View source for Michael Fortier

{{Short description|Canadian politician}}
{{about|the Canadian politician|the Oklahoma City bombing informant|Oklahoma City bombing#Michael and Lori Fortier{{!}}Michael and Lori Fortier}}
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{{Infobox officeholder 
| honorific-prefix = [[The Honourable]]
| name             = Michael Fortier
| honorific-suffix = [[Queen's Privy Council for Canada|PC]]
| image            = Michael Fortier.jpg
| imagesize        = 200px
| caption          = Michael Fortier in 2010
| office1           = [[Minister of International Trade]]
| term_start1       = June 25, 2008
| term_end1         = October 29, 2008
| successor1        = [[Stockwell Day]]
| predecessor1      = [[David Emerson]]
| office2           = [[Minister of Public Services and Procurement|Minister of Public Works and Government Services]]
| term_start2       = February 6, 2006
| term_end2         = June 25, 2008
| successor2        = [[Christian Paradis]]
| predecessor2      = [[Scott Brison]]
| office3           = [[Senate of Canada|Senator]] from [[Quebec]] ([[List of Quebec senators#Rougemont|Rougemont]])
| term_start3       = February 27, 2006
| term_end3         = September 8, 2008
| successor3        = [[Suzanne Fortin-Duplessis]]
| predecessor3      = [[Shirley Maheu]]
| appointer3        = [[Stephen Harper]]
| birth_date       = {{birth date and age|1962|01|10}}
| birth_place      =
| party            = [[Conservative Party of Canada|Conservative]]
| portfolio        =
| profession       = [[Financier]], [[lawyer]]
| spouse           = [[Michelle Setlakwe]]
| residence        =
| footnotes        =
}}

'''Michael M. Fortier''', {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|PC}} (born January 10, 1962) is a [[Canadians|Canadian]] financier, lawyer and former politician. A member of the [[Conservative Party of Canada|Conservative Party]], he served as [[Minister of Public Services and Procurement|Minister of Public Works and Government Services]] from 2006 to 2008, and [[Minister of International Trade]] in 2008 under Prime Minister [[Stephen Harper]]. Fortier served in [[Cabinet of Canada]] while a [[Senate of Canada|Senator]], which proved controversial. In 2008, he resigned from the Senate to run for a seat in the [[House of Commons of Canada|House of Commons]] in the [[2008 Canadian federal election|2008 election]];<ref name="September 8, 2008">[https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/fortier-resigns-from-senate-to-run-for-tories-1.717766 Fortier resigns from Senate to run for Tories]; www.cbc.ca, September 8, 2008.</ref> he placed second in riding of [[Vaudreuil-Soulanges (electoral district)|Vaudreuil-Soulanges]].<ref>[http://www.cbc.ca/news/canadavotes/map/2008/ www.conservative.ca.]</ref>

==Business career==
Before entering the Cabinet, Fortier was a partner at [[Ogilvy Renault]], a leading Montreal law firm. One of his colleagues was [[Brian Mulroney]]. He specialized in [[securities]], [[mergers and acquisitions]]. From 1992 to 1996, he managed Ogilvy Renault’s office in [[London]], England.

In 1999, he became the Managing Director and Senior Advisor (Eastern Canada) at [[Crédit Suisse First Boston]]. In 2004, Fortier became Corporate Financing Director (Quebec) for TD Securities. Two days after his appointment to Cabinet [[Montreal Gazette]] columnist Ian McDonald claimed that Fortier "was easily making $1 million a year running the Montreal office of TD Securities."

Fortier is Vice Chairman of [[RBC Capital Markets]].

==Political career==

===Early career===
Fortier ran in the [[1998 Progressive Conservative leadership election]] but came in last with 4% of the vote. Fortier was a Progressive Conservative candidate in the Montreal-area riding of [[Laval West]] during the [[2000 Canadian federal election|2000 federal election]] placing fourth. In 2003, he was co-chair of Harper's campaign to lead the new Conservative Party.

Fortier and veteran MP [[John Reynolds (Canadian politician)|John Reynolds]] were the co-chairs of the Conservative campaign in the 2006 election.

===Cabinet minister===
Fortier was appointed to Cabinet as [[Minister of Public Works and Government Services|Minister of Public Works]] on 6 February 2006, the day [[Stephen Harper]]'s [[minority government]] took office. In a cabinet reshuffle in June 2008, he shifted to the International Trade portfolio.

A financier and lawyer from [[Montreal]], he had not been elected as a member of the [[House of Commons of Canada|House of Commons]] at the time he was appointed, nor was he a member of the Senate. Harper announced that Fortier would be appointed to the Senate, but would be expected to step down and run for a seat in the House of Commons at the [[40th Canadian federal election|next election]].<ref>[http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/cabinet-includes-defector-and-senator-to-be-1.627094 Cabinet includes defector and senator-to-be], ''[[CBC News]]'', February 6, 2006</ref>

On February 27, 2006, Fortier was formally summoned to the Senate. This practice is unusual in modern Canada, but there is precedent for such a practice: in 1979, former Prime Minister [[Joe Clark]] appointed Quebec Senator [[Jacques Flynn]] [[Minister of Justice (Canada)|Minister of Justice]] because of his lack of representation in that province.

In 1972, when Trudeau failed to win a single seat west of Manitoba, he appointed senators to cabinet as well. 19th century Prime Ministers [[John Abbott]] and [[Mackenzie Bowell]] served their entire terms in government as Senators.

Harper intended for Fortier to represent Montreal in Cabinet. No Montreal-area [[Electoral district (Canada)|riding]] has elected a Conservative or any member of the party's predecessors—the [[Progressive Conservative Party of Canada|Progressive Conservatives]], the [[Canadian Alliance]] and the [[Reform Party of Canada|Reform Party]]—since [[1988 Canadian federal election|1988]]. Since then, right-of-centre candidates have rarely even competed in Montreal except in landslides.

As a former member of the Canadian Cabinet, he is a member of the [[Queen's Privy Council for Canada]] and thus has the right to the style [[The Honourable]] and the post-nominal designation PC for life. He is the brother of former [[Quebec Liberal Party]] MNA [[Margaret Delisle]].

===Controversy over Senate appointment===
Fortier's appointment to Cabinet drew considerable controversy. The main charge was that Fortier's appointment was a significant departure from past Conservative policy. The Conservatives, and before them Reform and the Alliance, had strongly opposed Senate appointments and unelected Cabinet ministers while in [[Official Opposition (Canada)|opposition]]. Opponents of Fortier's appointment also note that in doing so, Harper broke a promise made on [[Télévision de Radio-Canada|Radio-Canada]] television during the election campaign.

As a Senator, Fortier did not attend [[Question Period]] to respond to questions from the opposition parties in the House. His [[Parliamentary Secretary|Parliamentary Secretaries]], [[James Moore (Canadian politician)|James Moore]] at Public Works and [[Gerald Keddy]] at International Trade, answered questions on his behalf. Fortier was subject to questioning in the Senate, but the [[Bloc Québécois]] and [[New Democratic Party]] were not represented in that body (One senator, [[Lillian Dyck]], was appointed as an NDP Senator, but the NDP opposes the existence of the Senate and does not recognize her as part of its caucus.[https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/dallaire-eggleton-among-9-new-senators-1.566394]). The Department of Public Works was at the centre of the [[sponsorship scandal]] and spends billions of dollars per year, and the Conservatives singled the department out for criticism as an example of what they saw as a lack of accountability.{{citation needed|date=December 2017}}

Fortier himself claimed he didn't run for a seat because "I didn't want to run in the election. I had a great career, five young kids, and so it wasn't the right situation for me to run when the election came around. That's just the simple truth." [https://web.archive.org/web/20060220113117/http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060207/michael_fortier_060207]		

In his [[blog]], [[Andrew Coyne]] commented that "it is a fine thing for a Prime Minister elected on a platform of democratic accountability, who promised he would not appoint anyone who was not elected, either to cabinet or to the Senate, to then turn around and do both at one go." [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927223534/http://andrewcoyne.com/2006/02/trust-people.php] [[Jeffrey Simpson]] of ''[[The Globe and Mail]]'' wrote that "with breathtaking insouciance, Prime Minister Stephen Harper jettisoned, or at least delayed, his promise to only elect senators". [https://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060207.wxsimpson07/BNStory/National/home]{{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

However, the ''[[Toronto Star]]'''s [[Chantal Hébert]] defended the appointments of Fortier and Emerson to Cabinet, arguing that the problem is with the [[first-past-the-post system]] which allows entire parts of the country (such as large cities) to be unrepresented in government. For example, the Conservatives were unable to win any seats in [[Toronto]], [[Montreal]] and [[Vancouver]] in the last election, while the Liberals have only won four seats in [[Edmonton]] since [[1968 Canadian federal election|1968]] and have only elected three MPs from [[Calgary]] since [[Alberta]] joined Confederation in 1905.

Michael Fortier was loudly booed at the opening ceremonies of the [[2006 World Outgames]], an [[LGBT]] sporting event and cultural festival held in Montreal. The Conservative senator's speech was interrupted as he attempted to welcome the estimated crowd of 40,000 at the [[Olympic Stadium (Montreal)|Olympic Stadium]] that evening. Montreal Mayor [[Gérald Tremblay]], who was greeted with sustained applause, intervened (unsuccessfully) to urge the crowd to listen "with respect" to the representative of the Canadian government.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2006/07/30/1710476-cp.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20070623032604/http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2006/07/30/1710476-cp.html |url-status=usurped |archive-date=2007-06-23 |title=Federal minister Fortier booed at Outgames opening ceremony in Montreal |publisher=cnews.canoe.ca |access-date=2008-06-12 }}
</ref>

===Promise to seek election===
On November 21, 2006, Fortier announced that he would seek election to the House of Commons in the riding of [[Vaudreuil-Soulanges (electoral district)|Vaudreuil-Soulanges]] in the [[40th Canadian federal election|next federal election]], which he lost. The opposition parties pressured him to run in the by-election on November 27 in [[Repentigny (federal electoral district)|Repentigny]]. However, Fortier repeated his original promise to run in the next general election.[http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20061121/CPACTUALITES/611210611/1019/CPACTUALITES]

===Fortier dismisses advisor connected to Julie Couillard===
Fortier confirmed June 11, 2008 that he dismissed senior Quebec adviser Bernard Cote after learning that Cote briefly dated [[Julie Couillard]] last year while she was attempting to win a government contract. Cote had to resign because of a perceived conflict of interest, since Public Works was handling the building contracts Couillard was bidding on, Fortier said. Fortier told reporters that Cote, "should have actually recused himself from this matter, which he didn't do, hence his resignation." Couillard sparked the resignation of foreign minister [[Maxime Bernier]] in May 2008 when she went public with the fact her former paramour had forgotten classified NATO briefing documents at her Montreal home for more than a month.<ref>
{{cite web
 |url=http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5gpu0LaL_BA-heC6zytyeJ6shH7yQ 
 |title=Couillard affair claims another Conservative casualty 
 |publisher=The Canadian Press 
 |access-date=2008-06-12 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080614025150/http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5gpu0LaL_BA-heC6zytyeJ6shH7yQ 
 |archive-date=2008-06-14 
}}
</ref>

===2008 federal election===
While he chose not to run in an earlier by-election, Fortier was a candidate for the riding of [[Vaudreuil—Soulanges (federal electoral district)|Vaudreuil-Soulanges]] in the [[2008 Canadian federal election|2008 federal election]], in fulfilment of his promise made at the time of his 2006 Senate appointment.<ref>[https://www.conservative.ca/?section_id=1051&linkTo=true&districtId=1441 Profile of Michael Fortier as Conservative Candidate for Vaudreuil-Soulanges]; www.conservative.ca</ref> In order to fulfill this promise, on September 8, 2008, he resigned from the Senate to run in the general election.<ref name="September 8, 2008"/>

On election night, he was soundly defeated by popular [[Bloc Québécois]] incumbent [[Meili Faille]],<ref>{{cite news|author=Canadian Press |title=Fortier trounced by Bloc incumbent |publisher=[[Canoe News]] |date=2008-10-15 }}</ref> who captured 41.34% of the vote compared to Fortier's 23.69%.

== Electoral record ==
{{2008 Canadian federal election/Vaudreuil—Soulanges}}
==See also==
*[[Université Laval]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}
<!-- Dead note "cbc20060207a": [https://web.archive.org/web/20060209032406/http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/02/07/fortier-michael060207.html New minister Fortier 'didn't want to run in the election'], ''[[CBC News]]'', February 7, 2006 -->

==External links==
{{Commons category|Michael Fortier}}
*{{Canadian Parliament links|ID=804}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060429215442/http://www.pm.gc.ca/eng/media.asp?id=1036 Michael Fortier Senate appointment announcement]

{{s-start}}
{{Canadian federal ministry navigational box header |ministry=28}}
{{ministry box cabinet posts
| post1         = [[Minister of Public Works and Government Services]]
| post1years    = 6 February 2006 – 25 June 2008
| post1note     =
| post1preceded = [[Scott Brison]]
| post1followed = [[Christian Paradis]]
| post2         = [[Minister of International Trade (Canada)|Minister of International Trade]]
| post2years    = 25 June 2008 – 29 October 2008
| post2note     =
| post2preceded = [[David Emerson]]
| post2followed = [[Stockwell Day]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Harper Ministry}}
{{CA-Ministers for International Trade}}
{{CA-Ministers of Public Works}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fortier, Michael}}
[[Category:1962 births]]
[[Category:Canadian senators from Quebec]]
[[Category:Conservative Party of Canada candidates for the Canadian House of Commons]]
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[[Category:Businesspeople from Montreal]]
[[Category:Lawyers in Quebec]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada]]
[[Category:Members of the 28th Canadian Ministry]]
[[Category:Progressive Conservative Party of Canada candidates for the Canadian House of Commons]]
[[Category:Candidates in the 2000 Canadian federal election]]
[[Category:Candidates in the 2008 Canadian federal election]]
[[Category:Université Laval Faculté de droit alumni]]
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[[Category:21st-century members of the Senate of Canada]]
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