Ernest Lapointe

Ernest Lapointe (born on October 6 1876 in Canada) is a Franco-Canadian politician and the current Minister of Justice.

Early Life
Ernest Lapoint was born on October 6 1876 in Saint-Éloi, Quebeb, Canada. He attended classical studies at the College of Rimouski and studied Law at the Université Laval in Quebec-City. In July 1898, at the age of 21, he was admitted to the Quebec Bar and started practing law in Riviere-du-Loup. In 1908 he was appointed Crown Prosecutor for Kamouraska.

Political Career
He was first elected by acclamation to the Canadian House of Commons in an 1898 by-election as the Liberal MP for Kamouraska and was re-elected in 1908, 1911 and 1917. He resigned his seat in 1919 in order to run in the Quebec East seat vacated by the death of Sir Wilfrid Laurier. At this point, Lapointe was regarded as the leader of the French Canadian Liberal party.

In 1921 William Lyon Mackenzie King appointed Lapointe to his first Cabinet as Minister of Marine and Fisheries and in 1924 he chosed him to replace Lomer Gouin as the new Minister of Justice. In 1923 Lapointe negotiated and signed with the United States a treaty concerning fisheries in the Pacific; this was the first treaty signed by a Canadian acting alone, with full powers from the king. In 1935, after the Liberals' victory in the federal election, he was appointed by King as Minister of Justice and Attorney General.

A close friend and advisor of King, Lapointe is seen as King's Quebec lieutenant and one of the most important ministers in Cabinet. He supports a united Canada and worked to ensure national unity at a time when anglophone indifference to (or ignorance of) francophone Quebec might have left his province in the political cold.

Personal Life
On Febraury 16 1901 Ernest Lapointe married Emma Pratte. They had a daughter, Odette, and a son, Hugues (born on March 3 1911 in Riviere-du-Loup) who studied Law and has been recently admitted to the Quebec Bar in 1935.