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Warren Allmand Politician

William Warren Allmand, PC OC QC (born September 19, 1932) is a former Canadian Liberal Party Member of Parliament and was a Cabinet member from 1972 to 1979.Allmand was born in Montreal and studied civil law at McGill University and comparative law at the University of Paris. He was admitted to the Quebec bar in 1958. In 1965, he was elected to the Parliament of Canada. He was sworn into the Privy Council on November 27, 1972, and has held the three Cabinet posts: Solicitor General (November 27, 1972 - September 14, 1976), Indian Affairs and Northern Development (September 14, 1976 - September 16, 1977), and finally Consumer and Corporate Affairs (September 16, 1977 - June 4, 1979). As Solicitor General, he tabled in 1976 the bill that abolished the death penalty in Canada.In 1995, he gained notoriety for voting against Paul Martin's budget, as he was opposed to the fact the cuts that Martin was proposing were too drastic and that it did not cancel the Goods and Services Tax. As a result, Jean Chrétien removed him from his position as Chair of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice, although he remained in the Liberal caucus. He retired before the 1997 election. Mr. Allmand was also Chair of the Justice Committee when Canada's controversial gun control legislation was reviewed by the Committee and adopted.He also has served as the president of the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development from 1997 to 2002 and the international president of Parliamentarians for Global Action. In 2004, Allmand was elected President of the World Federalist Movement–Canada.In 1990, the World Federalist Movement–Canada honoured Allmand with its World Peace Award. In 2000, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada for being "committed to democracy and the pursuit of justice and fundamental freedoms." As an MP, Allmand presented three Private Members' bills to have the Citizenship Oath revised to delete reference to the Queen.Allmand is currently teaching International Human Rights at McGill University as a visiting scholar at the Institute of Canadian Studies.In November 2005 Allmand was elected to the Montreal city council seat of Loyola in Western NDG as a member of the Union Montréal party and once again showed an independent streak by voting against his party's motion to change the name of Park Avenue to Avenue Robert Bourassa.He did not choose to run again in the 2009 Montreal municipal election, but his seat was retained for Union Montréal by Susan Clarke.In 2011, Allmand endorsed the Canadian Boat to Gaza, part of the Freedom Flotilla 2 which aims to end the Israeli blockade imposed on the 1.6 million Palestinian civilians living in the Gaza Strip.