Robert Cliche

Cliche, Robert

Robert Cliche C.R., judge (b at St-Joseph-de-Beauce 12 Apr 1921; d at Québec City 15 Sept 1978). Cliche did his classical studies (rhetoric) at the Petit Séminaire de Québec and philosophy at the Collège de Lévis (BA). He studied law at Laval (1941-44), received his degree and was admitted to the bar. He joined (1944) the Royal Marines as a sailor and left as an officer (1946). He established a general practice, taught at Laval (1962-65) and was named (1972) assistant chief justice to the provincial court. He published, with his wife Madeleine Ferron, Quand le peuple fait la loi (1972) and Les Beaucerons ces insoumis (1974). He was elected assistant chairman of the New Democratic Party (1963) and the next year became leader of the provincial wing.

Despite his magnetism and exceptional skills as an orator, he was defeated in 1965 and 1968, and returned to private practice. In 1974 he became chairman of a provincial commission of inquiry into the exercise of trade-union freedoms. Chairman and administrator of many cultural and social associations, he undertook with passion a huge legal practice and demanding political responsibilities. Posthumously, he received the Ordre de la Pleiade, an international distinction of the francophone world (1978). The Fondation Robert-Cliche is devoted to the conservation of the Beauce heritage.