Josée Verner
Encyclopedia : J : JO : JOS : Josée Verner
Josée Verner, PC, MP (born December 30 1959) is a Canadian politician. She represents the electoral district of Louis-Saint-Laurent in the Canadian House of Commons and is a minister in the Conservative cabinet.
Political career
A member of the provincial Action démocratique du Québec and the federal Conservative Party of Canada, Verner also once worked as a political staffer in Quebec City in the Robert Bourassa government.
She was a candidate for the Conservatives in the 2004 federal election and finished second with 31% of the vote, the party's best Quebec showing, in a three-way race that was won by the Bloc Québécois's Bernard Cleary. This was contrasted with her victory in a two-way race in 2006.
Looking to boost the party's profile in Quebec, and hoping to make Verner a viable candidate in future elections, Conservative leader Stephen Harper named Verner to the opposition shadow cabinet from outside of parliament. She was critic for the Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec and the Minister responsible for La Francophonie both posts then held by fellow Quebecker Jacques Saada. She was also appointed chair of the Quebec Conservative caucus which at the time was made up of herself and Conservative senators.
In cabinet
Running again in the 2006 election, she was elected with 57.68% of the vote in Louis-Saint-Laurent, defeating Bernard Cleary, and heading a wave of Conservative victories that swept the Quebec City area.
On February 6 2006, she was sworn into Prime Minister Stephen Harper's cabinet as Minister of International Co-operation and Minister for La Francophonie and Official Languages.
Her parliamentary secretary is Ted Menzies, who received some criticism for having La Francophonie as his portfolio while he does not speak French. It was subsequently specified that he was appointed parliamentary secretary to Josée Verner for his experience as opposition critic for International Co-operation rather than for La Francophonie.
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|bgcolor="cornflowerblue" colspan=3 align="center"| 28th Ministry - Government of Stephen Harper
(2006–)
|align="center"|incumbent
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!colspan=3|Special Cabinet Responsibilities
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!width="110"|Predecessor
!width="290"|Title
!width="110"|Successor
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|align="center"|Mauril Bélanger
|align="center"|Minister responsible for Official Languages
(2006–)
|align="center"|incumbent
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|align="center"|Jacques Saada
|align="center"|Minister responsible for La Francophonie
(2006–)
|align="center"|incumbent
|- style="text-align: center;"
External links
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