Martin Cauchon

The Honourable Martin Cauchon
Member of Parliament for Outremont
In office 1993–2004
Preceded by	Jean-Pierre Hogue
Succeeded by	Jean Lapierre
Minister of Justice
In office January 15, 2002 – December 11, 2003
Prime Minister	Jean Chrétien
Preceded by	Anne McLellan
Succeeded by	Irwin Cotler
Personal details
Born	August 23, 1962 (age 49) La Malbaie, Quebec
Political party	Liberal Party of Canada
Profession	Lawyer
Religion	Roman Catholic

Martin Cauchon, PC (born August 23, 1962) is a Canadian lawyer and politician. He is a former Liberal Cabinet Minister.

Cauchon was born in La Malbaie, Quebec and studied law at the University of Ottawa and the University of Exeter. He has worked as a lawyer from 1985 to 1993, and since 2004.

Federal politics

He first entered politics when he ran against Prime Minister Brian Mulroney in the riding of Charlevoix in the 1988 election, and was defeated. He first won a seat in the Canadian House of Commons in the 1993 election in the riding of Outremont in Montreal, and was re-elected in the 1997 and 2000 elections.

Cauchon was appointed Secretary of State for the Federal Office of Regional Development - Quebec by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien in 1996. He became a full cabinet minister in 1999 when he was given the position of Minister of National Revenue. On January 15, 2002, he became Minister of Justice and Quebec lieutenant. As justice minister, Cauchon argued in cabinet in favour of same-sex marriage and the decriminalization of marijuana (indeed, when asked whether he had used marijuana in the past, he responded "Yes, of course").^[1]

Cauchon was a Chrétien loyalist and opposed Paul Martin's attempt to force Chrétien to retire. When Chrétien announced his resignation, Cauchon was touted as a possible candidate to succeed him but did not end up running in the 2003 leadership election. Cauchon refused to back Martin's leadership bid, and supported John Manley instead. Cauchon was not included in Martin's first cabinet.

Cauchon did not run for re-election in the 2004 election. It was reported he was seeking out Chrétien loyalists^{[citation needed]}, many of whom were outcast when Paul Martin became leader of the party, and rallying them for a possible leadership bid in the 2006 Liberal leadership election. However, he decided not to run, and instead supported Bob Rae. He has made no secret of the fact that he still covets the leadership, however. He is currently special counsel to the law firm of Gowling, Lafleur and Henderson. He works in Montreal.

However, Cauchon has signalled his intentions to run again for the Liberals in the next election in the riding of Outremont. Current Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff's Quebec Lieutenant and longtime Cauchon rival Denis Coderre opposed Cauchon's return, and instead decided to appoint prominent businesswoman Nathalie le Prohon in the riding. However, amid speculation that Coderre only wanted to thwart Cauchon's comeback because he saw him as a future leadership rival, internal party pressure, notably from Bob Rae and Jean Chrétien, prompted Ignatieff to open the nomination to Cauchon. The fallout from this decision led to Coderre's resignation as Quebec Lieutenant and Liberal Defense Critic, saying he no longer had the "moral authority" to continue. Le Prohon was to run in the Montreal riding of Jeanne-Le Ber but this did not happen. In the May 2011 federal election, Cauchon lost badly to Thomas Mulcair of the NDP, who has held the riding since 2007.

References

Electoral record

Canadian federal election, 2011
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	New Democrat	Thomas Mulcair	21,906	56.37	+16.84
	Liberal	Martin Cauchon	9,204	23.69	-9.39
	Conservative	Rodolphe Husny	3,408	8.77	-1.76
	Bloc Québécois	Élise Daoust	3,199	8.23	-4.32
	Green	François Pilon	838	2.16	-2.15
	Rhinoceros	Tommy Gaudet	160	0.41	-
	Communist	Johan Boyden	143	0.37	-
Total valid votes/Expense limit	38,858	100.00
Total rejected ballots	291	0.74	+0.05
Turnout	39,149	60.46	+4.35

Canadian federal election, 2000
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Martin Cauchon	18,796	47.68	-2.47
	Bloc Québécois	Amir Khadir	11,151	28.29	-0.10
	Progressive Conservative	Robert Archambault	3,190	8.09	-4.12
	New Democrat	Peter Graefe	2,199	5.58	-0.86
	Green	Jan Schotte	1,478	3.75	-
	Canadian Alliance	Josée Duchesneau	1,283	3.25	-
	Marijuana	Huguette Plourde	1,013	2.57	-
	Marxist–Leninist	Louise Charron	194	0.49	-0.36
	Communist	Pierre Smith	118	0.30	-
Total	39,422	100.00

Canadian federal election, 1997
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Martin Cauchon	22,271	50.15	+3.34
	Bloc Québécois	Michel Sarra-Bournet	12,608	28.39	-8.98
	Progressive Conservative	Marguerite Sicard	5,424	12.21	+3.30
	New Democrat	Tooker Gomberg	2,862	6.44	+1.89
	Natural Law	Denis Cauchon	868	1.95	+0.45
	Marxist–Leninist	Louise Charron	378	0.85	+0.46
Total	44,411	100.00

Canadian federal election, 1993
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Martin Cauchon	21,638	46.81	+12.10
	Bloc Québécois	Jean-Louis Hérivault	17,274	37.37	-
	Progressive Conservative	Jean Pierre Hogue	4,119	8.91	-29.52
	New Democrat	Catherine Kallos	2,104	4.55	-15.93
	Natural Law	Daniel Bergeron	694	1.50	-
	Marxist–Leninist	Michel Rocheleau	179	0.39	-
	Abolitionist	Sylvain M. Coulombe	131	0.28	-
	Commonwealth	Mamunor Rashid	89	0.19	-0.07
Total	46,228	100.00

External links

• Martin Cauchon - Parliament of Canada biography

26th Ministry – Cabinet of Jean Chrétien
Cabinet Posts (2)
Predecessor	Office	Successor
Anne McLellan	Minister of Justice 2002–2003	Irwin Cotler
Herb Dhaliwal	Minister of National Revenue 1999–2002	Elinor Caplan
Sub-Cabinet Post
Predecessor	Title	Successor
Paul Martin	Secretary of State (Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec) (1996–2002) (NB: "Secretary of State (Federal Office of Regional Development - Quebec)" before 1998)	Claude Drouin