Cloutier was educated at the Commercial College in Victoriaville, then studied accounting at La Salle University in Chicago and also at the Alexander Hamilton Institute in New York.
CFDA-FM, a radio station (101.9 FM) licensed to Victoriaville, Quebec, Canada
He was born on March 19, 1893 in Sainte-Geneviève-de-Batiscan, Mauricie, the son of Donat Baribeau and Joséphine Lacroix, and was educated in Sainte-Geneviève-de-Batiscan, at the Collège Sacré-Coeur in Victoriaville and at Griffin's Business College in Springfield, Massachusetts.
He was called to the Quebec Bar in 1874 and practiced law in Arthabaskaville (Victoriaville) in partnership with Édouard-Louis Pacaud.