Nicknames of politicians and personalities in Quebec

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages) This article possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. (December 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Nicknames of politicians and personalities in Quebec" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (June 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

A custom of

• Maurice Duplessis (1936–1939 and 1944–1959): Le Chef ("The Leader" or "The Chief"). Often pronounced (and even spelled) "Le Cheuf", to reflect an old-fashioned joual pronunciation of the word.
  • Often used disparagingly to evoke Duplessis's despotism. Nevertheless, he apparently used the nickname to refer to himself.
• Daniel Johnson Sr. (1966–1968): Danny Boy.
  • Name given to the portrayal of Johnson as a comical and clueless cowboy in political cartoons drawn by Normand Hudon before Johnson taking power. An apparent reference to his Irish roots.
• Robert Bourassa (1970–1976 and 1985–1994)
  • Boubou.
    • Also inspired the term "Boubou Macoutes".
  • L'homme le plus détesté du Québec ("The most hated man of Quebec").
    • A term used by historians to denote the unpopularity of Bourassa and his government before first losing power to René Lévesque's Parti Québécois in 1976.
  • Bourassa I; Bourassa II.
    • Terms historians use to refer to Bourassa and his governments under his first two mandates and his last two mandates as Premier, respectively.
• René Lévesque (1976–1985): Ti-Poil (literally, "Lil' Hair", but more accurately translated as "Baldy").
  • A reminder of his often ruffled comb-over.
• Jacques Parizeau (1994–1996): Monsieur ("Sir").
  • Positive and relatively appreciative reference to his well-known aristocratic pride and assurance. Source of the title of a 2003 documentary, Monsieur about Parizeau.
• Lucien Bouchard (1996–2001):
  • Lulu.
  • Barbe Bleue.
• Jean Charest (2003–2012): Charest has gained numerous nicknames:
  • Patapouf or Patapouf Premier ("Patapouf the First").
    • The name was rumoured to be a nickname given by Charest's wife, something he denied. It first came to be used in the campaign Destituons Patapouf!, an operation of disgruntled citizens who spread a petition from 2003 to 2004 to have Charest recalled, not unlike California governor Gray Davis. Loco Locass (music group), in their song Libérez-nous des libéraux ("Free us from the liberals") used this nickname to refer to him. The word is an archetypal name for a clown in Quebec French (like Bozo). It is also a pejorative way to talk about someone fat, so it could refer to the fact that he gained some weight. Patapouf Premier is a sarcastic variant that paints Charest as a farcical, despotic monarch. Both are used mockingly.
  • Le Frisé ("Curly").
    • Referring to his famous curly hair. It is negative. A humorous, mocking song from irony rocker
      Mononc' Serge
      about the man is entitled "Le Frisé".
  • Le p'tit Saint-Jean-Baptiste ("Lil' Saint John the Baptist").
    • The
      Saint John the Baptist
      . It is therefore another mocking of Charest's hairstyle. This could also refer to Charest's birthdate, which is June 24, the feast of John the Baptist.
  • Le mouton ("The Sheep")
    • Another reference to his curly hair. Due to Google bombing, a search using Google's "I'm Feeling Lucky" option for "mouton insignifiant" (insignificant sheep) used to link to Charest's official MNA webpage.^[1]
• Pauline Marois (2012–2014):
  • Dame de béton ("The Concrete Lady")^[2]
    • In reference to her toughness and that she had survived several challenges to her leadership from prominent members of her caucus.
• Philippe Couillard (2014–2018):
  • The Bear^[3]
    • In reference to his beard, build and ambling gait.
  • Philippe-Flop^[4]
    • Used by opposition parties as a pejorative against him, due to his perceived shifting of his positions on issues.

Similar nicknames

• Louis St. Laurent (Prime Minister of Canada from 1948 to 1957): Oncle Louis ("Uncle Louis").
• Camillien Houde (Four-time Mayor of Montreal from the 1920s to the 1950s): Monsieur Montréal.
• Pacifique Plante (crimefighting lawyer from the 1940s to the 1950s): Pax Plante.
• Pierre Elliott Trudeau (Prime Minister of Canada
  from 1968 to 1979 and 1980 to 1984): Ti-Pet ("Lil' Fart") or Pet
  • Always derogatory. Trudeau's initials, P.E.T., were often used in
    ripping off Canada, possibly originating in Alberta^{[citation needed}
    ]
• Brian Mulroney (Prime Minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993): Lyin' Brian; le p'tit gars de Baie-Comeau ("Little Guy from Baie-Comeau"), "The chin that walks like a man" (a moniker given to him by columnist Allan Fotheringham), and "Mini Trudeau" (a name given to him by René Lévesque for perceived similarities to Pierre Elliot Trudeau)
  • Mulroney was born and raised in Baie-Comeau, a city in the Côte-Nord region of Quebec.
• Jean Chrétien (Prime Minister of Canada from 1993 to 2003): le p'tit gars de Shawinigan ("Little Guy from Shawinigan").
  • Chrétien received a similar nickname to Mulroney's. This refers to his own city of origin,
    Shawinigan
    , Quebec. Chrétien sometimes spoke of himself that way.
• Action Démocratique
  from 1994 to 2009): Super Mario.
  • A common criticism of Dumont was his relatively young age. Super Mario is both a comment on his youth (referring to the
    underdog popularity. Rap group Loco Locass
    wrote a song called Super Mario in reference of Dumont. Since the election of 2007, when his party won 41 seats, after having won just 5 in the previous election), the nickname "Super Mario" isn't always pejorative
• Amir Khadir (leader and MNA of Québec solidaire): "Godasse Khadir" (in French slang, godasse means old shoe). Khadir was nicknamed Godasse after throwing a shoe on an effigy of George W. Bush in 2008, during a protest held in Montreal for journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi, famous for throwing a pair of shoes at the U.S. president in Iraq.
• New Democratic Party): "le bon Jack" (un bon jack meaning a nice guy).^[5]
• New Democratic Party) "Pinocchio". For his diametrically opposed views that he publicly states depending on the language and/or the province he delivers the message. A well known example is "Nous sommes contre Energy East, we're for Energy East".^{[citation needed}
  ]
• Justin Trudeau (Current Prime Minister of Canada): "Mini-pet" : (in relation to his aforementioned father's nicknames)

See also

• Lists of nicknames – nickname list articles on Wikipedia

References