Gilles Rocheleau

Who was Gilles Rocheleau?

Gilles Rocheleau was a member of the Canadian House of Commons from 1988 to 1993. He co-founded the Bloc Québécois with Lucien Bouchard in 1990.

Rocheleau was born in Hull, Quebec, he was a businessman by career. His post-secondary education was at the University of Ottawa. He became a city councillor in 1967, then mayor from 1974 to 1981. He was elected as a member of the National Assembly of Quebec in 1981, under the province's Liberal party in Hull. He was again elected to the Assembly in 1985 and became a cabinet minister in Premier Robert Bourassa's administration.

He left provincial politics to campaign in the 1988 federal election in the Hull—Aylmer electoral district for the national Liberal party. He served in the 34th Canadian Parliament until he left the party on 2 July 1990 following the implosion of the Meech Lake Accord. After several months as an independent, he became a charter member of the Bloc Québécois party on 20 December 1990.

However, Rocheleau's embrace of Quebec sovereigntism didn't play well in his strongly federalist riding, and he was heavily defeated by Liberal candidate Marcel Massé in the 1993 federal election.

He was married twice: to Denise Gagné in 1956 and then later to Hélène Roy.