André Ouellet

The Honourable André Ouellet PC KC
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office May 13, 1995 – January 24, 1996
Prime Minister	Jean Chrétien
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Lloyd Axworthy
Secretary of State for External Affairs
In office November 4, 1993 – May 13, 1995
Prime Minister	Jean Chrétien
Preceded by	Perrin Beatty
Succeeded by	Office abolished
Minister of Labour
In office August 12, 1983 – September 17, 1984
Prime Minister	Pierre Trudeau John Turner
Preceded by	Charles Caccia
Succeeded by	Bill McKnight
Minister of Public Works
In office November 24, 1978 – June 3, 1979
Prime Minister	Pierre Trudeau
Preceded by	J. Judd Buchanan
Succeeded by	Erik Nielsen
Member of Parliament for Papineau
In office May 29, 1967 – March 25, 1996
Preceded by	Guy Favreau
Succeeded by	Pierre Pettigrew
Personal details
Born	(1939-04-06) April 6, 1939
Political party	Liberal

André Ouellet (French: [ɑ̃dʁe wɛlɛt]), PC KC (born April 6, 1939) is a former longtime Liberal federal politician and Cabinet member in Canada. Following his political career, he served as chairman of Canada Post.

First elected to the House of Commons of Canada in a 1967 by-election, Ouellet served in a number of different positions in the cabinets of Prime Ministers Pierre Trudeau and Jean Chrétien. In his capacity as Registrar General of Canada, he was one of the four signatories of the Proclamation of the Constitution Act of 1982 (along with Queen Elizabeth II, Prime Minister Trudeau, and Justice Minister Jean Chrétien). Ouellet represented the safe Liberal seat of Papineau in Montreal for almost thirty years. His hold on the seat was only seriously threatened when the Liberals were crushed by the Progressive Conservative Party in the election of 1984, when he retained his seat by only 500 votes. In opposition, Ouellet became the Liberal's leading figure in the constitutional negotiations that led to the Charlottetown Accord, and was a strong advocate for the constitutional reform proposal, which was rejected in a 1992 referendum.

With the return to power of the Liberals after the 1993 election, Ouellet was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs by the new prime minister, Jean Chrétien. Ouellet was seen as lacking experience in international relations but was a principled and pragmatic Minister of Foreign Affairs. Despite his experience, Ouellet was not popular in Quebec, and the lasting legacy of the Charlottetown Accord hurt him. After the close result of the 1995 Quebec referendum, Chrétien wanted to present a new face of his government in Quebec. In 1996, Chrétien appointed Ouellet to head the Canada Post Corporation. Ouellet's seat in the House of Commons of Canada was taken by Pierre Pettigrew in a by-election later that year.

As cabinet minister, Ouellet had served as Postmaster General. As chairman of Canada Post, he implemented reform that led to record profits in the corporation. In 2004, controversy surrounded Ouellet as Canada Post was one of the organizations embroiled in the Sponsorship Scandal. As a result, Ouellet was suspended from his position at Canada Post in February 2004 by Prime Minister Paul Martin. He resigned as chairman of Canada Post on August 12, 2004, after it was revealed that he failed to provide invoices for hundreds of thousands of dollars of personal expenses, and that he handed out untendered contracts.

Electoral record (partial)

1993 Canadian federal election: Papineau—Saint-Michel
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	André Ouellet	20,064	51.98	+5.99	$41,411
	Bloc Québécois	Daniel Boucher	15,148	39.24		$18,649
	Progressive Conservative	Carmen de Pontbriand	1,686	4.37	−28.86	$26,388a
	New Democratic Party	Gisèle Charlebois	708	1.83	−13.27	$477
	Natural Law	André Beaudoin	678	1.76		$386
	Marxist-Leninist	Serge Lachapelle	141	0.37	−0.12	$80
	Abolitionist	P.A. D'Aoust	98	0.25		$0
	Commonwealth	Normand Normandeau	78	0.20	−0.24	$0
Total valid votes			38,601	100.00
Total rejected ballots			1,241
Turnout			39,842	75.45	+5.31
Electors on the lists			52,808
a Does not include unpaid claims. Source: Thirty-fifth General Election, 1993: Official Voting Results, Published by the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada. Financial figures taken from the official contributions and expenses submitted by the candidates, provided by Elections Canada.

1988 Canadian federal election: Papineau
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	André Ouellet	18,122	45.99	–	$43,413
	Progressive Conservative	Frank Venneri	13,094	33.23		$39,468
	New Democratic	Giovanni Adamo	5,948	15.10		$22,192
	Rhinoceros	Carole Ola Clermont	987	2.51	–	$0
	Green	H. Joseph Vega	469	1.19	–	$0
	Communist	Line Chabot	235	0.60		$18
	Marxist–Leninist	Francine Tremblay	193	0.49		$130
	Revolutionary Workers League	Michel Dugré	178	0.45		$513
	Commonwealth of Canada	Normand Bélanger	174	0.44		$0
Total valid votes			39,400	100.00
Total rejected ballots			907
Turnout			40,307	70.14
Electors on the lists			57,470
Source: Report of the Chief Electoral Officer, Thirty-fourth General Election, 1988.

1984 Canadian federal election: Papineau
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	André Ouellet	12,754	38.99
	Progressive Conservative	Tony Iacobaccio	12,053	36.85
	New Democratic	Paul Comtois	4,295	13.13
	Rhinoceros	Christian Jolicoeur	1,925	5.89
	Parti nationaliste	Gilles Maillé	1,169	3.57
	Communist	Suzanne Dagenais	147	0.45
	Social Credit	Roland Mireault	147	0.45
	Commonwealth of Canada	Gilles Gervais	113	0.35
	Non-affiliated	Doris Lacroix	104	0.32
Total valid votes			32,707	100.00
Total rejected ballots			659
Turnout			33,366	70.36
Electors on the lists			47,423
Source: Report of the Chief Electoral Officer, Thirty-third General Election, 1984.

External links

• André Ouellet – Parliament of Canada biography
• André Ouellet fonds, Library and Archives Canada