Michael Fortier

Harper intended for Fortier to represent Montreal in Cabinet. No Montreal-area riding has elected a Conservative or any member of the party's predecessors—the Progressive Conservatives, the Canadian Alliance and the Reform Party—since 1988. Since then, right-of-centre candidates have rarely even competed in Montreal except in landslides.

Fortier confirmed June 11, 2008 that he dismissed senior Quebec adviser Bernard Cote after learning that Cote briefly dated Julie Couillard last year while she was attempting to win a government contract. Cote had to resign because of a perceived conflict of interest, since Public Works was handling the building contracts Couillard was bidding on, Fortier said. Fortier told reporters that Cote, "should have actually recused himself from this matter, which he didn't do, hence his resignation." Couillard sparked the resignation of foreign minister Maxime Bernier in May 2008 when she went public with the fact her former paramour had forgotten classified NATO briefing documents at her Montreal home for more than a month.

While he chose not to run in an earlier by-election, Fortier was a candidate for the riding of Vaudreuil-Soulanges in the 2008 federal election, in fulfillment of his promise made at the time of his 2006 Senate appointment. In order to fulfill this promise, on September 8, 2008, he resigned from the Senate to run in the general election.

Fortier and veteran MP John Reynolds were the co-chairs of the Conservative campaign in the 2006 election.

Fortier was appointed to Cabinet as Minister of Public Works on 6 February 2006, the day Stephen Harper's minority government took office. In a cabinet reshuffle in June 2008, he shifted to the International Trade portfolio.

On February 27, 2006, Fortier was formally summoned to the Senate. This practice is unusual in modern Canada, but there is precedent for such a practice: in 1979, former Prime Minister Joe Clark appointed Quebec Senator Jacques Flynn Minister of Justice because of his lack of representation in that province.

Michael Fortier was loudly booed at the opening ceremonies of the 2006 World Outgames, an LGBT sporting event and cultural festival held in Montreal. The Conservative senator's speech was interrupted as he attempted to welcome the estimated crowd of 40,000 at the Olympic Stadium that evening. Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay, who was greeted with sustained applause, intervened (unsuccessfully) to urge the crowd to listen "with respect" to the representative of the Canadian government.

On November 21, 2006, Fortier announced that he would seek election to the House of Commons in the riding of Vaudreuil-Soulanges in the next federal election, which he lost. The opposition parties pressured him to run in the by-election on November 27 in Repentigny. However, Fortier repeated his original promise to run in the next general election.[5]

In 1999, he became the Managing Director and Senior Advisor (Eastern Canada) at Crédit Suisse First Boston. In 2004, Fortier became Corporate Financing Director (Quebec) for TD Securities. Two days after his appointment to Cabinet Montreal Gazette columnist Ian McDonald claimed that Fortier "was easily making $1 million a year running the Montreal office of TD Securities."

Fortier ran in the 1998 Progressive Conservative leadership election but came in last with 4% of the vote. Fortier was a Progressive Conservative candidate in the Montreal-area riding of Laval West during the 2000 federal election placing fourth. In 2003, he was co-chair of Harper's campaign to lead the new Conservative Party.

Before entering the Cabinet, Fortier was a partner at Ogilvy Renault, a leading Montreal law firm. One of his colleagues was Brian Mulroney. He specialized in securities, mergers and acquisitions. From 1992 to 1996, he managed Ogilvy Renault’s office in London, England.

In 1972, when Trudeau failed to win a single seat west of Manitoba, he appointed senators to cabinet as well. 19th century Prime Ministers John Abbott and Mackenzie Bowell served their entire terms in government as Senators.

However, the Toronto Star's Chantal Hébert defended the appointments of Fortier and Emerson to Cabinet, arguing that the problem is with the first-past-the-post system which allows entire parts of the country (such as large cities) to be unrepresented in government. For example, the Conservatives were unable to win any seats in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver in the last election, while the Liberals have only won four seats in Edmonton since 1968 and have only elected three MPs from Calgary since Alberta joined Confederation in 1905. Others have argued that a party's inability to win seats in any particular region is that party's own fault.

Michael M. Fortier, PC (born January 10, 1962) is a Canadian financier, lawyer and former politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served as Minister of Public Works and Government Services from 2006 to 2008, and Minister of International Trade in 2008 under Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Fortier served in Cabinet of Canada while a Senator, which proved controversial. In 2008, he resigned from the Senate to run for a seat in the House of Commons in the 2008 election; he placed second in riding of Vaudreuil-Soulanges.