Michael Fortier

From Open Encyclopedia

This article is about the Canadian Politician. For the Oklahoma City Bombing informant, see Michael Fortier (American).

Image:Fortier s.jpgMichael Fortier PC is the Canadian Minister of Public Works and Government Services.

Fortier was appointed on 6 February 2006, the day the Harper government took office. A financier and lawyer from Montreal, Canada, he had not been elected as a member of parliament at the time he was appointed, nor was he a member of the Canadian Senate. His appointment nonetheless as a Montreal-area minister to Cabinet was therefore unusual. Harper announced that Fortier will be appointed to the Senate, but will be expected to step down and run for a seat in the House of Commons when the next election is called. ^{[{{fullurl:}}#endnote_cbc20060206a]}

As a partner at Ogilvy Renault, Fortier specialized in securities, mergers and acquisitions. From 1992 to 1996, he managed Ogilvy Renault’s office in London, England. In 1999, he became the Managing Director and Senior Advisor (Eastern Canada) at Crédit Suisse First Boston. In 2004, Mr. Fortier became Corporate Financing Director (Quebec) for TD Securities.

He was President of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada for a time in the 1990s. He ran for the leadership of the party in 1998 but came in last with 4% of the vote. Fortier was a Progressive Conservative candidate in the Montreal riding of Laval West during the 2000 federal election placing fourth. In 2003, he was co-chair of Stephen Harper's campaign to lead the new Conservative Party of Canada. See Conservative Party of Canada leadership election, 2004.

Fortier and veteran MP John Reynolds were the co-chairs of the 2006 National Campaign for the Conservative Party.

Cabinet Post
28th Ministry - Government of Stephen Harper
Predecessor	Office	Successor
Scott Brison	Minister of Public Works and Government Services (from 6-Feb-2006)	Incumbent