Marcel Léger (June 8, 1930 – February 5, 1993) was 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 ...

politician, and a supporter of

Quebec sovereignty The Quebec sovereignty movement (french: Mouvement souverainiste du Québec) is a political movement whose objective is to achieve the sovereignty of Quebec, a province of Canada since 1867, including in all matters related to any provision o ...

. He also founded the Canadian polling firm that became Léger Marketing.

Background

Léger was born in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

. He is the father of

pollster An opinion poll, often simply referred to as a survey or a poll (although strictly a poll is an actual election) is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions ...

Jean-Marc Léger and

Parti Québécois The Parti Québécois (; ; PQ) is a sovereignist and social democratic provincial political party in Quebec, Canada. The PQ advocates national sovereignty for Quebec involving independence of the province of Quebec from Canada and establishin ...

MNA Nicole Léger.

Provincial Politics

Léger successfully ran as the

candidate in the provincial district of LaFontaine in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...

. He was re-elected in

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

. He became Minister of the Environment in

, but was dropped from the Cabinet in 1982.

Federal Politics

Léger was leader of the '' Parti nationaliste du Québec'' from September 14, 1983 to May 17, 1984. In that capacity, he tried to establish a federal wing for the

and represent

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 ...

's interests in Ottawa. However PQ Leader

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 ...

conducted a ''

beau risque In Quebec politics, ''le beau risque'' (, ''the noble risk'' or ''the good risk'') is a political catch phrase describing the "risk" the Parti Québécois (PQ or "''péquistes''") took in asking Quebecers to support federal Progressive Conservativ ...

'' policy and refused to endorse Léger's attempt.

Retirement from politics

Léger re-entered the Cabinet as Minister of

Tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mor ...

in 1984. However he lost his seat in

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

. In 1986, he founded the polling firm "Léger et Léger" (today Léger Marketing).

Footnotes

1930 births 1993 deaths French Quebecers Parti nationaliste du Québec politicians Parti Québécois MNAs Politicians from Montreal {{PartiQuébécois-Quebec-MNA-stub