Robert Taschereau
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The Right Honourable Robert Taschereau, PC , CC (Quebec, 1896 - 1970) was a lawyer who became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada and who briefly served as acting Governor General of Canada following the death of Georges Vanier in 1967.
Following a career as a lawyer, Taschereau entered politics as a Liberal and successfully won a seat in the Quebec National Assembly in 1930. He held his seat until retiring 1936.
On February 9, 1940, he was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada, filling the vacancy created by the death of his former law partner, Lawrence Cannon. He was promoted to Chief Justice in 1963.
According to the Canadian rules of succession, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is second-in-line to the Governor Generalship, and serves in an interim capacity until a new one can be appointed by the Prime Minister and approved by the Queen.
Taschereau acted as Governor General from Vanier's death on March 5 to April 17, 1967 at which point Prime Minister Lester Pearson and the Queen appointed Roland Michener as the new Governor General.
Taschereau remained in the Supreme Court until retiring in 1967. According to a new biography by Frederick Vaughan, Taschereau descended into alcoholism and illness during his last years on the bench. His condition may have been a factor distracting the court's attention and denied it competent leadership during its hearing on the Steven Truscott case in the spring of 1967. Two months after the court ruled against Truscott, Taschereau was persuaded to sign a resignation letter that had been prepared for him.
In 1967 he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada.
Robert Taschereau died in 1970 and was interred in the family plot at the Cimetière Notre-Dame-de-Belmont in Sainte-Foy, Quebec.
His father, Louis-Alexandre Taschereau, had been Premier of Quebec and his grandfather, Sir Henri Elzéar Taschereau, had also served as Chief Justice of Canada.
| Preceded by: Patrick Kerwin | Chief Justice of Canada April 22, 1963 – September 1, 1967 | Succeeded by: John Robert Cartwright |