Michael Fortier

Michael M. Fortier, (born January 10, 1962) is a Canadian financier, lawyer and former politician.

In 1972, when Trudeau failed to win a single seat west of Manitoba, he appointed senators to cabinet as well.

This practice is unusual in modern Canada, but there is precedent for such a practice: in 1979, former Prime Minister Joe Clark appointed Quebec Senator Jacques Flynn Minister of Justice because of his lack of representation in that province.

No Montreal-area riding has elected a Conservative or any member of the party's predecessors—the Progressive Conservatives, the Canadian Alliance and the Reform Party—since 1988.

Since then, right-of-centre candidates have rarely even competed in Montreal except in landslides.

As a former member of the Canadian Cabinet, he is a member of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada and thus has the right to the style The Honourable and the post-nominal designation PC for life.

He is the brother of former Quebec Liberal Party MNA Margaret Delisle.

Fortier's appointment to Cabinet drew considerable controversy.

The main charge was that Fortier's appointment was a significant departure from past Conservative policy.

The Conservatives, and before them Reform and the Alliance, had strongly opposed Senate appointments and unelected Cabinet ministers while in opposition.

Opponents of Fortier's appointment also note that in doing so, Harper broke a promise made on Radio-Canada television during the election campaign.

As a Senator, Fortier did not attend Question Period to respond to questions from the opposition parties in the House.

His Parliamentary Secretaries, James Moore at Public Works and Gerald Keddy at International Trade, answered questions on his behalf.

Fortier was subject to questioning in the Senate, but the Bloc Québécois and New Democratic Party were not represented in that body (One senator, Lillian Dyck, was appointed as an NDP Senator, but the NDP opposes the existence of the Senate and does not recognize her as part of its caucus.).

The Department of Public Works was at the centre of the sponsorship scandal and spends billions of dollars per year, and the Conservatives singled the department out for criticism as an example of what they saw as a lack of accountability.

Fortier himself claimed he didn't run for a seat because "I didn't want to run in the election. I had a great career, five young kids, and so it wasn't the right situation for me to run when the election came around. That's just the simple truth."

In his blog, Andrew Coyne commented that "it is a fine thing for a Prime Minister elected on a platform of democratic accountability, who promised he would not appoint anyone who was not elected, either to cabinet or to the Senate, to then turn around and do both at one go."

From 1992 to 1996, he managed Ogilvy Renault’s office in London, England.

Fortier ran in the 1998 Progressive Conservative leadership election but came in last with 4% of the vote.

In 1999, he became the Managing Director and Senior Advisor (Eastern Canada) at Crédit Suisse First Boston.

Fortier was a Progressive Conservative candidate in the Montreal-area riding of Laval West during the 2000 federal election placing fourth.

In 2003, he was co-chair of Harper's campaign to lead the new Conservative Party.

In 2004, Fortier became Corporate Financing Director (Quebec) for TD Securities.

Two days after his appointment to Cabinet Montreal Gazette columnist Ian McDonald claimed that Fortier "was easily making $1 million a year running the Montreal office of TD Securities."

Fortier is Vice Chairman of RBC Capital Markets.

A member of the Conservative Party, he served as Minister of Public Works and Government Services from 2006 to 2008, and Minister of International Trade in 2008 under Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Fortier served in Cabinet of Canada while a Senator, which proved controversial.

Fortier and veteran MP John Reynolds were the co-chairs of the Conservative campaign in the 2006 election.

Fortier was appointed to Cabinet as Minister of Public Works on 6 February 2006, the day Stephen Harper's minority government took office.

On February 27, 2006, Fortier was formally summoned to the Senate.

In 2008, he resigned from the Senate to run for a seat in the House of Commons in the 2008 election; he placed second in riding of Vaudreuil-Soulanges.

Before entering the Cabinet, Fortier was a partner at Ogilvy Renault, a leading Montreal law firm.

One of his colleagues was Brian Mulroney.

He specialized in securities, mergers and acquisitions.

In a cabinet reshuffle in June 2008, he shifted to the International Trade portfolio.

A financier and lawyer from Montreal, he had not been elected as a member of the House of Commons at the time he was appointed, nor was he a member of the Senate.

Harper announced that Fortier would be appointed to the Senate, but would be expected to step down and run for a seat in the House of Commons at the next election.

19th century Prime Ministers John Abbott and Mackenzie Bowell served their entire terms in government as Senators.

Harper intended for Fortier to represent Montreal in Cabinet.