View source for Gérald Godin

{{Short description|Canadian poet and politician}}
{{Expand French|topic=bio|date=December 2019}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}

'''Gérald Godin''' (November 13, 1938 &ndash; October 12, 1994) was a Canadian [[poet]] and [[politician]] from [[Quebec]].

Born in [[Trois-Rivières]], he worked as a journalist at ''[[La Presse (Canadian newspaper)|La Presse]]'' and other newspapers and magazines. His most important poetry collection, ''Les cantouques: poèmes en langue verte, populaire et quelquefois française'', was published in 1967. He was among those arrested under the [[War Measures Act]] during the [[October Crisis]] in 1970.

In the [[1976 Quebec general election|1976 Quebec provincial election]], he won a seat as a candidate for the [[Parti Québécois]], heavily defeating incumbent [[Premier of Quebec|Premier]] [[Robert Bourassa]] in his own riding of [[Mercier (provincial electoral district)|Mercier]]. He served in various cabinet posts in the governments of [[René Lévesque]] and [[Pierre-Marc Johnson]]. His life companion was the Québécois singer [[Pauline Julien]].

As a poet, he won the [[Prix Québec-Paris]] for his 1987 work ''Ils ne demandaient qu'à brûler''.

Godin died from brain cancer in October 1994.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1994/10/24/passages|title=Passages|date=24 October 1994|publisher=Rogers Media|work=Maclean's|access-date=13 March 2020|archive-date=1 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201001181424/https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1994/10/24/passages|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The area surrounding the [[Mont-Royal (Montreal Metro)|Mont-Royal metro station]] has been named Place Gérald-Godin in his honour. One of his poems, ''Tango de Montréal'', is displayed as a mural overlooking the square.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Tango de Montréal|url=https://artpublicmontreal.ca/en/oeuvre/tango-de-montreal/|access-date=2021-05-23|website=Art Public Montréal}}</ref>

[[Cégep Gérald-Godin]] (college), in [[Sainte-Geneviève, Quebec|Sainte-Geneviève]], [[Montreal]], is named after him.

==See also==
{{Portal|Canada|Poetry}}
*[[List of Mauriciens]]
*[[Politics of Quebec]]
*[[Quebec general elections]]
*[[History of Quebec]]
*[[Quebec sovereigntism]]

==Electoral record==
{{1989 Quebec general election/Mercier}}
{{1985 Quebec general election/Mercier}}
{{1981 Quebec general election/Mercier}}
{{1976 Quebec general election/Mercier}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://archive.today/20130203173150/http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0009379 Gérald Godin's] entry in [[The Canadian Encyclopedia]]
*{{Quebec MNA biography|godin-gerald-3467}}

{{Johnson Ministry}}
{{Lévesque Ministry}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Godin, Gerald}}
[[Category:1938 births]]
[[Category:1994 deaths]]
[[Category:Parti Québécois MNAs]]
[[Category:Journalists from Quebec]]
[[Category:Poets from Quebec]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian poets]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian male writers]]
[[Category:Canadian male poets]]
[[Category:People from Trois-Rivières]]
[[Category:French-language Canadian poets]]
[[Category:October Crisis]]
[[Category:Canadian male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in Quebec]]
[[Category:Neurological disease deaths in Quebec]]
[[Category:Deaths from brain cancer in Canada]]
[[Category:20th-century members of the National Assembly of Quebec]]

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{{Quebec-writer-stub}}