Denis Coderre

The Honourable Denis Coderre BA, MBA, PC, MP
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Bourassa
Incumbent
Assumed office 1997
Preceded by	Osvaldo Nunez
Personal details
Born	(1963-07-25) July 25, 1963 Joliette, Quebec
Political party	Liberal
Spouse(s)	Chantale Renaud
Residence	Montreal, Quebec
Profession	Insurance broker, public relations officer, announcer

Denis Coderre, PC, MP (born July 25, 1963) is a Canadian politician from Quebec, Canada. Coderre is the Liberal Member of Parliament for the Montreal riding of Bourassa.

Background

Born and raised in Joliette, Quebec, Coderre is a political science graduate from the Université de Montréal and completed a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Ottawa. He and his wife Chantale Renaud have two children, Geneviève and Alexandre.

Politics

Unsuccessful Liberal candidate

Coderre ran unsuccessfully three times prior to being elected: first, in the 1988 election in the riding of Joliette, losing to the Progressive Conservative Party candidate, Gaby Larrivée; second, in a 1990 by-election in the riding of Laurier—Sainte-Marie, losing to Gilles Duceppe; and third, in the 1993 elections in the riding of Bourassa, defeated by the Bloc Québécois candidate, Osvaldo Núñez.

Member of Parliament

Coderre was elected as a Member of Parliament in 1997 representing the riding of Bourassa, located in Montreal, and was re-elected in the 2000, 2004, 2006, 2008, and 2011 federal elections.

Cabinet Member

Coderre entered cabinet in August 1999 when he was appointed Secretary of State for Amateur Sport. In January 2002, he was appointed Immigration minister.

On December 12, 2003, Prime Minister Paul Martin advised Governor General Adrienne Clarkson to appoint Coderre to the Cabinet as President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada where he was responsible for a number of files, such as the creation of the new Public Service Human Resources Management Agency. He was also the Federal Interlocutor for Metis and Non-Status Indians, the Minister responsible for La Francophonie and the Minister responsible for the Office of Indian Residential Schools Resolution. Coderre was not re-appointed to Cabinet following the 2004 general election, in which he was re-elected in his riding.

As Minister of Immigration, Coderre supervised the application of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, which came into effect on June 28, 2002. As Secretary of State for Amateur Sport, Coderre successfully negotiated a number of national and international agreements and helped to establish the World Anti-Doping Agency in Montreal.

Sponsorship Scandal

During the events of the Sponsorship Scandal Denis Coderre was accused of frequent confidential conversations with Pierre Tremblay, head of the Communications Coordination Services Branch of Public Works. Coderre has denied these allegations. His previous position as vice-president of public affairs for Le Groupe Polygone Éditeurs Inc. is judged to be the key connecting factor. No legal action has been taken to substantiate or disprove the allegations.^{[citation needed]}

The Shane Doan incident

During the 2006 election, Coderre accused National Hockey League player Shane Doan of uttering ethnic slurs directed against French-speaking referees at a game in Montreal. Coderre wrote a letter to the Canadian Olympic Committee asking them to keep Doan off Canada's 2006 hockey team competing at the Olympics in Turin, Italy. Globe and Mail columnist Eric Duhatschek noted that "the NHL is tough on ethnic slurs ... if Mr. Coderre has any proof he should produce it. Otherwise he should just shut up." Hockey commentator John Davidson accused Coderre of "grandstanding" and criticized his accusation, saying that "a person shouldn't go stand on a platform and yell and scream about it when he doesn't even know the facts."

Doan was given a gross misconduct penalty for verbal abuse of the officials at the end of the December 13, 2005 game between his team, the Phoenix Coyotes, and the Montreal Canadiens. Referees and linesmen for the game were all francophones from Quebec. Although one of the linesmen, Michel Cormier, filed a report against the player, Doan was cleared by NHL Executive Vice-President Colin Campbell, the league's chief disciplinarian, who concluded that the allegations were baseless. Doan himself has denied that he ever made the ethinic slur.

In January 2006, Doan sued Coderre for character defamation seeking $250,000 in damages with Doan promising to donate all damages awarded to charities to benefit Canadians. On April 2, 2007 Coderre counter-sued Doan for defamation seeking $45,000 in damages after referee Michel Cormier reiterated under oath that Doan made a racist comment against him as a Francophone.

Opposition Member

Coderre won re-election to the House of Commons in 2006, but the Liberals lost the campaign and became the Official Opposition party. As Liberal Defence Critic Coderre has been outspoken against the ruling Conservative government's defence policies.

Accusations against the Chief of Defence Staff

In 2007 Coderre made allegations against the previous Chief of Defence Staff General Rick Hillier (retired) of being a "prop". Hillier in return has accused Coderre of being more concerned with party image than in protecting Canadian Forces members.

Trip to Afghanistan

In October 2007, Coderre made a self-planned visit to Afghanistan to visit the war-torn country and the Canadian Forces in the Kandahar region. He criticized the Harper government - who did not invite him on an official tour of the country that was made by Ministers Bev Oda and Maxime Bernier a few days before him - and consequently, Coderre, as Liberal defense critic, had to travel by himself at his own expense, mentioned that the mission in Afghanistan must change in 2009. The government had accused him of staging a stunt while Coderre fired back that the Conservatives overestimated the success of the mission.

Quebec lieutenant

On January 22, 2009, Coderre became the Quebec lieutenant of Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff. He had been offered the same assignment by former leader Stéphane Dion, but had declined the offer.

On September 28, 2009, Coderre resigned as Quebec lieutenant because of a disagreement with Ignatieff. Coderre had been tasked with picking 'star candidates' for the next election, attempting to replace Montreal-area MPs Stéphane Dion, Lise Zarac, and Bernard Patry, as well as Laval MP Raymonde Folco, at Ignatieff's request. Coderre had chosen Nathalie Le Prohon to run in Outremont, formerly a Liberal safe seat now held by the NDP's Thomas Mulcair. However, Martin Cauchon was seeking a return to politics and wanted to run in Outremont, a riding he had held for 11 years prior to 2004 when then-Liberal leader Paul Martin would not guarantee Cauchon's nomination. Cauchon had served as Jean Chrétien's Minister of Justice and Quebec lieutenant. Cauchon preferred to seek help from Alfred Apps from Toronto instead of talking to Coderre and his team. Cauchon and Coderre had previously been close when both were part of Chrétien's cabinet, but some suggest that Coderre now saw Cauchon as a potential rival for influence over the Quebec wing of the Liberals, and perhaps in a future leadership convention. Ignatieff initially sided with Coderre, then reversed his decision and allowed Cauchon to run in Outremont.

In Coderre's first press conference after resigning as Quebec lieutenant, he criticized Ignatieff's aides, all of whom were from Toronto. Coderre also skipped votes in the House Commons in protest. Ignatieff later warned that Coderre would face expulsion from caucus if he did "any more damage to the party."

2011-present

In 2012, Coderre confirmed that he would not run for the leadership of the federal Liberal party. He is expected to run for Mayor of Montreal in 2013.

Other activities

Coderre currently co-hosts Bazzo.tv's web segment Ma vie culturelle avec Denis C. with Marie-France Bazzo.

External links

• Official site
• How'd They Vote?: Denis Coderre's voting history and quotes
• Denis Coderre - Parliament of Canada biography

27th Ministry – Cabinet of Paul Martin
Cabinet Post (1)
Predecessor	Office	Successor
Stéphane Dion	President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada 2003–2004	Lucienne Robillard
Special Cabinet Responsibilities
Predecessor	Title	Successor
Denis Paradis	Minister responsible for La Francophonie 2003–2004	Jacques Saada
Ralph Goodale	Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians 2003–2004	Andy Scott
26th Ministry – Cabinet of Jean Chrétien
Cabinet Post (1)
Predecessor	Office	Successor
Elinor Caplan	Minister of Citizenship and Immigration 2002–2003	Judy Sgro
Sub-Cabinet Post
Predecessor	Title	Successor
	Secretary of State (Amateur Sport) (1999–2002)
Parliament of Canada
Preceded by Osvaldo Nunez, Bloc Québécois	Member of Parliament for Bourassa 1997–	Succeeded by incumbent
Party political offices
Preceded by Céline Hervieux-Payette	Quebec lieutenant for the Leader of the Liberal Party 2009–2009	Succeeded by Marc Garneau