He was a Member of Parliament (MP) and leader of the Social Credit Party of Canada and founder of the Ralliement des créditistes.

He was first elected to the House of Commons of Canada in a 1946 by-election in Pontiac for the Union des électeurs, a pro-Social Credit group in Quebec.

In the 1949 election, his home was drawn into the newly created Villeneuve, and he was defeated as a Union des électeurs candidate.

Caouette later claimed that on paper, he would have had enough support to win but for Alberta Premier Ernest Manning's intervention in favour of Thompson.

According to Caouette, Manning told the Quebec delegates to vote for Thompson because Western Socreds would never accept a Francophone Catholic as party leader.

[2] In the 1962 election, Social Credit won 26 seats in Québec, led by Caouette, who returned as the member for Villeneuve.

Under the circumstances, Thompson, now the MP for Red Deer, was all but forced to name Caouette as the party's deputy leader.

Holding the balance of power in the House of Commons of Canada, Social Credit helped bring down the Progressive Conservative minority government of John Diefenbaker.

Caouette was suffering from a snowmobiling accident, and therefore the powerful voice that had carried Social Credit in prior elections was silenced.

A populist leader and charismatic speaker, Caouette appealed to those who felt left out and pushed aside by financial institutions, traditional politicians, and what they perceived as elitist intellectuals.