- Raymond Lavigne
Raymond Lavigne (born
November 16 1945 ) is a Canadian Senator.A businessman and
real estate consultant, Lavigne first ran for a seat in theCanadian House of Commons in the 1988 election but was unsuccessful.He ran again in
Verdun—Saint-Paul ,Quebec in the 1993 election, and was elected a LiberalMember of Parliament (MP). He was re-elected as the MP for the riding, now calledVerdun—Saint-Henri—Saint-Paul—Pointe-Saint-Charles , in the 1997 and 2000 federal elections.In 2002, he was appointed to the
Canadian Senate on the advice of Prime MinisterJean Chrétien in order to make his riding available forLiza Frulla , a formerQuebec cabinet minister.On
June 8 ,2006 , he was temporarily removed from the Liberal caucus after allegedly misusing Senate funds for personal use. He apparently used $23,000 in funds for work on his estate, including having his executive assistant cut down trees on his property. [http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060608/misspent_funds_060608/20060608?hub=TopStories] .Since then, Lavigne's lawyer said that Lavigne had agreed to pay back the $23,000, without an admission of wrongdoing.
On
August 14 ,2007 , theRoyal Canadian Mounted Police , who had been investigating allegations raised concerning the misuse of funds for the last year, laid criminal charges against Lavigne: fraud over $5,000, breach of trust and obstruction of justice [http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070814/Raymond_Lavigne_070814/20070814?hub=TopStories] .External links
* [http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/people/key/bio.asp?lang=E&query=167&s=M Political biography from the Library of Parliament]
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