[1] Before entering electoral politics, Matte was a member of organizations that supported the independence of Quebec: the Ralliement national, the Mouvement Souveraineté-Association, Alliance laurentienne.
[2] At the beginning of the 1960s, for a short time, Matte was active in la Phalange, a minor group of right-wing nationalists.
Because of his links to this group, he was arrested in 1963 by the Sûreté du Québec, who suspected him and his brother, Jean-Paul, of being involved in the dismantling of the statue of General Wolfe on the plains of Abraham, Quebec.
[3] Matte ran as a Ralliement Créditiste candidate in the federal district of Champlain in the 1968 election and won.
Interim leader Charles-Arthur Gauthier stated that Matte was expelled after refusing to follow party discipline for 18 months.