Nicole Léger (born March 12, 1955) is a former

Canadian Canadians () 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 their being ''C ...

politician and the former Member of the

National Assembly of Quebec The National Assembly of Quebec (, ) is the Legislature, legislative body of the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec in Canada. Legislators are called MNAs (Members of the National Assembly; ). The lieutenant governor of Que ...

(MNA) for the riding of

Pointe-aux-Trembles Pointe-aux-Trembles () was a municipality, founded in 1674, that was annexed by Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1982. This was the last city to be merged into Montreal until the 2002 municipal reorganization. On January 1, 2002 this neighbourhood ...

from 1996 to 2006 and elected back as member of the

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 establishi ...

in a by-election on May 12, 2008, serving until the 2018 Quebec provincial election.

Background

She was born on March 12, 1955, in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, and is the daughter of former

MNA Marcel Léger and the sister of

Jean-Marc Léger Jean-Marc Léger (born 1961) is an economist and founding President of Léger. Léger founded this firm with his father Marcel Léger in 1986 under the name Léger & Léger. Under his leadership, the company made ten acquisitions in Canada and th ...

, president of

Léger Marketing Leger or Léger may refer to: People * Léger (surname), a list of people with the surname Léger or Leger * Leodegar or Leger (615-679), Chalcedonian saint, martyr and Bishop of Autun * Leger Djime (born 1987), Chadian footballer * Leger D ...

. She made career in education and served in various executive positions in the Parti Québécois (PQ) from 1970 to 1996.

Member of the National Assembly

Following the death of MNA Michel Bourdon, Léger ran as a PQ candidate to fill his seat of

. She easily won the

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

with 47% of the vote and was re-elected in the 1998 election.

Cabinet Member

Léger was appointed to the Cabinet in 1998 and served as Minister responsible for Family Services until 2001 and as Minister responsible for the War against Poverty from 2001 to 2003.

Retirement from politics

She won re-election in the 2003 election, but her party was defeated by

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. Prior to that, he was a member of Parliament (MP) between 1984 and 1998. After holding se ...

's Liberals. In the Parti Québécois leadership election of 2005 she was a staunch supporter of

Pauline Marois Pauline Marois (; born March 29, 1949) is a retired Canadian politician, who served as the 30th premier of Quebec from 2012 to 2014. Marois had been a Member of the National Assembly (Quebec), member of the National Assembly in various ridings ...

over

André Boisclair André Boisclair (; born April 14, 1966) is a former Canadian politician in Quebec, Canada. He was the leader of the Parti Québécois, a social democratic and sovereigntist party in Quebec. Between January 1996 and March 2003, Boisclair serv ...

. In the aftermath of Boisclair's victory as leader, both Marois and Léger vacated their seats and left politics. André Boisclair won a by-election and succeeded Nicole Léger as the MNA for Pointe-aux-Trembles.

Political comeback

Even though Boisclair won re-election to the legislature in the 2007 election, the PQ had one of the worst showings in history. Boisclair resigned as party leader and relinquished his seat. Léger won the seat back on May 12, 2008: she received 55% of the vote in a by-election and finished ahead of candidates Mélissa Dumais of the Liberal Party and

Diane Bellemare Diane Bellemare (born October 13, 1949) is a Canadian economist and parliamentarian from Quebec, who was appointed to the Senate of Canada on September 6, 2012 and served until she reached the mandatory retirement age of 75 on October 13, 2024. ...

of the ADQ. She did not seek re-election in the 2018 Quebec provincial election.Nicole Léger quitte la politique en rêvant encore au pays, Métro, June 12, 2018
/ref>

Electoral record (partial)

Footnotes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Leger, Nicole 1955 births Women government ministers of Canada Living people Members of the Executive Council of Quebec Parti Québécois MNAs Politicians from Montreal Women MNAs in Quebec 21st-century members of the National Assembly of Quebec 21st-century Canadian women politicians