Léo Cadieux

The Honourable
Léo Cadieux
PC OC
Cadieux, c. 1968
Canadian Ambassador to France
In office
16 October 1970 – 8 September 1975
Prime MinisterPierre Trudeau
Preceded byPaul André Beaulieu
Succeeded byGérard Pelletier
Minister of National Defence
In office
19 September 1967 – 16 September 1970
Prime MinisterLester B. Pearson
Pierre Trudeau
Preceded byPaul Hellyer
Succeeded byCharles Drury (acting)
Associate Minister of National Defence
In office
15 February 1965 – 18 September 1967
Prime MinisterLester B. Pearson
Preceded byLucien Cardin
Succeeded byVacant
Member of Parliament
for Labelle
In office
25 June 1968 – 5 October 1970
Preceded byGaston Clermont
Succeeded byMaurice Dupras
Member of Parliament
for Terrebonne
In office
18 June 1962 – 24 June 1968
Preceded byMarcel Deschambault
Succeeded byJoseph-Roland Comtois
Personal details
Born
Joseph Alphonse Léo Cadieux

(1908-05-28)28 May 1908
Saint-Jérôme, Quebec, Canada
Died11 May 2005(2005-05-11) (aged 96)
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Political partyLiberal
Spouse
Monique Plante
​
(m. 1961)​
Children1

Léo Alphonse Joseph Cadieux PC (/kəˈdjuː/ kə-DEW, French: [kadjø]; May 28, 1908 – May 11, 2005) was a Canadian politician.

A newspaper journalist and publisher who was born in Saint-Jérôme, Quebec, Cadieux was first elected to the House of Commons of Canada as the Liberal Member of Parliament for Terrebonne, Quebec in the 1962 election.

In 1965, he was appointed to the Cabinet by Prime Minister Lester Pearson as Associate Minister of National Defence. In 1967, he was promoted to Minister of National Defence (and the first Francophone to hold the post), and remained in that position under Pearson and then Pierre Trudeau until he retired from politics in 1970.

On his retirement from Parliament, he was appointed Canada's Ambassador to France. He remained Canada's envoy until 1975.

During Cadieux's tenure as Defence Minister, Canada cut its troop commitment to Europe from 10,000 to 5,000 troops and ended Canada's commitment to send re-enforcements to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's Central Front following a review of Canadian defence priorities. In Cabinet debates on Canada's attitude towards nuclear deterrence, Cadieux argued in support of the doctrine. He also oversaw the reorganization of the Canadian Emergency Measures Organization, Canada's civil defence agency.

In 1974, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Electoral record

1965 Canadian federal election: Terrebonne
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Léo Cadieux 16,806 44.2 -1.8
Progressive Conservative André Fauteux 10,417 27.4 +15.8
Ralliement créditiste Jean-Marc Fontaine 5,412 14.2 -18.7
New Democratic Jean-Maurice Sénécal 5,384 14.2 +4.7
Total valid votes 38,019 100.0

Note: Ralliement créditiste vote is compared to Social Credit vote in the 1963 election.

1963 Canadian federal election: Terrebonne
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Léo Cadieux 19,015 46.0 +6.8
Social Credit Hubert Murray 13,618 33.0 +9.6
Progressive Conservative Bert Walker 4,798 11.6 -16.5
New Democratic Gérard Gagnon 3,895 9.4 +0.1
Total valid votes 41,326 100.0
1962 Canadian federal election: Terrebonne
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Léo Cadieux 15,547 39.2 -9.4
Progressive Conservative Marcel Deschambault 11,155 28.1 -23.3
Social Credit Lucien Bachand 9,269 23.4
New Democratic Jean Philip 3,680 9.3
Total valid votes 39,651 100.0
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to France
1970–1975 		Succeeded by