made a self-planned visit to Afghanistan to visit the war-torn country and the Canadian Forces in the Kandahar region. He criticized the Harper government - who did not invite him on an official tour of the country that was made by Ministers Bev Oda and Maxime Bernier a few days before him - and consequently, Coderre, who was the Liberal defense critic, had to travel by himself on his own expense, mentioned that the mission in Afghanistan must change in 2009. The government had accused him of staging a stunt while Coderre fired back that the Conservatives overestimated the success of the mission.[1]
Quebec lieutenant
On January 22, 2009, Coderre became Quebec lieutenant of Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff. He had been offered the same assignment by former leader Stéphane Dion, but had declined the offer. [2]
Other activities
Coderre currently co-hosts Bazzo.tv's web segment Ma vie culturelle avec Denis C. with Marie-France Bazzo. [3]
References
External links
- Official site
- How'd They Vote?: Denis Coderre's voting history and quotes
- Political Biography from the Library of Parliament