Robert Middlemiss | |
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Member of the National Assembly of Quebec for Pontiac | |
In office April 13, 1981 – April 14, 2003 |
|
Preceded by | Jean-Guy Larivière |
Succeeded by | Charlotte L'Écuyer |
Personal details | |
Born |
Aylmer, Quebec |
January 8, 1935
Died | May 28, 2010 Gatineau, Quebec |
(aged 75)
Political party | Quebec Liberal Party |
Spouse(s) | Lorraine St-Louis (1958-2010) |
Robert Middlemiss (January 8, 1935 – May 28, 2010) was an engineer and politician from Quebec, he served in the Robert Bourassa and Daniel Johnson Jr. governments.
Middlemiss was born in Aylmer, Quebec to William Middlemiss, a civil servant, and Imelda Cardinal. He studied at the University of Ottawa and McGill University, obtaining a Bachelor of Applied Science from the latter institution in 1961. He worked as a geotechnical engineer from 1961 to 1981.
From 1970 until 1979, Middlemiss was an elected alderman for Aylmer. In 1981, his friend Michel Gratton convinced him to be a Liberal candidate in Pontiac, a newly reformed riding that now included the territory of Aylmer.
Being born of an anglophone father and a French mother, he had the advantage of being equally at ease in both communities. On his first attempt, in 1981, he was elected easily; However, the Liberal Party under leader Claude Ryan formed the opposition. Middlemiss was re-elected four times and never facing a serious challenge in the heavily federalist riding, only once dipping below 50% in 1989 due to the English-speaking minority rights Equality Party challenging the Liberal Government over the invocation of the notwithstanding clause of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to override a Supreme Court of Canada ruling overturning parts of the Charter of the French Language.