Louis Plamondon (born July 31, 1943) is a Canadian politician who has represented Bécancour—Nicolet—Saurel (formerly known as Bas-Richelieu—Nicolet—Bécancour and Richelieu) in the House of Commons since 1984, making him the Dean of the House, the longest-serving current member of the House of Commons. Plamondon has won his seat in twelve consecutive federal elections, winning twice as a Progressive Conservative before becoming a founding member of the Bloc Québécois in 1990, after which he has been reelected ten more times. He, along with six other Bloc MPs, resigned from the Bloc's caucus to sit as an independent MP on February 28, 2018 citing conflicts with the leadership style of Martine Ouellet. He rejoined the Bloc Québécois caucus on September 17, 2018. Early life and career Plamondon was born in Saint-Raymond-de-Portneuf, Quebec and is the brother of lyricist Luc Plamondon. He has a teaching certificate from L'École normale Maurice L. Duplessis (1964), a Bachelor of Arts degree from Laval University (1968), and a B.A.An. from the University of Montreal (1976). He was a math teacher and restaurant owner before entering political life. Plamondon supported the "oui" side in Quebec's 1980 referendum on sovereignty. Member of Parliament Progressive Conservative MP Plamondon was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 1984 federal election, defeating Liberal Party incumbent Jean-Louis Leduc in Richelieu. The Progressive Conservatives won a landslide majority government in this election under Brian Mulroney's leadership, and Plamondon entered parliament as a government backbencher. He was associated with the Quebec nationalist wing of his party and soon became known as a maverick. In 1986, he criticized justice minister John Crosbie for appointing an anglophone to replace the sole francophone judge on the Ontario Court of Appeal. He later criticized industry minister Sinclair Stevens for awarding a multimillion-dollar untendered contract to a shipbuilding company in Quebec City. Plamondon also expressed sympathy with fellow MP Robert Toupin, who left the Progressive Conservatives in May 1986 to sit as an independent. Plamondon was on the socially liberal wing of the Progressive Conservative Party. He voted against a motion to re-introduce capital punishment in 1987 and later opposed efforts to restrict abortion services. He strongly supported the Mulroney government's efforts to strengthen official bilingualism and criticized dissident anglophone Tory MPs who tried to weaken the government's reforms. Plamondon was also one of the more pro-labour members of the Tory caucus. In 1985, he promoted a