View source for Joseph-Goderic Blanchet

{{Short description|Canadian politician}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=March 2022}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = 
| name             = Joseph-Goderic Blanchet
| honorific-suffix = 
| image            = JosephGodricBlanchet23.jpg
| caption          = Blanchet in March 1879
| office           = 3rd [[Speaker of the House of Commons (Canada)|Speaker of the House of Commons]]
| predecessor      = [[Timothy Warren Anglin]]
| successor        = [[George Airey Kirkpatrick]]
| term_start       = February 13, 1879
| term_end         = February 7, 1883
| office1          = 1st [[President of the National Assembly of Quebec|Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec]]
| predecessor1     = ''Position established''
| successor1       = [[Pierre Fortin]]
| term_start1      = 1867
| term_end1        = 1875
| office2          = Member of the [[Parliament of Canada|Canadian Parliament]] for [[Lévis (federal electoral district)|Lévis]]
| predecessor2     = ''Position established''
| successor2       = [[Louis-Honoré Fréchette]]
| term_start2      = 1867
| term_end2        = 1874
| predecessor3     = [[Louis-Honoré Fréchette]]
| successor3       = [[Isidore-Noël Belleau]]
| term_start3      = 1878
| term_end3        = 1883
| office4          = Member of the [[Parliament of Canada|Canadian Parliament]] for [[Bellechasse (federal electoral district)|Bellechasse]]
| predecessor4     = [[Télesphore Fournier]]
| successor4       = [[Achille Larue]]
| term_start4      = 1875
| term_end4        = 1878
| office5          = Member of the [[Legislative Assembly of Quebec]] for [[Lévis (provincial electoral district)|Lévis]]
| term_start5      = 1867
| term_end5        = 1875
| predecessor5     = ''Position established''
| successor5       = [[Étienne-Théodore Pâquet]]
| office6          = Member of the [[Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada]] from Lévis
| predecessor6     = [[François-Xavier Lemieux]]
| successor6       = ''Legislature abolished''
| term_start6      = 1861
| term_end6        = 1866
| birth_date       = {{Birth date|1829|06|07}}
| birth_place      = [[Saint-Pierre-de-la-Rivière-du-Sud, Quebec|Saint-Pierre-de-la-Rivière-du-Sud]], [[Lower Canada]]
| death_date       = {{death date and age|1890|01|01|1829|06|07}}
| death_place      = 
| nationality      = 
| spouse           = 
| party            = [[Liberal-Conservative]]<br />[[Conservative Party of Canada (historic)|Conservative]]<br />[[Conservative Party of Quebec (historical)|Conservative Party of Quebec]]
| relatives        = 
| children         = 
| residence        = 
| alma_mater       = 
| occupation       = Physician
| profession       = 
}}

'''Joseph-Goderic Blanchet'''  (or '''Joseph-Godric'''; June 7, 1829 – January 1, 1890) was a [[Canadians|Canadian]] physician and politician. He was the only person to serve as both [[Speaker of the House of Commons (Canada)|speaker of the House of Commons]] and [[Speaker (politics)|speaker]] of a provincial [[legislature]]. He represented [[Lévis (federal electoral district)|Lévis]] in the [[House of Commons of Canada|House of Commons]] as a [[Liberal-Conservative]] member from 1867 to 1873 and from 1879 to 1883; he represented [[Bellechasse (federal electoral district)|Bellechasse]] from 1875 to 1878. He also represented [[Lévis (provincial electoral district)|Lévis]] in the [[Legislative Assembly of Quebec]] from 1867 to 1875.

== Biography ==
He was born in [[Saint-Pierre-de-la-Rivière-du-Sud, Quebec|Saint-Pierre-de-la-Rivière-du-Sud]], [[Lower Canada]] in 1825. He studied at the [[Petit Séminaire de Québec]] and [[Collège de Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière]]. He then studied medicine with his uncle [[Jean Blanchet (physician)|Jean Blanchet]] and qualified as a doctor in 1850. A popular [[physician]], Blanchet entered politics with his election as [[mayor]] of Notre-Dame-de-la-Victoire, now part of [[Lévis, Quebec|Lévis]] [[Quebec]] (then [[Canada East]]) in 1845 at the age of 25. With the [[Province of Canada]] on military alert due to the [[American Civil War]], Blanchet joined the [[militia]] and raised a battalion to defend the frontier against raids from the [[United States]]. During the [[Fenian Raid]]s of 1866 and 1870, he was in command of the militia on the south shore of the [[St. Lawrence River]].

Blanchet was a [[Conservative Party of Canada (historical)|Conservative]] and first ran for election to the [[Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada|Legislative Assembly]] in 1857 but was defeated. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly for Lévis in 1861 and 1863. He supported [[Canadian Confederation]] as a means of defending [[British North America]] against possible attack by the [[United States]].

He was concurrently elected in the [[1867 Canadian federal election|1867 federal election]] to the new [[House of Commons of Canada|House of Commons]] and to the [[Quebec National Assembly|Quebec Legislative Assembly]]. Under the law of the day, he was allowed to be a member of both legislatures at the same time.

He became Speaker of the provincial legislature and served in that position for two terms.

In the federal House of Commons, Blanchet was appointed by [[John A. Macdonald]] to the parliamentary committee to investigate allegations related to the [[Pacific Scandal]] in 1873.<ref>{{cite book |last = Creighton |first = Donald |author-link1=Donald Creighton |year = 1955 |title = John A. Macdonald: The Old Chieftain, Vol 2: 1867–1891 |publisher = The Macmillan Company of Canada Limited |location = Toronto |url = https://archive.org/details/johnamacdonaldol0000unse |url-access = registration |isbn = 978-0-8020-7164-4 |page=154}}</ref>

The federal election law was changed in 1874 to prohibit [[Member of Parliament (Canada)|members of Parliament]] (MPs) from concurrently sitting in a provincial legislature. Blanchet chose to resign his seat in the federal House of Commons. After losing his seat in the Quebec legislature to the much younger [[Étienne-Théodore Pâquet]] in the [[1875 Quebec general election|1875 Quebec provincial election]], he won a federal [[by-election]] in 1875 and returned to Ottawa as MP for Bellechasse. In the [[1878 Canadian federal election|1878 federal election]], he ran in his old riding of Lévis. The election returned the Conservatives to power, and Macdonald nominated Blanchet to be [[Speaker of the House of Commons (Canada)|speaker of the House of Commons]].

Due to the tradition of alternating between English and French Speakers after each election, he returned to the [[backbench]]es following the [[1882 Canadian federal election|1882 election]] despite a successful term as Speaker. In 1883, he resigned from Parliament in order to accept a position as Collector of Customs for the [[Port of Quebec]] and served in that position until his death at Lévis in 1890 at the age of 60. He was buried in the crypt of Notre-Dame Church of Lévis.

== Electoral record ==
{{1867 Canadian federal election/Lévis}}
{{1872 Canadian federal election/Lévis}}
{{CanElec1-by|23 November 1875|Fournier appointed to the Supreme Court Bench}}
{{CANelec|CA|Conservative (historical)|[[Joseph Goderic Blanchet]]|698}}
{{CANelec|CA|Liberal|[[Achille Larue]]|443}}
{{CANelec|XX|Unknown|Pierre Boutin|359}}
{{end}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

* {{DictCanbio|ID=5379}}
* {{Canadian Parliament links|ID=8032}}
* {{Quebec MNA biography|blanchet-joseph-godric-2133}}

{{Speakers of the Canadian House of Commons}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blanchet, Joseph-Goderic}}
[[Category:1829 births]]
[[Category:1890 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century Canadian physicians]]
[[Category:People of the Fenian raids]]
[[Category:Conservative Party of Quebec MNAs]]
[[Category:Conservative Party of Canada (1867–1942) MPs]]
[[Category:19th-century mayors of places in Quebec]]
[[Category:Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Quebec]]
[[Category:Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada from Canada East]]
[[Category:Speakers of the House of Commons of Canada]]
[[Category:Presidents of the National Assembly of Quebec]]
[[Category:19th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada]]
[[Category:19th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec]]