Nicole Léger (born March 12, 1955) is a former
Canadian politician and the former Member of the
National Assembly of Quebec (MNA) for the riding of
Pointe-aux-Trembles from 1996 to 2006 and elected back as member of the
Parti Québécois in a by-election on May 12, 2008, serving until the
2018 Quebec provincial election.
Background
She was born on March 12, 1955, in
Montreal,
Quebec, and is the daughter of former
Parti Québécois MNA
Marcel Léger and the sister of
Jean-Marc Léger
Jean-Marc Léger (born 1961) is an economist and founding President of Léger.
Léger founded this firm with his father Marcel Léger in 1986 under the name ''Léger & Léger''. Under his leadership, the company made ten acquisitions in Canada an ...
, president of
Léger Marketing. She made career in education and served in various executive positions in the Parti Québécois (PQ) from 1970 to 1996.
Member of the National Assembly
Following the death of MNA
Michel Bourdon, Léger ran as a PQ candidate to fill his seat of
Pointe-aux-Trembles. She easily won the
by-election with 47% of the vote and was re-elected in the
1998 election.
Cabinet Member
Léger was appointed to the
Cabinet in 1998 and served as Minister responsible for Family Services until 2001 and as Minister responsible for the War against Poverty from 2001 to 2003.
Retirement from politics
She won re-election in the
2003 election
The following elections occurred in the year 2003.
Africa
* 2003 Beninese parliamentary election
* 2003 Djiboutian parliamentary election
* 2003 Guinean presidential election
* 2003 Mauritanian presidential election
* 2003 Nigerian parliamentary ...
, but her party was defeated by
Jean Charest's
Liberals.
In the
Parti Québécois leadership election of 2005 she was a staunch supporter of
Pauline Marois over
André Boisclair
André Boisclair (; born April 14, 1966) is a former Canadian politician and convicted sex offender in Quebec, Canada. He was the leader of the Parti Québécois, a social democratic and sovereigntist party in Quebec.
Between January 1996 and M ...
.
In the aftermath of Boisclair's victory as leader, both Marois and Léger vacated their seats and left politics. André Boisclair won a by-election and succeeded Nicole Léger as the MNA for Pointe-aux-Trembles.
Political comeback
Even though Boisclair won re-election to the legislature in the
2007 election, the PQ had one of the worst showings in history. Boisclair resigned as party leader and relinquished his seat.
Léger won the seat back on May 12, 2008: she received 55% of the vote in a by-election and finished ahead of candidates Mélissa Dumais of the Liberal Party and
Diane Bellemare
Diane Bellemare (born October 13, 1949) is a Canadian economist and parliamentarian from Quebec, who was appointed to the Senate of Canada on September 6, 2012.
From September 2003 to April 2007, she held executive jobs with the ''Conseil du pat ...
of the
ADQ.
She did not seek re-election in the
2018 Quebec provincial election.
Nicole Léger quitte la politique en rêvant encore au pays, Métro, June 12, 2018
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Electoral record (partial)
Footnotes
References
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leger, Nicole
1955 births
Women government ministers of Canada
French Quebecers
Living people
Members of the Executive Council of Quebec
Parti Québécois MNAs
Politicians from Montreal
Women MNAs in Quebec
21st-century Canadian politicians
21st-century Canadian women politicians