Gaston Rousseau

    

Chairman Gaston Richard Rousseau
General Secretary of the Continentalist Party of Labor of the Continental Republic of Tournesol
In office August 31, 1995 – January 20, 2018
Deputy	Christophe Armand
Preceded by	Étienne Renard
Succeeded by	Jeanne-Lucille Desmarais
Chairman of the Continentalist Party of Labor of Tournesol
In office August 31, 1995 – January 20, 2018
Deputy	Christophe Armand
Preceded by	Étienne Renard
Succeeded by	Jeanne-Lucille Desmarais
Speaker of the People's Congress of Tournesol
In office June 12, 1987 – August 31, 1995
Preceded by	Cha-me Bouillon
Succeeded by	Arthur Muller
Personal details
Born	March 7, 1936 (age 85) Manincatudie, Haute-Tournesol Department, Tournesol
Political party	Continentalist Party of Labor
Children	4
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Military service
Allegiance	Tournesol
Branch/service	People's Continental Army
Rank	Corporal
Unit	25th Infantry Regiment

Gaston Richard Rousseau (born March 7th, 1936) is a Tourneser Continentalist political leader and the longest-serving General Secretary of Tournesol. He rose up in the membership of the Continentalist Party of Labor in the 1860s, representing his hometown of Manincatudie in the People's Congress of Tournesol. He eventually took over as Speaker of the People's Congress in 1987. A popular leader within the party, he rose to be General Secretary and Chairman of the Party in 1995, offices in which he served for close to 23 years. Backed by popular appeal, his popular appeal allowed him to stay past his term limits, with the Congress passing a law extending term limits just for Rousseau. However, economic mishandling by his administration, plans to open the economy up to Anglo-American investment and rising call for resignation led to a political coup by his Deputy Secretariat, Christophe Armand, against him in January of 2018, leading to Jeanne-Lucille Desmarais being named the next People's Secretariat. His removal from office is one of the causes behind the unrest and the Tourneser Freedom Front insurgency within the country. Since August 31st, 2019, he has not been seen in public, and conspiracy theories surround his disappearance from public life, although the Tourneser government and his family insist he just wants some privacy due to an unspecified illness.

Born into a working-class Tourneser Métis household, Rousseau was born during the recovery from the Great Depression, and his father was a militiaman during the Tourneser Continental Revolution. He joined the Tourneser Pioneers at an early age and raised heavily and conservatively Catholic. He served in the People's Continental Army for two years, between 1954 and 1956, primarily deployed along the Tournesol-Brazoria border, and then began his studies at the Polytechnic University of Ouichite, where he studied to become an agronomist. After several years in that profession, he returned to Manincatudie, where he successfully ran as a moderate candidate for city council of Manincatudie. Building a reputation, he was elected as deputy of Haute-Tournesol in the People's Congress of Tournesol. From there, he became the leader of the Moderate Caucus of the Continentalist Party of Labor in the People's Congress, rising up to be the Speaker of the People's Congress in 1987 as the Catholic and Revolutionary caucuses started losing power at the end of the Cold War.

Following the end of the Cold War, Rousseau came into conflict with incumbent secretariat Étienne Renard, with frequent clashes between the two over the right way. Rousseau came on top out of this conflict after the People's Assembly removed Renard in a vote of no confidence and subsequently installed Rousseau as provisional People's Secretariat until an election could be instituted. Rousseau won several subsequent elections for People's Secretariat, staying in power from 1995 to 2018. During this time, the Tourneser economy began to stagnate as the increased fundings of government programs in the populist yet moderate campaigns of Rousseau forced him to put the country in more and more debt, forcing him to ask the United Commonwealth for economic assistance. Despite this, his popularity was extremely high, as he was seen as independent-minded from the United Commonwealth, a man of the people and not a stuffy bureaucrat, and as someone who can lead Tournesol into the future. Just as he was starting negotiations with Superian and Brazorian companies for exclusive rights to some of Tournesol's resources, he was ousted with the same vote of no confidence vote by the People's Congress after accusations were made by his Vice Secretariat, Armand Christophe and replaced with Jeanne-Lucille Desmarais.

Rousseau officially retired from politics and retired to his home in Manincatudie, where he was reportedly under house arrest. He made a couple of public appearances, but his removal was seen as a coup and faith in the Tourneser government was shaken, leading to several protests which were cracked down upon, and ultimately, the Tourneser Freedom Front insurgency. Rousseau has not been seen in public since August 31, 2019, leading to many conspiracy theories about his whereabouts. However, the government and his family insist he is just wishing to be left alone due to an unspecified disease.

Early life, education, and entry into politics

Gaston Richard Rousseau was born on March 7, 1936 in Manincatudie, Haute-Tournesol to Yves Étienne Rousseau and Simone Rousseau (née Beauchemin) as the oldest of five siblings.