Robert LeSage (born February 15, 1937) is a Canadian retired politician and civil servant. He served in the National Assembly of Quebec from 1989 to 1998 as a member of the Liberal Party. His name is sometimes given as Lesage.

Early life and career

LeSage was born in

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in affi ...

(

Gatineau Gatineau ( ; ) is a city in western Quebec, Canada. It is located on the northern bank of the Ottawa River, immediately across from Ottawa, Ontario. Gatineau is the largest city in the Outaouais administrative region and is part of Canada's N ...

), Quebec, and studied legislation and administration at the ''École des hautes études commerciales'' at Carleton University in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

. He became a civil servant in Hull in 1961 and served for nineteen years as the city's clerk. He was president of the Liberal Party association in Hull from 1979 to 1981.

Legislator

LeSage entered political life in 1989, winning the Liberal nomination for a provincial by-election in

. While seeking the nomination, he championed a four-lane highway extension from Hull to Aylmer through the southern end of

Gatineau Park Gatineau Park (french: Parc de la Gatineau) is a federal park located in the Outaouais region of Quebec, Canada. Administered by the National Capital Commission as part of the National Capital Region, Gatineau Park is a wedge of land extending ...

and dismissed concerns from environmentalists that it would jeopardize the area's wildlife. He was elected without difficulty in the by-election and was returned again in the 1989 general election a few months later. The Liberal Party had a

majority government A majority government is a government by one or more governing parties that hold an absolute majority of seats in a legislature. This is as opposed to a minority government, where the largest party in a legislature only has a plurality of seats. ...

in this period, and LeSage served as a backbench supporter of

Robert Bourassa Robert Bourassa (; July 14, 1933 – October 2, 1996) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd premier of Quebec from 1970 to 1976 and from 1985 to 1994. A member of the Liberal Party of Quebec, he served a total of just un ...

's administration. He supported Bourassa's compromise language legislation, which required that outdoor commercial signs be in the

French language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...

while indoor signs were allowed to be bilingual. He was also a supporter of the Meech Lake Accord, which was designed to recognize Quebec as a " distinct society" within the Canadian constitution. The Meech Lake Accord was rejected in June 1990. LeSage was critical of Queen Elizabeth II's visit to Hull shortly thereafter, saying "Perhaps the queen wants to celebrate the grand Canadian unity, but it doesn't exist." A

Canadian federalist Canadian federalism () involves the current nature and historical development of the federal system in Canada. Canada is a federation with eleven components: the national Government of Canada and ten provincial governments. All eleven ...

, LeSage was appointed to a legislative committee to study the costs of

Quebec sovereigntism 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 of ...

in 1991. In 1993, he suggested that the Outaouais region would separate from Quebec (and remain a part of Canada) if Quebec ever chose to separate from Canada. He was quoted as saying, "it's almost criminal to promote Quebec sovereignty in the Outaouais because the

federal government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...

is so important to the area's survival. As a backbencher, LeSage was a vocal proponent of building the Casino du Hull. The casino was eventually constructed in 1996, two years after its approval by the Liberal government. LeSage was re-elected in the 1994 provincial election, defeating former mayor

Michel Légère Michel Légère (b. August 10, 1943) is a Quebec lawyer, former civil servant and politician. He served as mayor of Hull from 1981 to 1991. Born in Pictou, Nova Scotia, Légère studied at the University of Ottawa and was called to the Bar of Quebe ...

. The Liberals lost power to the Parti Québécois, and LeSage served as his party's critic for Revenue in 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 ...

. He campaigned for the "Non" side in the 1995 Quebec referendum on sovereignty. LeSage offered to resign his seat in 1998 to allow Jean Charest to enter the National Assembly (he made this offer when Charest was being encouraged to seek the leadership of the Quebec Liberal Party, but before he had decided to leave federal politics)."Charest likely to go to Quebec, Tory House leader predicts," ''Ottawa Citizen'', 15 March 1998, A1. Charest ultimately did not take up LeSage's offer and instead ran in Sherbrooke in the 1998 provincial election. LeSage did not seek re-election in this campaign.

Electoral record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lesage, Robert 1937 births Living people Politicians from Gatineau Quebec Liberal Party MNAs French Quebecers