Michel Cogger
{{Short description|Canadian politician (1939–2025)}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=February 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = The Honourable
| name = Michel Cogger
| honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|CAN|KC|size=100}}
| image =
| office = Senator for Lauzon, Quebec
| appointed = Brian Mulroney
| predecessor = Jean-Paul Deschatelets
| successor = Yves Morin
| term_start = 1986
| term_end = 2000
| birth_name = Michel Benoit Cogger
| birth_date = {{birth date|1939|03|21}}
| birth_place = Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
| death_date = {{death date and age|2025|01|27|1939|03|21}}
| death_place =
| nationality =
| spouse =
| party = Progressive Conservative
| relations =
| children =
| residence =
| alma_mater =
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}}
Michel Benoit Cogger, {{post-nominals|CAN|KC}} (March 21, 1939 – January 27, 2025) was a Canadian businessman, lawyer and politician in Quebec who served in the Senate of Canada.{{Canadian Parliament links|ID=11977|nolist=yes}}
Cogger was a senior political advisor to and fundraiser for Progressive Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney and helped run the party's campaigns in Quebec in the 1984 and 1988 federal elections in which the Tories swept the province.{{cite news |url=https://archive.org/details/Macleans-Magazine-1998-06-15/page/n37/mode/2up |title=The fall of a Senator |orig-date=June 15, 1998 |last1=DeMont |first1=John |author-link1=John DeMont |last2=Fisher |first2=Luke |work=Maclean's |volume=111 |number=24 |pages=47–48 |via=The Internet Archive |access-date=February 2, 2025}}
Early life
Cogger attended law school at Laval University in the 1960s, where he became friends with Mulroney.{{cite book |last=Johnson |first=William |author-link=William Johnson (Canadian author) |title=A Canadian Myth: Quebec, Between Canada and the Illusion of Utopia |url=https://archive.org/details/canadianmythqueb0000john |url-access=registration |year=1994 |publisher=Robert Davies Publishing |location=Outremont, Quebec, Canada |isbn=978-1-895854-08-4 |page=[https://archive.org/details/canadianmythqueb0000john/page/143 143] |via=The Internet Archive |access-date=February 2, 2025}} The two were among a group of students who organized the Congrès des affaires canadiennes.{{cite book |last=Fraser |first=Graham |author-link=Graham Fraser |title=Playing for Keeps: The Making of the Prime Minister, 1988 |url=https://archive.org/details/playingforkeepsm0000fras |url-access=registration |year=1989 |location=Toronto, Ontario, Canada |publisher=McClelland & Stewart |isbn=978-0-7710-3208-0 |page=[https://archive.org/details/playingforkeepsm0000fras/page/23 23] |via=The Internet Archive |access-date=February 2, 2025}}
Career
Cogger was campaign manager during Mulroney's bid to win the 1976 Progressive Conservative leadership convention as well as the successful campaign which forced Joe Clark to call a 1983 leadership convention.{{cite book |last=Courtney |first=John C. |title=Do Conventions Matter?: Choosing National Party Leaders in Canada |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jdIPs9zun7AC&pg=PA192 |year=1995 |location=Montreal, Quebec, Canada |publisher=McGill–Queen's University Press |isbn=978-0-7735-6569-2 |page=192 |access-date=February 2, 2025 |via=Google Books}}{{cite book |last1=Martin |first1=Patrick |last2=Gregg |author-link2=Allan Gregg |first2= Allan |last3=Perlin |first3=George C. |title=Contenders: The Tory quest for power |url=https://archive.org/details/contenderstoryqu00mart |url-access=registration |year=1983 |location=Scarborough, Ontario, Canada |publisher=Prentice-Hall Canada |isbn=978-0-13-171349-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/contenderstoryqu00mart/page/75 75] |access-date=February 2, 2025 |via=The Internet Archive}}
In 1986, Muroney named Cogger to the Senate. In 1991, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police laid influence peddling charges alleging that Cogger had taken payments from businessman Guy Montpetit in exchange for the use of Cogger's influence to win government grants and contacts.{{cite news |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/436480994/1AC2F2B723924AB2PQ |id={{ProQuest|436480994}}|title=Michel Cogger faces new charge; Mounties allege Conservative senator peddled influence |date=September 13, 1991 |last=Bindman |first=Stephen |page=A2 |work=Toronto Star |location=Ottawa, Ontario, Canada |url-access=subscription |access-date=February 2, 2025}} Cogger was acquitted in 1993 but in 1997 the Supreme Court of Canada ordered a new trial which led to Cogger's conviction in 1998.{{cite news |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/tory-senator-guilty-of-influence-peddling-1.167213 |title=Tory senator guilty of influence peddling |orig-date=February 6, 1998 |date=November 14, 1998 |work=CBC News |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250202212037/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/tory-senator-guilty-of-influence-peddling-1.167213 |archive-date=February 2, 2025 |access-date=February 2, 2025}} He was fined $3,000, put on 12 months' probation and ordered to do 120 hours of community service.{{cite news |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/387229070/3B308F16E254640PQ |title=Cogger quits Senate seat, leaving Tories with 35 in Red Chamber |date=September 8, 2000 |work=The Globe and Mail |agency=The Canadian Press |page=A4 |url-access=subscription |id={{ProQuest|387229070}} |access-date=February 2, 2025}} Cogger successfully appealed the sentence which was substituted by an absolute discharge in 2001.{{cite news |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/329938138/E018CB7A93984246PQ |title=Quebec: Cogger wins discharge |date=May 18, 2001 |work=National Post |page=A4 |url-access=subscription |id={{ProQuest|329938138}} |access-date=February 2, 2025}}{{cite news |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/cogger-given-absolute-discharge-in-influence-peddling-case-1.264349 |title=Cogger given absolute discharge in influence peddling case |date=May 18, 2001 |work=CBC News |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250202212535/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/cogger-given-absolute-discharge-in-influence-peddling-case-1.264349 |archive-date=February 2, 2025 |access-date=February 2, 2025}}
In September 2000, Cogger resigned from the Senate. He had been largely absent from the upper house during his legal battles and was fined a total of $23,250 for missing sessions.
Death
Cogger died on January 27, 2025, at the age of 85.{{cite web |url=https://exparl.ca/news/the-hon-michel-cogger/ |title=The Hon. Michel Cogger |date=January 27, 2025 |work=Canadian Association of Former Parliamentarians |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250202213202/https://exparl.ca/news/the-hon-michel-cogger/ |archive-date=February 2, 2025 |access-date=February 2, 2025}}
Further reading
- {{cite book |title=Mulroney: The politics of ambition |last=Sawatsky |first=John |author-link=John Sawatsky |year=1991 |location=Toronto, Ontario, Canada |publisher=McClelland & Stewart |isbn=978-0-7710-7943-6}}
- {{cite book |title=On the take: Crime, corruption, and greed in the Mulroney years |last=Cameron |first=Stevie |author-link=Stevie Cameron |year=1994 |location=Toronto, Ontario, Canada |publisher=Seal Books |isbn=978-0-7704-2708-5}}
References
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Category:Canadian senators from Quebec
Category:Politicians from Quebec City
Category:Progressive Conservative Party of Canada senators