Jacques Brassard (born June 12, 1940 in

Alma, Quebec Alma (2021 Town population: 30,331; CA Population 33,018; UA Population 26,016) is a town in Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, in the Canadian province of Quebec. Geography Alma is located on the southeast coast of Lac Saint-Jean where it flows into ...

) is a former

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 ...

politician and

Cabinet Minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘prime minister’, � ...

. He was 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

Lac-Saint-Jean Lac-Saint-Jean () is a federal electoral district in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region, northeast Quebec, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1925 to 2004, and has been represented since 2015. Demographics :' ...

from 1976 to 2002 and occupied several portfolios as a Minister under the

Parti Québecois Parti may refer to: *Parti (surname), a Hungarian surname, and a list of people with the name *Parti (architecture), ''Parti'' (architecture), the organizing concepts behind an architect's design * *, a lake in Russia See also

*Partie (disamb ...

governments of

René Lévesque René Lévesque (; August 24, 1922 – November 1, 1987) was a Québécois politician and journalist who served as the 23rd premier of Quebec from 1976 to 1985. He was the first Québécois political leader since Confederation to attempt ...

Pierre-Marc Johnson Pierre-Marc Johnson (born July 5, 1946) is a Canadian lawyer, physician and politician. He was the 24th premier of Quebec from October 3 to December 12, 1985, making him the province's shortest-serving premier, and the first Baby Boomer to hold t ...

Jacques Parizeau Jacques Parizeau (; August 9, 1930June 1, 2015) was a Canadian politician and Québécois economist who was a noted Quebec sovereigntist and the 26th premier of Quebec from September 26, 1994, to January 29, 1996. Early life and career Pariz ...

Lucien Bouchard Lucien Bouchard (; born December 22, 1938) is a Canadian lawyer, diplomat and retired politician. Minister for two years in the Mulroney cabinet, Bouchard then led the emerging Bloc Québécois and became Leader of the Opposition in the House ...

and

Bernard Landry Bernard Landry (; March 9, 1937 – November 6, 2018) was a Canadian politician who served as the 28th premier of Quebec from 2001 to 2003. A member of the Parti Québécois (PQ), he led the party from 2001 to 2005, also serving as the leader o ...

. Brassard conducted his university studies at

Université de Montréal The Université de Montréal (UdeM; ; translates to University of Montreal) is a French-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university's main campus is located in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood of Côte-de ...

and

Université de Sherbrooke The University of Sherbrooke ( French: Université de Sherbrooke) (UdS) is a large public French-language university in Quebec, Canada with campuses located in Sherbrooke and Longueuil, a suburb of Montreal approximately west of Sherbrooke. It ...

and obtained a degree in pedagogy. After teaching at a local school board, he was a history teacher for nine years at

Collège d'Alma Collège d'Alma is a CEGEP in Alma, Quebec, Alma, Quebec, Canada. History The college traces its origins to the merger of several institutions which became public ones in 1967, when the Quebec system of CEGEPs was created. In 1970, l'Externat c ...

before his entry to provincial politics in

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

. He was elected in Lac-Saint-Jean as the Parti Québécois won the elections for the first time since their creation. He was a backbencher member for the first mandate and was re-elected in

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

and named the government Deputy Whip. He was later promoted as the Chief

Whip A whip is a tool or weapon designed to strike humans or other animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain. They can also be used without inflicting pain, for audiovisual cues, such as in equestrianism. They are generally e ...

in 1982, before being named into the Cabinet for the first time in 1984 as Minister of Recreation, Hunting and Fishing until the 1985 elections. Despite the PQ losing the election to the

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 ...

, Brassard was re-elected in 1985 and

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

, serving as the Chief Whip of the

Official Opposition Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. This article uses the term ''government'' as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning ''th ...

. After his re-election in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

and the return to power of the PQ, he was named Minister for several portfolios from 1994 to his resignation in 2002, including Minister of

Environment Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...

and

Wildlife Wildlife refers to domestication, undomesticated animal species (biology), species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wilderness, wild in an area without being species, introduced by humans. Wildlife was also synonymous ...

, Canadian Intergovernmental Affairs, Parliamentary Reform, Transports and Natural Resources. He was also the

Government House Leader The leader of the government in the House of Commons (), more commonly known as the government house leader, is the Canadian cabinet, Cabinet minister responsible for planning and managing the government's legislative program in the House of Com ...

just before the 1998 elections until his resignation on January 29, 2002. Brassard resigned after refusing a secondary Cabinet position offered by then-Premier Bernard Landry. He resigned on the same date as then-Minister of Transports

Guy Chevrette Guy Chevrette (born January 10, 1940 in Saint-Come, Quebec) served as Parti Québécois leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly of Quebec, Canada, from 1987 to 1989. He was the MNA for the riding of Joliette-Montcalm from 1976 to 1981 ...

, another veteran PQ member. He later worked for the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean newspaper '' Le Quotidien''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brassard, Jacques 1940 births French Quebecers Living people Parti Québécois MNAs People from Alma, Quebec Université de Montréal alumni Université de Sherbrooke alumni 21st-century Canadian politicians