Esioff-Léon Patenaude

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Esioff-Léon Patenaude

Esioff-Léon Patenaude, PC , KC, often called E.L. Patenaude (February 12, 1875 – February 7, 1963) was a Canadian politician and statesman who served as Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec. Born in Saint-Isidore, Quebec, in 1875, he studied law at Université Laval and was called to the Quebec bar in 1899. He established a successful law practice and was soon drawn to politics, serving as a chief organizer for the Conservative Party of Canada in Montreal.

He was first elected to the Quebec National Assembly as a Conservative in La Prairie in the 1908 provincial election, and was re-elected in the 1912 election. In 1915, he was elected to the Canadian House of Commons in a by-election, and joined the government of Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden as Minister of Inland Revenue. He served in that position until early 1917, when he was appointed as Secretary of State and Minister of Mines. In July, however, Patenaude resigned from the Canadian Cabinet in protest of the government's decision to implement conscription. He chose not to seek re-election in the 1917 federal election. When Arthur Meighen became Prime Minister in 1920, he offered Patenaude a seat in cabinet, which the latter declined.

Returning to provincial politics, Patenaude was re-elected to the Quebec National Assembly in Jacques-Cartier in 1923. In 1925, however, Meighen persuaded Patenaude to return to federal politics as his Quebec lieutenant. He was given almost exclusive authority over the Conservative Party's campaign in Quebec during the 1925 federal election as Meighen's Quebec lieutenant. Patenaude proved, however, to be little match for Ernest Lapointe and the Liberal Party of Canada, securing only 4 seats in the province. Patenaude, who had resigned his seat in the Quebec National Assembly to contest the election, was himself defeated.

Despite this setback, Patenaude continued to enjoy the favour of Meighen. When Meighen formed a second government in 1926, he appointed Patenaude as Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada. Patenaude led the Conservative Party in Quebec for a second time during the 1926 federal election, but again fared poorly and was personally defeated.

In 1934, the Governor General of Canada, on the advice of Prime Minister Richard Bedford Bennett, appointed Patenaude as Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec, a position in which he served until his retirement from public life in 1940. In his later years, he experienced a successful career as a banker and businessman.

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Parliament of Canada
Preceded by
Louis Coderre
Member of Parliament for Hochelaga
1915–1917
Succeeded by
Joseph-Edmond Lesage
Political offices
Preceded by
Pierre Edouard Blondin
Minister of Inland Revenue
1915-1917
Succeeded by
Albert Sevigny
Secretary of State for Canada
1917
Minister of Mines
1917
Preceded by
Hugh Guthrie
Minister of Justice
1926
Succeeded by
Ernest Lapointe
Preceded by
William Anderson Black
Minister of Marine and Fisheries
1926
Succeeded by
Pierre Joseph Arthur Cardin
Preceded by
Henry George Carroll
Lieutenant Governor of Quebec
1934–1939
Succeeded by
Eugène Fiset
Languages