The Honourable Pierrette Ringuette |
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Senator for New Brunswick | |
Assumed office December 12, 2002 |
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Nominated by | Jean Chrétien |
Appointed by | Adrienne Clarkson |
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Madawaska—Victoria |
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In office 1993–1997 |
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Preceded by | Bernard Valcourt |
Succeeded by | District was abolished in 1996 |
Personal details | |
Born |
Edmundston, New Brunswick |
December 31, 1955
Political party | Independent Senators Group (since 2016) |
Other political affiliations |
Liberal (until 2014) Independent Liberal (2014-2016) |
Pierrette Ringuette (born December 31, 1955), also formerly known as Pierrette Ringuette-Maltais, is a Canadian Senator.
Ringuette, a businesswoman and professor, was the first francophone woman to be elected to the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick. She sat in the body as a member of the New Brunswick Liberal Party beginning in 1987.
In the 1993 federal election, she won a seat in the Canadian House of Commons as the Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for Madawaska—Victoria by defeating Progressive Conservative Cabinet Minister Bernard Valcourt.
She was defeated in the subsequent 1997 federal election, one of a number of Maritime Liberal MPs who lost their seats that year.
After her electoral defeat, she joined Canada Post Corporation in a senior position as manager of the international trade development unit.
On December 12, 2002, she was appointed to the Senate on the recommendation of Prime Minister Jean Chrétien.
On January 29, 2014, Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau announced all Liberal Senators, including Ringuette, were removed from the Liberal caucus, and would continue sitting as Independents. The Senators referred to themselves as the Senate Liberal Caucus even though they are no longer members of the parliamentary Liberal caucus.