Jean-François Pouliot

Who was Jean-François Pouliot?

Jean-François Pouliot was a lawyer, author and political figure in Quebec. He represented Témiscouata in the Canadian House of Commons from 1924 to 1955 as a Liberal and, for a period, as an Independent Liberal. Pouliot sat for De la Durantaye division in the Senate of Canada from 1955 to 1968.

He was born in Rivière-du-Loup, Quebec, the son of Charles-Eugène Pouliot and Stella-Anita Bertrand. Pouliot was admitted to the Quebec bar in 1914 and set up practice in Rivière-du-Loup. In 1920, he married Marika Maubach. He ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the House of Commons in 1921. Pouliot was elected in an 1924 by-election held following the death of Charles Arthur Gauvreau. He was re-elected in all subsequent federal elections, resigning his seat in 1955 after being called to the Senate.

Pouliot and several other Quebec Liberal MPs broke with the Liberal Party during the Conscription Crisis of 1944, quitting the Liberal caucus in order to oppose the government's decision to deploy National Resources Mobilization Act conscripts overseas. Previously, conscripts had only been used for "home defence" and kept within Canada.