Jean-François Lisée (; born February 13, 1958) is a Canadian politician who served as the leader 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 ...

from October 2016 until October 2018. He was first elected a member of 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 ...

in the 2012 Quebec election in the electoral district of Rosemont. Prior to winning political office, he was a political analyst,

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and Human self-reflection, reflection about the nature of reality, especially the nature of society and proposed solutions for its normative problems. Coming from the wor ...

and sovereignist thinker. He was a "special advisor" to former PQ

premiers of Quebec This is a list of the prime ministers of the province of Quebec since Canadian Confederation in 1867. Quebec uses a unicameral (originally bicameral) Westminster-style parliamentary government, in which the prime minister is the leader of the ...

Jacques Parizeau Jacques Parizeau (; August 9, 1930June 1, 2015) was a Canadian politician and economist who served as the 26th premier of Quebec from September 26, 1994, to January 29, 1996. Early life and career Parizeau was born in Montreal, Quebec, the s ...

and

Lucien Bouchard Lucien Bouchard (; born December 22, 1938) is a Canadian lawyer, diplomat and retired politician. A minister for two years in the 24th Canadian Ministry, Mulroney cabinet, Bouchard then founded and led the Bloc Québécois and became Leader ...

. Prior to his election he was the executive director of the International Study and Research Centre at the University of Montreal. His work centred on Quebec sovereignty, the

sociological Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociology was coined in ...

phenomena affecting the latter's support, as well as the "Quebec Model" and

social democracy Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

in an era of

globalization Globalization is the process of increasing interdependence and integration among the economies, markets, societies, and cultures of different countries worldwide. This is made possible by the reduction of barriers to international trade, th ...

. He served concurrently as the Minister of International Relations, the

Francophonie The Francophonie or Francophone world is the whole body of people and organisations around the world who use the French language regularly for private or public purposes. The term was coined by Onésime Reclus in 1880 and became important a ...

, External Trade as well as the minister responsible for the Montreal region in the cabinet of

Pauline Marois Pauline Marois (; born March 29, 1949) is a retired Canadian politician, who served as the 30th premier of Quebec from 2012 to 2014. Marois had been a Member of the National Assembly (Quebec), member of the National Assembly in various ridings ...

from 2012 to 2014. Lisée formally entered Parti Québécois leadership election in May 2016, saying he would not campaign for sovereignty in his first mandate as premier. He was elected leader of the PQ on October 7, winning 50.63% of the ballots during the second round. He resigned as Parti Québécois leader after his party's fourth-place result in the 2018 election, in which he lost his own seat in Rosemont to Vincent Marissal.

Biography

Lisée is the son of Andrée Goulet of Thetford Mines. Lisée holds a licentiate in laws from the

Université de Montréal The Université de Montréal (; UdeM; ) is a French-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university's main campus is located in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce on M ...

, a master in communication studies from the UQAM and a degree in journalism from the Centre de formation des journalistes in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. In the 1980s, he was a reporter in

and

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

for both Canadian and French media. During that decade, he began an expansive investigation into 30 years of American political, diplomatic, financial and media attention toward Quebec and its independence movement, resulting in the book ''In the Eye of the Eagle'', published in 1990. It won the

Governor General's Award The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual awards presented by the governor general of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields. The first award was conceived and inaugurated in 1937 by the ...

for non-fiction. Two books followed: ''Le Tricheur'' ("The Cheater") and ''Le Naufrageur'' ("The Wrecker"), both of which were highly critical of former Quebec Premier

Robert Bourassa Robert Bourassa (; July 14, 1933 – October 2, 1996) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd premier of Quebec from 1970 to 1976 and from 1985 to 1994. A member of the Liberal Party of Quebec, he served a total of just ...

. According to Lisée, Bourassa's refusal to support

sovereignty Sovereignty can generally be defined as supreme authority. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within a state as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the person, body or institution that has the ultimate au ...

after making a turn toward

Quebec nationalism Quebec nationalism or Québécois nationalism is a feeling and a political doctrine that prioritizes cultural belonging to, the defence of the interests of, and the recognition of the political legitimacy of the Québécois nation. It has been ...

after the failure of the

Meech Lake Accord The Meech Lake Accord () was a series of proposed amendments to the Constitution of Canada negotiated in 1987 by Prime Minister of Canada, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and all 10 Canadian provincial Premier (Canada), premiers. It was intended to ...

left many sovereignists feeling betrayed. Bourassa was outraged by the title of the first book and never spoke to Lisée again. In 1994, he became a "special advisor" to nationalist Premier

and an important strategist for the

1995 Quebec referendum The 1995 Quebec referendum was the second referendum to ask voters in the predominantly French-speaking Canadian province of Quebec whether Quebec should proclaim sovereignty and become an independent country, with the condition precedent of ...

campaign. After the sovereignty referendum failure and Parizeau's resulting resignation, Lisée then became advisor to Parizeau's successor, Lucien Bouchard. Lisée resigned from this post in late 1999 because of disagreements over the sovereignty strategy of the provincial PQ government. He explained his own strategy in ''Emergency Exit: How to Avert Quebec Decline'' (2000). Lisée was guest scholar from 2001 to 2003 at the International Research and Study Centre (CERI) in Paris and at the Political Science Department of the University of Montreal. He was the Executive Director of the International Studies Centre at the University of Montreal (CERIUM) from 2004 to 2012. He is also a member of the Political Research and Social Development Centre (CPDS) and founder of international politics website ''PolitiquesSociales.net''. He periodically writes articles published in the current affairs magazine '' L'actualité''.

Controversy

In 2016, while he was running for leadership of the PQ, Lisée stated that if elected Premier of Quebec, he would ban Muslim veils in public spaces and claimed that Muslim women could hide machine guns under their burkas. In September 26, 2016, Lisée stated that Quebec needed the "best immigration possible" and named Spain, France, and Belgium as examples of sources of potential immigrants. Many thought that because those were well-developed countries, Lisée felt that they could integrate into Quebec's society more easily. A fellow PQ member

Maka Kotto Maka Kotto (born December 7, 1961) is a Cameroonian-born Canadian politician. Educated in France, Kotto immigrated to Quebec, Canada, where he was an educator before entering politics. Kotto was a Parti Québécois member of the National Assemb ...

, an immigrant from Cameroon, criticized Lisée's comments. In 2018, Lisée said he wanted a fence to be built near a Quebec-New York border crossing that is popular with asylum-seekers.

Bibliography

* ''Qui veut la peau du Parti québécois?: et autres secrets de la politique et des médias.'' 2019. Montréal : La boîte à Lisée : Carte blanche. * ''Des histoires du Québec selon Jean-François Lisée.'' 2012. Montréal : Les Éditions Rogers * ''Le petit tricheur: Robert Bourassa derrière le masque.'' 2012. Montréal : Les Éditions Québec-Amérique. * ''Comment mettre la droite K.-O. en 15 arguments.'' 2012. Montréal : Les Éditions Stanké. * ''Troisième millénaire.'' 2011. Montréal : Les Éditions Stanké. * ''Imaginer l'Après-crise: Pistes pour un monde plus juste, équitable, durable.'' 2009. Montréal : Les Éditions du Boréal. * ''Pour une gauche efficace.'' 2008. Montréal : Les Éditions du Boréal. * ''Nous.'' 2007. Montréal : Les Éditions du Boréal. * ''Sortie de Secours : Comment échapper au déclin du Québec.'' 2000. Montréal : Les Éditions du Boréal. * ''Le Naufrageur.'' 1994. Montréal : Les Éditions du Boréal. * ''Le Tricheur.'' 1994. Montréal : Les Éditions du Boréal. * ''Les Prétendants.'' 1993. Montréal : Les Éditions du Boréal. * ''Carrefours Amérique.'' 1990. Montréal : Les Éditions du Boréal. * ''Dans l'œil de l'Aigle.'' 1990. Montréal : Les Éditions du Boréal.

Awards

(1990) * Jules-Fournier Award (1990)

Electoral record

References

External links

His daily blog

on the CÉRIUM website {{DEFAULTSORT:Lisee, Jean-Francois 1958 births Governor General's Award–winning non-fiction writers Living people Members of the Executive Council of Quebec People from Thetford Mines Writers from Quebec Journalists from Quebec Political consultants from Quebec Canadian writers in French Parti Québécois MNAs Leaders of the Parti Québécois 21st-century members of the National Assembly of Quebec Université du Québec à Montréal alumni