Réal Caouette

David Réal Caouette (September 26, 1917 – December 16, 1976) was a Canadian politician from Quebec. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) and leader of the Social Credit Party of Canada and founder of the Ralliement des créditistes. Outside politics he worked as a car dealer.

His son, Gilles Caouette, was also a Social Credit MP and was briefly acting leader of the party.

Early political career

Born in Amos, in the Abitibi region of Quebec, Caouette was converted to the social credit philosophy in 1939. He was first elected to the House of Commons in a 1946 by-election in Pontiac for the Union des electeurs, a pro-Social Credit group in Quebec. He sat as a Social Credit MP once elected. In the 1949 election, his home was drawn into the newly created Villeneuve, and he was defeated as a Union des électeurs candidate.

Out of parliament

He ran again in the 1953, 1957 and 1958 elections, but was unsuccessful each time. He also ran provincially, for the Quebec Liberal Party, in the 1956 provincial election but was defeated. In 1958, he broke with Union des électeurs founders Louis Even and Gilberte Côté-Mercier, and joined Social Credit forming Ralliement des créditistes as the national party's Quebec wing of which he became the uncontested leader.

Réal

Réal (Catalan: Real) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France.

Geography

Réal is in the canton of Mont-Louis and in the arrondissement of Prades.

Population

See also

References

Camil Samson

Camil Samson (January 3, 1935 - December 18, 2012) was a politician in Quebec, Canada, Member of the National Assembly of Quebec (MNA), and leader of the Ralliement créditiste du Québec and other political parties.

Background and personal life

He was born in Shawinigan, Quebec, to Wilbroy Samson, a journalist and farmer, and Irène Carle. He completed his studies in Shawinigan, Cléricy and at the Duchesnay forestry station. From 1952 to 1956, he worked in the forestry industry. From 1956 to 1970, he worked in the automobile industry as a salesman, service manager, and sales manager. He was also an insurance agent.

In 1997, he beat cancer of the bladder, but suffered from many health problems in his later years.

Political activist

In 1963 and 1964, he was the president of the Jeunesse créditiste du Canada, the youth wing of the Ralliement créditiste, a political party that nominated candidates in federal elections and promoted social credit theories of monetary reform. He later became the Secretary and Vice President of the party. He was unsuccessful as the party's candidate in the Pontiac-Témiscamingue riding in the 1965 federal election. In the 1966 Quebec provincial election, he was the unsuccessful candidate for the Quebec separatist Ralliement national party in Temiscamingue riding. He was the president of the Chamber of Commerce in Rouyn-Noranda in 1969.