Jean Charest

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Hon. Jean Charest

29th Premier of Quebec
Incumbent
Assumed office April 29, 2003
Preceded by	Bernard Landry

Born	June 24, 1958 (age 48) Sherbrooke, Quebec
Political party	Quebec Liberal Party
Spouse	Michèle Dionne
Religion	Catholic

John James Charest, PC, LL.B., MNA known as Jean Charest IPA: [ʒɑ̃ ʃɑʀe] (born June 24, 1958) is a Canadian lawyer and politician from the province of Quebec. He is a former leader of the federal Progressive Conservative Party (1993 - 1998), the current leader of the Parti libéral du Québec and, the 29th Premier of Quebec.

1 Profile
2 Conservative Party Minister
3 PC Leader
4 Quebec Liberal Party Leader
5 Quebec Premier
6 2007 Quebec election
7 Status of Quebec
8 First name
9 Elections as party leader
10 See also
11 References
12 External links

[edit] Profile

Born in the Eastern Townships central city of Sherbrooke, Quebec to Claude 'Red' Charest and Rita Leonard (an Irish Quebecer), he obtained a law degree from the University of Sherbrooke and was admitted to the Barreau du Quebec in 1981. He is married to Michèle Dionne and is the father of three children.

[edit] Conservative Party Minister

He worked as a lawyer until he was elected Progressive Conservative member of the Canadian Parliament for the riding (electoral district) of Sherbrooke in the 1984 election. From 1984 to 1986, Charest served as Assistant Deputy Chair of Committees of the Whole of the House of Commons. In 1986, at age 28, he was appointed to the Cabinet of then Prime Minister Brian Mulroney as Minister of State for Youth. He was thus the "youngest cabinet minister in Canadian history."^[1] He was appointed Minister of State for Fitness and Amateur Sport in 1988, but had to resign from cabinet in 1990 after allegedly improperly speaking to a judge about a case regarding the Canadian Track and Field Association.^[2] He returned to cabinet as Minister of the Environment in 1991.

[edit] PC Leader

After Mulroney's retirement as PC leader and prime minister, Charest was a candidate for the leadership of the party at the 1993 Progressive Conservative leadership convention. He impressed many observers and party members, and placed a strong second to Defence Minister Kim Campbell, who had held a large lead going into the convention. Charest served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry, Science and Technology in Campbell's short-lived cabinet.

In the 1993 election, the PCs were swept from power. Only two of the party's 295 candidates were elected— Charest and Elsie Wayne. As the only surviving member of what would turn out to be the last PC Cabinet, Charest was appointed interim party leader and confirmed in the post in April 1995. Charest therefore became the first (and last) leader of francophone descent of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada.^[3]

In the 1997 election, the Tories received 19% of the vote, winning 20 seats out of 301, mostly in Atlantic Canada. The party was back from the brink, but Charest considered the result a disappointment.

[edit] Quebec Liberal Party Leader

In April 1998, Charest gave in to considerable public and political pressure,^[4] especially among business circles, to leave federal politics and become leader of the Quebec Liberal Party. Charest was considered by many to be the best hope for the federalist QLP to defeat the sovereignist Parti Québécois government. (The QLP has not been officially affiliated with the federal Liberals since 1955.)

In the 1998 election, the Quebec Liberals received more votes than the PQ, but because the Liberal vote was concentrated in fewer ridings, the PQ won enough seats to form another majority government. The two parties won almost the same number of seats in the National Assembly of Quebec as they had won in the previous election in 1994, in which the Liberals had been led by Daniel Johnson, Jr.

In the April 2003 election, Charest led the Quebec Liberals to a majority, ending nine years of PQ rule. He declared he had a mandate to reform health care, cut taxes, reduce spending and reduce the size of government.^[5]

In the March 2007 election, his government won re-election but was reduced to a minority government, the first minority government in Quebec in 129 years. It also gained the lowest percentage of the popular vote in 26 years.

[edit] Quebec Premier

Charest's first two years as premier were marked by stiff and vocal opposition to his policies by Quebec labour unions. His government failed to cut taxes, as had been promised in the 2003 election campaign, claiming that a hidden deficit left by the former Parti Québecois administration would have made it impossible to do so while maintaining a balanced budget.^{[citation needed]} Indeed the Charest government has consistently sought new sources of revenue, increasing Hydro Rates, raising auto insurance premiums, increasing fees for various government services, and imposing a carbon tax on businesses. They did, however, refrain from raising the Provincial Sales Tax to make up for the loss of revenue caused by the decision of the Federal Government to reduce the Goods and Services Tax to 6%. They also continued the Parti Québecois drive to provide subsidies and tax breaks for families with children.

Much of the fiscal policy of the Charest government has been based upon the expectation that new revenues could be obtained from a resolution of the fiscal imbalance believed to exist between the federal and provincial governments. The Harper government is widely expected to address this issue through increased equalization payments, while falling short of Quebec's overall demands.

Charest also attempted to distinguish himself on the issue of the environment, with mixed success. His vocal opposition to the federal decision to opt out of the Kyoto protocol and his insistence that Quebec would seek to meet its own Kyoto targets has earned him considerable support. But the decision of his government to allow private condominium development on the slopes of Mount Orford (a National park) became a flashpoint for environmental groups, and was widely criticized by the media and by his own former environment minister, Thomas Mulcair.

In the 2003 election, Charest had promised to allow the cities that had been forcibly merged by the Parti Quebecois government to hold referendums which would allow to demerge and return to their previous situation. This promise was seen as key to his victory in many ridings, such as those in the Suburbs around Longueuil and Quebec City and the continued support of the Anglophone community in the West Island of Montreal. In office however, Charest retreated from his promise. Municipalitites were allowed to hold demerger referendums, if at least 10% of the electorate signed a petition calling for them, and only if more than 35% participated in the voting process.[1] In some former municipalities, such as Saint Laurent on the Island of Montreal, the turnout of the vote was of 75.2% in favor of a demerger, but it was invalidated because the total number of voters fell below 35%, it was of 28.6%.[2] The Charest demerger process also resulted in the restructuring of the existing megacities, with both these and the demerged cities handing over massive powers over taxation and local services to the new "agglomeration councils". The makeup of these councils was based on the population of the municipalities involved, with the mayors having the right to unilaterally appoint all of the individuals who would represent their cities on the council. The resulting structure was seen by many to be less democratic than the one which had preceded it, as demerged municipalities were denied an effective voice, and the city councils of the major cities were substantially weakened by the power of the mayors to go over the heads of opposition councillors and exercise power through their appointees to the Agglomeration body.

The Charest government has been deeply unpopular during its first years in office, enjoying a public approval rating of below 50% in most opinion polls and falling to the low twenties in voter support. In the first few weeks after Andre Boisclair was elected leader of the PQ, polls showed that Charest and the Liberals would be roundly defeated in the next election. Boisclair has not performed well as Leader of the Opposition, and Charest's numbers have recovered somewhat. A recent poll conducted by Leger Marketing for Le Devoir placed the Liberals at 34% against 32% for the PQ and 24% for the ADQ with Charest obtaining a higher personal approval rating than the PQ Leader. Liberal support, however remains heavily concentrated in Anglophone and Allophone ridings in the West of Montreal, meaning that this increase in support may not necessarily translate into seats.^{[citation needed]}

Despite his unpopularity, Charest has faced no real challenges to his leadership. There has, however, been significant tension between himself and members of the party^{[citation needed]}, most notably the former Bourassa Cabinet Minister Pierre Paradis (who Charest excluded from his cabinet) and the resignations of several important members of his cabinet, notably Finance Minister Yves Seguin, Justice Minister Marc Bellemare, and Environment Minister Thomas Mulcair.

[edit] 2007 Quebec election

On February 21, 2007, he asked the Lieutenant-Governor to dissolve the National Assembly and call an election on March 26, 2007. Charest conducted an extraordinary session the day before with Finance Minister Michel Audet delivering the 2007 budget.

Prior to his call for an election, Charest revealed his platform which included income tax cuts of about $700 million - some of it coming for the additional equalization money from the 2007 federal budget - [3], reduction of hospital wait times, improve and increase French courses at school, an increase of the number of daycare spaces and an increase of tuition fees for university students (50$ per semester until 2012).[4] The last measure was met with criticism from students associations and a more-radical student association, the Association pour une solidarite syndicale etudiante (formerly known as the CASSEE) had also considered a strike. [5].

Charest won a fragile minority government in the election, and narrowly held onto his own seat. Earlier poll figures showed Charest losing the seat to a PQ candidate.^[6] The incoming minority government will be the first since 1878 when Charles Boucher de Boucherville was Premier.

[edit] Status of Quebec

Charest was involved in the Constitutional issue regarding Quebec, which refused to sign the Constitution in 1981. He was a special committee member charged with examining the Meech Lake Accord in 1990, which would have given the province of Quebec the status of a "distinct society". The Accord failed and the Environment Minister and future Quebec premier Lucien Bouchard left the PC party in the process. In the 1997 election, Charest campaigned in favour of Quebec being a distinct society. During his mandate as premier, he tried to contribute more to the place of Quebec in the international community. The province was granted a spot at the UNESCO, the culture branch of the United Nations. Charest also voiced some support for the Calgary Declaration (1997), which recognized Qubec as "unique."^[7]

During the debate in the Canadian Parliament over recognizing Quebec as a nation within Canada, Charest stated that Quebec was a nation no matter what other parts of Canada said, that it was not up to anyone else to define. Presumably he meant nation in the ethnological and not political sense, as in a nation-state.

At the election, in which his party won a minority government, Charest was at first believed to have been defeated in his riding of Sherbrooke by Parti Quebecois candidate Claude Forgues

[edit] First name

Some Quebec sovereigntists have claimed that Charest downplays his legal first name John by presenting himself in French as Jean so as to appeal more to francophone Quebecers. For example, in the 1997 federal election, Bloc Québécois MP Suzanne Tremblay attacked Charest by saying, "First, let's recall who Jean Charest really is... his real name is John, that's what's on his birth certificate, not Jean."^[8]

[edit] Elections as party leader

In the 1997 Canadian federal election, the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada won 20 seats under Charest's leadership, an improvement on its previous 2.

In the 1998 Quebec election, the Quebec Liberal Party won 48 seats in the National Assembly, forming the official opposition to the Parti Québécois government. In the 2003 election, Charest's Liberals won 76 seats, forming the government. In the 2007 election, the Liberals won 48 seats, forming a minority government in a near three-way-split of votes and seats. Mr. Charest won his own riding of Sherbrooke by a narrow majority.

[edit] See also

1995 Quebec referendum
Executive Council of Quebec - list of Charest's current cabinet
Quebec federalist movement
Politics of Quebec
Quebec general elections
Timeline of Quebec history
Politics of Canada
List of Canadian federal elections
Politician and personality nicknaming in Quebec
List of Irish Quebecers

[edit] References

^ Graeme Hamilton, "Charest's bumpy ride to the top," Times-Colonist, Victoria, B.C.: April 20, 2003, pg. D.1.Fro.
^ "Political scandal: a chronology," The Vancouver Sun, September 24, 1993, pg. A.6.
^ Terrance Wills, "Farewell to the Commons: MPs bid Charest adieu," The Montreal Gazette, April 3, 1998, pg. A.1.FRO.
^ The Canadian Press, "Charest takes Liberal reins: New leader heaps scorn on Quebec separatists," Calgary Herald May 1, 1998, pg. A.4.
^ Kevin Dougherty, "Thousands of Quebecers protest Charest labour plans," Calgary Herald, November 30, 2003, pg. A.8.
^ CBC News, "Liberal Premier Charest holds on to Sherbrooke seat," March 27, 2007, URL accessed 27 March 2007.
^ CBC.ca, "Quebecers should have a choice, Chevrette says," URL accessed December 17, 2006.
^ "Name-calling reaches a new low," Financial Post, May 28, 1997, pg. 14.

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Jean Charest

Preceded by Irénée Pelletier	Member of Parliament for Sherbrooke 1984-1998	Succeeded by Serge Cardin
Preceded by Kim Campbell	Leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada 1993-1998	Succeeded by Elsie Wayne
Preceded by Daniel Johnson, Jr.	Leader of the Quebec Liberal Party 1998 – present	Incumbent
Preceded by Monique Gagnon-Tremblay	Leader of the Opposition (Quebec) 1998-2003	Succeeded by Bernard Landry
Preceded by Bernard Landry	Premier of Quebec 2003 – present	Incumbent

Cabinet Posts (3)
25th Ministry - Government of Kim Campbell
Predecessor	Office	Successor
Don Mazankowski	Deputy Prime Minister of Canada (25 June-3 November 1993)	Sheila Copps
Michael Wilson	Minister of Industry, Science and Technology (25 June-3 November 1993) styled as Minister of Industry	John Manley
Pierre H. Vincent	Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs (25 June-3 November 1993) styled as Minister of Industry	John Manley
Special Cabinet Responsibilities
Predecessor	Title	Successor
position created	Minister responsible for the Federal Office of Regional Development - Quebec (1993)	Paul Martin
24th Ministry - Government of Brian Mulroney
Cabinet Posts (3)
Predecessor	Office	Successor
Robert de Cotret	Minister of the Environment (1991-1993)	Pierre H. Vincent
	Minister of State (Fitness and Amateur Sport) (1988-1990)
	Minister of State (Youth) (1986-1988)