Éric Caire (; born May 21, 1965) is a Canadian politician who serves as a member of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

for the electoral district of La Peltrie.

Early career

Caire was born in

Sorel-Tracy Sorel-Tracy (; ) is a city in southwestern Quebec, Canada and the geographical end point of the Champlain Valley. It is located at the confluence of the Richelieu River and the St. Lawrence River, on the western edge of Lac Saint-Pierre, down ...

, Quebec. He was the owner of a local business for one year and taught computer science at Collège François-Xavier-Garneau in Quebec City. Before his election, he was a computer-analyst for eight years including two with Cognicase. In 2004, he was also the host of a local community radio show at CIMI-FM.

Political career

Caire first attempted to enter politics in 2001 with a failed independent candidacy at the Quebec municipal elections in 2001. Caire first ran for a provincial seat at the National Assembly for the

Action démocratique du Québec The (, ), commonly referred to as the , was a right-wing populist and conservative provincial political party in Quebec, Canada. On the sovereignty question, it defined itself as autonomist; it had support from nationalists and federalists. Its ...

(ADQ) in the 2003 election but finished second with 34% of the vote. Liberal candidate France Hamel won with 41% of the vote. In the 2007 election, Caire was easily elected with 51% of the vote. Hamel, who was running for re-election, finished second with 27% of the vote. Caire took office on April 12, 2007. On April 19, 2007, he was selected to be the Official Opposition's Shadow Minister of Health. Caire was among the first ADQ supporters to back the abolition of public school boards, an idea inspired by the OECD reforms on

school choice School choice is a term for education options that allow students and families to select alternatives to traditional public schools. School choice options include scholarship tax credit programs, open enrollment laws (which allow students to att ...

(notably

charter schools A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...

and

school vouchers A school voucher, also called an education voucher in a voucher system, is a certificate of government funding for students at schools chosen by themselves or their parents. Funding is usually for a particular year, term, or semester. In some cou ...

education models) as they exist notably in England,

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, Australia and some Canadian provinces (notably

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

), that is now part of the party's platform as of 2007. In the 2008 election, Caire won re-election with 39% of the vote, even though his party's support sharply declined. He was a candidate for the

2009 Action démocratique du Québec leadership election 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Hindu–Arabic digit Circa 300 BC, as part of the Brahmi numerals, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bot ...

and lost by two votes to Gilles Taillon. He subsequently left the party, alleging that the party organization lacked transparency and that Taillon had a dictatorial style of leadership. On December 19, 2011, he joined the CAQ.

References

External links

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The Case For School Choice, Fraser Institute, 1999
Comparative study on schoolboard-less education systems in OECD countries {{DEFAULTSORT:Caire, Eric 1965 births Action démocratique du Québec MNAs Living people Members of the Executive Council of Quebec People from Sorel-Tracy Politicians from Montérégie Politicians from Quebec City Université Laval alumni Independent MNAs in Quebec Coalition Avenir Québec MNAs 21st-century members of the National Assembly of Quebec