Richard Martel

Richard Martel
Richard Martel
Canadian Senator; from Quebec (Rougemont)
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 7 July 2026
Nominated by	Mark Carney
Appointed by	Louise Arbour
Member of Parliament; for Chicoutimi—Le Fjord
	In office; 18 June 2018 – 7 July 2026
Preceded by	Denis Lemieux
Personal details
Born	23 March 1961 (age 65); Chicoutimi, Quebec, Canada
Party	Independent
Other political; affiliations	Conservative (until 2026)
Spouse	Annie Houle
Occupation	Ice hockey coach
Coached for
Coached for	Saint-Hyacinthe Laser; Val-d'Or Foreurs; Baie-Comeau Drakkar; Chicoutimi Sagueneens; Brûleurs de Loups (France)
Coaching career	1993–2015

Richard Martel (born 23 March 1961) is a Canadian politician and former ice hockey coach who has served as a senator from Quebec (Rougemont) since 2026. Before to his appointment to the Senate on the advice of Prime Minister Mark Carney, Martel was a member of Parliament (MP) with the Conservative Party, representing Chicoutimi—Le Fjord in the House of Commons from 2018 to 2026.

He last coached the Grenoble Brûleurs de Loups in the French Ligue Magnus. Between 1993 and 2011, Martel served as a head coach in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL).

Coaching career

Martel was an assistant coach under Jos Canale from 1991 to 1993 in Chicoutimi.^[1]^[2] Between 1993 and 2011, Martel served as a head coach in the QMJHL where he twice won the Ron Lapointe Trophy as the QMJHL coach of the year. On 28 February 2010, Martel became the most successful coach in the history of the QMJHL when he coached the Chicoutimi Saguenéens to a 3–1 victory over the Baie-Comeau Drakkar to win his 570th QMJHL game, surpassing the record previously held by Guy Chouinard.^[3]

Coaching record

QMJHL

Team	Year	Regular season							Post Season
Team	Year	G	W	L	T	OTL	W-L%	Finish	Result
Saint-Hyacinthe	1993-94	72	35	30	7	0	.535	4th in Lebel	Eliminated - Round 1
Saint-Hyacinthe	1994-95	72	26	42	4	0	.389	5th in Lebel	Eliminated - Round 1
Val-d'Or	1995-96	70	39	24	7	0	.607	3rd in Lebel	Eliminated - Round 2
Val-d'Or	1996-97	70	40	28	2	0	.586	3rd in Lebel	Eliminated - Semi Finals
Val-d'Or	1997-98	58	29	23	6	0	.552	(replaced mid-season)	—
Baie-Comeau	1998-99	53	17	32	4	0	.358	7th in Dilio	Missed playoffs
Baie-Comeau	1999-00	72	31	31	5	5	.500	3rd in East	Eliminated - Round 1
Baie-Comeau	2000-01	72	41	23	8	0	.625	1st in East	Eliminated - Semi Finals
Baie-Comeau	2001-02	72	38	25	7	2	.590	2nd in East	Eliminated - Round 1
Baie-Comeau	2002-03	72	50	14	6	2	.750	1st in East	Eliminated - Semi Finals
Chicoutimi	2003-04	42	23	13	5	1	.619	2nd in Eastern	Eliminated - Semi Finals
Chicoutimi	2004-05	70	38	19	6	7	.636	2nd in Eastern	Eliminated - Semi Finals
Chicoutimi	2005-06	70	51	15	0	4	.757	2nd in Western	Eliminated - Round 2
Chicoutimi	2006-07	70	34	28	0	8	.543	8th in Telus	Eliminated - Round 1
Chicoutimi	2007-08	70	37	25	0	8	.585	4th in Telus	Eliminated - Round 1
Chicoutimi	2008-09	68	24	32	0	12	.441	3rd in Telus East	Eliminated - Round 1
Chicoutimi	2009-10	68	26	33	0	9	.449	3rd in Telus East	Eliminated - Round 1
Chicoutimi	2009-10	50	18	22	0	10	.460	(replaced mid-season)	—
Total		1191	597	459	67	68	Win%: .501

Source: Career profile

Awards and honours

Award	Year
Ron Lapointe Trophy - QMJHL Coach of the Year	1993–94	^[4]
Ron Lapointe Trophy - QMJHL Coach of the Year	2004–05	^[5]

Political career

On 20 December 2017, Martel was named the Conservative candidate for an upcoming by-election in the federal electoral district of Chicoutimi—Le Fjord,^[6] as a star candidate.^[7] Martel was recruited by a former player, Antoine Tardif, who served as the party's chief organizer in Quebec.^[8]^[9] Martel had previously been courted to run for mayor of Saguenay as well as the National Assembly of Quebec.^[10]

Martel was elected as a Member of Parliament on 18 June 2018, gaining the seat from the Liberals.^[11]

He was reelected in the 2019 Canadian federal election.^[7]^[12]

On 2 September 2020, Conservative leader Erin O'Toole announced that Martel would serve as the party's Quebec lieutenant, succeeding Alain Rayes.^[13] Martel served in the role until 8 November 2021, when he was succeeded by Rayes.^{[citation needed]}

On 7 July 2026, Prime Minister Mark Carney advised Governor General Louise Arbour to appoint Martel to the Senate.^[14]

Electoral record

v t e 2025 Canadian federal election: Chicoutimi—Le Fjord
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Richard Martel	17,356	34.14	-6.24	$91,466.24
	Bloc Québécois	Marc St-Hilaire	15,857	31.19	-2.88	$44,039.70
	Liberal	Stéphane Proulx	15,820	31.12	+12.90	$6,306.74
	New Democratic	Raphaël Émond	991	1.95	-2.75	$2,726.02
	Green	Yves Laporte	476	0.94	-0.24	$15.96
	People's	François Sabourin	339	0.67	-0.70	none listed
Total valid votes/expense limit			50,839	98.60	–	$125,644.80
Total rejected ballots			721	1.40	-0.56
Turnout			51,560	68.54	+3.99
Eligible voters			75,229
	Conservative notional hold		Swing		-1.68
Source: Elections Canada^[15]^[16]^[17]

v t e 2021 Canadian federal election: Chicoutimi—Le Fjord
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Richard Martel	17,291	40.95	+4.14	$49,214.19
	Bloc Québécois	Julie Bouchard	14,096	33.38	-1.53	$13,745.50
	Liberal	Jean Duplain	7,746	18.35	+1.24	$0.00
	New Democratic	Ismaël Raymond	1,952	4.62	-1.88	$2,095.41
	People's	Jimmy Voyer	650	1.54	+0.72	none listed
	Green	Yves Laporte	489	1.16	-2.00	$0.00
Total valid votes/expense limit			42,224	–	–	$104,807.38
Total rejected ballots
Turnout				64.47	-3.68
Registered voters			65,498
	Conservative hold		Swing		+2.83
Source: Elections Canada^[18]

v t e 2019 Canadian federal election: Chicoutimi—Le Fjord
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Richard Martel	16,155	36.82	-15.85	$88,278.98
	Bloc Québécois	Valérie Tremblay	15,321	34.91	+29.31	none listed
	Liberal	Dajana Dautovic	7,504	17.10	-12.40	$9,048.24
	New Democratic	Stéphane Girard	2,855	6.51	-2.14	$1,181.55
	Green	Lynda Youde	1,388	3.16	+0.07	$2,988.37
	People's	Jimmy Voyer	359	0.82	–	$1,360.01
	Rhinoceros	Line Bélanger	299	0.68	–	$0.00
Total valid votes/expense limit			43,881	97.94
Total rejected ballots			925	2.06	+0.42
Turnout			44,806	68.15	+1.48
Eligible voters			65,747
	Conservative hold		Swing		-21.09
Source: Elections Canada^[19]^[20]

v t e Canadian federal by-election, June 18, 2018: Chicoutimi—Le Fjord Resignation of Denis Lemieux
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Martel	12,600	52.76	+36.16
	Liberal	Lina Boivin	7,044	29.50	-1.60
	New Democratic	Éric Dubois	2,065	8.65	-21.07
	Bloc Québécois	Catherine Bouchard-Tremblay	1,337	5.60	-14.92
	Green	Lynda Youde	738	3.09	+1.02
	Independent	John Turmel	98	0.41
Total valid votes/expense limit			23,882	98.67
Total rejected ballots			322	1.33	-0.34
Turnout			24,294	36.52	-30.15
Eligible voters			66,267
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing		+18.88
Source:Elections Canada: Official Voting Results

References

↑ Émond, Serge (17 November 2010). "Canale de retour avec les Sags". Le Quotidien (in French). Retrieved 8 August 2018.
↑ "Jos Canale devient conseiller avec les Saguenéens". Chicoutimi Saguenéens (in French). 16 November 2010. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
↑ "Richard Martel of the Chicoutimi Sagueneens now QMJHL's winningest head coach - NHL.com - News". nhl.com. Archived from the original on 9 March 2010. Retrieved 1 March 2014.
↑ "Coach Martel ties record as Sagueneens beat Drakkar". tsn.ca. Retrieved 1 March 2014.
↑ "QMJHL: Martel gets win in 1000th game". tsn.ca. Retrieved 1 March 2014.
↑ Houle, Jean (20 December 2017). "L'ex-entraîneur Richard Martel officiellement candidat pour le Parti conservateur". Journal de Québec. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
1 2 Boutilier, Alex (22 October 2019). "Quebec Conservatives acknowledge party's campaign shortcomings | The Star". Toronto Star. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
↑ Montpetit, Jonathan (19 June 2018). "How the federal Conservatives handed the Liberals their first byelection loss since 2013". CBC News.
↑ Raj, Althia (27 August 2018). "Inside The Conservatives' 2019 Election Plan: Flirting With Quebec Separatists". Althia Raj.
↑ Tremblay, Louis (20 December 2017). "Richard Martel fait le saut en politique chez les conservateurs". Le Quotidien. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
↑ "Le conservateur Richard Martel élu député fédéral de Chicoutimi–Le Fjord". Journal de Québec. Agence QMI. 19 June 2018. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
↑ Montpetit, Jonathan (22 October 2019). "Big gains for the Bloc Québécois, but what did it sacrifice in the process?". CBC News.
↑ "Conservative Party: Richard Martel becomes Quebec lieutenant, Gérard Deltell becomes parliamentary leader". HuffPost (in French). 2 September 2020. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
↑ Bergeron-Oliver, Annie (7 July 2026). "Carney poaches Conservative MP in latest batch of Senate appointments". CTVNews. Retrieved 7 July 2026.
↑ "Voter information service". Elections Canada. Retrieved 1 May 2025.
↑ "Forty-Fifth General Election 2025 — Poll-by-poll Results: Chicoutimi—Le Fjord". Elections Canada. 2025. Retrieved 9 July 2026.
↑ "2025 General Election: Part 3C – Summary of Electoral Campaign Expenses and Other Outflows – Election expenses subject to the limit – Total". Elections Canada. 2025. Retrieved 9 July 2026.
↑ "Confirmed candidates — Chicoutimi—Le Fjord". Elections Canada. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
↑ "List of confirmed candidates". Elections Canada. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
↑ "Official Voting Results". Elections Canada. Retrieved 22 September 2021.

External links

Richard Martel's staff profile at Eliteprospects.com

Richard Martel – Parliament of Canada biography

[Émond2-1] Émond, Serge (17 November 2010). "Canale de retour avec les Sags". Le Quotidien (in French). Retrieved 8 August 2018.

[conseiller-2] "Jos Canale devient conseiller avec les Saguenéens". Chicoutimi Saguenéens (in French). 16 November 2010. Retrieved 1 September 2018.

[nhl-3] "Richard Martel of the Chicoutimi Sagueneens now QMJHL's winningest head coach - NHL.com - News". nhl.com. Archived from the original on 9 March 2010. Retrieved 1 March 2014.

[tsn-4] "Coach Martel ties record as Sagueneens beat Drakkar". tsn.ca. Retrieved 1 March 2014.

[tsn2-5] "QMJHL: Martel gets win in 1000th game". tsn.ca. Retrieved 1 March 2014.

[6] Houle, Jean (20 December 2017). "L'ex-entraîneur Richard Martel officiellement candidat pour le Parti conservateur". Journal de Québec. Retrieved 20 December 2017.

[boutilier20191022-7] 1 2 Boutilier, Alex (22 October 2019). "Quebec Conservatives acknowledge party's campaign shortcomings | The Star". Toronto Star. Retrieved 23 October 2019.

[8] Montpetit, Jonathan (19 June 2018). "How the federal Conservatives handed the Liberals their first byelection loss since 2013". CBC News.

[9] Raj, Althia (27 August 2018). "Inside The Conservatives' 2019 Election Plan: Flirting With Quebec Separatists". Althia Raj.

[10] Tremblay, Louis (20 December 2017). "Richard Martel fait le saut en politique chez les conservateurs". Le Quotidien. Retrieved 20 December 2017.

[11] "Le conservateur Richard Martel élu député fédéral de Chicoutimi–Le Fjord". Journal de Québec. Agence QMI. 19 June 2018. Retrieved 19 June 2018.

[12] Montpetit, Jonathan (22 October 2019). "Big gains for the Bloc Québécois, but what did it sacrifice in the process?". CBC News.

[13] "Conservative Party: Richard Martel becomes Quebec lieutenant, Gérard Deltell becomes parliamentary leader". HuffPost (in French). 2 September 2020. Retrieved 2 September 2020.

[14] Bergeron-Oliver, Annie (7 July 2026). "Carney poaches Conservative MP in latest batch of Senate appointments". CTVNews. Retrieved 7 July 2026.

[15] "Voter information service". Elections Canada. Retrieved 1 May 2025.

[16] "Forty-Fifth General Election 2025 — Poll-by-poll Results: Chicoutimi—Le Fjord". Elections Canada. 2025. Retrieved 9 July 2026.

[17] "2025 General Election: Part 3C – Summary of Electoral Campaign Expenses and Other Outflows – Election expenses subject to the limit – Total". Elections Canada. 2025. Retrieved 9 July 2026.

[18] "Confirmed candidates — Chicoutimi—Le Fjord". Elections Canada. Retrieved 20 September 2021.

[19] "List of confirmed candidates". Elections Canada. Retrieved 3 October 2019.

[20] "Official Voting Results". Elections Canada. Retrieved 22 September 2021.

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