Joseph-Édouard Cauchon, PC (French pronunciation: [ʒozɛf edwaʁ koʃɔ̃]; December 31, 1816 – February 23, 1885) was a prominent Quebec politician in the middle years of the nineteenth-century.

Born in Quebec City to a well-established family of seigneurs, Joseph-Édouard's parents were Joseh Cauchon, a joiner, and Marguerite Vallée.

This paper was known for its sharp political wit and generally supported Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine's French Canadian Reformers during its early years.

In 1841, he published an elementary treatise of physics entitled Notions élémentaires de physique, avec planches à l'usage des maisons d'éducation.

He abandoned this plan, however, to support the alliance of Allan Napier McNab's Conservatives with the French Canadian bloc (then led by Morin) and a part of Hincks's Reform group.

In the year that followed, Cauchon supported the government's decisions to eliminate the seigneurial system (over Louis-Joseph Papineau's objections) and secularize the clergy reserves.

He was forced to resign this position after the creation of a "Grand Coalition" ministry in August, though he continued to support the government from the back benches.

In 1865, he published (in French and English) a work entitled The union of the provinces of British North America, which rejected his earlier opposition to the plan.

He was unable to accomplish this task, however, as his plans to include an anglophone in cabinet broke down on the issue of educational funding for the province's Protestant minority.

The affair may have contributed to Cauchon's defeat at the hands of John Lemesurier in a bid for re-election as Quebec City's Mayor one month later.

Despite the unpopularity of his appointment, Cauchon remained Speaker of the Senate until June 30, 1872 (though he stepped down on a temporary basis on two occasions, for eleven days in total).

In 1873, Cauchon wanted to replace N. F. Belleau as lieutenant governor of Quebec, but was rejected by the Macdonald government due to his large number of enemies.

Following these rejections, he began to align himself with the opposition Liberals, joining the party when the Pacific Scandal brought down Macdonald's government later in the year.

Cauchon resigned his seat in the Quebec legislature in February 1874 when his "dual mandate" became illegal, and thereafter focused his attentions on federal advancement.