Pierre-Joseph-Olivier Chauveau

Pierre-Joseph-Olivier Chauveau (; May 30, 1820 – April 4, 1890) was a Canadian lawyer and politician. Chauveau was the first premier of Quebec, following the establishment of Canada in 1867. Appointed to the office in 1867 as the leader of the Conservative Party, he won the provincial elections of 1867 and 1871. He resigned as premier and his seat in the provincial Legislative Assembly in 1873.

Chauveau was also active in federal politics, being member of the House of Commons from 1867 to 1873, and then a member of the Senate for a year. After only a year in the Senate he sought re-election to the Commons in the general election of 1874, but was defeated. He then retired from politics.

Chauveau had a life-long interest in literature and public affairs. He was the author of a novel and many short columns and letters on the political situation in Lower Canada. As a young man, he opposed the union of the Lower Canada and Upper Canada into the single Province of Canada, which he saw as primarily benefitting the financial sector, which was largely dominated by those of British stock. However, he gradually came to support Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine, who argued that the union gave an opportunity for French-Canadians to acquire political power, through the establishment of responsible government.

Chauveau also had a strong interest in education. From 1855 to 1867, he was the Superintendent of the Bureau of Education for Canada East (as Lower Canada was known in the Province of Canada), and was responsible for a number of innovations in education. Following his retirement from politics, he held several different positions, including dean of the faculty of law at the Université Laval.

Early life and family

Chauveau was born in Charlesbourg, near Quebec City, in a long-established local family. He was in the fifth generation of the Chauveau family in Charlesbourg, descended from a settler in the early 18th century. His father died when he was young, so he was raised by his mother and his maternal grandfather, a wealthy merchant in Quebec City. From 1829 to 1837, he attended the Petit Séminaire de Québec, where he gained a reputation as an excellent student, with strong literary interests. Two of his fellow students were Elzéar-Alexandre Taschereau, who went on to become Archbishop of Quebec, and Luc Letellier de St-Just, who was eventually appointed Lieutenant Governor of Quebec.

In 1840, he married Marie-Louise-Flore Masse, with whom he had seven children. One of his sons, Alexandre Chauveau, became a provincial politician in his own right.

One of his great-great-great-grandsons, Thomas Mulcair, was a cabinet minister in the Quebec government of Jean Charest. Mulcair was subsequently leader of the federal New Democratic Party and Leader of the Opposition in the federal House of Commons.

Legal career Chauveau early on considered entering the priesthood, but eventually decided to follow a career as a lawyer, practising in Quebec City. He initially articled with his maternal uncle, Louis-David Roy, who was in partnership with André-Rémi Hamel, the Attorney General of Lower Canada. He finished his articles with George Okill Stuart Jr., one of the leading lawyers in Quebec City. His time with Stuart enabled him to greatly improve his command of English. He then was taken into partnership with Roy when Hamel was appointed to the bench. When Roy was later appointed to the bench, Chauveau entered into partnership with Philippe Baby Casgrain. Although Chauveau was a good lawyer, the practice of law did not provide him with the level of income he desired.

In 1853, Chauveau published a novel, Charles Guérin: Roman de moeurs canadiennes. The next year, he was one of the collaborators in La Pléiade rouge: Biographies humoristiques.

Publications P.J.O. Chauveau, Charles Guerin: roman de mœurs canadiennes; originally published at Montreal, 1853; published electronically by La Bibliothèque électronique du Québec, Collection Littérature québécoise, Volume 76 : version 2.0.

Archives There is a Pierre-Joseph-Olivier Chauveau collection at Library and Archives Canada.

Electoral record