Claude Wagner

Claude Wagner, PC, QC (April 4, 1925 - July 11, 1979) was a judge and politician in the Province of Quebec, Canada. In his career, Wagner was a Crown prosecutor, professor of criminal law and judge. He earned a "law and order" reputation when he served successively as Solicitor General, Attorney General, and Minister of Justice from its creation in 1965 to 1966 in the government of Quebec Premier Jean Lesage.

After losing the Quebec Liberal Party leadership race to Robert Bourassa in 1970, Wagner left politics to return to the bench. He then entered federal politics, and was elected as the Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament for Saint-Hyacinthe in the 1972 federal election.^[1] He was re-elected in the 1974 election, and stood as a candidate at the Progressive Conservative leadership convention of 1976. Wagner attracted support amongst Tories who believed that having a leader from Quebec would enable the party to break the federal Liberal Party's stranglehold on the province, and from right-wing Tories attracted by his law and order reputation. The man who had helped to persuade Wagner to join the Progressive Conservatives, Brian Mulroney, turned against him so much that he opposed him for the party's leadership in 1976. He had three reasons to do so, according to a biographer, John Sawatsky: first, Wagner had lied that he had not received any kind of financial compensation for his decision to join the party (in fact, a trust fund had been established to protect him financially in case he lost the 1972 federal election); second, Wagner had failed to help the Progressive Conservatives to win considerably more votes in Québec; and third, Wagner's personality was much stiffer, more formal and less social than Mulroney's. Wagner led on the first three ballots, but lost to Joe Clark by 65 votes out of 2,309 on the fourth ballot.^[2]

In 1978, he was elevated to the Canadian Senate by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and sat as a Progressive Conservative.^[3] One reason for his departure from the House of Commons was that he could not get well along with Joe Clark.^[4] He died of cancer the next year at the age of 54.^[5]

Personal life

Wagner was born in Shawinigan and his parents were of Bavarian and Romanian background.^[6]

See also

• Quebec federalism
• List of Mauriciens

References

1. ^ "Pepin's defeat, Wagner victory fail to stop Liberals from retaining majority in Quebec". The Globe and Mail, October 31, 1972.
2. ^ John Sawatsky, Mulroney: The Politics of Ambition, published in Canada c. 1991)
3. ^ "Trudeau finds a Senate seat for Claude Wagner". The Globe and Mail, April 22, 1979.
4. ^ Sawatsky, Mulroney: The Politics of Ambition
5. ^ "Quebec senator was ex-Tory MP". The Globe and Mail, July 12, 1979.
6. ^ Ian MacDonald (January 8, 1966). "Watch Quebec's Own Gangbuster". The Ottawa Sun. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=z5VlAAAAIBAJ&sjid=hooNAAAAIBAJ&pg=2736,1800474&dq=Bavarian. Retrieved April 21, 2009. 

External links

• National Assembly biography (French)
• Claude Wagner - Parliament of Canada biography

Parliament of Canada
Preceded by Théogène Ricard	Member of Parliament from Saint-Hyacinthe 1972–1978	Succeeded by Marcel Ostiguy

Persondata
Name	Wagner, Claude
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	April 4, 1925
Place of birth	Shawinigan
Date of death	July 11, 1979
Place of death