Suzanne Tremblay

Suzanne Tremblay
Opposition House Leader
In office March 17, 1997 – April 25, 1997
Leader	Gilles Duceppe
Preceded by	Gilles Duceppe
Succeeded by	Randy White
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Rimouski-Neigette-et-La Mitis (Rimouski—Mitis 1997-2000) (Rimouski—Témiscouata 1993-1997)
In office October 25, 1993 – June 28, 2004
Preceded by	Monique Vézina
Succeeded by	Riding dissolved
Personal details
Born	(1937-01-24)January 24, 1937 Montreal, Quebec
Died	Rimouski, Quebec
Political party	Bloc Québécois
Residence	Le Bic, Quebec

Suzanne Tremblay (French pronunciation: ​[syzan tʁɑ̃blɛ]; January 24, 1937 – September 26, 2020) was a Canadian politician from Quebec who served as a Bloc Québécois member of the House of Commons of Canada from 1993 to 2004.

Early life

Born in Montreal, Tremblay received a Queen Elizabeth II Scholarship to attend Tufts University in the United States, where she earned a Master's degree in pre-school education. She then completed a certificate in educational studies at the Université de Lyon and a certificate in child care studies at the University of London.

Political career

Tremblay was first elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 1993 federal election for the riding of Rimouski—Témiscouata. She was re-elected in the 1997 election for the riding of Rimouski-Mitis and in the 2000 election for Rimouski-Neigette-et-La Mitis. She announced her intention not to run again in the 2004 federal election.

She was occasionally a controversial figure, once pointing out that Quebec Premier Jean Charest's first name was really "John" in an attempt to discredit him as a representative of the true Quebec; the Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe distanced himself from this comment. Tremblay also made similar comments attacking Radio-Canada journalist Joyce Napier for not having a francophone name, and pop singer Céline Dion for purportedly turning her back on her Québécoise identity in her pursuit of pop stardom.

Following Tremblay's announcement of her retirement from the House of Commons, Louise Thibault, a municipal councillor in Le Bic, became the Bloc Québécois candidate in the new riding of Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, and won the 2004 election. Tremblay ran in the resulting by-election to fill Thibault's municipal council seat, running primarily on a campaign of opposing the then-proposed amalgamation of Le Bic with Rimouski. She lost narrowly to Pierre Garon, a local farmer and trucker who had not previously been active in politics.

Death

Tremblay died on September 26, 2020 from cancer.

Electoral record

Canadian federal election, 2000
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Bloc Québécois	Suzanne Tremblay	19,759
	Liberal	Réal Marmen	9,795
	Alliance	Gerard Gosselin	1,280
	Progressive Conservative	Réal Blais	1,150
	Natural Law	Lyse Beauchemin	673
	New Democratic	René Lemieux	525

Canadian federal election, 1997: Rimouski—Mitis
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%	Expenditures
	Bloc Québécois	Suzanne Tremblay	17,282	47.00		$53,089
	Liberal	Réal Marmen	11,112	30.22	–	$47,800
	Progressive Conservative	Jean Roy	7,901	21.49		$32,225
	New Democratic	Elizabeth Clark	479	1.30		$0
Total valid votes			36,774	100.00
Total rejected ballots			1,211
Turnout			37,985	68.24
Electors on the lists			55,665
Sources: Official Results, Elections Canada and Financial Returns, Elections Canada.

Canadian federal election, 1993
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Bloc Québécois	Suzanne Tremblay	23,118
	Liberal	André Reid	9,454
	Progressive Conservative	Jean Morin	4,622
	Independent	François-Michel Denis	598
	Natural Law	Gilles Roussel	400
	New Democratic	Alex En Hwa Ng	335

External links

• Suzanne Tremblay – Parliament of Canada biography