Mario Dumont (born May 19, 1970) is a Canadian television personality and former politician in Quebec, Canada. He was a Member of the National Assembly of Quebec (MNA), and the leader of the Action démocratique du Québec (ADQ), from 1994 to 2009. After the 2007 Quebec election, Dumont obtained the post of Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly.

Mario Dumont
Dumont in 2007
Leader of the Opposition of Quebec
In office
March 26, 2007 – November 5, 2008
Preceded byAndré Boisclair
Succeeded byPauline Marois
Leader of the ADQ
In office
May 11, 1994 – March 6, 2009
Preceded byJean Allaire
Succeeded bySylvie Roy (interim)
MNA for Rivière-du-Loup
In office
September 12, 1994 – March 6, 2009
Preceded byAlbert Côté
Succeeded byJean D'Amour
Personal details
Born (1970-05-19) May 19, 1970 (age 54)
Cacouna, Quebec, Canada
Political partyIndependent
Other political
affiliations
Liberal Party of Quebec (1985–1994)
Action démocratique du Québec (1994-2009)
SpouseMarie-Claude Barrette
Children
  • Angela
  • Charles
  • Juliette
Alma mater
ProfessionTelevision presenter

Following his party's poor showing in the 2008 Quebec election, he announced his resignation as ADQ leader, and subsequently joined the television network V to host a daily news and talk show, Dumont, which began in 2009. He left that network in 2012 to join the all-news channel LCN.[1]

Biography

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Dumont was born in Saint-Georges-de-Cacouna, Quebec. Dumont and his wife, Marie-Claude Barrette, have three children: Angela, Charles, and Juliette. Dumont obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Concordia University in 1993, and completed some graduate work at the Université de Montréal.

Political career

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Quebec Liberal Party

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Dumont bought his first membership card in the Liberal Party of Quebec at age 15. He stated to his school friends that in the future he would be Quebec's premier.[2] Dumont was a former President of the Liberal Party's Youth Commission, but had a falling out with the party following the rejection of the Allaire Report proposing maximalist powers for Quebec after the collapse of the Meech Lake Accord.

Dumont called himself and Michel Bissonnet, who preceded Dumont as leader of the Liberal youth wing, the first Liberal sovereigntists. This was the group that led the Liberal sovereigntist faction while Liberal premier Robert Bourassa remained unopposed.[2]

Dumont organized the "Liberals for the No side," in the 1992 referendum on the Charlottetown Accord.

Action démocratique du Québec

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Dumont and Liberal party insider Jean Allaire played a central role in the creation and development of the Action démocratique du Québec (ADQ) in 1994. He succeeded Allaire as leader after the latter resigned for health reasons.

Dumont was elected as an ADQ member of the National Assembly for Rivière du Loup in the 1994, 1998, 2003, 2007 and 2008 elections.

In the 1995 Quebec referendum, Dumont joined with Parti Québécois Premier Jacques Parizeau and Bloc Québécois leader Lucien Bouchard, who wooed him and with whom he remains close, in support of the sovereigntist campaign.[3] Dumont revealed to Journalist Chantal Hébert and Jean Lapierre that they planned to use 1995 Quebec Referendum as a way to advocate for a new partnership between Quebec and Canada. However, Parizeau advocated for separation; so both Bouchard and Dumont followed his direction.[4] In subsequent years, however he changed positions on the issue, arguing that the sovereignty question had been decided and that Quebecers had no desire to revisit it.

In the years that followed, the constitutional position of the ADQ changed to favour Quebec autonomism, supporting increased powers and responsibilities for Quebec while remaining within Canada. In practical terms, Dumont has supported the creation of a Quebec constitution, the change of the province's name to that of the "autonomous state of Québec", and the collection of all taxes by the provincial government, with the funds necessary for the federal government to fulfill its constitutional responsibilities being transferred to it by the province.

Since the 1998 provincial election, Dumont has distinguished himself primarily for his stances on economic issues, which are generally considered to be right of centre in the context of the predominantly social-democratic Quebec political scene. He advocates the payment of a cash allowance to parents who do not wish to make use of the province's $7 a day daycare program, changes to the provincial health system that would allow private for profit health care and private health insurance alongside the public system, the abolition of school boards, the encouragement of private education, a tougher criminal justice system, reductions in the size of the provincial bureaucracy, and the repayment of the province's $127 billion government debt.

Dumont was personally very popular, and for most of his career was far more popular than the ADQ as a whole. In fact, for many years, the ADQ tried to capitalize on Dumont's personal popularity by using the official name Action démocratique du Québec-Équipe Mario Dumont (Action démocratique du Québec-Team Mario Dumont}. However, this didn't translate to support for his party; it never won much support in Montreal or the Outaouais.

2007 Quebec election

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In the 2007 Quebec election, the ADQ won 41 seats with 31% of the popular vote, and formed the Official Opposition in the National Assembly. Prior to the dissolution of the National Assembly, the ADQ had held only five seats, and as a result did not have official party status. Despite becoming the Official Opposition, the ADQ was almost nonexistent in several of the province's major cities. It won almost no seats in Montreal, Gatineau, Saguenay, Longueuil, Laval and Sherbrooke. Tasha Kheiriddin argued that his result would have given right-of-centre currents swirling in Quebec politics.[5]

2008 Quebec election

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On October 23, 2008, two ADQ MNAs, André Riedl and Pierre-Michel Auger, crossed the floor to the governing Liberal Party, embarrassing Dumont. Quebec premier Jean Charest subsequently called a snap election for December 8, 2008. A Léger Marketing poll conducted between Friday, November 14 and Monday, November 17, showed the Liberals with 44% support, the PQ with 33%, and the ADQ with 15%.[6]

The ADQ won a meagre seven seats (17% of the vote) in the election. Following this poor showing, Dumont retired from politics on election night.[7]

Television career

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Mario Dumont at the launch party of his show Dumont 360 on V.

At TQS' 2009 upfronts presentation, it was announced that Dumont would join the network in the fall as host of a daily news and information series, Dumont 360.[8] The series launched in September 2009, shortly after the network was rebranded as V.

In 2012, Dumont moved to LCN and began a new show called Mario Dumont.[9]

Since 2018, he has also hosted his own radio show, Le retour de Mario Dumont, on QUB Radio.

Votes of confidence

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Date Location Result
April 2000 Saint-Hyacinthe 96.9%
September 2004 Drummondville 95.7%[10]
March 2008 Laval 94.8%[11][12]

Bibliography

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  • Lessard, Denis (2007). L'Instinct Dumont (in French). Quebec: Voix Paralleles.

Electoral record

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2008 Quebec general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Action démocratique Mario Dumont 11,115 51.77 -6.70
Liberal Jean-Pierre Rioux 5,795 26.99 -1.29
Parti Québécois Stephan Shields 3,048 14.20 +3.40
Independent Victor-Lévy Beaulieu 597 2.78
Green Alain Gagnon 513 2.39 -0.06
Québec solidaire Stacy Larouche 400 1.86
Total valid votes 21,468 98.74
Total rejected ballots 273 1.26
Turnout 21,741 63.98 -14.29
Electors on the lists 33,981
Action démocratique hold Swing -2.70


2007 Quebec general election: Rivière-du-Loup
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Action démocratique Mario Dumont 15,276 58.47 +1.24
Liberal Jean D'Amour 7,390 28.29 +4.53
Parti Québécois Hugues Belzile 2,821 10.80 -6.88
Green Martin Poirier 639 2.45 +1.12
Total valid votes 26,126 99.20
Total rejected ballots 210 0.80
Turnout 26,336 78.27 +5.61
Electors on the lists 33,648
2003 Quebec general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Action démocratique Mario Dumont 13,452 57.23 +10.89
Liberal Jacque Morin 5,585 23.76 -1.55
Parti Québécois Carol Gilbert 4,155 17.68 -9.15
Green Julie Morin 312 1.33
1998 Quebec general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Action démocratique Mario Dumont 10,897 46.34 -8.43
Parti Québécois Lise Chouinard 6,308 26.83 -0.37
Liberal Jean Morin 5,952 25.31 +7.92
Bloc Pot Léo Legault 197 0.84
Independent Daniel Morin 98 0.42
Socialist Democracy Louis Leroux 61 0.26


1994 Quebec general election: Rivière-du-Loup
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Action démocratique Mario Dumont 13,307 54.77
Parti Québécois Harold LeBel 6,608 27.20 -14.85
Liberal Jean D'Amour 4,226 17.39 -37.09
Independent L. Richard Cimon 99 0.41
Natural Law Armand Pouliot 55 0.23

References

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  1. ^ "Mario Dumont quitte V pour LCN". La Presse (in French). 18 May 2012.
  2. ^ a b "How the 'Nerd from Cacouna' fought back". Montreal Gazette. Archived from the original on 24 March 2016. Retrieved 25 March 2020 – via Canada.com.
  3. ^ Picard, André (30 October 2015). "From the archives: Parizeau promises to 'exact revenge' for sovereigntist loss". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
  4. ^ Hebert, Chantal (2015). The Morning After: The 1995 Quebec Referendum and the Day that Almost Was. with Jean Lapierre. Toronto: Vintage Canada. ISBN 9780345807632.
  5. ^ "The right place at the right time: the rise of Mario Dumont and the ADQ". Policy Options. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  6. ^ Riga, Andy (20 November 2008). "Premier Widens Lead to Possible Majority". Montreal Gazette. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012 – via Canada.com.
  7. ^ Lianne Elliott (9 December 2008). "Dumont to step down after ADQ defeat". CBC News. Retrieved 9 December 2008.
  8. ^ "TQS changera de nom" [TQS will change its name]. Le Soleil (in French). 3 June 2009. Archived from the original on 6 January 2016.
  9. ^ Mario Dumont (News), Mario Dumont, Marie-Anne Alepin, Germain Belzile, Groupe TVA, 4 September 2012, retrieved 25 June 2024{{citation}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  10. ^ "ADQ's Dumont pushes Quebec's autonomy within Canada, Rheal Seguin". The Agonist. 24 September 2004. Archived from the original on 26 October 2010.
  11. ^ Corbeil, Michel (16 March 2008). "Congrès de l'ADQ: le salaire du chef a été décidé à deux". Le Soleil. Archived from the original on 20 March 2008.
  12. ^ Lévesque, Kathleen (17 March 2008). "Mario Dumont obtient un vote de confiance massif malgré l'affaire du salaire". Le Devoir.
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Party political offices
Preceded by President of the Youth Commission of the Quebec Liberal Party
1991–1992
Succeeded by
Preceded by
None
President of Action démocratique du Québec
1994
Succeeded by
Preceded by Leader of the Action démocratique du Québec
1994–2009
Succeeded by
Sylvie Roy (Interim)
National Assembly of Quebec