Prior to entering politics,Garneau served as a naval officer and was selected as an astronaut,part of the 1983 NRC Group. On October 5,1984,he became the first Canadian in outer space as part of STS-41-G and served on two subsequent Space Shuttle missions—STS-77 and STS-97.
Early life
Joseph Jean-Pierre Marc Garneau was born on February 23,1949,in Quebec City,Quebec,Canada. He attended primary and secondary schools in Quebec City and Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu. He also has a brother,Philippe Garneau.[1]
In 1974,Garneau served as a naval combat systems engineer aboard HMCSAlgonquin.
From 1982 to 1983,he attended the Canadian Forces Command and Staff College in Toronto. While there,he was promoted to the rank of commander and was transferred to Ottawa in 1983. In January 1986,he was promoted to captain(N). Garneau retired from the Canadian Forces in 1989.[2]
Space career
Garneau was one of six first Canadian Astronauts and he became the first Canadian in outer space on October 5,1984.[4] In 1984,he was seconded to the new Canadian Astronaut Program (CAP),one of six chosen from over 4,000 applicants;of these six he was the only military officer.
Garneau flew on the Space Shuttle Challenger,STS-41-G from October 5 to 13,1984,as payload specialist. He was promoted to captain(N) in 1986,and left the Canadian Forces in 1989,to become deputy director of the CAP. In 1992–93,he underwent further training to become a mission specialist. He worked as CAPCOM for a number of shuttle flights and was on two further flights himself:STS-77 (May 19 to 29,1996) and STS-97 (to the ISS,November 30 to December 11,2000). He has logged over 677 hours in space.[5]
On November 28,2012,Garneau announced his candidacy for the leadership of the Liberal Party to be decided in April 2013. On March 13,2013,Garneau formally withdrew his bid for the party leadership.[9] On November 4,2015,Garneau was appointed as Minister of Transport in the 29th Canadian Ministry. He became Minister of Foreign Affairs on January 12,2021 after a cabinet reshuffle.[10]
In May 2007,Garneau filed nomination papers to be the party's candidate in Westmount—Ville-Marie,after former Liberal Party deputy leader Lucienne Robillard announced she would not be seeking re-election. However,a week after filing his nomination papers Dion announced that he had hand-picked a candidate for the riding. Garneau later withdrew his nomination papers and announced he no longer had an interest in politics. In October 2007,Garneau and Dion held a joint news conference where they announced that Garneau would be the Liberal Party candidate in Westmount—Ville-Marie.[15] Robillard announced her resignation as Member of Parliament in January and a by-election was later scheduled for September 8,2008.[17][18] However,the by-election was cancelled during the campaign when Prime Minister Stephen Harper called a general election for October 14,2008. Though some pundits predicted a close race between Garneau and NDP candidate Anne Lagacé-Dowson,Garneau went on to win the riding by over 9,000 votes.[6][19]
Member of 40th Parliament
Garneau was a member of the Industry,Science and Technology committee of the 40th Parliament. He also served on the Canada-Japan interparliamentary group.[20]
Garneau was narrowly re-elected in the 2011 election where he beat New Democratic Party candidate Joanne Corbeil. He was Liberal House leader and served from 2013 as Liberal foreign affairs critic. He was a candidate for interim leadership of the Liberal Party, but was ultimately defeated by Bob Rae.[21][22] Garneau announced later that year that he was considering a bid for the permanent leadership of the party.[23] In the summer of 2012, he announced that he was looking for a "dream team" to run his leadership bid and that he would only run if he could find the right people.[24][25]
On November 21, 2012, Garneau was named his party's natural resources critic after David McGuinty resigned the post.[26]
On November 28, 2012, Garneau announced his bid for the leadership of the Liberal Party, placing a heavy focus on the economy.[27][28] While fellow leadership candidate Justin Trudeau was widely seen as the front-runner in the race, Garneau was thought to be his main challenger among the candidates.[29] With his entrance into the leadership race he resigned his post as Liberal House leader, while remaining the party's critic for natural resources.[30]
Garneau and other members of Trudeau's cabinet welcoming U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security John F. Kelly in March 2017
On January 30, 2013, Garneau was replaced as natural resources critic by Ted Hsu. Garneau had been serving in the position on an interim basis.[32] On March 13, 2013 Garneau announced his withdrawal from the race, and threw his support to front-runner Justin Trudeau. On September 18, 2013, Garneau was named co-chair of the Liberal International Affairs Council of Advisors, providing advice on foreign and defence issues to Liberal Party of Canada leader Justin Trudeau.[33][34]
Minister of Transport in the 42nd Parliament
In the 2015 elections held on October 19, 2015, Garneau was re-elected as MP in the newly created riding of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount. Two weeks later, on November 4, 2015, Garneau was appointed the minister of transport by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
In May 2017, Garneau introduced an airline passenger bill of rights to standardize how passengers can be treated by airlines which operate any flights in and out of Canada. The legislation would create minimum compensation rates for overbooking, lost or damaged luggage, and bumping passengers off flights. It would also prohibit airlines from removing people from the flight if they have purchased a ticket and set the standard for tarmac delays and airline treatment of passengers when flights are delayed or cancelled over events in the airline's control, or because of weather conditions.[35]
In March 2019, after days of initial refusal to take actions following the crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, Garneau who had even gone so far as to say on 11 March that he would board 737 MAX 8 "without hesitation" as an apparent show of support for the Boeing Company,[36] finally agreed on 13 March to ground and prohibit all Boeing 737 Max aircraft from flying in Canadian airspace.[37] The Trump administration followed suit later that day.[38] This stood in contrast to the ministry's previous stance, where Garneau insisted the plane was safe to fly, thus making Canada one of the only two nations still flying a substantial number of Boeing 737 Max planes at the time.[39][40]
Minister of Foreign Affairs in the 43rd Parliament
Garneau continued to serve as Minister of Transport after the elections to the 43rd Parliament held in October 2019. He was at Transport for the first two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, and thus he was responsible to enforce the Quarantine Act as lieutenant to the Minister of Health Patty Hajdu; during this time he made many decisions that would affect the lives of travellers in co-ordination with Hadju.[41][42][43]
Garneau then served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from January 12, 2021 until October 26, 2021.[20] On January 12, 2021, following the resignation of Navdeep Bains as minister of innovation, science and industry, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shuffled the Cabinet, with Garneau becoming Minister of Foreign Affairs and Omar Alghabra taking his place at Transport.[44] Garneau was described as one of the most qualified and capable members of Cabinet.[45][46][47]
Member of 44th Parliament and retirement
Following the cabinet reshuffle stemming from the election in October 2021, Garneau was dropped from Cabinet on October 26, despite being re-elected to his seat in the House.[48] Some have speculated that Garneau did not remain in cabinet due to his age, being sacrificed in the name of gender parity, and that he reportedly refused to be subservient to the Prime Minister’s Office.[45][46][47]
On March 8, 2023, Garneau announced that he would resign his seat and retire from politics.[49] He gave his farewell speech in the House of Commons the same day.[50][51] The by-election to replace him in parliament occurred June 19, 2023.[52] Liberal Anna Gainey succeeded him, with as big a majority of votes as Garneau had won previously.
* As a Companion of the Order of Canada, and an elected Member of Parliament he has also received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.[54][56]
Garneau was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1984 in recognition of his role as the first Canadian astronaut. He was promoted the rank of Companion within the order in 2003 for his extensive work with Canada's space program.
Ralph Edward Goodale is a Canadian diplomat and retired politician who has served as the Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom since April 19, 2021.
Justin Pierre James Trudeau is a Canadian politician who has served as the 23rd prime minister of Canada since 2015 and the leader of the Liberal Party since 2013.
Carolyn Ann Bennett is a Canadian physician and politician. A member of the Liberal Party, she represented Toronto—St. Paul's in the House of Commons from 1997 to 2024, and was a cabinet minister in the governments of Paul Martin and Justin Trudeau. She was the minister of state for public health from 2003 to 2006, the minister of Crown–Indigenous relations from 2015 to 2021 and the minister of mental health and addictions from 2021 to 2023. Prior to entering politics, Bennett worked as a family physician for 20 years.
Dominic A. LeBlanc is a Canadian lawyer and politician who has served as the Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs since 2023. A member of the Liberal Party, LeBlanc sits as the member of Parliament (MP) for Beauséjour, representing the New Brunswick riding in the House of Commons since 2000. He has held a number of Cabinet portfolios throughout his tenure in government.
Michael David Chong is a Canadian politician who has represented the Ontario riding of Wellington—Halton Hills in the House of Commons since 2004. A member of the Conservative Party, he served in the cabinet of Prime Minister Stephen Harper as Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and Minister of Sport, as well as the President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada from February 6, 2006 to November 27, 2006. On September 8, 2020, Chong was appointed the Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Omar Alghabra is a Saudi-born Syrian-Canadian politician who served as Canada's minister of transport from 2021 to 2023. A member of the Liberal Party, he has represented the riding of Mississauga Centre in the House of Commons since the 2015 election. He was previously the member of Parliament (MP) for Mississauga—Erindale from 2006 to 2008.
Robert Oliphant is a Canadian politician and a United Church minister. He served in the House of Commons as a Liberal Member of Parliament for the Toronto riding of Don Valley West from 2008 to 2011. He returned to office after re-election in 2015 and subsequently in 2019.
Joyce Murray is a Canadian politician who has represented the riding of Vancouver Quadra in the House of Commons as a member of the Liberal Party since 2008. She was re-elected in the 41st, 42nd, 43rd, and 44th federal elections. Murray was appointed as President of the Treasury Board and Minister of Digital Government on March 18, 2019. She was re-appointed as Minister of Digital Government following the 2019 election. In 2021, she was appointed Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, a position she held until July 2023.
Anne Lagacé Dowson is a Canadian radio journalist.
The 2009 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election was prompted by Stéphane Dion's announcement that he would not lead the Liberal Party of Canada into another election, following his party's defeat in the 2008 federal election in Canada. The Liberals, who captured just slightly over 26% of the total votes, scored their lowest percentage in the party's history to that date.
An astronaut-politician is a person who has entered politics after traveling to space as an astronaut. Even with the increasing number of individuals who have flown in space, astronauts still maintain a wide degree of public recognition, and those interested in pursuing a career in politics have been able to take advantage of their renown to enter politics at higher levels of elected office.
The 2015 Canadian federal election held on October 19, 2015, saw the Liberal Party, led by Justin Trudeau, win 184 seats, allowing it to form a majority government with Trudeau becoming the next prime minister.
The 2013 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election was triggered by Michael Ignatieff's announcement on May 3, 2011, of his intention to resign as leader following the party's defeat in the 2011 federal election. On May 25, 2011, Bob Rae was appointed by Liberal caucus as interim leader. The party announced Justin Trudeau as its new leader on April 14, 2013, in Ottawa, Ontario.
Ahmed Hussen is a Canadian lawyer and politician who has been serving as the Minister of International Development since July 26, 2023. A member of the Liberal Party, Hussen has also sat as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Toronto-area the riding of York South—Weston since the 2015 federal election. He previously served as the Minister of Housing, Diversity and Inclusion from 2021 to 2023, Minister of families, children and social development from 2019 to 2021 and the minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship from 2017 to 2019. He is the first Somali-Canadian to be elected to the House of Commons and the first to hold a federal Cabinet position.
Marc Miller is a Canadian politician who was elected to represent the riding of Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Sœurs in the House of Commons in the 2015 election. A member of the Liberal Party of Canada, he currently serves as Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship in the Federal Cabinet following the swearing in of a new cabinet on July 26, 2023. He previously served as the Minister of Crown Indigenous Relations, starting on October 26, 2021. Prior to entering politics, Miller was a lawyer with Stikeman Elliott and an infantry soldier Canadian Army Primary Reserve.
Anna Gainey is a Canadian politician who was elected to the Canadian House of Commons in a by-election on June 19, 2023. Gainey represents Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount as a member of the Liberal Party of Canada. She had previously served as the party's president between 2014 and 2018, during and following its electoral success in the 2015 Canadian federal election.
The 45th Canadian federal election will take place on or before October 20, 2025, to elect members of the House of Commons to the 45th Canadian Parliament.
By-elections to the 44th Canadian Parliament may be held to fill vacancies in the House of Commons of Canada between the 2021 federal election and the 45th federal election. The 44th Canadian Parliament has existed since 2021 with the membership of its House of Commons having been determined by the results of the 44th Canadian federal election held on September 20, 2021. The Liberal Party of Canada has a minority government during this Parliament, supported by the New Democratic Party in a confidence-and-supply agreement.
A by-election was held in the federal riding of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount in Quebec on June 19, 2023, following the resignation of Liberal MP Marc Garneau.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
Canada 
Maritime Command 
