after Bertrand’s death and under the leadership of Gabriel Loubier, the party was completely shut out of the legislature for the first time since its founding in 1935. With the Union Nationale on life support, Bellemare came out of retirement and took over as interim leader until a convention could be held. Against all odds, he won a by-election in the district of Johnson in the Eastern Townships. For more than two years, Bellemare was the only sitting Union Nationale member of the legislature. A few months before the 1976 election, Rodrigue Biron was chosen as leader and the party was able to get Bellemare and 10 other members elected to the legislature. From 1976 until he retired from provincial politics for good in 1979, Bellemare served as the House Leader of the Union Nationale. Less than three months after Bellemare's retirement, Biron left the Union Nationale. He eventually joined the governing Parti Québécois, a move of which Bellemare strongly disapproved. Bellemare was a federalist. Biron's defection to the PQ undermined Bellemare's efforts to rebuild the Union Nationale. In the 1981 election, the party was wiped off the map again. In the 1985 election, the Union Nationale was running 19 candidates (out of 122) who had no reasonable chance of winning. Bellemare supported the new Progressive Conservative Party of Quebec but later announced that for the first time he would vote Liberal. Municipal politics From 1981 to 1983, Bellemare was one of the Councillors of the Saint-Jean-des-Piles local government. In 1983, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in recognition for being "a politician who always cared about the welfare of working people and served his province and country with enthusiasm, determination and skill". In 1989, he died from diabetes at age 77. See also List of third party leaders (Quebec) History of Quebec Footnotes External links 1912 births 1989 deaths Maurice Mayors of places in Quebec Officers of the Order of Canada Union Nationale (Quebec) MNAs