Mathieu Tremblay

Mathieu Tremblay (born January 18, 1956) is a Canadian politician, councillor, and conservationist. He was first elected to the St-Raymond City Council in 1982 and served 2 terms in total. Tremblay also worked as a wildlife conservationist from 1978 to 1982 and 1990 to 1992 and then successfully entered federal politics by running for a seat in the House of Commons in 1992.

Early life
Mathieu Tremblay was born on January 18th, 1956 in Lac-Saint-Joseph in a lower-middle-class family in a largely Anglophone community. His parents were Lucas Tremblay, (a Social Credit candidate and Member of Parliament from 1935 to 1958, until the Social Credit Party and his father, were wiped off the map in the 1958 Canadian federal election), and Adrienne Tremblay, who was a taxi driver. His father left the family after his election loss when Mathieu was 2 years old, as he lived with his mother until the age of 18. Tremblay attended and graduated from high school as a valedictorian, and attended Trois-Rivieres University in 1978, where he graduated with a master's degree in law. During his attendance at Trois-Rivieres University, Tremblay campaigned for his local Social Credit federal candidate, Léopold Alarie, who later lost their election bid in a landslide. Tremblay proceeded to work as a lawyer for the next 4 years until 1982 when he left his position at his local law firm to enter municipal politics.

Municipal politics
Tremblay moved to St-Raymond, Quebec after retiring from his local law firm and ran to become a Councillor for the St-Raymond City Council in 1982, where he won convincingly. Tremblay promoted social Conservatism while supporting fiscal Progressivism in the St-Raymond City Council, where he introduced multiple bills that were popular with the voters of his city. His first bill, which protected the right to life by putting restrictions on sex-selective abortion and coerced abortion, was barely defeated, as his second bill, which regulated pharmaceutical companies to lower prescription drug prices, passed easily. His popularity, along with introducing multiple popular bills, re-elected Tremblay in a landslide. Tremblay decided not to run for a third term after that, stating "I don't believe elected officials should serve more than 2 terms, as I believe we should build a society that works for the people in a populist manner, and a way to make sure that can be achieved is not letting power go to the politicians head with the assumption they can rule forever under a system which I believe to be flawed," in an interview with Télé-Québec.

Federal politics
Tremblay has previously stated that he is "somewhat interested in running for a seat for the House of Commons, but I personally do not fully agree with any of the major parties on certain issues. A few parties I can agree with on socially disagree with me on fiscally, vice versa," in an interview with Ici Radio-Canada Télé, as in that same interview, Tremblay stated that he would "most likely run as a candidate for the House of Commons in the electoral district of Portneuf–Jacques-Cartier, which I've mostly lived in for the grand majority of my life."

Tremblay later announced his candidacy for the riding of Portneuf–Jacques-Cartier but stated that he would remain unaffiliated until he reached a consensus on which party he would join. He later confirmed he would run for the Progressive Party in the next federal election.

In 1995, Tremblay ran for the leadership of the Progressive Party of Canada, leading a socially centre-right yet fiscally centre-left campaign in a campaign that was more appealing to the previous Tommy Douglas faction of the Progressives. Tremblay came in third with 18% of the vote, where he managed to pick up Labrador, Saint-Croix, New England, British Virgin Islands, Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Turks and Caicos, Cayman Islands, Montserrat, and his home province of Quebec in an extremely tight race against challenger Kari Labossière. Kari Labossière came in second with 18% of the vote, barely defeating Tremblay in the popular vote, with John Mason defeating Labossière and Tremblay with 64% of the vote.

Personal life
Mathieu Tremblay married Gabrielle Tremblay on January 4th, 1976, and announced the birth of his first child, Jacob Tremblay, on January 28th, 1978.

Tremblay identifies as a Roman Catholic.