Pierre Lemieux

Pierre Lemieux (born April 9, 1963) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He served as the Member of Parliament 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 deputy government whip as well as parliamentary secretary to the Ministers of Official Languages, Agriculture, and Veterans Affairs. He was a candidate for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada in 2017.

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	(1963-04-09) April 9, 1963 Embrun, Ontario
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Audrey Lemieux
Residence	Casselman, Ontario
Profession	consultant, mechanical engineer

Background

Lemieux was born in Embrun, Ontario. He has a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering and a Master's of Science from the Royal Military College of Canada. He has been a Professional Engineer since 1994.

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

Party leadership bid

In August 2016, Lemieux declared his candidacy for the 2017 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election.[1] Lemieux's campaign manager was Steve Outhouse, a former Parliament Hill staffer.[2]

His campaign generally focused on social conservative issues and increased personal liberties, including reducing the size and influence of government. This included a proposed review of firearms laws,[3] term limits and Parliamentary votes for Supreme Court judges,[4] and opposition to a carbon tax.[5] 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".[6]

In-line with many other Conservative Party leadership contenders, Lemieux has stated that he strongly supports Israel and its right to self-defence.[7][8]

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.[9] 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.[10][11]

His policies have been supported by the anti-abortion advocacy group Campaign Life Coalition as well as University of Toronto Professor Jordan Peterson.[12][13]

Social views: abortion, marriage, conscience rights

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."[14] He has also stated that he personally believes in the traditional definition of marriage as the union between one man and one woman.[15]

In his leadership campaign, Lemieux committed to end sex-selective abortion[16] and divert funds that support international abortion services to Canada's military with a mind to meeting Canada's NATO commitments on defence spending.[17] He has also been a proponent of protecting medical conscience rights particularly during considerations of physician assisted suicide.[18]

Campaign Life Coalition, a pro-life advocacy group, rated Lemieux as a "pro-life, pro-family" Member of Parliament.[19] 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.[20]

Free speech & expression

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.[21] 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.[22]

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.[23][24]

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. 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.

Lemieux ran again in the 2019 Canadian federal election[25] but was defeated, again by Francis Drouin, though by a smaller vote margin than in 2015.

Electoral record

2019 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Francis Drouin	31,293	47.56	-5.72
	Conservative	Pierre Lemieux	23,660	35.96	-0.45
	New Democratic	Konstantine Malakos	6,851	10.41	+2.48
	Green	Marthe Lépine	2,113	3.21	+1.41
	People's	Jean-Jacques Desgranges	1,174	1.78
	Libertarian	Darcy Neal Donnelly	262	0.4	-0.19
	Independent	Daniel John Fey	239	0.4
	Rhinoceros	Marc-Antoine Gagnier	199	0.3
Total valid votes/Expense limit			65,791	100.0
Total rejected ballots			645
Turnout			66,436	72.21
Eligible voters			92,007
Source: Elections Canada[26][27] The Green Party of Canada dropped Marthe Lépine for her anti-abortion views; she ran as an independent instead.[28]

2015 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Francis Drouin	34,189	53.28	+22.68	$114,201.86
	Conservative	Pierre Lemieux	23,367	36.41	-12.40	$131,909.88
	New Democratic	Normand Laurin	5,087	7.93	-8.74	$4,769.31
	Green	Genevieve Malouin-Diraddo	1,153	1.80	-1.78	$156.86
	Libertarian	Jean-Serge Brisson	377	0.59	+0.25	–
Total valid votes/Expense limit			64,173	100.00		$223,399.99
Total rejected ballots			399	0.62	–
Turnout			64,572	75.62	–
Eligible voters			85,388
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing		+17.54
Source: Elections Canada[29][30]

2011 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Pierre Lemieux	28,174	48.80	+1.50	–
	Liberal	Julie Bourgeois	17,705	30.67	-6.19	–
	New Democratic	Denis Séguin	9,608	16.64	+6.18	–
	Green	Sylvie Lemieux	2,049	3.55	-1.81	–
	Libertarian	Jean-Serge Brisson	194	0.34	–	–
Total valid votes/Expense limit			57,730	100.00		–
Total rejected ballots			304	0.52	–
Turnout			58,034	68.80	–
Eligible voters			84,347	–	–

2008 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Pierre Lemieux	25,659	47.30	+5.75	$80,105
	Liberal	Dan Boudria	19,997	36.86	-4.33	$71,845
	New Democratic	Jean-Sébastien Caron	5,674	10.46	-2.28	$2,043
	Green	Sylvie Lemieux	2,908	5.36	+0.86	$5,306
Total valid votes/Expense limit			54,238	100.00		$85,679

2006 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Pierre Lemieux	22,990	41.55	+4.1
	Liberal	René Berthiaume	22,787	41.19	-6.7
	New Democratic	Jo-Ann Fennessey	7,049	12.74	+4.3
	Green	Bonnie Jean-Louis	2,494	4.50	-0.8
Total valid votes			55,320	100.0

References

1. Fekete, Jason (August 22, 2016). "Defeated MP Pierre Lemieux to join Conservative leadership race, trumpeting social conservative views". National Post. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
2. "Ex-Hill staffers running Lemieux's leadership campaign - The Hill Times". The Hill Times. 2017-04-26. Retrieved 2018-05-04.
3. Summers, CJ (2016-12-19). "Meeting the Leadership Candidates: Guns and Politics - Pierre Lemieux". Calibre Magazine. Retrieved 2017-02-19.
4. "The Supreme Court Must Change". Campaign Email to Supporters. 2017-01-05.
5. "No Carbon Tax". Campaign Email to Supporters. 2017-01-12.
6. "Radical Islamic Terrorism". Campaign Email to Supporters. 2017-01-20.
7. Csillag, Ron (2017-01-20). "'NO LIGHT BETWEEN HARPER'S COMMITMENT TO ISRAEL AND [MINE]': KELLIE LEITCH". cjnews. Retrieved 2017-02-19.
8. "Policy - Pierre Lemieux". Pierre Lemieux Campaign Website. 2017-01-20. Archived from the original on 2017-02-20. Retrieved 2017-02-19.
9. "C-309 An Act to establish Gender Equality Week". Parliament of Canada. 2017-01-20.
10. "Conservative or "Liberal-Light"?". Campaign Email to Supporters. 2017-02-06.
11. "Don't Be Taken For Granted". Campaign Email to Supporters. 2016-12-16.
12. "Anti-abortion group endorses 'pro-life' Conservative leadership candidates Brad Trost and Pierre Lemieux". National Post. Retrieved September 3, 2016.
13. "Free Our Speech". Campaign Email to Supporters. 2017-01-23.
14. "Policy - Pierre Lemieux". Pierre Lemieux Campaign Website. 2017-01-20. Archived from the original on 2017-02-20. Retrieved 2017-02-19.
15. Fekete, Jason (August 22, 2016). "Defeated MP Pierre Lemieux to join Conservative leadership race, trumpeting social conservative views". National Post. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
16. "Pierre Lemieux Vows Action Against Sex-Selective Abortion". Huffington Post. 2016-12-11. Retrieved 2017-02-18.
17. "Canada's One Percent". Campaign Email to Supporters. 2017-02-04.
18. "Devastating Statistics". Campaign Email to Supporters. 2017-01-15.
19. "Voting Records - MP Pierre Lemieux". Campaign Life Coalition. Retrieved 2014-12-30.
20. I Support M-408, Pierre Lemieux on YouTube
21. McSheffrey, Elizabeth (2017-01-25). "Tory outed as "transphobic" for platform "run on hate"". National Observer. Retrieved 2017-02-19.
22. "Free Our Speech". Campaign Email to Supporters. 2017-01-23.
23. "Weekend Roundup – M-103". Campaign Email to Supporters. 2017-02-11.
24. "Iqra Khalid - Private Members' Motions - Current Session". Parliament of Canada.
25. Morgan, James (8 October 2018). "Pierre Lemieux aims for return to Parliament, criticizes Liberals on trade and taxes". The Review Newspaper. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
26. "List of confirmed candidates". Elections Canada. Retrieved October 3, 2019.
27. "Election Night Results". Elections Canada. Retrieved October 31, 2019.
28. Tunney, Catharine (October 7, 2019). "Green Party drops anti-abortion candidate in Ontario riding". CBC News. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
29. Elections Canada – Confirmed candidates for Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, 30 September 2015
30. Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates Archived August 15, 2015, at the Wayback Machine

External links

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