Robert de Cotret

The Honourable
Robert de Cotret
PC
Member of the Canadian Parliament
for Berthier-Montcalm
In office
November 28, 1988 – October 25, 1993
Preceded by Electoral District created
Succeeded by Michel Bellehumeur
Member of the Canadian Parliament
for Berthier—Maskinongé—Lanaudière
In office
September 4, 1984 – November 28, 1988
Preceded by Antonio Yanakis
Succeeded by Electoral District eliminated
(see Berthier—Montcalm, Champlain and Saint-Maurice from 1987 to 2003)
Senator for Ottawa, Ontario
In office
June 5, 1979 – January 14, 1980
Resigned to run in 1980 General Election
Appointed by Joe Clark
Member of the Canadian Parliament
for Ottawa Centre
In office
October 16, 1978 – May 22, 1979
Preceded by Michael Cassidy
Succeeded by John Leslie Evans
Secretary of State for Canada
In office
21 April 1991 – 3 January 1993
Preceded by Gerry Weiner
Succeeded by Monique Landry
Minister of the Environment
In office
23 May 1990 – 20 April 1991
Preceded by Lucien Bouchard
Succeeded by Jean Charest
President of the Treasury Board
In office
17 September 1984 – 26 August 1987
Preceded by Herb Gray
Succeeded by Don Mazankowski
Minister of Industry, Trade and Commerce
In office
4 June 1979 – 2 March 1980
Preceded by Jack Horner
Succeeded by Herb Gray
Personal details
Born (1944-02-20)February 20, 1944
Ottawa, Ontario
Died July 9, 1999(1999-07-09) (aged 55)
Political party Progressive Conservative

Robert René de Cotret, PC (February 20, 1944 – July 9, 1999) was a Canadian politician.

Robert de Cotret was the President and CEO of The Conference Board of Canada from 1976-78 before being elected to the Canadian House of Commons in a 1978 by-election. He was elected as the Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Ottawa Centre, and was one of the few francophone MPs in the Tory caucus.

Despite the Tory victory in the 1979 general election, Robert de Cotret lost his seat. In need of French-Canadian Cabinet ministers, Prime Minister Joe Clark appointed de Cotret to the Canadian Senate and to Cabinet as Minister of Industry, Trade and Commerce in Clark's minority government.

When the government was defeated in a motion of non-confidence, a new election was called for February 18, 1980. Cotret resigned his Senate seat in order to run for a seat in the House of Commons in the riding of Berthier—Maskinongé, but was defeated in the 1980 election along with the Clark government.

He ran again in the 1984 election, and was elected along with a Progressive Conservative majority government led by Brian Mulroney. Mulroney appointed Cotret to Cabinet as President of the Treasury Board. In 1987, Cotret became Minister of Regional Industrial Expansion, and reassumed the Treasury Board portfolio in 1989. In 1990, he became Minister of the Environment and then Secretary of State for Canada in 1991.

Robert de Cotret retired from Cabinet in January 1993 and did not run in the 1993 election.

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