Étienne-Théodore Pâquet

Infobox MLA
name = Étienne-Théodore Pâquet


imagesize =
caption =
order =2nd
title =Member of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec for Lévis
term_start =1875
term_end =1883
predecessor =Joseph-Goderic Blanchet
successor =François-Xavier Lemieux
majority =1875: 157 (4.1%)
1878: 183 (4,31%)
1879: 609 (16,41%)
1881: 59 (1,94%)
order2 =7th
title2 =Provincial Secretary of Quebec
term_start2 =1879
term_end2 =1882
primeminister2 =Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau
predecessor2 =Alexandre Chauveau
successor2 =Jean Blanchet
birth_date =January 8 1850
birth_place =Saint-Nicolas, Quebec, Canada
death_date =May 26 1916
death_place =Quebec City, Canada
party =Quebec Conservative
otherparty =Quebec Liberal (originally)
spouse =Emma LaRue
relations =Benjamin and Louis-Honoré Pâquet (uncles), Louis-Adolphe Pâquet (cousin), Auguste LaRue (father-in-law)
children =1 son
profession =Civil law notary
religion =Roman Catholic

Étienne-Théodore Pâquet (IPA|; January 8 1850–May 26 1916) was a French-Canadian civil law notary, and provincial politician and civil servant. In 1879, he was one of four Liberal Members of the Legislative Assembly who crossed the floor in the middle of a parliamentary crisis, causing the Joly de Lotbinière government to fall.

Biography

Pâquet was born a single child in 1850 in Saint-Nicolas, near Lévis, in what was then Lotbinière County, on the southern shore of the Saint Lawrence River opposite Quebec City. The Pâquet family was an influential one, with churchmen Benjamin and Louis-Honoré, and theologian Louis-Adolphe Pâquet all important figures of the time. Étienne-Théodore's parents, Étienne-Théodore Sr. and Nathalie Moffat, were farmers and merchants.fr icon cite web | title=Étienne-Théodore PÂQUET |year=1992 |url=http://www.assnat.qc.ca/FRA/Membres/notices/o-p/PAQUET.htm |work=Les parlementaires depuis 1792 |publisher=Assemblée Nationale du Québec |accessdate=2008-05-22] fr icon Cite book|last=Magnan|first=Hormisdas |year=1918| title=La Paroisse de Saint-Nicolas: la famille Pâquet et les familles alliées |chapter=L'Honorable Étienne-Théodore Pâquet | oclc= 11663727 |location=Quebec City |publisher=Imprimerie Laflamme |accessdate=2008-05-22 |url=http://www.nosracines.ca/e/toc.aspx?id=1632 |pages=pp. 203-225] Étienne-Théodore Sr. was mayor of Saint-Nicolas between 1867 and 1873. [fr icon cite book |last=Bergeron |first=Claude |coauthors=Gino Gariépy |year=1993 |title=Saint-Nicolas - Bernières, 1694-1994 : regards sur notre histoire |location=Saint-Nicolas |publisher=Société historique de Saint-Nicolas et Bernières |isbn=2-9800319-2-5| pages=p. 168]

Pâquet studied at the Petit Séminaire de Québec, then at Fordham University (then St. John's College), before returning to Quebec to complete a Bachelor of Civil Law degree at Université Laval, graduating in 1872 and beginning work as a civil law notary while taking care of the farm. [fr icon Cite book|last=Roy|first=Joseph |year=1899| title= Histoire du notariat au Canada depuis la fondation de la colonie jusqu'à nos jours: Troisième Volume | oclc= 68911030 |location=Lévis, Qc |publisher=Revue du Notariat |accessdate=2008-05-22 |url=http://bibnum2.banq.qc.ca/bna/numtxt/195701-3.pdf |pages=p. 231] In the 1875 provincial election, he ran as a liberal against Joseph-Goderic Blanchet in the riding of Lévis. Blanchet, a family friend, was nearly twice Pâquet's age, and did not refrain from pointing it out during the campaign, but ultimately lost to the younger man by a wide margin. Pâquet hence became one of only four (at the time) MLAs aged less than 26 at the time of their election. [fr icon cite web | title=Liste des députés de 25 ans et moins |url=http://www.assnat.qc.ca/fra/patrimoine/jeunes.html |work=Informations historiques |publisher=Assemblée Nationale du Québec |accessdate=2008-05-22] The only younger ones at the time were Georges-Raoul Saveuse de Beaujeu (elected 1871 at 24), Raymond Préfontaine (elected at the same time and aged 24 and ten months), and Alexandre Chauveau (elected 1872 in a by-election and only a few months younger than Pâquet).]

Pâquet was re-elected in the 1878 election, which had created a minority liberal government that was in precarious position for its whole length. On October 29 1879, a series of political crises lead Liberal MLA Edmund James Flynn to propose an amendment demanding a coalition government. Pâquet and three other Liberals (Alexandre Chauveau, Louis Napoléon Fortin and Ernest Racicot) crossed the floor alongside Flynn to join the conservatives, causing the government to fall. Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec Théodore Robitaille, however, declined to dissolve the legislature, instead prompting opposition leader Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau to form a new government, in which Pâquet was Provincial Secretary until July 1882. He was re-elected to his seat in November of that year, having resigned it upon his nomination to the legislative council. [fr icon cite web | title=Chronologie parlementaire: 1878-1879 |url= http://www.assnat.qc.ca/fra/patrimoine/chronologie/chrono5.html#1879 |work=Informations historiques |publisher=Assemblée Nationale du Québec |accessdate=2008-05-22] He married the daughter of prominent businessman Auguste LaRue in the cathedral of Trois-Rivières in 1880. He was deeply involved in the establishment of the Crédit Foncier Franco-Canadien, a major credit union; in May of the next year both him and Jonathan Saxton Campbell Würtele were accused by David-Alexandre Ross of having been offered money in the deal. Although Würtele had refused the sum, Pâquet argued it was solely for work as director in the new company, an explanation that was satisfying to the public opinion. The assembly eventually voted a motion by Ross to form a committee to investigate the issue. This committee's findings, if any, are unknown. [fr icon cite web | title=Chronologie parlementaire: 1880-1881 |url= http://www.assnat.qc.ca/fra/patrimoine/chronologie/chrono6.html#1881 |work=Informations historiques |publisher=Assemblée Nationale du Québec |accessdate=2008-05-22] [cite web|url=http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=7155|last=Miller| first=Carman|title=Würtele, Jonathan Saxton Campbell| publisher=Dictionary of Canadian Biography online| accessdate=2008-05-22] Due to infighting in the party, the investiture in Lévis for the 1881 elections was difficult to obtain, with disgruntled party members pitching him against Isidore-Noël Belleau, but Pâquet eventually gained the nomination and the election. As a government member, one of his goal had long been the construction of a bridge over the Chaudière River between Saint-Nicolas and Saint-Romuald, an issue he defended in the legislature until 1879, after his nomination to the government, when a yearly sum was finally voted, although the bridge was not built before Honoré Mercier came into power.

Pâquet left provincial politics in 1883 following a severe injury suffered while inspecting forest cuts with federal MP Joseph Bolduc, and was subsequently named sheriff of Quebec County, an occupation he kept until 1890. He dabbled into various commercial ventures: aforementioned wood commerce, the Lévis and Kennebec Railway (auctioned off in 1881 to the Quebec Central Railway) and the Quebec Mining Co. amongst others. He ran as a conservative for Lévis and was defeated in the 1891 federal election. From 1894 to his death on 23 May 1916, he was the Quebec City postmaster. He is buried in the Saint-Nicolas parish cemetery.

The Pâquet family home, in Saint-Nicolas, is a provincially designated historic monument, and the entire estate area is a municipal-designated historic district, the Saint-Nicolas Heritage Site. [fr icon cite web| url=http://www.patrimoine-culturel.gouv.qc.ca/RPCQ/detailBien.do?methode=consulter&bienId=93507 | title= Site du patrimoine de Saint-Nicolas| work=Répertoire du Patrimoine Culturel du Québec| accessdate=2008-05-19] In his late years, Pâquet wrote a historical publication on the parish of Saint-Nicolas. His single son, also called Étienne-Théodore, married the daughter of Eugène-Étienne Taché.

ee also

*List of Canadian politicians who have crossed the floor

Content notes

References

Persondata
NAME = Pâquet, Étienne-Théodore
ALTERNATIVE NAMES = Pâquet, É.-T.; Pâquet, Étienne-T.; Pâquet, Étienne Théodore
SHORT DESCRIPTION = French-Canadian politician and civil servant
DATE OF BIRTH = January 8 1850
PLACE OF BIRTH = Saint-Nicolas, Quebec, Canada
DATE OF DEATH = May 26 1916
PLACE OF DEATH = Quebec City, Canada