Hélène Chalifour-Scherrer, (born July 6, 1950 in

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the metropolitan area had a population of 839,311. It is t ...

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 ...

) is 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. From 2000 to 2004, she was a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

representing riding of Louis-Hébert,

, as a member of the Liberal Party of Canada. She has a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

degree in social work. She has two children. In December 2003, she was appointed

Minister of Canadian Heritage The minister of Canadian heritage (french: ministre du patrimoine canadien) is the minister of the Crown who heads Canadian Heritage, the department of the Government of Canada responsible for culture, media, sports, and the arts. History The ...

by the new prime minister,

Paul Martin Paul Edgar Philippe Martin (born August 28, 1938), also known as Paul Martin Jr., is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 21st prime minister of Canada and the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2003 to 2006. The son o ...

. In the 2004 election, she was defeated by Roger Clavet of the Bloc Québécois, and replaced as heritage minister by Liza Frulla a month later. On August 18, 2004, it was announced that she was to become Paul Martin's principal secretary, replacing

Francis Fox Francis Fox (born December 2, 1939) is a former member of the Senate of Canada, Canadian Cabinet minister, and Principal Secretary in the Prime Minister's Office, and thus was a senior aide to Prime Minister Paul Martin. He also worked as ...

. She held this post until the defeat of the Martin government in 2006. She ran again in that election, this time placing third behind Clavet and winner

Luc Harvey Luc Harvey (born April 4, 1964) is a Canadian politician and the former Member of Parliament for the riding of Louis-Hébert in Quebec from 2006 to 2008. He served as the leader of the Conservative Party of Quebec from January to September 2012 ...

References

External links

* 1950 births Women members of the House of Commons of Canada French Quebecers Liberal Party of Canada MPs Living people Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Quebec Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada Politicians from Quebec City Women in Quebec politics Members of the 27th Canadian Ministry 21st-century Canadian women politicians Women government ministers of Canada {{Liberal-Quebec-MP-stub