Logo

10 Facts About Claude Wagner

1.

Claude Wagner's father, a violinist, was a immigrant from the city of Sucheva in the region of Bukovina, Romania.

2.

In 1963, Claude Wagner was appointed as a Sessions Court judge.

3.

Claude Wagner earned a "law-and-order" reputation when he served successively as Solicitor General, Attorney General, and Minister of Justice from its creation in 1965 to 1966 in the government of Quebec Premier Jean Lesage.

4.

Claude Wagner then entered federal politics, and was elected as the Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament for Saint-Hyacinthe in the 1972 federal election, serving in the 29th Parliament as an Opposition MP.

5.

Claude Wagner was re-elected in the 1974 election, and after Robert Stanfield resigned as leader of the party, he stood as a candidate at the Progressive Conservative leadership convention of 1976.

6.

Claude Wagner attracted support from Tories who believed that having a leader from Quebec would enable the party to break the federal Liberal Party's stranglehold on the province and from right-wing Tories attracted by his law-and-order reputation.

7.

Claude Wagner was hurt by revelations of a slush fund that was funded by supporters so that he would be financially solvent if he lost in 1972.

8.

Claude Wagner led on the first three ballots of the convention, but Joe Clark won the leadership by 65 votes out of 2,309 on the fourth ballot.

9.

Claude Wagner died of cancer the next year at the age of 54, during Clark's brief premiership.

10.

On January 21,2021, Richard Claude Wagner assumed the role of Administrator of Canada, following a workplace review of Rideau Hall and the resignation of Julie Payette as Governor General of Canada, pending the appointment of a new Governor General.