Jean-François Bertrand is a former

Canadian Canadians () 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 their being ''C ...

politician in

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, ...

, Canada. Bertrand served in the

National Assembly of Quebec The National Assembly of Quebec (, ) is the Legislature, legislative body of the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec in Canada. Legislators are called MNAs (Members of the National Assembly; ). The lieutenant governor of Que ...

Background

He was born on June 22, 1946, in

Cowansville Cowansville is a town in south-central Quebec, Canada, located on Lac Davignon north of the U.S. border. It is the seat of Brome-Missisquoi, a regional county municipality. The population as of the Canada 2021 Census was 15,234. In recent year ...

, and has a degree in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

from

Université Laval (; English: ''Laval University)'' is a public research university in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The university traces its roots to the Séminaire de Québec, founded by François de Montmorency-Laval in 1663, making it the oldest institutio ...

. He is the son of politicians Jean-Jacques and Gabrielle Bertrand.

Political career

Member of the legislature

Bertrand became an executive member of 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 establishi ...

in 1974 and was elected to the

in the 1976 election. He served as

parliamentary assistant In British politics and some Commonwealth nations, a parliamentary assistant is an unelected partisan staff member employed by a Member of Parliament (MP) to assist them with their parliamentary duties. Parliamentary assistants usually work ...

and Deputy House Leader from 1978 to the 1981 election. He was re-elected in 1981 and was appointed to

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

René Lévesque René Lévesque ( ; August 24, 1922 – November 1, 1987) was a Canadian politician and journalist who served as the 23rd premier of Quebec from 1976 to 1985. He was the first Québécois political leader since Confederation to seek, ...

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

. He served as Minister of Communications, until his defeat in the 1985 election. He also was the government's House Leader from 1982 to 1984.

Mayoral election

Bertrand was the ''Progrès Civique de Québec'' candidate for mayor in Quebec City in 1989. He lost against ''Rassemblement Populaire'' candidate Jean-Paul L'Allier.

Federal politics

Bertrand ran as a

Bloc Québécois The Bloc Québécois (, , BQ) is a centre-left politics, centre-left and list of federal political parties in Canada, federal political party in Canada devoted to Quebec nationalism, Quebecois nationalism, social democracy, and the promotion o ...

candidate in a 1995 by-election in the federal district of Brome—Missisquoi. He lost against Liberal candidate Denis Paradis.

Retirement

He authored and published ''Je suis un bum de bonne famille'' in 2003.

Electoral record

;Federal

Footnotes

1946 births Living people Parti Québécois MNAs Bloc Québécois candidates for the Canadian House of Commons People from Cowansville Université Laval alumni Academic staff of Université Laval 20th-century members of the National Assembly of Quebec {{PartiQuébécois-Quebec-MNA-stub