# Madeleine Bélanger

Madeleine Bélanger (née Audet; born April 7, 1932) is a Canadian politician who served as a Member of the National Assembly of Quebec (MNA) for the riding of Mégantic-Compton from 1983 until 2003. Following the death of her second husband, Fabien Bélanger, on October 2, 1983, she was elected as his replacement on December 5, 1983. She served as a member of the Quebec Liberal Party.
Bélanger's daughter, Johanne Gonthier, served as the Liberal MNA for the same riding from 2007 to 2012. Bélanger's nephew, Gérard Gosselin, served as a Parti Québécois MNA for Sherbrooke from 1976 to 1981.

## Biography

Bélanger was born April 7, 1932, in Saint-Sébastien, Quebec to Léopold Audet, a farmer, and Zélia Saint-Pierre. She worked as an elementary school teacher at Saint-Samuel-Station for three years. She owned two hairdressing salons and worked as an administrator and manager of a home electrical installation company for three years, then as a director of two residential development companies.

## Political career

Bélanger's husband, Fabien Bélanger, died suddenly on October 2, 1983. She secured the Liberal nomination for Mégantic-Compton and won the ensuing by-election. She was re-elected in 1985, 1989, 1994 and 1998. Bélanger served as Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Municipal Affairs during the brief government of Daniel Johnson Jr. and later became Chair of the Committee on Planning and the Public Domain as well as the Chairperson of the Committee on Education during her time in office.
She did not seek re-election in 2003.

## Electoral record
### Provincial

vte1998 Quebec general election: Mégantic-Compton :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Liberal | Madeleine Bélanger | 12,675 | 50.49 | -3.46 |
| | Parti Québécois | Suzanne Durivage | 10,339 | 41.18 | -1.18 |
| | Action démocratique | Olivier Chalifoux | 1,835 | 7.31 | – |
| | Socialist Democracy | Yves Couturier | 174 | 0.69 | – |
| | Equality | Frank Moller | 81 | 0.32 | -1.50 |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 25,104 | 99.01 |
| Rejected and declined votes | Rejected and declined votes | Rejected and declined votes | 250 | 0.99 | -1.07 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 25,354 | 79.89 | -1.14 |
| Electors on the lists | Electors on the lists | Electors on the lists | 31,736 |
| Source: Official Results, Government of Quebec |||||||
| | Liberal hold | Liberal hold | Swing | Swing | -2.32 |
vte1994 Quebec general election: Mégantic-Compton :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Liberal | Madeleine Bélanger | 12,799 | 53.95 | -6.44 |
| | Parti Québécois | Jacques Blais | 10,051 | 42.36 | +12.44 |
| | Natural Law | Christian Simard | 444 | 1.87 | – |
| | Equality | Matthew Begbie | 432 | 1.82 | -3.16 |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 23,725 | 97.94 |
| Rejected and declined votes | Rejected and declined votes | Rejected and declined votes | 500 | 2.06 | +0.55 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 24,225 | 81.03 | +4.32 |
| Electors on the lists | Electors on the lists | Electors on the lists | 29,896 |
| Source: Official Results, Government of Quebec |||||||
| | Liberal hold | Liberal hold | Swing | Swing | -9.44 |
vte1989 Quebec general election: Mégantic-Compton :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Liberal | Madeleine Bélanger | 12,608 | 60.39 | +0.91 |
| | Parti Québécois | Léon Ducharme | 6,246 | 29.92 | -7.43 |
| | Equality | Frank Moller | 1,039 | 4.98 | – |
| | Green | Pierre Gilbert | 740 | 3.54 | – |
| | Parti 51 | Edmond Trudeau | 245 | 1.17 | – |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 20,878 | 98.49 |
| Rejected and declined votes | Rejected and declined votes | Rejected and declined votes | 320 | 1.51 | +0.41 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 21,198 | 76.71 | -0.68 |
| Electors on the lists | Electors on the lists | Electors on the lists | 27,634 |
| Source: Official Results, Government of Quebec |||||||
| | Liberal hold | Liberal hold | Swing | Swing | +4.17 |
vte1985 Quebec general election: Mégantic-Compton :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Liberal | Madeleine Bélanger | 12,865 | 59.48 | -8.12 |
| | Parti Québécois | Maurice Bernier | 8,708 | 37.35 | +6.87 |
| | New Democratic | Joseph Lemoine | 594 | 2.75 | – |
| | Christian Socialist | Steeve Stratford | 91 | 0.42 | – |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 21,628 | 98.90 |
| Rejected and declined votes | Rejected and declined votes | Rejected and declined votes | 241 | 1.10 | +0.15 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 21,869 | 77.39 | +4.96 |
| Electors on the lists | Electors on the lists | Electors on the lists | 28,257 |
| Source: Official Results, Government of Quebec |||||||
| | Liberal hold | Liberal hold | Swing | Swing | -7.50 |
vteQuebec provincial by-election, December 5, 1983: Mégantic-Compton :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Liberal | Madeleine Bélanger | 13,711 | 67.60 | +15.87 |
| | Parti Québécois | Noël Landry | 6,182 | 30.48 | -11.04 |
| | Independent | Jean-Luc Perron | 233 | 1.15 | – |
| | No Affiliation | Patricia Métivier | 156 | 0.77 | – |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 20,282 | 99.05 | |
| Total rejected ballots | Total rejected ballots | Total rejected ballots | 194 | 0.95 | +0.23 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 20,476 | 72.43 | -9.61 |
| Electors on the lists | Electors on the lists | Electors on the lists | 28,270 |
| | Liberal hold | Liberal hold | Swing | Swing | +13.50 |
| By-election due to the death of Fabien Bélanger |||||||
| Source(s) "December 5, 1983 By-election". Chief Electoral Officer of Quebec. December 5, 1983. Retrieved February 24, 2017. |||||||