Éric Forest (born April 6, 1952) is a

Canadian Senator The Senate of Canada (french: region=CA, Sénat du Canada) is the upper house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the House of Commons, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The Senate is modelled after the Bri ...

from

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. He was previously

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

Rimouski Rimouski ( ) is a city in Quebec, Canada. Rimouski is located in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region, at the mouth of the Rimouski River. It has a population of 48,935 (as of 2021). Rimouski is the site of Université du Québec à Rimouski (UQAR), the C ...

from 2005 to 2016 and had been president of the l'Union des municipalités québécoises from 2011 to 2014.

Career

From 1995 to 2006, he was the first president of the

Rimouski Océanic The Rimouski Océanic are a junior ice hockey team in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). The franchise was granted for the 1969–70 season as the Sherbrooke Castors. The Castors played in Sherbrooke from 1969 to 1982 before moving to ...

. a

junior ice hockey Junior hockey is a level of competitive ice hockey generally for players between 16 and 21 years of age. Junior hockey leagues in the United States and Canada are considered amateur (with some exceptions) and operate within regions of each cou ...

team in the

Quebec Major Junior Hockey League The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (french: Ligue de hockey junior majeur du Québec; abbreviated ''QMJHL'' in English, ''LHJMQ'' in French) is one of the three major junior ice hockey leagues that constitute the Canadian Hockey League. The l ...

. Forest was first elected to office, at the age of 27, as a councillor in

Pointe-au-Père, Quebec Pointe-au-Père is a district (''secteur'') of the city of Rimouski, Quebec, which is located in the central part of the Bas-Saint-Laurent region in eastern Quebec at the mouth of the St. Lawrence River. Its population was 4,240 in 2002, the year i ...

, becoming mayor two years later. He then entered private life becoming the co-owner of a car dealership before returning to politics in 1994 as a city councillor in Rimouski. In 2014, he received the Jean-Paul L'Allier Award, which honours a Quebec elected official for outstanding vision, leadership and achievements in urban planning and

land-use planning Land use planning is the process of regulating the use of land by a central authority. Usually, this is done to promote more desirable social and environmental outcomes as well as a more efficient use of resources. More specifically, the goals ...

. He considered running as a

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

candidate in the 2014 Quebec provincial election, but eventually decided to complete his term as mayor.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Forest, Eric Living people 1952 births Canadian senators from Quebec Independent Canadian senators Mayors of Rimouski 21st-century Canadian politicians Independent Senators Group