Rufus George Bousquet (born 28 November 1958) is a

Saint Lucia Saint Lucia ( acf, Sent Lisi, french: Sainte-Lucie) is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. The island was previously called Iouanalao and later Hewanorra, names given by the native Arawaks and Caribs, two Amerindian ...

n politician who formerly represented the constituency of Choiseul for the United Workers Party. Bousquet last won the seat at the

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

held on 11 December 2006 but lost it to Lorne Theophilus in the November 2011 General Elections. Prior to 2000 his name was Bruce Tucker or, from 1989, Joseph Michael Bousquet.

Early life

He was born in

St Lucia Saint Lucia ( acf, Sent Lisi, french: Sainte-Lucie) is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. The island was previously called Iouanalao and later Hewanorra, names given by the native Arawaks and Caribs, two Amerindia ...

and educated until 1975 at St Mary's College. From 1989 until his first election to Parliament in 1992 to represent Choiseul, he was Managing Direction of a holiday real estate company.

Career

Bousquet served in the government under Prime Minister

John Compton Sir John George Melvin Compton, (29 April 1925 – 7 September 2007) was a Saint Lucian politician who became the first Prime Minister upon independence in February 1979. Having led Saint Lucia under British rule from 1964 to 1979, Compton ser ...

as Minister for Financial Services and the National Development Corporation before being dismissed in 1995.Vina Frederick
"Cabinet re-shuffle: Bousquet fired, again!"
''St. Lucia Star'', June 12, 2007. Following the UWP victory in December 2006, he became Minister for External Affairs, International Financial Services, Information and Broadcasting in Compton's new government, sworn in on 19 December. On May 1, 2007, he signed an agreement with Taiwanese foreign minister James C. F. Huang restoring diplomatic relations between the two countries at the expense of St. Lucia's relations with the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. In early June 2007 Bousquet was dismissed from the government by Compton; some speculation attributed the dismissal to the restoration of relations with Taiwan. Bousquet expressed his readiness to seek the UWP leadership at its planned convention in October 2007. Following Compton's death on September 7, 2007, reports indicated that Bousquet only supported the designation of Acting Prime Minister

Stephenson King Stephenson King (born 13 November 1958) is the former Prime Minister of Saint Lucia. He is the Senior Minister and Minister for Infrastructure, Ports, Transport, Physical Development, and Urban Renewal. King was the former candidate for the Uni ...

as Prime Minister on the condition that he be brought back into the cabinet,"KING AT THE HELM"
nationnews.com, September 10, 2007. but he was not included in it when a cabinet reshuffle occurred on September 12.
, Caribbean Net News, September 13, 2007. On June 6, 2008, having restored a good relationship with the Prime Minister and the cabinet, The Honorable Rufus Bousquet was sworn in as Minister for Industry, Trade, Commerce, Investment and Consumer Affairs

In February 2009, the Prime Minister gave up his position as

Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...

and restored Bousquet to the position. In the November 28, 2011 General Elections he obtained a total of 2756 votes whereas his opponent, Lorne Theophilus, obtained 2810 of the constituent's votes thus ending his run as parliamentary representative for Choiseul.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bousquet, Rufus Living people Members of the House of Assembly of Saint Lucia Foreign Ministers of Saint Lucia United Workers Party (Saint Lucia) politicians Government ministers of Saint Lucia 1958 births