Marc Garneau

Marc Garneau

Birth name: Joseph Jean-Pierre Marc Garneau
Born: February 23, 1949
Age: 75
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Biography

Joseph Jean-Pierre Marc Garneau, (born February 23, 1949) is a Canadian politician and the Minister of Transport in the Government of Canada. He is a retired military officer, former astronaut, and engineer; Garneau was the first Canadian in space taking part in three flights aboard NASA Space shuttles in 1984, 1996 and 2000. Garneau was the president of the Canadian Space Agency from 2001 to 2006, and in 2003 was installed as the ninth Chancellor of Carleton University in Ottawa.

Garneau has served as the Member of Parliament for the riding of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, and its predecessor Westmount—Ville-Marie, in Montreal since the 2008 federal election, winning by over 9000 votes. He was re-elected to the House of Commons in the 2011 federal election by 642 votes, and in the 2015 federal election with a majority of over 18,000. Previously, he unsuccessfully stood in the riding of Vaudreuil-Soulanges at the 2006 federal election.

On November 28, 2012, Garneau announced his candidacy for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada to be decided in April 2013. On March 13, 2013, Garneau formally withdrew his bid for the Party leadership. On November 4, 2015, Garneau was appointed as Minister of Transport in the 29th Canadian Ministry.

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Early life and career

Joseph Jean-Pierre Marc Garneau was born on February 23, 1949, in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. He attended primary and secondary schools in Quebec City and Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering Physics from the Royal Military College of Canada in 1970, and in 1973 received a Doctorate in Electrical Engineering from the Imperial College of Science and Technology in London, England. From 1982 to 1983, he attended the Canadian Forces College in Toronto.

Career in the Navy

In 1974, Garneau began his career in the Royal Canadian Navy as a Navy combat systems engineer on HMCS Algonquin. He was promoted to Commander in 1982 while at Staff College and was transferred to Ottawa in 1983. In January 1986, he was promoted to Captain and retired from the Navy in 1989.

Career with the Canadian Space Agency

Garneau was one of the first Canadian Astronauts and he became the first Canadian in outer space in October 1984. In 1984, he was seconded to the new Canadian Astronaut Program (CAP), one of six chosen from over 4,000 applicants. He flew on the shuttle Challenger, STS-41-G from October 5 to 13, 1984, as payload specialist. He was promoted to Captain in 1986, and left the Navy in 1989, to become deputy director of the CAP. In 1992-93, he underwent further training to become a mission specialist. He worked as CAPCOM for a number of shuttle flights and was on two further flights himself: STS-77 (May 19 to 29, 1996) and STS-97 (to the ISS, November 30 to December 11, 2000). He has logged over 677 hours in space.

In February 2001, he was appointed executive vice-president of the Canadian Space Agency, and became its president on November 22, 2001.

Political career

Garneau resigned as President of the Canadian Space Agency to run for the Liberal Party of Canada in the 2006 federal election in the riding of Vaudreuil-Soulanges, which was represented by Meili Faille of the Bloc Québécois. The Liberal Party's support dropped off considerably in Quebec after the Sponsorship scandal and though considered a star candidate Garneau lost to Faille by over nine thousand votes.

In the 2006 Liberal Party leadership election Garneau announced his support for perceived front-runner Michael Ignatieff, who lost to Stéphane Dion on the final ballot. With the resignation of Liberal MP Jean Lapierre in 2007, Garneau expressed interest in being the party's candidate in Lapierre's former riding of Outremont. Dion instead appointed Jocelyn Coulon as the party's candidate, who went on to be defeated by the New Democratic Party's Thomas Mulcair in the by-election.

In May 2007, Garneau filed nomination papers to be the party's candidate in Westmount—Ville-Marie, after former Liberal Party Deputy Leader Lucienne Robillard announced she would not be seeking re-election. However, a week after filing his nomination papers Dion announced that he had hand-picked a candidate for the riding. Garneau later withdrew his nomination papers and announced he no longer had an interest in politics. In October 2007, Garneau and Dion held a joint news conference where they announced that Garneau would be the Liberal Party candidate in Westmount—Ville-Marie. Robillard announced her resignation as Member of Parliament in January and a by-election was later scheduled for September 8, 2008. However, the by-election was cancelled during the campaign when Prime Minister Stephen Harper called a general election for October 14, 2008. Though some pundits predicted a close race between Garneau and NDP candidate Anne Lagacé-Dowson, Garneau went on to win the riding by over 9,000 votes.

Garneau was narrowly re-elected in the 2011 election where he beat New Democratic Party candidate Joanne Corbeil. He was Liberal House Leader and served as Liberal Foreign affairs Critic. He was a candidate for interim leadership of the Liberal Party, but was ultimately defeated by Bob Rae. Garneau announced later that year that he was considering a bid for the permanent leadership of the party. In the summer of 2012, he announced that he was looking for a "dream team" to run his leadership bid and that he would only run if he could find the right people.

On November 21, 2012, Garneau was named his party's Natural Resources critic after David McGuinty resigned the post. On January 30, 2013, Garneau was replaced as Natural Resources critic by Ted Hsu. Garneau had been serving in the position on an interim basis

On September 18, 2013, Garneau was named co-chair of the Liberal International Affairs Council of Advisors, providing advice on foreign and defence issues to Liberal Party of Canada leader Justin Trudeau.

In the 2015 elections held on October 19, 2015, Garneau was re-elected in the newly created riding of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount. Two weeks later, on November 4, 2015, Garneau was appointed Transport Minister of Canada in the federal Cabinet headed by Justin Trudeau.

Leadership

See also: Liberal Party of Canada leadership election, 2013

On November 28, 2012, Garneau announced his bid for the leadership of the Liberal Party, placing a heavy focus on the economy. While fellow leadership candidate Justin Trudeau was widely seen as the frontrunner in the race, Garneau was thought to be his main challenger among the candidates. With his entrance into the leadership race he resigned his post as Liberal House Leader, while remaining the party's critic for Natural Resources.

At the press conference announcing his candidacy Garneau ruled out any form of co-operation with the Green Party or New Democratic Party to help defeat the Conservative Party in the next election, which was proposed by leadership candidate Joyce Murray.

On 13 March 2013 Garneau announced his withdrawal from the race, and threw his support to front-runner Justin Trudeau.

Awards and honours

Garneau was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1984 in recognition of his role as the first Canadian astronaut. He was promoted the rank of Companion within the order in 2003 for his extensive work with Canada's space program.

He was awarded the Canadian Forces Decoration for 12 years of honourable service with the Canadian Forces.

He is honoured with a high school named after him, Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute in Toronto and É.S.P. Marc-Garneau in Trenton, Ontario.

Garneau is the Honorary Captain of the Royal Canadian Sea Cadets. In addition, no 599 Royal Canadian Air Cadets squadron is named in his honour.

Garneau was awarded the Key to the City of Ottawa from Marion Dewar the Mayor of Ottawa on 10 December 1984.

Honorary degrees

Province Date School Degree
Ontario 1985 Royal Military College of Canada
Nova Scotia 1985 Technical University of Nova Scotia Doctor of Engineering (D.Eng)
Quebec 1985 Laval University
Quebec 1990 Royal Military College Saint-Jean
Ontario 1997 University of Ottawa Doctor of the University (D.Univ)
Alberta Spring 2001 University of Lethbridge Doctor of Science (D.Sc)
Ontario Spring 2002 York University Doctor of Science (D.Sc)
Quebec December 2004 Concordia University Doctor of Laws (LL.D)
Ontario November 2005 McMaster University Doctor of Science (D.Sc)
Alberta 2006 Athabasca University Doctor of Science (D.Sc)
British Columbia 2006 British Columbia Institute of Technology Doctor of Technology (D.Tech)


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Electoral record

Canadian federal election, 2015: Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount
Party Candidate Votes % ∆% Expenditures
Liberal Marc Garneau 29,755 57.67 +19.43 -
New Democratic James Hughes 11,229 21.76 -13.29 -
Conservative Richard Sagala 7,414 14.37 -3.28 -
Green Melissa Kate Wheeler 1,581 3.06 -1.32 -
Bloc Québécois Simon Quesnel 1,282 2.48 -1.59 -
Marxist-Leninist Rachel Hoffman 181 0.35 - -
Independent Lisa Julie Cahn 151 0.29 - -
Total valid votes/Expense limit 51,593 100.00 - $214,383.86
Total rejected ballots 311 0.60 - -
Turnout 51,904 65.21 - -
Eligible voters 79,597 - - -
Liberal notional hold Swing +16.36
Source: Elections Canada
Canadian federal election, 2011: Westmount—Ville-Marie
Party Candidate Votes % ∆% Expenditures
Liberal Marc Garneau 15,346 37.18 -9.29 -
New Democratic Joanne Corbeil 14,704 35.62 +12.69 -
Conservative Neil Drabkin 7,218 17.49 +1.68 -
Bloc Québécois Véronique Roy 2,278 5.52 -1.74 -
Green Andrew Carkner 1,516 3.67 -3.37 -
Rhinoceros Victoria Haliburton 140 0.34 +0.18 -
Communist Bill Sloan 73 0.18 +0.09 -
Total valid votes/Expense limit 41,275 100.00 -
Total rejected ballots 165 0.40
Turnout 41,440 53.76
Electors on the lists 77,084
Liberal hold Swing -10.99
Canadian federal election, 2008: Westmount—Ville-Marie
Party Candidate Votes % ∆% Expenditures
Liberal Marc Garneau 18,041 46.47 +0.79 $78,009
New Democratic Anne Lagacé Dowson 8,904 22.93 +7.56 $79,186
Conservative Guy Dufort 6,139 15.81 -1.84 $34,968
Bloc Québécois Charles Larivée 2,818 7.26 -5.30 $8,281
Green Claude William Genest 2,733 7.04 -1.31 -
Rhinoceros Judith Vienneau 62 0.16 - -
Marxist-Leninist Linda Sullivan 49 0.13 -0.10 -
Independent David Rovins 47 0.12 - $30
Communist Bill Sloan 34 0.09 -0.08 $2,433
Total valid votes/Expense limit 38,827 100.00 $83,153
Total rejected ballots 224 0.57
Turnout 39,051 50.64
Eligible voters 77,112
Liberal hold Swing +1.34
Canadian federal election, 2006: Vaudreuil—Soulanges
Party Candidate Votes % ∆% Expenditures
Bloc Québécois Meili Faille 27,012 43.16 -1.13 $85,133
Liberal Marc Garneau 17,768 28.39 -10.41 $79,413
Conservative Stephane Bourgon 11,889 19.00 +10.81 $35,090
New Democratic Bert Markgraf 3,468 5.54 +1.64 $3,385
Green Pierre Pariseau-Legault 2,450 3.91 +0.14 $1,144
Total valid votes/Expense limit 62,587 100.00 $85,543
Bloc Québécois hold Swing +9.28

[ Source: Wikipedia ]


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