Gérald Godin

Gérald Godin (November 13, 1938 – October 12, 1994) was a Canadian poet and politician from Quebec.

Born in Trois-Rivières, he worked as a journalist at La Presse and other newspapers and magazines. His most important poetry collection, Les cantouques: poèmes en langue verte, populaire et quelquefois française, was published in 1967. He was among those arrested under the War Measures Act during the October Crisis in 1970.

In the 1976 Quebec provincial election, he won a seat as a candidate for the Parti Québécois, heavily defeating incumbent Premier Robert Bourassa in his own riding of Mercier. He served in various cabinet posts in the governments of René Lévesque and Pierre-Marc Johnson. His life companion was the Québécois singer Pauline Julien.

As a poet, he won the Prix Québec-Paris for his 1987 work Ils ne demandaient qu'à brûler.

Godin died from brain cancer in October 1994.

The area surrounding the Mont-Royal metro station has been named Place Gérald-Godin in his honour. One of his poems, Tango de Montréal, is displayed as a mural overlooking the square.

Cégep Gérald-Godin (college), in Sainte-Geneviève, Montreal, is named after him.

See also

• List of Mauriciens
• Politics of Quebec
• Quebec general elections
• History of Quebec
• Quebec sovereigntism

Electoral record

1989 Quebec general election: Mercier
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Parti Québécois	Gérald Godin	13,371	57.15	+10.04
	Liberal	Daniel Gagnon	7,117	30.42	−12.39
	Green	Manon Dubé	1,961	8.38	+6.67
	New Democratic	Robert Saint-Louis	567	2.42	−2.27
	Workers	Philippe Pouyer	168	0.72	+0.60
	Marxist–Leninist	Arnold August	108	0.46	–
	Socialist Movement	Gérard Talbot	106	0.45	–
Source: Official Results, Le Directeur général des élections du Québec.

1985 Quebec general election: Mercier
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Parti Québécois	Gérald Godin	12,062	47.11	−7.42
	Liberal	John Parisella	10,960	42.81	+1.43
	New Democratic	Roger Couvrette	1,200	4.69
	Green	Yves Blanchette	437	1.71
	Humanist	Colette Renaud	348	1.36
	Parti indépendantiste	Denis Bourgeois	319	1.24
	Independent	Gilles Côté	97	0.38	−0.02
	Commonwealth of Canada	Elena Mendez	75	0.29
	Communist	Gaetan Trudel	73	0.29
	No designation	Philippe Pouyer	31	0.12
Total valid votes			25,602
Rejected and declined votes			451
Turnout			26,053	71.12
Electors on the lists			36,635
Source: Official Results, Le Directeur général des élections du Québec.

0.08

1981 Quebec general election: Mercier
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Parti Québécois	Gérald Godin	16,252	54.53	+3.15
	Liberal	Yves Bériault	12,333	41.38	+4.27
	Union Nationale	Roger Courtemanche	495	1.66	−5.89
	Workers Communist	Roger Rashi	250	0.84	-
	Marxist–Leninist	Jacques Côté	125	0.42	-
	United Social Credit	Gilles Côté	118	0.40	−2.07
	Independent	Richard Langlois	116	0.39
	Workers	Gérard Lachance	115	0.38
Total valid votes			29,804	100,00
Total rejected ballots			489	1,61
Turnout			30,293	79.92
Eligible voters			37,904
	Parti Québécois hold		Swing		−0.56
Source: Official Results, Le Directeur général des élections du Québec.

1976 Quebec general election: Mercier
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Parti Québécois	Gérald Godin	13,450	51.38	+9.57
	Liberal	Robert Bourassa (incumbent)	9,714	37.11	−15.76
	Union Nationale	Giuseppe Anzini	1,975	7.55	+5.97
	Ralliement créditiste	Robert Roy	647	2.47	−0.64
	NDP - RMS coalition	Henri-François Gautrin	139	0.53	-
	Communist	Guy Desautels	116	0.44	-
	Workers	Gaston Morin	77	0.30	-
	No designation	Louise Ouimet	58	0.22	-
Source: Official Results, Le Directeur général des élections du Québec.
	Parti Québécois gain from Liberal		Swing		+12.67

External links

• Gérald Godin's entry in The Canadian Encyclopedia
• "Biography". Dictionnaire des parlementaires du Québec de 1792 à nos jours (in French). National Assembly of Quebec.