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Martial Asselin, lawyer, senator, lieutenant-governor of Québec (born 3 February 1924 in La Malbaie, QC; died 25 January 2013 in Quebec City, QC).
A lawyer, Asselin was admitted to the Québec Bar in 1951 and practiced law in his home town and Charlevoix. Asselin was acclaimed mayor of La Malbaie in 1957. He was elected to the House of Commons in 1958 as a Tory. While an MP he continued as mayor of La Malbaie until 1963 when Prime Minister John Diefenbaker appointed him minister of forestry. Asselin was defeated in 1963 but returned to the House of Commons in 1965. He retained his seat in 1968 and was summoned to the Senate in 1972.
Lacking Québec representation in the House in 1979, PM Joe Clark looked to the Senate for Québec ministers and appointed Asselin minister of state for the Canadian International Development Agency and Francophonie. Asselin served as deputy Speaker of the Senate from 1984 to 1988. He resigned his seat in the Senate in 1990 when he was appointed lieutenant-governor of Québec, serving in that role until 1996.
