Marcel Massé (born June 23, 1940) is a

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 A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

and

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

Biography

Massé was born in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Quebec in 1940 and graduated from

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

and

Pembroke College, Oxford Pembroke College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford, is located on Pembroke Square, Oxford. The college was founded in 1624 by King James I of England and VI of Scotland, using in part the endowment of merchant Thomas Tesdale ...

(as

Rhodes Scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international Postgraduate education, postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford in Oxford, United Kingdom. The scholarship is open to people from all backgrounds around the world. Esta ...

in 1963). He served as Clerk of the Privy Council in 1979 during the government of

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Joe Clark Charles Joseph Clark (born June 5, 1939) is a Canadian businessman, writer, and retired politician who served as the 16th prime minister of Canada from 1979 to 1980. He also served as Leader of the Official Opposition (Canada), leader of the ...

. In his distinguished public service career, he also served as President of the

Canadian International Development Agency The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA; in French: ''Agence canadienne de développement international''; ''ACDI'') was a federal Canadian organization that administered foreign aid programs in developing countries. The agency was me ...

, on two occasions; was undersecretary for external affairs; and represented Canada as its executive director at the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

and

Inter-American Development Bank The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB or IADB) is an international development finance institution headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States of America. It serves as one of the leading sources of development financing for the countri ...

. Massé's career in elected politics began when he ran as a candidate for

Jean Chrétien Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien (; born January 11, 1934) is a retired Canadian politician, statesman, and lawyer who served as the 20th prime minister of Canada from 1993 to 2003. He served as Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, leader of t ...

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

in the 1993 federal election. He was elected to the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada () is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of Ca ...

as Member of Parliament for Hull—Aylmer. The incumbent,

Gilles Rocheleau Gilles Rocheleau (28 August 1935 – 27 June 1998) was a member of the House of Commons of Canada from 1988 to 1993. He co-founded the Bloc Québécois with Lucien Bouchard in 1990. Rocheleau was born in Hull, Quebec, he was a businessman by c ...

, had joined the sovereigntist

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 ...

in 1990 after 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 ...

failed. However, Rocheleau found himself running as a sovereigntist in a strongly federalist riding. Massé routed him by almost 13,700 votes, reverting the seat to its traditional status as a Liberal stronghold; before Rocheleau's brief stint in the Bloc, the riding had been in Liberal hands without interruption since its creation in 1914. Following the election, he was appointed to the

Canadian Cabinet The Canadian Ministry ( French: ''Conseil des ministres''), colloquially referred to as the Cabinet of Canada (), is a body of ministers of the Crown that, along with the Canadian monarch, and within the tenets of the Westminster system, forms ...

Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs The minister of Intergovernmental Affairs () is the Minister of the Crown in the Cabinet of Canada, Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for the federal government's relations with the governments of the provinces and territories of Canada. T ...

President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsidente ...

and Minister responsible for

Public Service A public service or service of general (economic) interest is any service intended to address the needs of aggregate members of a community, whether provided directly by a public sector agency, via public financing available to private busin ...

Renewal. In 1996, a

Cabinet shuffle A cabinet reshuffle or shuffle occurs when a head of government rotates or changes the composition of ministers in their cabinet, or when the head of state changes the head of government and a number of ministers. They are more common in parliam ...

moved him to the positions of

President of the Treasury Board The president of the Treasury Board () is a minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet. The president is the chair of the Treasury Board of Canada (a committee of Cabinet in the Privy Council) and is the minister responsible for the Treasur ...

and

Minister responsible for Infrastructure Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...

. Massé was re-elected in the 1997 election, but retired from Cabinet in 1999 and resigned his seat in the House of Commons. In 1985, he was made an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

. After the

Liberal Party of Canada The Liberal Party of Canada (LPC; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism,McCall, Christina; Stephen Clarkson"Liberal Party". ''The Canadian Encyclopedia''. and generally sits at the Centrism, ...

's leadership convention in December 2006 he was asked to join the transition team of newly elected leader

Stéphane Dion Stéphane Maurice Dion (; ; born 28September 1955) is a Canadian diplomat, academic and former politician who has been the List of ambassadors of Canada to France, Canadian ambassador to France and Monaco since 2022 and special envoy to the Eu ...

. He served as Dion's Principal Secretary in the Office of the Leader of the Official Opposition for a period after Dion's selection as leader. He later left the post for health reasons.

Electoral record

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Masse, Marcel 1940 births Canadian King's Counsel Canadian Rhodes Scholars Members of the 26th Canadian Ministry Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Quebec Liberal Party of Canada MPs Officers of the Order of Canada Lawyers in Quebec Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada Clerks of the Privy Council (Canada) Living people 20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada