In 1916, Boudreau was the only member of the Provincial Parliament to vote against the Alberta Equal Suffrage Act, which granted women political rights, including the right to vote. He argued that "the place of women was in the home", that "the duty of women, dictated by Providence, was greater than that of men and if the time had come when it was necessary that the administration of the country should be shared by them it looked as if the men were becoming tired of their responsibility." He alleged that women who had signed petitions in favour of suffrage had done so "without knowing what it was all about," and expressed a hope that "though they were going to get the franchise...the women would do the best they could for its welfare without meddling in the public affairs of the province." For his performance, the Calgary Morning Albertan lauded him as "fearless champion of a lost cause" and suggested that he had voiced "sentiments which perhaps many of the present legislators felt but lacked the courage to make public." The paper further recorded that he was congratulated in private by many of his colleagues after his speech.