Françoise Boivin (born June 11, 1960 in Hull, Quebec) is a Canadian politician, who represented the electoral district of Gatineau in the House of Commons of Canada until 2015. She first represented the district from 2004 to 2006 as a member of the Liberal Party, but was defeated in the 2006 election by Richard Nadeau of the Bloc Québécois. She subsequently left the Liberals and ran to reclaim her seat in the 2008 election as a New Democratic Party candidate, but was narrowly defeated by Nadeau. She was re-elected to Parliament as a New Democrat in the 2011 election. She was defeated in 2015. Studies, early career and community involvement Françoise Boivin has degrees in social sciences and civil law from the University of Ottawa. Boivin has been a member of the Quebec Bar since 1984. She began her legal career with Beaudry, Bertrand and subsequently co-founded the law firm Letellier & Associés. During this time, she also taught, and was in charge of the negotiation sector, at the Quebec Bar training school. In September 1998, Boivin hosted a public affairs program on CJRC. She was subsequently asked to host a number of other programs for CJRC-1150 and for Canal Vox. During the times of increasing price of gas, she asked her radio listeners to boycott Petro-Canada to push the country's national fuel company to decrease its prices. In 2000, she set up her own firm where she works mainly in the area of labour law. Boivin has participated in many fundraising activities to help agencies such as the Canadian Cancer Society, the Outaouais Alzheimer's Society, and the Foundation for Heart Disease (Outaouais). She has also worked closely with various support and network agencies helping women and seniors. Liberal politician In 2004, Boivin, a longtime Liberal supporter, won her party's nomination for Gatineau. She defeated Bloc candidate Richard Nadeau by only two percentage points, an unusually close margin for what has historically been a strongly federalist riding. She made a breakthrough in politics as newly elected Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) by being one of the first to openly oppose the US missile defence system, a point of view that ultimately became the official position of Prime Minister Paul Martin. Françoise Boivin was also chosen to be the official seconder to the 2004 Speech from the Throne in October of that year. She was a member of the Committee on