Réal Caouette facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Réal Caouette
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Caouette in 1945
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| Leader of the Social Credit Party of Canada |
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| In office October 9, 1971 – November 7, 1976 |
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| Preceded by | Alexander Bell Patterson (acting) |
| Succeeded by | André-Gilles Fortin |
| Leader of the Ralliement créditiste | |
| In office September 1, 1963 – October 9, 1971 |
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| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | himself (as Leader of the Social Credit Party of Canada) |
| Member of Parliament for Témiscamingue (Villeneuve; 1962–1968) |
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| In office June 18, 1962 – December 16, 1976 |
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| Preceded by | Armand Dumas |
| Succeeded by | Gilles Caouette (1977) |
| Member of Parliament for Pontiac |
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| In office September 16, 1946 – June 27, 1949 |
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| Preceded by | Wallace McDonald |
| Succeeded by | Armand Dumas (Villeneuve) |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
David Réal Caouette
September 26, 1917 Amos, Quebec, Canada |
| Died | December 16, 1976 (aged 59) Ottawa, Ontario, Canada |
| Political party | Social Credit Party of Canada (1946-1963, 1971-1976), Ralliement créditiste (1963-1971) |
| Other political affiliations |
Union des electeurs (1945-1957), Candidat des électeurs (1957-1958), Quebec Liberal Party (1956) |
| Children | Gilles Caouette others unknown |
| Occupation |
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David Réal Caouette (September 26, 1917 – December 16, 1976) was an important Canadian politician from Quebec. He was a member of Parliament (MP), which means he was elected to represent people in the House of Commons of Canada. He led the Social Credit Party of Canada and also started his own party called the Ralliement des créditistes. Outside of politics, he worked as a car dealer.
His son, Gilles Caouette, also became a Social Credit MP and briefly led the party after his father.
Contents
Réal Caouette's Early Political Steps
Réal Caouette was born in Amos, Quebec. He became interested in the Social Credit idea in 1939. This idea was about how money should work in a country. He was first elected to the House of Commons of Canada in 1946. This happened in a special election called a by-election, in the area of Pontiac. He ran for a group called the Union des electeurs, which supported Social Credit ideas in Quebec.
After this, he was a Social Credit MP. In the 1949 election, his home area changed, and he lost his seat. He tried to get back into Parliament in elections in 1953, 1957, and 1958, but he didn't win. He also tried to get elected in Quebec's provincial government in 1956 but was not successful. In 1958, he joined the Social Credit Party and formed its Quebec branch, the Ralliement des créditistes, becoming its clear leader.
Leading the Social Credit Movement
In 1961, Caouette ran to become the leader of the main Social Credit Party, but he lost to Robert N. Thompson. Caouette believed he should have won, but he claimed that the Premier of Alberta, Ernest Manning, told Quebec delegates to vote against him because Western members might not accept a French-speaking Catholic leader.
In the 1962 election, Caouette led the Social Credit Party to a big win in Quebec, getting 26 seats. He became the MP for Villeneuve again. The party only won four seats in the rest of Canada. Because of this, Thompson made Caouette the party's deputy leader. The Social Credit party held a lot of power in Parliament and helped to bring down the government led by John Diefenbaker. In the 1963 election, the party won 24 seats, with almost all of them in Quebec.
Caouette strongly supported bilingualism (having two official languages, French and English) in the House of Commons. He even managed to get the Parliament's restaurant to have menus in both languages. This was a step towards Canada's official bilingualism policy that came later.
The Social Credit MPs from Quebec saw Caouette as their true leader. Caouette felt that since the party was most popular in Quebec, he should be the main leader. Also, Caouette and his followers strongly believed in the original Social Credit money theories, while other parts of the party had moved away from them. Because Thompson wouldn't step down, Caouette and most of the Quebec MPs left the main party in 1963. They formed the Ralliement des créditistes as its own political party.
In the 1965 election, Caouette's Ralliement won nine seats, while Thompson's Social Credit won five. In the 1968 election, Caouette's party won 14 seats, and the main Social Credit party won none. The two parties later reunited under Caouette's leadership for the 1972 election. The reunited party won 15 seats, all in Quebec.
Later Years in Politics
In the 1974 federal election, the Social Credit Party in Quebec faced some internal problems. Caouette was also recovering from a snowmobiling accident, which meant his powerful voice was not heard as much. Even with these issues, the party still won 11 seats. The Speaker of the House of Commons agreed to recognize them as an official party.
The party started to decline after Caouette stepped down as leader in 1976. He had announced in 1975 that he would resign within a year. He was hospitalized after a stroke in September and passed away three months later. After his death, the Social Credit Party continued to lose support and eventually disappeared from Parliament in 1980. The party officially ended in 1993.
Réal Caouette's Ideas and Style
Réal Caouette was a populist leader, meaning he appealed directly to ordinary people who felt ignored by traditional politicians and financial institutions. He was a very good speaker and mixed traditional social values with strong support for Quebec.
Throughout his career, Caouette was known for making strong and sometimes controversial statements. He believed his economic ideas were similar to some governments in the past. During the October Crisis in 1970, he also made very strong comments about the leaders of the Front de libération du Québec. While these statements were popular with his supporters, they sometimes made it harder for the party to gain support from a wider range of voters.
Images for kids
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Caouette in 1945
See also
- Politics of Québec
- List of Québec general elections
- Timeline of Québec history
Archives
There is a Réal Caouette fonds at Library and Archives Canada. Archival reference number is R7439.
