Roch LaSalle

Roch La Salle, PC (August 6, 1928 – August 20, 2007) was a Canadian politician who served in the province of Quebec. He represented the riding of Joliette in the Canadian House of Commons for 20 years. A popular figure, he was re-elected six times during his tenure.

Born in St-Paul, in Montreal, La Salle had a career in public relations and sales when he first attempted to win a parliamentary seat as a Progressive Conservative in the 1965 federal election, running in Joliette—L'Assomption—Montcalm. He was defeated, but won on his next attempt in the renamed riding of Joliette in the 1968 election. He was one of only a handful of Quebec Tory members in that Parliament.

La Salle quit the party in 1971 to protest Tory leader Robert Stanfield's rejection of the concept that Canada was composed of "two nations" (deux nations) and that Quebec had the right to self-determination. He was re-elected as an independent candidate in the 1972 election with the support of the separatist Parti Québécois. He returned to the Tory caucus in early 1974.

Along with Heward Grafftey, he was one of only two Tory MPs elected from Quebec in the 1979 election that brought the Conservatives to power under Joe Clark. La Salle served as Minister of Supply and Services in the short-lived (1979–80) Clark government.

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