Michel Després (born October 14, 1957 in Quebec City, Quebec) is an

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and a former Quebec politician. He was the former MNA member of the former riding of Limoilou from 1985 to 1994 and 1998 to 2003 and the former member of the riding of Jean-Lesage from 2003 and 2007 when he was defeated. He represented the

Quebec Liberal Party The Quebec Liberal Party (QLP; french: Parti libéral du Québec, PLQ) is a provincial political party in Quebec. It has been independent of the federal Liberal Party of Canada since 1955. The QLP has always been associated with the colour red; e ...

during all his political career. Després studied at the Université Laval and obtained a bachelor's degree in

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in 1982. He would become the director of the Fishing Industry Association of Quebec. Després jumped into politics in

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

and became the new MNA for the Quebec City riding of Limoulou as the Liberal Party led by

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 un ...

defeated the Parti Québécois. He would be re-elected in

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

before temporarily halting his political career prior to the

1994 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1994. Africa * 1994 Botswana general election * 1994 Guinea-Bissau general election * 1994 Malawian general election * 1994 Mozambican general election * 1994 Namibian general election * 1994 South Afr ...

. Between 1994 and 1998 he was a consultant in management and a councilor at the Department of Canadian Heritage. He would seek another election in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

reclaiming the riding of Limoilou before winning again in Jean-Lesage in 2003. While he had been a backbencher MNA during the two mandates of

, Després had a larger role in the first mandate of Jean Charest, who nominated him as the Minister of Labor. Despres would adopted Bill 31 which introduced

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in the public sector. The bill was met with opposition by most of its employees and was staged a one-day strike in 2003. The bill would be reinforced in mid-December 2003 as a special law which was voted in favor by the Liberal

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. Following a

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in 2005, Després was named the Transport Minister as well as the

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of the Capitale-Nationale (Quebec) region. In 2007, he announced a significant increase of fundings on building or upgrading new highways as well as the reconstruction of bridges, roads and overpasses in the light of the Concorde Overpass collapse in 2006. In his region, he was unable to keep the Quebec Zoo Park opened due to financial difficulties and failed to open a new mini-zoo that would have replaced the former touristic site. Després lost his seat in the

2007 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2007. * Electoral calendar 2007 * Elections in 2007 * 2007 United Nations Security Council election Africa * 52nd National Conference of the African National Congress * 2007 Algerian legislative elec ...

when the

Action démocratique du Québec Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

won most of the seats in the region and caused the Liberals to lose its majority government status.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Despres, Michel 1957 births French Quebecers Living people Politicians from Quebec City Quebec Liberal Party MNAs Université Laval alumni 21st-century Canadian politicians