Rhéal Fortin
Canadian lawyer and politician
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Rhéal Éloi Fortin MP (French: [ʁeal fɔʁtɛ̃]) is a Canadian lawyer and politician, who is the member of the House of Commons for Rivière-du-Nord.
Rhéal Fortin | |
|---|---|
| |
| Spokesperson of Québec debout Groupe parlementaire québécois (March — June) | |
| In office March 21, 2018 – September 17, 2018 | |
| Preceded by | Caucus founded |
| Succeeded by | Caucus dissolved |
| Interim Leader of the Bloc Québécois | |
| In office October 22, 2015 – March 18, 2017 | |
| Preceded by | Gilles Duceppe |
| Succeeded by | Martine Ouellet |
| Member of Parliament for Rivière-du-Nord | |
| Assumed office October 19, 2015 | |
| Preceded by | Pierre Dionne Labelle |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Rhéal Éloi Fortin Laval-des-Rapides, Quebec, Canada |
| Party | Bloc Québécois |
Other political affiliations | Québec debout (2018) |
| Profession | Lawyer |
A lawyer by profession, he is the president of Bissonnette Fortin Giroux, a law firm in Saint-Jérôme. He studied law at University of Sherbrooke. He was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 2015 election for Rivière-du-Nord as a member of the Bloc Québécois,[1]
Fortin was named interim leader of the Bloc Québécois on October 22, 2015 following the resignation of Gilles Duceppe as leader after Duceppe was unable to win his seat in the election.[2]
He served as interim leader of the party until the next leader, Martine Ouellet was named on March 18, 2017.
Fortin and six other Bloc MPs resigned from the Bloc's caucus to sit as independent MPs on February 28, 2018 citing conflicts with Ouellet's leadership.[3] Fortin then served as leader of the party formed by the dissidents, Québec debout.[4] He rejoined the Bloc Québécois caucus on September 17, 2018.[5]
Biography
Fortin was born in Laval-des-Rapides, Quebec. He started working when he was 18. He completed a CEGEP electrician's diploma, equivalent to junior college. He was a worker in a factory in Laval from 1977 to 1985, then left to attend university to study law. After completing his legal education, he began practising law in Saint-Jérôme in 1992.[citation needed]
At the time of the 2025 Canadian federal election, he lived in Saint-Sauveur-des-Monts.[6]
Political career
He has been politically active ever since high school, when he volunteered to put up lawn signs for the Parti Québécois. He ran for the Parti Québécois nomination for the election for the National Assembly of Quebec for Prévost, but lost to Gilles Robert. In 2015 he ran for the Bloc Québécois in the riding Rivière-du-Nord and won. He became the interim leader of Bloc Québécois on October 22, 2015.[7] On December 7, 2016, he announced that he would not be seeking the permanent leadership of the party at its leadership election in 2017.
He served as the BQ's critic for intergovernmental affairs, human rights, justice, and access to information in the House of Commons until February 2018, when he and six other Bloc MPs quit the caucus and formed the Groupe parlementaire québécois in protest of Martine Ouellet's leadership style. Fortin was named the group's spokesperson on March 21, 2018.[8]
He served as the justice critic in the Bloc Québécois Shadow Cabinet of the 44th Parliament of Canada.[9]
He was elected vice chair of the Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights in the 45th Canadian Parliament in 2025.
Electoral record
| 2025 Canadian federal election: Rivière-du-Nord | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Bloc Québécois | Rhéal Fortin | 25,438 | 43.85 | −7.75 | $22,420.66 | |||
| Liberal | Mary-Helen Walton | 18,345 | 31.62 | +9.15 | $3,070.24 | |||
| Conservative | Patricia Morrissette | 12,203 | 21.03 | +8.99 | $5,071.29 | |||
| New Democratic | Christel Marchand | 2,032 | 3.50 | −3.38 | $0.00 | |||
| Total valid votes/expense limit | 58,018 | 97.73 | – | $139,338.04 | ||||
| Total rejected ballots | 1,349 | 2.27 | ||||||
| Turnout | 59,367 | 63.42 | ||||||
| Eligible voters | 93,608 | |||||||
| Bloc Québécois notional hold | Swing | −8.45 | ||||||
| Source: Elections Canada[10][11] | ||||||||
| Note: number of eligible voters does not include voting day registrations. | ||||||||
| 2021 Canadian federal election: Rivière-du-Nord | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Bloc Québécois | Rhéal Fortin | 29,943 | 52.2 | +0.2 | $17,137.18 | |||
| Liberal | Theodora Bajkin | 12,767 | 22.3 | ±0.0 | $5,481.12 | |||
| Conservative | Patricia Morrissette | 6,803 | 11.9 | +0.1 | $17,935.40 | |||
| New Democratic | Marie-Helen Paspaliaris | 3,958 | 6.9 | -0.1 | $703.54 | |||
| People's | Keeyan Ravanshid | 2,164 | 3.8 | +3.1 | $1,391.38 | |||
| Free | Marie-Eve Damour | 1,036 | 1.8 | N/A | $733.88 | |||
| Rhinoceros | Jean-François René | 373 | 0.7 | N/A | $0.00 | |||
| Indépendance du Québec | Nicolas Riqueur-Lainé | 285 | 0.5 | +0.1 | $0.00 | |||
| Total valid votes/expense limit | 57,329 | 97.7 | – | $126,251.14 | ||||
| Total rejected ballots | 1,327 | 2.3 | ||||||
| Turnout | 58,656 | 59.1 | ||||||
| Eligible voters | 99,292 | |||||||
| Bloc Québécois hold | Swing | +0.1 | ||||||
| Source: Elections Canada[12] | ||||||||
| 2019 Canadian federal election: Rivière-du-Nord | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Bloc Québécois | Rhéal Fortin | 31,281 | 52.0 | +20.0 | $14,299.86 | |||
| Liberal | Florence Gagnon | 13,402 | 22.3 | -4.1 | $53,916.68 | |||
| Conservative | Sylvie Fréchette | 7,120 | 11.8 | +3.3 | $28,363.50 | |||
| New Democratic | Myriam Ouellette | 4,194 | 7.0 | -23.1 | none listed | |||
| Green | Joey Leckman | 3,345 | 5.6 | +3.1 | $7,366.15 | |||
| People's | Normand Michaud | 407 | 0.7 | – | $45.01 | |||
| Indépendance du Québec | Nicolas Riqueur-Lainé | 225 | 0.4 | – | $117.25 | |||
| Independent | Lucie St-Gelais | 127 | 0.2 | – | $0.00 | |||
| Total valid votes/expense limit | 60,101 | 100.0 | ||||||
| Total rejected ballots | 1,206 | |||||||
| Turnout | 61,307 | 64.0 | ||||||
| Eligible voters | 95,813 | |||||||
| Bloc Québécois hold | Swing | +12.05 | ||||||
| Source: Elections Canada[13][14] | ||||||||
| 2015 Canadian federal election: Rivière-du-Nord | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Bloc Québécois | Rhéal Fortin | 18,157 | 32.05 | +3.85 | – | |||
| New Democratic | Pierre Dionne Labelle | 17,077 | 30.14 | -24.98 | – | |||
| Liberal | Janice Bélair Rolland | 14,933 | 26.36 | +19.91 | – | |||
| Conservative | Romain Vignol | 4,793 | 8.46 | +0.03 | – | |||
| Green | Joey Leckman | 1,436 | 2.53 | +0.74 | – | |||
| Rhinoceros | Fobozof A. Côté | 261 | 0.46 | – | – | |||
| Total valid votes/Expense limit | 56,657 | 100.0 | $229,198.01 | |||||
| Total rejected ballots | 1,044 | – | – | |||||
| Turnout | 57,701 | 65.13 | – | |||||
| Eligible voters | 88,586 | |||||||
| Bloc Québécois gain from New Democratic | Swing | +14.42 | ||||||
| Source: Elections Canada[15][16] | ||||||||