Rhéal Fortin | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Spokesperson ofQuébec debout Groupe parlementaire québécois (March — June) | |
| In office March 21, 2018 – September 17, 2018 | |
| Preceded by | Caucus founded |
| Succeeded by | Caucus dissolved |
| Interim Leader of theBloc Québécois | |
| In office October 22, 2015 – March 18, 2017 | |
| Preceded by | Gilles Duceppe |
| Succeeded by | Martine Ouellet |
| Member of Parliament forRivière-du-Nord | |
| Assumed office October 19, 2015 | |
| Preceded by | Pierre Dionne Labelle |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Rhéal Éloi Fortin Laval-des-Rapides, Quebec, Canada |
| Political party | Bloc Québécois |
| Other political affiliations | Québec debout(2018) |
| Residence | Saint-Sauveur-des-Monts, Quebec[1] |
| Profession | Lawyer |
Rhéal Éloi FortinMP (French:[ʁealfɔʁtɛ̃]) is a Canadian lawyer and politician, who is the member of theHouse of Commons forRivière-du-Nord.
A lawyer by profession, he is the president of Bissonnette Fortin Giroux, a law firm inSaint-Jérôme. He studied law at University of Sherbrooke. He was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the2015 election forRivière-du-Nord as a member of theBloc Québécois,[2]
Fortin was namedinterim leader of the Bloc Québécois on October 22, 2015 following the resignation ofGilles Duceppe as leader after Duceppe was unable to win his seat in the election.[3]
He served as interim leader of the party until the next leader,Martine Ouellet wasnamed on March 18, 2017.
Fortin and six other Bloc MPs resigned from the Bloc's caucus to sit as independent MPs on February 28, 2018 citing conflicts with Ouellet's leadership.[4] Fortin then served as leader of the party formed by the dissidents,Québec debout.[5] He rejoined the Bloc Québécois caucus on September 17, 2018.[6]
Fortin was born inLaval-des-Rapides, Quebec. He started working when he was 18. He completed aCEGEP electrician's diploma, equivalent tojunior college. He was a worker in a factory inLaval from 1977 to 1985, then left to attend university to study law. After completing his legal education, he began practising law in Saint-Jérôme in 1992.[citation needed]
He has been politically active ever since high school, when he volunteered to put up lawn signs for theParti Québécois. He ran for the Parti Québécois nomination for the election for theNational Assembly of Quebec forPrévost, but lost toGilles Robert. In 2015 he ran for the Bloc Québécois in the ridingRivière-du-Nord and won. He became the interim leader of Bloc Québécois on October 22, 2015.[7] On December 7, 2016, he announced that he would not be seeking the permanent leadership of the party at itsleadership election in 2017.
He served as the BQ's critic for intergovernmental affairs, human rights, justice, and access to information in the House of Commons until February 2018, when he and six other Bloc MPs quit the caucus and formed theGroupe parlementaire québécois in protest ofMartine Ouellet's leadership style. Fortin was named the group's spokesperson on March 21, 2018.[8]
Since 2021 he has served as the justice critic in theBloc Québécois Shadow Cabinet.[9]
| 2025 Canadian federal election:Rivière-du-Nord | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Bloc Québécois | Rhéal Fortin | 25,438 | 43.85 | −7.75 | ||||
| Liberal | Mary-Helen Walton | 18,345 | 31.62 | +9.15 | ||||
| Conservative | Patricia Morrissette | 12,203 | 21.03 | +8.99 | ||||
| New Democratic | Christel Marchand | 2,032 | 3.50 | −3.38 | ||||
| Total valid votes/expense limit | 58,018 | 97.73 | ||||||
| Total rejected ballots | 1,349 | 2.27 | ||||||
| Turnout | 59,367 | 63.42 | ||||||
| Eligible voters | 93,608 | |||||||
| Bloc Québécoisnotional hold | Swing | −8.45 | ||||||
| Source:Elections Canada[10][11] | ||||||||
| Note: number of eligible voters does not include voting day registrations. | ||||||||
| 2021 Canadian federal election:Rivière-du-Nord | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Bloc Québécois | Rhéal Fortin | 29,943 | 52.2 | +0.2 | $17,137.18 | |||
| Liberal | Theodora Bajkin | 12,767 | 22.3 | ±0.0 | $5,481.12 | |||
| Conservative | Patricia Morrissette | 6,803 | 11.9 | +0.1 | $17,935.40 | |||
| New Democratic | Marie-Helen Paspaliaris | 3,958 | 6.9 | -0.1 | $703.54 | |||
| People's | Keeyan Ravanshid | 2,164 | 3.8 | +3.1 | $1,391.38 | |||
| Free | Marie-Eve Damour | 1,036 | 1.8 | N/A | $733.88 | |||
| Rhinoceros | Jean-François René | 373 | 0.7 | N/A | $0.00 | |||
| Indépendance du Québec | Nicolas Riqueur-Lainé | 285 | 0.5 | +0.1 | $0.00 | |||
| Total valid votes/expense limit | 57,329 | 97.7 | – | $126,251.14 | ||||
| Total rejected ballots | 1,327 | 2.3 | ||||||
| Turnout | 58,656 | 59.1 | ||||||
| Eligible voters | 99,292 | |||||||
| Bloc Québécoishold | Swing | +0.1 | ||||||
| Source:Elections Canada[12] | ||||||||
| 2019 Canadian federal election:Rivière-du-Nord | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Bloc Québécois | Rhéal Fortin | 31,281 | 52.0 | +20.0 | $14,299.86 | |||
| Liberal | Florence Gagnon | 13,402 | 22.3 | -4.1 | $53,916.68 | |||
| Conservative | Sylvie Fréchette | 7,120 | 11.8 | +3.3 | $28,363.50 | |||
| New Democratic | Myriam Ouellette | 4,194 | 7.0 | -23.1 | none listed | |||
| Green | Joey Leckman | 3,345 | 5.6 | +3.1 | $7,366.15 | |||
| People's | Normand Michaud | 407 | 0.7 | – | $45.01 | |||
| Indépendance du Québec | Nicolas Riqueur-Lainé | 225 | 0.4 | – | $117.25 | |||
| Independent | Lucie St-Gelais | 127 | 0.2 | – | $0.00 | |||
| Total valid votes/expense limit | 60,101 | 100.0 | ||||||
| Total rejected ballots | 1,206 | |||||||
| Turnout | 61,307 | 64.0 | ||||||
| Eligible voters | 95,813 | |||||||
| Bloc Québécoishold | Swing | +12.05 | ||||||
| Source:Elections Canada[13][14] | ||||||||
| 2015 Canadian federal election:Rivière-du-Nord | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Bloc Québécois | Rhéal Fortin | 18,157 | 32.05 | +3.85 | – | |||
| New Democratic | Pierre Dionne Labelle | 17,077 | 30.14 | -24.98 | – | |||
| Liberal | Janice Bélair Rolland | 14,933 | 26.36 | +19.91 | – | |||
| Conservative | Romain Vignol | 4,793 | 8.46 | +0.03 | – | |||
| Green | Joey Leckman | 1,436 | 2.53 | +0.74 | – | |||
| Rhinoceros | Fobozof A. Côté | 261 | 0.46 | – | – | |||
| Total valid votes/Expense limit | 56,657 | 100.0 | $229,198.01 | |||||
| Total rejected ballots | 1,044 | – | – | |||||
| Turnout | 57,701 | 65.13 | – | |||||
| Eligible voters | 88,586 | |||||||
| Bloc Québécoisgain fromNew Democratic | Swing | +14.42 | ||||||
| Source:Elections Canada[15][16] | ||||||||