Bernard Grandmaître

Ben Grandmaitre
Ontario MPP
In office 1984–1999
Preceded by	Albert Roy
Succeeded by	Jim Brownell
Constituency	Ottawa East
In office 1987–1999
Preceded by	Luc Guindon
Succeeded by	riding dissolved
Constituency	Cornwall
Personal details
Born	(1933-06-24) June 24, 1933 Eastview, Ontario
Political party	Liberal

Bernard "Ben" C. Grandmaitre CM, (born June 24, 1933) is a retired politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1984 to 1999, and served as a cabinet minister in the government of David Peterson.

Background

Grandmaitre was born in Eastview, Ontario, and educated at Ottawa schools. He owned a small business in Vanier, Ontario for thirteen years. He was named a life member of the Centre francophone de Vanier, and was active in the Knights of Columbus.

Politics

Grandmaitre was an alderman on the Vanier city council from 1969 to 1974, and served as its mayor from 1974 to 1984.

He ran for the Ontario legislature in the 1981 provincial election, but lost to Bob MacQuarrie in the constituency of Carleton East (future NDP cabinet minister Evelyn Gigantes finished third).

In government

On December 13, 1984, however, he was easily elected in a by-election to succeed retiring MPP Albert Roy in the riding of Ottawa East. This riding is one of the safest Liberal seats in the province, and Grandmaitre was returned without difficulty in the 1985 provincial election.

The Liberals formed a minority government after this election, and Grandmaitre was appointed as Minister of Municipal Affairs and Minister responsible for Francophone Affairs. In the latter capacity, he played a major role in passing the province's French Language Services Act in 1986.

The Liberals won a landslide majority in the 1987 election, and Grandmaitre defeated his nearest opponent by almost 15,000 votes. He appointed as Minister of Revenue on September 29, 1987, while retaining responsibility for Francophone Affairs. He was dropped from cabinet on August 2, 1989.

Cabinet positions

Provincial Government of David Peterson
Cabinet Posts (2)
Predecessor	Office	Successor
Robert Nixon	Minister of Revenue 1987–1989 Also Responsible for Francophone Affairs	Remo Mancini
Dennis Timbrell	Minister of Municipal Affairs 1985–1987 Also Responsible for Francophone Affairs	John Eakins

In opposition

The Liberals were defeated by the NDP in the 1990 election, although Grandmaitre again retained his seat without difficulty. He was re-elected again in the 1995 election, and retired in 1999. He endorsed Dalton McGuinty's bid to lead the Ontario Liberal Party in 1996.

Electoral record

Ontario general election, 1995: Ottawa East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Bernard Grandmaître	14,436	56.94	−5.47	$ 19,824.52
	Progressive Conservative	Cynthia Bled	5,368	21.17	+12.77	28,483.15
	New Democratic	David Dyment	4,818	19.00	−4.28	17,425.03
	Green	Larry Tyldsley	335	1.32	−1.44	524.72
	Natural Law	Robert Mayer	261	1.03		0.00
	Independent	Steven White	136	0.54		0.00
Total valid votes/Expense limit			25,354	100.0	−3.30	$ 45,818.00
Total rejected ballots			331	1.29
Turnout			25,685	53.21
Eligible voters			48,272
Source(s) &

Ontario general election, 1990: Ottawa East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Liberal	Bernard Grandmaître	16,363	62.41	−11.85
	New Democratic	Lori Lucier	6,103	23.28	+7.08
	Progressive Conservative	Diana Morin	2,203	8.40	−1.14
	Family Coalition	Richard Hudon	826	3.15
	Green	Frank de Jong	723	2.76
Total valid votes			26,218	100.0	+2.69

Ontario general election, 1987: Ottawa East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Liberal	Bernard Grandmaître	18,959	74.26	+5.86
	New Democratic	Alex Connelly	4,137	16.20	−2.40
	Progressive Conservative	Corinne Price	2,435	9.54	−1.03
Total valid votes			25,531	100.0	+19.60

Ontario general election, 1985: Ottawa East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Liberal	Bernard Grandmaître	14,601	68.40	+0.03
	New Democratic	Kathryn Barnard	3,971	18.60	+5.1
	Progressive Conservative	Paul St. Georges	2,257	10.57	−6.48
	Independent	Serge Girard	518	2.43	+1.35
Total valid votes			21,347	100.0	+88.23

Ontario provincial by-election, December 13, 1984: Ottawa East Resignation of Albert J. Roy
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Liberal	Bernard Grandmaître	7,754	68.37	−0.85
	Progressive Conservative	Richard Boudreau	1,934	17.05	−3.58
	New Democratic	Jean Gilbert	1,531	13.50	+4.22
	Independent	Serge Girard	122	1.08	+0.21
Total valid votes			11,341	100.0	−44.74

Honours and awards

In 2013 he was made a member of the Order of Canada. His citation reads, "for fostering the vitality and growth of Ontario's francophone community." There is an arena named after him in Ottawa and a French Catholic school in the Riverside South neighbourhood of Ottawa that bears his name.

External Links

• Ontario Legislative Assembly Parliamentarian History

• Canada NewsWire, 19 August 1996.