Claude Béchard (June 29, 1969 – September 7, 2010) was a politician in

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 ...

, Canada. He served as

Quebec Liberal Party The Quebec Liberal Party (QLP; french: Parti libéral du Québec, PLQ) is a provincial political party in Quebec. It has been independent of the federal Liberal Party of Canada since 1955. The QLP has always been associated with the colour red; e ...

Member of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

(MNA) for the riding of

Kamouraska-Témiscouata Kamouraska-Témiscouata is a former provincial electoral district in Quebec, Canada that elected members to the National Assembly of Quebec. As of its final election, it included the municipalities of Kamouraska, La Pocatière, Saint-Athanase, ...

in the

Bas-Saint-Laurent The Bas-Saint-Laurent (Lower Saint-Lawrence), is an administrative region of Quebec located along the south shore of the lower Saint Lawrence River in Quebec. The river widens at this place, later becoming a bay that discharges into the Atlanti ...

region; as Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food as well as the Minister for Canadian Intergovernmental Affairs, and previously the Minister of Natural Resources and Wildlife, Minister of Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks, Minister of Economic Development, Innovation and Export Trade and

Ministry of Employment and Social Solidarity The Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Solidarity (in Quebec French, French: Ministère du Travail, de l’Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale) is a government department in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec ...

Biography

Early life and career

Béchard was born in 1969 in Saint-Philippe-de-Néri. In 1991, he received a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

from

Université Laval Université Laval is a public research university in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The university was founded by royal charter issued by Queen Victoria in 1852, with roots in the founding of the Séminaire de Québec in 1663 by François de Montmo ...

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

. He graduated with a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in land planning and

regional development Regional development is a broad term but can be seen as a general effort to reduce regional disparities by supporting (employ) economin regions. In the past, regional development policy tended to try to achieve these objectives by means developmen ...

in 1994. He began doctoral studies in public administration, but left it to work as a political adviser to

Daniel Johnson, Jr. Daniel Johnson Jr. (born December 24, 1944) is a former Canadian politician. He was a member of the Liberal Party of Quebec and was the 25th premier of Quebec for nine months in 1994 until his party's defeat in the provincial general election. ...

from 1993 to 1996. He became the vice-president of the Quebec Liberal Party in 1997 and in a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

the same year was elected as a Member of the

National Assembly of Quebec The National Assembly of Quebec (officially in french: link=no, Assemblée nationale du Québec) is the legislative body of the province of Quebec in Canada. Legislators are called MNAs (Members of the National Assembly; french: link=no, déput ...

for the riding of Kamouraska-Témiscouata. He was re-elected in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

and

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

, the latter which gave his party the power. During the years in the opposition benches he served as critic for employment, labour, energy and education.

Quebec cabinet

When

Jean Charest John James "Jean" Charest (; born June 24, 1958) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who served as the 29th premier of Quebec from 2003 to 2012 and the fifth deputy prime minister of Canada in 1993. Charest was elected to the House of ...

became

Premier of Quebec The premier of Quebec ( French: ''premier ministre du Québec'' (masculine) or ''première ministre du Québec'' (feminine)) is the head of government of the Canadian province of Quebec. The current premier of Quebec is François Legault of the ...

in 2003, he was named the Minister of

Employment Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any othe ...

Social Solidarity ''Solidarity'' is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. It is based on class collaboration.''Merriam Webster'', http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictio ...

and Family Welfare before a Cabinet shuffle caused by the departure of

Yves Séguin Yves Séguin (born March 30, 1951 in Val-d'Or, Quebec) is a former Canadian politician in Quebec. He was first elected as the Quebec Liberal Party (QLP) member for Montmorency in 1985. He was the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Reve ...

as Finance Minister, promoted him to the position of Minister of Economic Development, Innovation and Export Trade in 2005. He occupied the position for year before becoming Minister of Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks in 2006. Soon after, Béchard became involved in a controversial plan to sell part of the

Mont Orford Mount Orford (french: Mont Orford) is a mountain and ski resort located in the Mont-Orford National Park in the Eastern Townships region of Quebec, Canada. It is northwest of the centre of the city of Magog. History In 2006, the provincial gov ...

provincial park to a developer who planned to build condominiums. The plan was eventually cancelled. In addition, Béchard announced that the Orford Park would double in size as a

national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

. Béchard was re-elected in the

2007 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2007. * Electoral calendar 2007 * Elections in 2007 * 2007 United Nations Security Council election Africa * 52nd National Conference of the African National Congress * 2007 Algerian legislative el ...

and named the Minister of Natural Resources and Wildlife replacing Pierre Corbeil who was defeated by the PQ's Alexis Wawanoloath.

Line Beauchamp Line Beauchamp (born February 24, 1963) is a Canadian politician. She served as the Liberal Member of the National Assembly (MNA) for the Sauvé riding, and for Bourassa-Sauvé at the Quebec National Assembly from November 30, 1998 to May 14, 20 ...

succeeded him as Minister of Environment.

Cancer, recovery, and death

On May 30, 2008, Béchard was hospitalized for persistent stomach pain. On June 9, 2008, he was diagnosed with

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of t ...

. In addition, during the same year, his press secretary Nancy Michaud was kidnapped and later found murdered inside an abandoned home in Riviere-Ouelle. Béchard recovered from his operation and was easily re-elected in the 2008 elections. On June 23, 2009, during a cabinet shuffle, Bechard was moved from the Natural Resources and Wildlife portfolios to Agriculture, Fisheries and Food replacing Laurent Lessard. Nathalie Normandeau replaced Béchard as Minister of Natural Resources and Wildlife. Bechard was also named the Minister of Canadian Intergovernmental Affairs replacing

Jacques P. Dupuis Jacques P. Dupuis (born November 25, 1948) is a Canadian politician and lawyer. A member of the Quebec Liberal Party and former National Assembly of Quebec, MNA for Saint-Laurent (provincial electoral district), Saint-Laurent in the Montreal reg ...

. Faced with continuing health challenges from his cancer, Béchard announced his retirement from politics on September 7, 2010, and died later the same day.

Footnotes

External links

*
Carte Mortuaire de Claude Béchard
{{DEFAULTSORT:Béchard, Claude 1969 births 2010 deaths Quebec Liberal Party MNAs Members of the Executive Council of Quebec People from Bas-Saint-Laurent Université Laval alumni French Quebecers Deaths from cancer in Quebec Deaths from pancreatic cancer 21st-century Canadian politicians