- André-Gilles Fortin
André-Gilles Fortin (
November 13 ,1943 -June 24 ,1977 ) was a Canadianpolitician in the 1970s. Fortin was a member of theCanadian House of Commons for theSocial Credit Party of Canada .Fortin was elected leader of the party on
November 7 ,1976 after his popular predecessor,Réal Caouette , was forced to resign due to illness. [ [http://www.canadianencyclopedia.ca/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0001361 Caouette, Joseph-David-Réal ] ] The party was then struggling, having lost almost all its support in the west and in decline inQuebec where its members were divided between support forCanadian federalism and forsovereignty association for Quebec, a position supported byRené Matte whom Fortin defeated for the leadership. Fortin's efforts to rebuild the party were cut short when he was killed after only eight months as leader.Fortin died in a
car crash at about three in the morning on June 24, 1977 at the age of 33. It is believed that he fell asleep while driving, and his car went off the highway. where it missed a bridge and jumped over a river, slamming into the embankment on the other side. The accident took place on theTrans-Canada Highway betweenMontreal andQuebec City . At the time of his death, he had two young children.Réal Caouette's son,
Gilles Caouette , became acting leader of the party five days later.References
External links
* [http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/people/key/bio.asp?Language=E&query=934&s=M Federal Political Experience - Fortin, Andre-Gilles]
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