{{Short description|Canadian politician (born 1937)}} {{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2012}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = [[The Honourable]] | name = Gerry St. Germain | honorific_suffix = [[King's Privy Council for Canada|PC]] | image = | image_size = | office = [[Minister of State (Canada)|Minister of State (Forestry)]] | term_start = September 15, 1988 | term_end = December 7, 1988 | prime_minister = [[Brian Mulroney]] | predecessor = [[Gerald Merrithew]] | successor = [[Frank Oberle Sr.|Frank Oberle]] | office1 = [[Minister of State (Canada)|Minister of State (Transport)]] | term_start1 = March 31, 1988 | term_end1 = September 15, 1988 | prime_minister1 = [[Brian Mulroney]] | predecessor1 = [[Monique Vézina]] | successor1 = [[Shirley Martin]] | office2 = [[Senate of Canada|Canadian Senator]] <br /> from [[List of British Columbia senators|British Columbia]] | appointer2 = [[Brian Mulroney]] | predecessor2 = | successor2 = | term_start2 = June 23, 1993 | term_end2 = November 6, 2012 | riding3 = [[Mission—Port Moody]] | parliament3 = Canadian | term_start3 = August 29, 1983 | term_end3 = November 21, 1988 | predecessor3 = [[Mark Rose (politician)|Mark Rose]] | successor3 = ''Riding abolished'' | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1937|11|6}} | birth_place = [[Winnipeg]], [[Manitoba]], Canada<!-- His Senate biography gives his birthplace as St. Boniface, MB, which is a neighborhood in the city of Winnipeg --> | death_date = | death_place = | spouse = | party = [[Conservative Party of Canada|Conservative]] (2003–present) | other_party = {{plainlist| * [[Progressive Conservative Party of Canada|Progressive Conservative]] (until 2000) * [[Independent politician|Independent Conservative]] (2000) * [[Canadian Alliance|Alliance]] (2000–2003)}} | relations = | children = | alma_mater = | occupation = | profession = | cabinet = | committees = | portfolio = | signature = | website = | footnotes = }} {{BLP sources section|date=January 2022}} '''Gerry St. Germain''' {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|PC}} (born November 6, 1937) is a former [[Canadians|Canadian]] politician. St. Germain served as a [[Conservative Party of Canada|Conservative]] [[Senate of Canada|senator]] for [[British Columbia]] and previously served as a [[House of Commons of Canada|Member of Parliament]].
==Early life and career== Born in [[Manitoba]] of [[Métis in Canada|Metis]] descent, he moved to [[British Columbia]]. St. Germain had various jobs prior to entering politics, working variously as a [[Royal Canadian Air Force]] pilot, police officer (Winnipeg and Vancouver Police Departments), building contractor, businessman and poultry farmer.
==Member of Parliament== A strong Tory supporter, St. Germain was parachuted as a [[Progressive Conservative Party of Canada|Progressive Conservative]] into the [[Mission-Port Moody]] riding for the [[byelection]] there in 1983. St. Germain was elected as a Member of Parliament in the [[House of Commons of Canada]] at a [[by-election]] held on the same day in 1983 that [[Brian Mulroney]] was elected.
St. Germain was [[Member of Parliament (Canada)|Member of Parliament]] for the now defunct riding of [[Mission—Port Moody]] from then until 1988. In March 1988, St. Germain joined the [[Canadian Cabinet]] as [[Minister of Transport (Canada)]] and was later appointed as Minister of Forestry. He was also the political minister for BC at this time.
After his riding's boundaries were changed to create the new riding of [[Mission-Coquitlam]], St. Germain was defeated in the [[1988 Canadian federal election|1988 general election]] by [[Joy Langan]]. From 1989 to 1995, he was the President of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada.
==Senate career== In June 1993, he was appointed to the [[Senate of Canada]] just prior to Mulroney's retirement as [[Prime Minister of Canada]]. He chose to adopt the division of [[Langley, British Columbia (city)|Langley]]-[[Pemberton, British Columbia|Pemberton]]-[[Whistler, British Columbia|Whistler]]; such Senate divisions are merely symbolic outside Quebec. In 1998, while still a Progressive Conservative, St. Germain explored the [[Unite the Right (Canada)|United Alternative option]], formed by [[Reform Party of Canada]] leader [[Preston Manning]], which was an attempt to unite the right. In June 2000, he sat as an Independent Conservative senator, and in October 2000 he became the only [[Canadian Alliance]] senator. Since the Canadian Alliance formed the [[Official Opposition (Canada)|Official Opposition]] in the House of Commons, St. Germain argued that he should be the [[Leader of the Official Opposition in the Senate (Canada)|Leader of the Official Opposition in the Senate]], but his arguments were rejected by the [[Speaker of the Senate of Canada|Speaker]].<ref>{{cite Hansard |jurisdiction=Canada |title=SELECTION OF THE LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION—SPEAKER'S RULING |url=https://sencanada.ca/Content/SEN/Chamber/371/Debates/pdf/008db_2001-02-21-e.pdf |house=Senate |date=February 21, 2001 |pages=152-155 |speaker=Daniel Hays |position=Speaker of the Senate of Canada}}</ref> At the request of Canadian Alliance Leader Stephen Harper, St. Germain led the negotiations to unite the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party. When the two parties merged in December 2003, St. Germain became a member of the [[Conservative Party of Canada]]. On 6 November 2012, St. Germain reached the Senate's mandatory retirement age, 75.
Gerry St. Germain was listed as the top spender for expenses in the Canadian Senate spending $378,292 in one year according to a National Post article.{{Citation needed|date=January 2022}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20050913054635/http://sen.parl.gc.ca/gstgermain/ Gerry St. Germain's Home Page] * {{Canadian Parliament links|ID=8798}}
{{s-start}} {{s-bef|before=[[Mark Rose (politician)|Mark Rose]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Mission—Port Moody|Member of Parliament for Mission—Port Moody]]|years=1984–1988}} {{s-aft|after=Riding abolished}} {{s-end}} {{Mulroney Ministry}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:St. Germain, Gerry}} [[Category:1937 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Members of the 24th Canadian Ministry]] [[Category:Members of the House of Commons of Canada from British Columbia]] [[Category:Canadian senators from British Columbia]] [[Category:Progressive Conservative Party of Canada MPs]] [[Category:Progressive Conservative Party of Canada senators]] [[Category:Conservative Party of Canada senators]] [[Category:Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada]] [[Category:Politicians from Winnipeg]] [[Category:Canadian people of Métis descent]] [[Category:Indspire Awards]] [[Category:21st-century members of the Senate of Canada]] [[Category:Indigenous Canadian senators]] [[Category:20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada]] [[Category:20th-century members of the Senate of Canada]]