Gaspard Fauteux

Who was Gaspard Fauteux?

Gaspard Fauteux, PC was a Canadian parliamentarian, Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons, and the 19th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec.

He was born in St-Hyacinthe, Quebec, to a political family. His grandfather, Honoré Mercier and his uncle, Lomer Gouin, were both former Premiers of Quebec. His grandmother's second husband was Liberal Member of Parliament and later Senator Joseph Godbout.

Fauteux married Marguerite Barré daughter of the Canadian artist Raoul Barré. The couple had 4 children; Roger, Paul, Marie and Gaspard Jr.

A dentist by training and then a businessman, he first entered politics at the provincial election defeating Quebec Conservative Party leader and Mayor of Montreal Camillien Houde to win a seat in the Quebec legislature for the Quebec Liberal Party. He lost his seat in 1935 and returned to business. He was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons from the Quebec riding of St. Mary in a 1942 by-election, and was re-elected in the 1945 federal election by again defeating Camillien Houde. He was re-elected in the 1949 election.

In Parliament, Fauteux opposed conscription and was a delegate to the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Conference that followed World War II.