Jean-Claude Rivest (born January 27, 1943) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

lawyer, former politician and Senator. Born in

L'Assomption, Quebec L'Assomption () is an off-island suburb of Montreal, in southwestern Quebec, Canada on the L'Assomption River. It is the seat of the Regional County Municipality of L'Assomption. It is located on the outer fringes of the Montreal urban area. ...

, the son of Victor Rivest and Yvette Lafortune, he studied law at the

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- ...

. He was called to the Quebec Bar in 1966. He practiced law from 1966 to 1967, until he started working for

Jean Lesage Jean Lesage (; 10 June 1912 – 12 December 1980) was a Canadian lawyer and politician from Quebec. He served as the 19th premier of Quebec from 22 June 1960 to 16 June 1966. Alongside Georges-Émile Lapalme, René Lévesque and others, he is ...

. From 1970 to 1976, he worked for Robert Bourassa,

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 th ...

. From 1976 to 1979, he worked for

Gérard D. Levesque Gérard D. Levesque (May 2, 1926 – November 17, 1993) was a longtime Quebec politician and Cabinet minister, who twice served as interim leader of the Quebec Liberal Party. Levesque was first elected to what is now called the Quebec Na ...

, leader of the Official Opposition in 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 ...

. In 1979, he was elected to the National Assembly as a

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

candidate 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 ...

in the riding of

Jean-Talon Jean-Talon is a provincial electoral riding in the Capitale-Nationale region of Quebec, Canada. It consists of part of the Sainte-Foy–Sillery–Cap-Rouge borough of Quebec City. It was named after former French colonial administrator of New ...

. He was re-elected in the 1981 general election. He was appointed to the Senate on the recommendation of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney in 1993. He initially sat as a Progressive Conservative Senator. Upon that party's merger with the

Canadian Alliance The Canadian Alliance (french: Alliance canadienne), formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance (french: Alliance réformiste-conservatrice canadienne), was a centre-right to right-wing federal political party in Canada that existed ...

, he sat in the newly formed

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

caucus. In September 2004, he changed his designation to "Independent". He was a member of the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs committee. Rivest retired from the Senate at the end of January 2015, three years prior to reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75.

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External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rivest, Jean-Claude 1943 births 21st-century Canadian politicians Canadian senators from Quebec Independent Canadian senators Lawyers in Quebec Living people Quebec Liberal Party MNAs Université de Montréal alumni