Éric Forest (born April 6, 1952) is a Canadian Senator from

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. He was previously

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

Rimouski Rimouski ( ; ) is a city in Quebec, Canada. Rimouski is located in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region, at the mouth of the Rimouski River. It has a population of 48,935 (as of 2021). Rimouski, whose motto is ''Legi patrum fidelis'' (Faithful to ...

from 2005 to 2016 and had been president of the l'Union des municipalités québécoises from 2011 to 2014.

Career

From 1995 to 2006, he was the first president of the

Rimouski Océanic The Rimouski Océanic are a Canadian junior ice hockey team in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). The franchise was granted for the 1969–70 season as the Sherbrooke Castors. The Castors played in Sherbrooke from 1969 to 1982 ...

. a

junior ice hockey Junior ice hockey is amateur-level ice hockey for 16 to 20 year-old players. National Junior teams compete annually for the IIHF World Junior Championship. The United States men's national junior ice hockey team are the defending champions from ...

team in the

Quebec Major Junior Hockey League The Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL; , LHJMQ), formerly the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League is one of the three major junior ice hockey leagues that constitute the Canadian Hockey League (CHL). The league includes teams in Quebec ...

. Forest was first elected to office, at the age of 27, as a councillor in Pointe-au-Père, Quebec, becoming mayor two years later. He then entered private life becoming the co-owner of a car dealership before returning to politics in 1994 as a city councillor in Rimouski. In 2014, he received the Jean-Paul L'Allier Award, which honours a Quebec elected official for outstanding vision, leadership and achievements in urban planning and

land-use planning Land use planning or ''Land-use regulation'' is the process of regulating the use of land by a central authority. Usually, this is done to promote more desirable social and environmental outcomes as well as a more efficient use of resources. ...

. He considered running as a Liberal candidate in the

2014 Quebec provincial election The 2014 Quebec general election was held on April 7, 2014 to elect members to the National Assembly of Quebec. The incumbent Parti Québécois which had won a minority government in 2012 was defeated by the Quebec Liberal Party under Philippe Co ...

, but eventually decided to complete his term as mayor.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Forest, Eric Living people 1952 births Canadian senators from Quebec Independent Canadian senators Mayors of Rimouski Independent Senators Group 21st-century members of the Senate of Canada 21st-century mayors of places in Quebec