Discover

'Honoré Mercier'

Honoré Mercier portrait.
Rank:	9th Premier
Term of Office:	January 27, 1887 – December 21, 1891
Predecessor:	Louis-Olivier Taillon
Successor:	C.-E. B. de Boucherville
Date of Birth:	October 15, 1840
Place of Birth:	St-Athanase
Date of Death:
Place of Death:	Montreal
Spouses:	Léopoldine Boivin (death) Virginie Saint-Denis
Profession:	Lawyer
Political affiliation:	Liberal Party / Parti national
Religion:	Roman Catholic

'Honoré Mercier' (October 15, 1840 – October 30, 1894) was a lawyer, journalist and politician in Quebec, Canada. He was the Premier of Quebec from January 27, 1887 to December 21, 1891, as leader of the ''Parti national'' or Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ). He was born in St-Athanase, Lower Canada, studied at the Jesuit College Sainte-Marie in Montreal and was called to the Bar of Quebec in April 1865.

Contents

Profile

Legacy

Elections as party leader

See also

External links

Profile

As the age of 22, Mercier became the editor of ''Le Courrier de St-Hyacinthe'' newspaper. He opposed the Confederation project as early as 1864, believing that it would be detrimental to French Canadians.
In 1871, he founded the ''Parti National''. He was elected to the House of Commons in 1872 as the member for Rouville. He became the leader of the PLQ in 1883. A practising lawyer, from 1885 to 1887 he was President of the Bar of Montreal. He strongly opposed the execution of Louis Riel in 1885; this event helped him win popular support, and the Quebec Conservative Party lost support because its federal counterparts had ordered Riel's execution.
Seizing the opportunity to build a coalition with dissident Conservatives, Mercier revived the ''Parti National'' name for the 1886 Quebec provincial election, and won a majority of seats. However, the coalition consisted of mostly Liberals and only a few Conservatives, so the "Liberal" name was soon reinstituted. The Conservatives, reduced to a minority in the Legislative Assembly, clung to power for a few more months, but Mercier became Premier of Quebec in 1887. He nevertheless ran to become a Member of Parliament again in the Canadian federal election of 1878 in St. Hyacinthe riding, but was defeated.
He initiated the idea of interprovincial conferences in 1887. He was the first Quebec premier to defend the principle of provincial autonomy within the confederation, campaigning to abolish the federal government's claimed right to veto provincial legislation. A couple of years after his death, the British Privy Council did so.
With his strong nationalist stance, Mercier was very much a precursor of later nationalist premiers in future decades who confronted the federal government and tried to win more power for Quebec. He promoted contacts with francophones in other parts of North America outside of Quebec including Western Canada and New England. Those francophones had not yet been assimilated into the English-Canadian or American culture to the extent they would be in the future. Mercier promoted reform, economic development, Catholicism, and the French language. He won popularity but also made enemies. He was re-elected in the 1890 election with an increased majority.
On December 16, 1891, he was dismissed by Lieutenant Governor Auguste-Réal Angers after a report concluded that his government had diverted public funds. He lost the 1892 election, and gave up the party leadership to Félix-Gabriel Marchand. He was brought to trial later that year and found not guilty when a second report concluded differently on the matter. However, his health had greatly deteriorated and his political career was over. He died in 1894 at the age of 54, and was interred in the Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery in Montreal, Quebec.

Legacy

The following landmarks were named to honor Honoré Mercier:

★ The Mercier Bridge that links the western part of the Island of Montreal with the South Shore;

★ Avenue Mercier, located in downtown Shawinigan, Quebec, Canada;

★ The provincial electoral district of Mercier.

Elections as party leader

He won a majority of seats in the 1886 election and became premier in 1887 after the minority government fell, won the 1890 election and was dismissed from office in 1891 and lost the 1892 election.

See also

★ Politics of Quebec

★ History of Quebec

★ Quebec general elections

External links

★ Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''

★ Political biography from the Library of Parliament

★ National Assembly biography

★ Extensive dossier on Mercier at ''L'Encyclopédie de l'Agora''

★ 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia