Canadian politician
Robert de Cotret
In office Preceded by Electoral District created Succeeded by Michel Bellehumeur In office Preceded by Antonio Yanakis Succeeded by Electoral District eliminated (see Berthier—Montcalm , Champlain and Saint-Maurice from 1987 to 2003) In office Resigned to run in 1980 General Election Appointed by Joe Clark In office Preceded by Hugh Poulin Succeeded by John Leslie Evans In office Preceded by Gerry Weiner Succeeded by Monique Landry In office Preceded by Lucien Bouchard Succeeded by Jean Charest In office Preceded by Herb Gray Succeeded by Don Mazankowski In office Preceded by Jack Horner Succeeded by Herb Gray
Born (1944-02-20 ) February 20, 1944Ottawa , Ontario Died July 9, 1999(1999-07-09) (aged 55) Political party Progressive Conservative
Jean Robert René de Cotret , PC Canadian economist and politician.
De Cotret was the President and CEO of the Conference Board of Canada from 1976 to 1978 before being elected to the House of Commons of Canada in a 1978 by-election . He was elected as the Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Ottawa Centre , and was one of the few francophone MPs in the Tory caucus .
Despite the Tory victory in the 1979 general election , de Cotret lost his seat . In need of French-Canadian Cabinet ministers, Prime Minister Joe Clark appointed de Cotret to the Senate of Canada and to Cabinet as Minister of Industry, Trade and Commerce in Clark's minority government .
When the government was defeated in a motion of non-confidence , a new election was called for February 18, 1980. De Cotret resigned his Senate seat in order to run for a seat in the House of Commons in the riding of Berthier—Maskinongé , but was defeated in the 1980 election along with the Clark government.
He ran again in the 1984 election , and was elected along with a Progressive Conservative majority government led by Brian Mulroney . Mulroney appointed de Cotret to Cabinet as President of the Treasury Board . In 1987, de Cotret became Minister of Regional Industrial Expansion , and reassumed the Treasury Board portfolio in 1989. In 1990, he became Minister of the Environment and then Secretary of State for Canada in 1991.
De Cotret retired from Cabinet in January 1993 and did not run in the 1993 election .
External links
1 The department was eliminated in 1993 when the government was reorganized. The position of Secretary of State for Canada was not legally eliminated until 1996 when its remaining responsibilities were assigned to other cabinet positions and departments, particularly the newly created position of
Minister of Canadian Heritage .
Ministers of Trade and Commerce (1892–1969) Ministers of Industry (1963–69) Ministers of Industry, Trade and Commerce (1969–83) Minister of State for International Trade (1979–80) Minister of State (Trade) (1980–82) Ministers of State (International Trade) (1982–83) Ministers of International Trade (1983–2018) Minister of International Trade Diversification (2018–)
