Joseph Israël Tarte

Who was Joseph Israël Tarte?

Joseph Israël Tarte, PC was a Canadian politician and journalist.

Tarte came to prominence as editor of several newspapers, Le Canadien, L'Événement, La Patrie and the Quebec Daily Mercury. He was initially a follower of Sir George-Étienne Cartier before hardening into a conservative ultramontanist supporter of Church intervention into politics but later became a Liberal and a critic of the Church.

In 1876, Tarte was in charge of the campaign to elect Hector Langevin to parliament and supported, in his published articles, the clergy's intervention in the by-election. Langevin was Cartier's successor as Quebec lieutenant to Sir John A. Macdonald and de facto leader of the federal Conservative Party in French Canada. A Supreme Court of Canada decision declared that sermons by the clergy during the by-election campaign had played an intimidating role termed influence indue spirituelle or "undue spiritual influence" - thus the court overturned the vote and called a new by-election which Langevin won by a reduced margin.