Gilles Bernier (Quebec politician)

Gilles Bernier (born July 15, 1934) is a former Canadian politician and diplomat. He was the Member of Parliament representing the riding of Beauce from 1984 to 1997, initially as a Progressive Conservative and later as an Independent. He later served as Canada's ambassador to Haiti from 1997 to 2001.

Life and career
Bernier was born in Montreal, Quebec, the son of Annette (Letourneau) and Amedee Bernier. Bernier moved to the Beauce in 1953 to pursue a radio career at CKRB in Saint-Georges-de-Beauce, and quickly became a local celebrity. Capitalizing on his popularity, he decided to go into politics in the 1984 election. He served two terms as a Tory but was forced to run as an independent in the 1993 election after Prime Minister Kim Campbell, the party's leader, barred him from running under the PC banner due to fraud charges. Bernier was later acquitted of the charges, and re-admitted to the PC caucus by succeeding leader Jean Charest.

In 1997, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien named him ambassador to Haiti, He chose not to contest Beauce (which was won by Liberal candidate Claude Drouin) in the 1997 election, and instead contested the newly-created riding of Tobique—Mactaquac, winning by slightly less than 2,000 votes. Bernier lost re-election at the next federal election in 2000, marking the end of his parliamentary career.

Bernier's son, Maxime Bernier, won Beauce in turn from Drouin in the 2006 federal election, as a candidate of the merged Conservative Party of Canada. Maxime Bernier would serve as Minister of Industry and Minister of Foreign Affairs in the government led by Stephen Harper before resigning from the cabinet in 2008.