Mario Beaulieu facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Mario Beaulieu
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Beaulieu in 2015
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| Leader of the Bloc Québécois | |
| In office June 13, 2018 – January 17, 2019 Interim |
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| President | Himself Yves Perron |
| Preceded by | Martine Ouellet |
| Succeeded by | Yves-François Blanchet |
| In office June 25, 2014 – June 10, 2015 |
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| President | Himself |
| Preceded by | Daniel Paillé |
| Succeeded by | Gilles Duceppe |
| President of the Bloc Québécois | |
| In office June 25, 2014 – August 22, 2018 |
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| Leader | Himself Gilles Duceppe Rhéal Fortin (interim) Martine Ouellet Himself (interim) |
| Preceded by | Daniel Paillé |
| Succeeded by | Yves Perron |
| President of the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society of Montreal | |
| In office 2009–2014 |
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| Preceded by | Jean Dorion |
| Succeeded by | Maxime Laporte |
| Member of Parliament for La Pointe-de-l'Île |
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| Assumed office October 19, 2015 |
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| Preceded by | Ève Péclet |
| Personal details | |
| Born | February 1, 1959 Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada |
| Political party | Bloc Québécois (federal) Parti Québécois (provincial) |
| Residences | Pointe-aux-Trembles, Montreal, Quebec |
| Occupation | Politician |
Mario A. Beaulieu (born February 1, 1959) is a Canadian politician. A politician is someone who works in government. He believes in protecting and promoting the unique culture of Quebec. He has been a leader and president of the Bloc Québécois (BQ) party. Since 2015, Mr. Beaulieu has been a Member of Parliament (MP) for the area called La Pointe-de-l'Île. An MP is someone elected to represent people in the Canadian Parliament.
Before becoming an MP, he was the president of the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste of Montreal. This group supports Quebec's independence. He also spoke for the Mouvement Québec français. This group works to protect the French language in Quebec.
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Mario Beaulieu's Early Life
Mario Beaulieu was born on February 1, 1959, in Sherbrooke, Quebec. When he was four years old, his family moved to Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue.
From 1997 to 2002, he was the president of a local group for the Parti Québécois party in Montreal. He also tried to become an MP in the 1997 federal election. However, he did not win that election. Mr. Beaulieu has always strongly supported making the French language more important in Quebec. He also believes Quebec should become an independent country.
Leading the Bloc Québécois Party
In April 2014, Mario Beaulieu decided to run for the leader of the Bloc Québécois party. Many people supported him, including former politicians. He promised that his main goal would be to help Quebec become independent. On June 14, 2014, he won the election with 53.5% of the votes. He officially became the leader on June 25, 2014.
After he became leader, some of his speeches caused disagreements within the party. Some people, including a former leader, were not happy with his comments. Because of this, some members left the party. On August 12, 2014, the number of Bloc Québécois MPs in Parliament dropped to three. This happened when one MP, Jean-François Fortin, left the party. He said that Mr. Beaulieu's ideas were too strict. Later, another MP, André Bellavance, also resigned. He said that Mr. Beaulieu's vision for the party was very different from his own.
Gilles Duceppe Returns to Lead
The Bloc Québécois party was struggling before the 2015 federal election. Mario Beaulieu talked with a former party leader, Gilles Duceppe, to help the party. On June 10, 2015, they announced that Mr. Duceppe would return to lead the party. Mario Beaulieu stepped down as leader but stayed on as the party's president. The party agreed to have separate roles for leader and president. These changes were made official on July 1.
The 2015 Election
In the 2015 election, Mario Beaulieu was elected as an MP for La Pointe-de-l'Île. This was the only area on the island of Montreal where a Bloc Québécois MP was elected. The party won 10 seats in total. However, they did not win enough seats to be recognized as an "official party" in Parliament.
Back as Interim Leader
In 2018, some Bloc Québécois MPs left the party because they disagreed with their leader, Martine Ouellet. Mario Beaulieu was one of the few MPs who stayed with the party. However, he later also became critical of her leadership. He supported removing her from her position. When Martine Ouellet resigned, Mario Beaulieu was chosen as the interim leader. An interim leader is someone who leads for a short time until a new leader is chosen.
On August 22, 2018, he gave up his role as party president to Yves Perron. This was part of a plan to bring the party back together after the disagreements. Mario Beaulieu continued to be the interim leader until a new leader was elected in 2019. On January 17, 2019, Yves-François Blanchet became the new leader.
Since 2021, Mario Beaulieu has been the critic for Official Languages. This means he speaks for the Bloc Québécois on issues related to Canada's official languages.
