Roch Cholette (born May 16, 1963 in

Lachine, Quebec Lachine () is a borough (''arrondissement'') within the city of Montreal on the Island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It was an autonomous city until the municipal mergers in 2002. History Lachine, apparently from the French term ' ...

) is a Canadian public accountant and a former municipal and provincial politician in

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 ...

, Canada.

Early life and education

Cholette studied at the

Université du Québec en Outaouais The Université du Québec en Outaouais (UQO) is a constituent university of the Université du Québec system located in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada. As of September 2010, combined enrolment at UQO's Gatineau and Saint-Jérôme campuses was 6,017 ...

(Université du Québec à Hull at that time) and completed a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in business administration in 1987. He served as the Member of 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 ...

(MNA) for the provincial riding of Hull from 1998 until 2008, as a member of the Quebec Liberal Party caucus. He was a member of the Ordre des comptables generaux licenciés du Québec (Certified General Accountants of Quebec) for over 10 years and also worked at the Office of the Auditor-General of Canada.

Political career

Cholette started his political career in 1992 when he was elected as a

councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

for the former city of Hull. He remained at that position until the 1998 provincial election when he ran as a candidate in the riding of Hull. He was elected in 1998 and the opposition critic in immigration then in municipal affairs. During his first mandate, the Liberals were the opposition party and 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 establishin ...

(PQ) under

Lucien Bouchard Lucien Bouchard (; born December 22, 1938) is a Canadian lawyer, diplomat and retired politician. Minister for two years in the Mulroney cabinet, Bouchard then led the emerging Bloc Québécois and became Leader of the Opposition in the Ho ...

and later

Bernard Landry Bernard Landry (; March 9, 1937 – November 6, 2018) was a Canadian politician who served as the 28th premier of Quebec from 2001 to 2003. A member of the Parti Québécois (PQ), he led the party from 2001 to 2005, also serving as the leader o ...

were in power. Cholette was the Liberal Party's municipal affairs critic and had heavily criticized the party's municipal reorganization project, known as Bill 170. After being re-elected and the Liberals won a majority government in the 2003 election, Cholette remained a backbencher MNA, and was named the Parliamentary Secretary of Premier

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 and the fifth deputy prime minister of Canada in 1993. Charest was elected to the House o ...

in 2005. In the 2007 elections, Cholette defeated PQ candidate and well-known teacher Marcel Painchaud and social activist Bill Clennett from

Québec Solidaire Québec solidaire (QS; ) is a democratic socialist and sovereigntist political party in Quebec, Canada. The party and media outlets in Canada usually use the name "Québec solidaire" in both French and English, but the party's name is sometimes ...

. However, Cholette's majority was reduced significantly during the 2007 election because of the strong performance of the Action démocratique du Québec's candidate Francois Lizotte and the Green Party's Melanie Perrault. He was later named the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finances and

President of the Treasury Board The president of the Treasury Board () is a minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet. The president is the chair of the Treasury Board of Canada (a committee of Cabinet in the Privy Council) and is the minister responsible for the Treasury ...

, portfolios that are occupied by Monique Jérôme-Forget. On April 9, 2008, Cholette announced his resignation as Hull MNA and was replaced by his constituency assistant Maryse Gaudreault in the resulting

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 ...

. Cholette has shown interest in running for mayor of the city of Gatineau in the 2009 municipal elections.

Electoral record (partial)

References

External links

Roch Cholette's Bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cholette, Roch 1963 births Living people People from Lachine, Quebec Politicians from Gatineau Politicians from Montreal Quebec Liberal Party MNAs Université du Québec en Outaouais alumni 21st-century Canadian politicians