Ernest Lapointe
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The Right Hon. Ernest Lapointe |
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| Member of the Canadian Parliament for Kamouraska |
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In office 1904–1919 |
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| Preceded by | Henry George Carroll |
| Succeeded by | Charles-Adolphe Stein |
| Member of the Canadian Parliament for Quebec East |
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In office 1919–1941 |
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| Preceded by | Wilfrid Laurier |
| Succeeded by | Louis St. Laurent |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
October 6, 1876 St-Éloi, Quebec |
| Died | November 26, 1941 (aged 65) |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Political party | Liberal |
| Spouse(s) | Emma Pratte (1881-1944) |
Ernest Lapointe, PC (October 6, 1876 – November 26, 1941) was a Canadian lawyer and politician. A member of Parliament from Quebec city, he was a top adviser to Liberal party leader William Mackenzie King, especially on issues relating to legal affairs, Quebec and French-speaking Canada.
Lapointe earned his law degree from Laval University. He was a practicing lawyer in Quebec City, and was appointed Crown Prosecutor for Kamouraska before entering politics.
He was first elected by acclamation to the Canadian House of Commons in the 1904 general election as the Liberal MP for Kamouraska, and was re-elected in 1908, 1911 and 1917. He resigned his seat in 1919 in order to run in the Quebec East seat vacated by the death of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, and won that.
In 1921, Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King appointed Lapointe to his first Cabinet as Minister of Marine and Fisheries. During his term as minister of fisheries, he negotiated a treaty with the United States on west-coast fishing rights. This was the first time that a Canadian minister negotiated on foreign affairs without any assistance from Great Britain. In 1924 he became Minister of Justice, and served in that position in successive Liberal cabinets until his death in 1941.
Lapointe served as King's Quebec lieutenant and was one of the most important ministers in Cabinet. King did not speak French, and had little interest in Quebec issues; he relied on Lapointe to handle important matters in the province. Lapointe gave a Quebecker voice to the cabinet decision, something that had not existed since the defeat of Laurier in 1911.
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