Maurice Bourget, PC (October 20, 1907 – March 29, 1979) was a Canadian politician who was Speaker of the Senate of Canada from April 27, 1963 to January 6, 1966.

Maurice Bourget
Member of the Canadian Parliament
for Lévis
In office
1940–1962
Preceded byJoseph-Étienne Dussault
Succeeded byJoseph-Aurélien Roy
Senator from The Laurentides
In office
April 27, 1963 – March 29, 1979
Appointed byLester B. Pearson
Preceded byTélésophore Damien Bouchard
Succeeded byArthur Tremblay
Personal details
Born(1907-10-20)October 20, 1907
Lauzon, Quebec
DiedMarch 29, 1979(1979-03-29) (aged 71)
Political partyLiberal
CommitteesChairman, Standing Committee on Miscellaneous Private Bills (1966-1968)
PortfolioSpeaker of the Senate (1963-1966)
Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Public Works (1953-1957)

Bourget was born in Lauzon, Quebec and played semi-professional baseball and softball in Levis as a young man. He trained as a civil engineer and practiced in Levis.

A Liberal since the age of 19, Bourget was first elected to the House of Commons of Canada as a Liberal in 1940. Bourget and several other Quebec Liberal MPs had broken with their party the year before during the Conscription Crisis of 1944, quitting the Liberal caucus in order to oppose the government's decision to deploy National Resources Mobilization Act conscripts overseas. Previously, conscripts had only been used for "home defence" and kept within Canada.[1] He ran and was re-elected as an "Independent Liberal" in 1945 defeating his only opponent, a Social Credit candidate.

Bourget reconciled with the Liberal Party in the post-war period and was again elected as a Liberal in 1949 and was re-elected in subsequent elections until his defeat in 1962 due to an upsurge in support for the Social Credit party.

As an MP, Bourget served as a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly in 1951. From 1953 to 1957 he served as parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Public Works.

He returned to parliament in 1963 when he was appointed to the Senate on the advice of the newly elected Liberal Prime Minister, Lester Pearson and was concurrently appointed Speaker of the upper house. As such, he also served as Joint Chairman of the Canadian delegation to the meeting of the Canada-U.S.A. Inter parliamentary Group at Washington in January 1964 and Joint Chairman of the Inter parliamentary Conference held in Ottawa in September 1965.

Bourget stepped down as Speaker in January 1966 and was appointed to the Privy Council in February. He remained a Senator until his death in 1979.

1940 Canadian federal election: Lévis
Party Candidate Votes
Liberal Maurice Bourget 8,885
National Government Albert Dumontier 4,187
1945 Canadian federal election: Lévis
Party Candidate Votes
Independent Liberal Maurice Bourget 10,098
Social Credit Abel Paradis 4,233
1949 Canadian federal election: Lévis
Party Candidate Votes
Liberal Maurice Bourget 11,752
Independent J.-Adélard Bégin 6,851
Union des électeurs Abel Paradis 655
Progressive Conservative Joseph-Louis-Gonzague McClish 72
1953 Canadian federal election: Lévis
Party Candidate Votes
Liberal Maurice Bourget 13,897
Progressive Conservative Napoléon Grenier 5,305
Labor–Progressive Joseph-Wilfrid Jolin 74
1957 Canadian federal election: Lévis
Party Candidate Votes
Liberal Maurice Bourget 14,693
Progressive Conservative Jean Forgues 5,770
1958 Canadian federal election: Lévis
Party Candidate Votes
Liberal Maurice Bourget 12,410
Progressive Conservative Jean Forgues 9,164
1962 Canadian federal election: Lévis
Party Candidate Votes
Social Credit Joseph-Aurélien Roy 11,504
Liberal Maurice Bourget 8,826
Progressive Conservative Jean-Marie Morin 3,575

References

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  1. ^ "Quebec rebuks Houde and Bracken's hidden men", Toronto Daily Star, June 12, 1945
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