André Arthur

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André Arthur

Member of Parliament for Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier
Incumbent
Assumed office 2006 election
Preceded by	Guy Côté

Born	December 21, 1943 (1943-12-21) (age 64) Quebec City
Political party	Independent
Spouse	single
Residence	Quebec City
Profession	Journalist, radio host

André Arthur M.P. (born December 21, 1943 in Quebec City), is a Canadian radio host and politician. He was elected as an independent Member of Parliament in the riding of Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier in the 2006 Canadian federal election. His father René Arthur and uncle Gérard Arthur were also radio hosts in their days.

1 Radio career
2 Politics
3 Ethnic origins
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Radio career

Arthur began his radio career at CHRC in 1970. He has also appeared on CJRP, CKAC, CKVL, CJMF-FM, CJMS and, most recently (until December 22, 2005), at CKNU-FM and CIMI-FM, all French-language stations. He is known for his outspoken style and anti-statist politics in a province known for mainly supporting left-of-centre policies, but has nonetheless earned widespread popularity, and earned the nickname le Roi Arthur ("King Arthur"). As a young adult he worked as hockey referee, according to him it's where he learned to accept being heavily criticized. He has two children.

His career has been marked by a number of lawsuits. He has been sued for defamation by two Quebec Premiers, Lucien Bouchard and Daniel Johnson Jr. He has also faced penalizing decisions by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) and the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, perhaps most notably regarding several on-air statements he has made (see quote below), leading to the non-renewal of the licence of CHOI-FM. His most recent gig, as morning and noon host for CKNU in Donnacona, Quebec, ended on December 22, 2005, soon after Genex Communications announced it was selling the station to RNC Media, which declined to renew his contract.

For several years, he opened his radio show with The Muppets' theme song.

[edit] Politics

André Arthur is a self-described libertarian, and his political views are generally in line with the libertarian ideology. He generally opposes the concept of government intervention in the economy, and supports tax cuts (as opposed to subsidies) as the most efficient way to promote economic growth and respect individual liberty.

He is also a noted admirer of the United States, which he perceives to be less intrusive in people's lives. Arthur claims that if he were an American citizen he would never vote for George W. Bush as President – one factor being Arthur's opposition to the Iraq War. Nonetheless, Arthur considers George W. Bush (as well as Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper) to be very consistent, a quality that he admires.

Arthur is a federalist. He is known for his opposition to Quebec sovereignty, not so much because of any profound attachment to Canada, but because he fears independence would increase what he sees as the socialist tendencies of Quebec as a political entity. There has been speculation that he was one of the causes for the lower-than-expected support for the "yes" in the Québec City area in the 1995 referendum.^{[citation needed]}

He was elected in the 2006 Canadian federal election as an Independent Member of Parliament for the Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier district of Quebec. In winning the riding, Arthur became the first truly independent and non-incumbent candidate to be elected to the House of Commons since Tony Roman won an Ontario district in 1984. Mr Arthur became officially a candidate on January 2, 2006, three weeks before Election Day. Having the advantage of name recognition and running an intensive pre-campaign every day for about two months during his morning and noon shows, he used no campaign paraphernalia and spent $924 for his campaign. He boasts being "the cheapest Member of Parliament in Canada", claiming to have spent less than any other elected candidate at this election.

On January 25, 2006, in an interview with Anna Maria Tremonti, host of CBC Radio One's morning news program The Current, Arthur stated that he will not join any political party during his term, but he did note that the policies of the governing Conservative Party of Canada best reflect his personal political beliefs and stances on many major issues. He also stated that he entered politics as an independent with the influence and record of non-affiliated MP Chuck Cadman, the last elected independent in the House of Commons, in mind. It was reported in May that he might consider joining the Conservatives^[1], however he later denied this saying his comments had been misinterpreted.^[2]

Arthur's 2006 bid was not his first attempt to win political office, although he claim that his 2006 bid was the only time he really wanted to be elected, according to him the other times he just wanted to divide the results. He ran as an Independent candidate from the Louis-Hébert district in the 1994 Quebec provincial election. He finished second with 29% of the vote, behind Parti Québécois candidate Paul Bégin (39%).

In 1997, Arthur ran against incumbent Mayor Andrée Boucher of Sainte-Foy. Boucher was re-elected and Arthur finished second with 33% of the vote.

On November 30, 2006 Arthur announced in a press conference that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and would receive treatment at Quebec City's Hotel-Dieu hospital in the coming weeks. He also mentioned that despite the cancer, he will keep his riding seat of Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier. ^[3]

[edit] Ethnic origins

Arthur's father and uncle, René and Gérard, were Armenian immigrant children who came from Constantinople to Montreal in the 1910s, fleeing the Armenian genocide, with their parents and sibblings, via New York. According to Arthur, the family was mistakenly considered to be Jewish by some Montreal residents at the time, because their last name contained the name Isaac, thus being victims of antisemitism. Consequently, the family changed its name to Arthur, a French-sounding name, which was also André Arthur's grandfather's first name (he was alternatively known as Arthur Isakian or Arthur DerSahag, Sahag meaning Isaac in Armenian).

Arthur's mother was a Québécoise by the name of Tanguay, a name that originally came from Bretagne to Quebec in the 17th century.