Raoul Dandurand - Definition and Overview

The Right Honourable Raoul Dandurand (November 4 1861 - March 11 1942) was a Canadian politician and longtime organizer in Quebec for the Liberal Party of Canada.

Dandurand graduated from the University of Laval's law faculty and was a coporate lawyer in Quebec. He married Josephine Marchand, daughter of Quebec Premier Félix-Gabriel Marchand in 1886.

Dandurand, a Montreal lawyer, was appointed to the Canadian Senate in 1898 by Sir Wilfrid Laurier. He served as Speaker of the Canadian Senate from 1905 to 1909 and was either Leader of the Government in the Canadian Senate or Leader of the Opposition in the Canadian Senate from 1921 until 1942. As Government Leader in the Senate he served in every Cabinet formed by William Lyon Mackenzie King from 1921 until Dandurand's death in 1942.

He also served as President of the League of Nations Assembly in 1925 and was Canada's delegate to the League from 1927 to 1930.

King relied heavily on Dandurand and Ernest Lapointe for advice on Quebec as well as on international affairs and it was Dandurand who suggested Louis St. Laurent for King's Cabinet after Lapointe's death.