Raymond Simard

Raymond Simard, PC (born March 8, 1958) is a politician from Manitoba, Canada. He was a member of the House of Commons of Canada from 2002 to 2008, representing the riding of Saint Boniface for the Liberal Party of Canada.

Raymond Simard
Member of Parliament for Saint Boniface
In office May 13, 2002 – October 14, 2008
Preceded by	Ronald Duhamel
Succeeded by	Shelly Glover
Personal details
Born	(1958-03-08) March 8, 1958 Ste-Anne, Manitoba
Political party	Liberal
Spouse	Marguerite Desrosiers
Residence	Saint Boniface, Winnipeg
Profession	business consultant

Simard was born in Ste. Anne, Manitoba. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the College universitaire de Saint-Boniface, as well as a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Manitoba. Simard worked as a businessman and consultant before entering political life, initially for a number of business concerns owned by his family. In 1999, he became the founding President and CEO of Riel Economic Development Corporation, and is also the President and co-owner of Simard Solutions.

In 2002, sitting Saint Boniface MP Ron Duhamel was appointed to the Senate of Canada by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien. Simard was selected as the Liberal candidate for the resulting by-election, and on May 13, 2002, he defeated Canadian Alliance candidate Denis Simard by about 4400 votes.

In parliament, Simard has expressed a special interest in matters relating to francophone concerns in Canada. His riding is one of the few in western Canada with a significant francophone population (16% list French as their mother tongue, according to the 2001 Canadian census), and the only such riding which regularly elects francophone candidates to parliament.

In his private business life, Simard was responsible for opening the first bilingual services centre in Canada.

Simard was re-elected in the 2004 federal election, defeating Conservative Ken Cooper by about 6,000 votes. On July 20, 2004, he was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Internal Trade, Deputy Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, and Minister responsible for Official Languages with responsibility for Official Languages and Democratic Reform.

In the 2006 federal election, Simard's third election in the federal riding of Saint-Boniface, Simard defeated for a second time Conservative Ken Cooper however by far fewer votes than previous years. In the same year, Simard was appointed Deputy Whip of Her Majesty's loyal opposition (Canada). Simard endorsed Michael Ignatieff in the leadership race of the Liberal Party of Canada.

In 2007, Simard was appointed critic of Western Economic Development of her Majesty's loyal opposition.

Simard was defeated by Conservative candidate Shelly Glover in the 2008 federal election. He ran again in the 2011 election losing to Glover.

Electoral history

2011 Canadian federal election: Saint Boniface—Saint Vital
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Shelly Glover	21,737	50.3	+4.0	$84,354.60
	Liberal	Raymond Simard	13,314	30.8	-4.3	$82,059.23
	New Democratic	Patrice Miniely	6,935	16.0	+2.9	$1,082.97
	Green	Marc Payette	1,245	2.9	-2.1	$950.00
Total valid votes/expense limit			43,231	100.0		–
Total rejected ballots			181	0.4	+0.1
Turnout			43,412	67.18	+2.86
Eligible voters			64,620	–	–

2008 Canadian federal election: Saint Boniface—Saint Vital
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Shelly Glover	19,440	46.3	+11.3	$71,480
	Liberal	Raymond Simard	14,728	35.1	-3.5	$78,353
	New Democratic	Matt Schaubroeck	5,502	13.1	-8.8	$12,641
	Green	Marc Payette	2,104	5.0	+1.2	$8,506
	Christian Heritage	Justin Gregoire	195	0.5	-0.2	$12
Total valid votes/expense limit			41,969	100.0		$79,503
Total rejected ballots			133	0.3	-0.1
Turnout			42,102	64.32	-1.6

2006 Canadian federal election: Saint Boniface—Saint Vital
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Raymond Simard	16,417	38.6	-8.0	$72,056
	Conservative	Ken Cooper	14,893	35.0	4.0	$57,276
	New Democratic	Mathieu Allard	9,311	21.9	+3.9	$23,405
	Green	Marc Payette	1,640	3.9	+1.5	$4,830
	Christian Heritage	Jane MacDiarmid	285	0.7	-0.3	$503
Total valid votes			42,546	100.0		–
Total rejected ballots			163	0.4	0.0
Turnout			42,709	66.9	+6.2

2004 Canadian federal election: Saint Boniface—Saint Vital
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Raymond Simard	17,989	46.6	+3.8	$64,019
	Conservative	Ken Cooper	11,956	31.0	-8.1	$71,843
	New Democratic	Mathieu Allard	6,954	18.0	+3.0	$9,928
	Green	Daniel Backé	925	2.4	–	$202
	Christian Heritage	Jeannine Moquin-Perry	378	1.0	0.0	$7,690
	Marijuana	Chris Buors	317	0.8	-1.3	–
	Communist	Gérard Guay	77	0.2	–	$654
Total valid votes			38,596	100.0		–
Total rejected ballots			130	0.3
Turnout			38,726	60.7

Canadian federal by-election, 13 May 2002
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
On Mr. Duhamel being called to the Senate, 15 January 2002
	Liberal	Raymond Simard	8,862	42.8	-9.3
	Alliance	Denis Simard	4,497	21.7	-1.4
	Progressive Conservative	Mike Reilly	3,583	17.3	5.7
	New Democratic	John Parry	3,106	15.0	+2.0
	Marijuana	Chris Buors	435	2.1
	Christian Heritage	Jean-Paul Kabashiki	210	1.0
Total valid votes			20,693	100.0

External links

• Official website
• Raymond Simard – Parliament of Canada biography