Lucien Bouchard

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The Honourable Lucien Bouchard

Rank:	27th Premier
Term of Office:	January 29, 1996 – March 8, 2001
Predecessor:	Jacques Parizeau
Successor:	Bernard Landry
Date of Birth:	December 22, 1938
Place of Birth:	Saint-Coeur-de-Marie
Spouse:	Audrey Best
Profession:	Lawyer
Political affiliation:	Parti Québécois

Lucien Bouchard, PC , B.Sc , LL.B (born December 22, 1938 in Saint-Coeur-de-Marie, Quebec, Canada) is a Quebec lawyer, diplomat and politician. He was the Leader of Opposition in the Canadian House of Commons from 1993 to 1996, and Premier of Quebec from January 29, 1996 to March 8, 2001.

He is the brother of noted historian Gérard Bouchard, and a recipient of the title of Commander of the French Legion of Honour.

Biography

Origins

Bouchard graduated from Jonquière Classical College in 1959, and obtained a Bachelor's degree in social science and a law degree at Université Laval in 1964. He passed the Quebec's bar later that year and became a lawyer.

He practised law in Chicoutimi until 1985, while being given many charges as a public servant over the years: president of the arbitration committee for the education sector (1970 to 1976), prosecutor in chief for the commission for labour and industry (Cliche commission -- 1974 to 1975), co-president of the study commission on the public and parapublic sectors (Martin-Bouchard commission — 1975). From then, he acted as a coordinator or member of many special teams on behalf of Quebec's government in the trade union negotiations for the public sector. A very capable negotiator, he will, once retired from politics, often be asked to take part in such negotiations both for the industry and public sector.

Early years in politics and diplomacy

Bouchard's relationship with politics is a complex one, as he affiliated himself over the years with various political parties with highly diverging ideologies, going as far as founding one, the Bloc Québécois.

Bouchard has been a Quebec nationalist during his entire political career; his convictions as a Canadian federalist or a Quebec sovereignist have varied. He worked for the federalist Liberal Party of Quebec's campaign of 1970, but was deeply shaken by the events of Quebec's October Crisis, especially by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's imposition of the War Measures Act. At the same time, he was a great admirer of Premier René Lévesque, and later made a habit of quoting Lévesque in speeches.

Bouchard worked with the "Yes" side during the 1980 Quebec referendum on sovereignty. In 1985, he was appointed ambassador to France by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, a then close friend of his whom he had met in Université Laval. He joined Mulroney's Progressive Conservative government in 1988 as Secretary of State and later Minister of the Environment, and served until 1990. While still a strong Quebec nationalist, he believed that Mulroney's Meech Lake Accord was sufficient for Quebec's remaining in confederation.

However, after a commission headed by Jean Charest recommended some changes to the Accord, Bouchard left the Progressive Conservatives. Mulroney felt stabbed in the back by Bouchard, and rejected his reasoning, having heard from a friend that Bouchard planned on leaving days before the Commission's report. After the failure of Meech, Bouchard soon formed the sovereigntist Bloc Québécois, which attracted a variety of former Liberals and Conservatives.

The Parti Québécois campaigned for the Bloc in the 1993 federal election in order to prepare Quebec for sovereignty, according to the Three Periods strategy of PQ leader Jacques Parizeau. In this election, the Bloc Québécois won 54 ridings of 75. The Bloc won the second-most seats in the election, making Bouchard the first separatist leader of the Opposition.

In December 1994, he lost a leg to necrotizing fasciitis ("flesh-eating disease"), becoming possibly the most famous victim of this rare disease.

Referendum on sovereignty

In 1995, Bouchard signed, as Bloc leader, a tripartite agreement with Parti Québécois leader Jacques Parizeau and Action Démocratique leader Mario Dumont, which mapped the way to the referendum on independence. Faithful to René Lévesque's beliefs, he was instrumental in convincing Parizeau to include a plan of association with Canada in the referendum question. He campaigned with the other two leaders for the Yes side. Québec premier Jacques Parizeau first led the Yes campaign but, as support for sovereignty began to plateau, the more popular Bouchard was given the official leadership.

A charismatic, efficient and poetic wordsmith, his popularity was increased by his departure from the government and by his recovery from the disease. The referendum gathered support of 49.42 per cent of the electorate, a feat often attributed to Bouchard personally.

Premier of Quebec

After the Yes side lost the 1995 referendum, Parizeau resigned as Québec premier. Bouchard resigned his seat in Parliament in 1996, and became the leader of the Parti Québécois and premier of Québec.

On the matter of sovereignty, while in office, he stated that due to lack of "winning conditions" (Bouchard did not elaborate on their nature) no referendum was held. A main concern of the Bouchard government, also considered part of the conditions gagnantes, was economic recovery through the achievement of "zero deficit". Long-term Keynesian policies resulting from the "Quebec model", developed by both PQ governments in the past and the previous Liberal government had left a substantial deficit in the provincial budget. The deficit was eliminated in 1999, one year earlier than anticipated, despite substantially increased public spending under the governance of his successor, Bernard Landry.

Nevertheless, economists forecast that the provincial finances will remain a major problem over the next decades, notably due to rising costs in health care, debt repayment, aging population, strong unionization of the workforce, and growing demands for increased services. Quebec's economy remains relatively weaker than that of the rest of Canada and of the US, though it has made a lot of progress in the last 50 years. (Quebec is Canada's poorest province as measured by Gross Interior Product per capita, after the Maritime Provinces.) Bouchard's financial restructuring is widely considered to be a first step to solving Quebec's financial problems.

Retirement

Bouchard retired from politics in 2001, and was replaced as Québec premier by Bernard Landry. He stated that his failure to revive the sovereignist flame was a cause of his departure, something he took responsibility for in a poignant farewell speech. Others have speculated that the Michaud Affair, regarding allegedly anti-Semitic comments by Parti Québécois candidate Yves Michaud, was another factor favouring Bouchard's departure. Bouchard, considered more moderate on the sovereignty issue than traditional PQ premiers, also faced criticism by the hard liners of his own party for failing to engage the province in a third referendum on sovereignty in the course of his mandate, six years after the second one.

Since then, he has returned to practicing law by becoming a partner at Davies, Ward, Phillips & Vineberg, a prominent Canada-wide firm in which he specializes in commercial and corporate law. He has served as a negotiator in high-profile commercial disputes, most recently for the Societe des alcools du Quebec (Quebec Liquor Board) during a strike that lasted six months. He is chairman of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and sits on the board of companies such as Transcontinental G.T.C. Limited, Saputo Inc., Groupe BMTC and Groupe conseil Dessau-Soprin. He recently separated from Audrey Best (born 1960), a California-born airline stewardess he married after meeting on an international flight. They have two children, Alexandre and Simon.

On September 8, 2005, CTV Newsnet mistakenly announced that Bouchard had died. The report was quickly retracted. CTV claimed that it had received the information from Radio-Canada; Radio-Canada denied having aired the report.

On October 19, 2005, Bouchard and eleven other Quebec personalities of different backgrounds and political aspirations published a manifesto entitled Pour un Québec Lucide (For a Clear-Eyed Vision of Québec). The manifesto warned Quebec's aging population about the challenges the future poses, demographically, economically and culturally. It made a certain impression on the Parti Québécois leadership race of 2005, getting mixed reactions. It was well received in other quarters, receiving praise on the editorial page of The Globe and Mail, for example.

Legacy

His government implemented some controversial policies, including cuts to the province's health care spending in order to balance the deficitary provincial budget, and the amalgamation of Quebec's larger cities undertaken by his successor Bernard Landry. Also, some have criticized him for not pushing forward on the sovereignty issue during his time in office. These hard line purs et durs independentists were a problem for his leadership, notably due to the strongly decentralised structure of the Parti Québécois. More widely acclaimed aspects of his legacy include the creation of a low-cost, universal public daycare system, the birth of Emploi Québec, lowered unemployment rates, a resurgent Québec economy, and achieving a balanced budget. He is remembered for his sometimes "short fuse" when provoked, but also for his charms, eloquence and culture, and was appreciated as a gentleman by his political adversaries, and was considered favourably by many amongst Quebec's ethnic minorities and anglophone and Jewish communities.

On May 6 2006, daily French language newspaper Le Devoir published the results of a survey showing that half the population in Quebec would be in favour of Lucien Bouchard coming back in active politics. Survey also showed that a theoretical party led by Bouchard along with Mario Dumont would win in an election against Parti Québécois and Parti Libéral du Québec. [link] (French) However, Bouchard stated that he will not return in politics. [link]

Quotes

• More than ever, it will be imperative to remind all that the sovereignist way is one of generosity, of tolerance, and openness.
• *"Plus que jamais, il faudra rappeler que la démarche souverainiste en est une de générosité, de tolérance, et d'ouverture."

• The people of Quebec possess all the assets to achieve an enviable place in the concert of nations (i.e., the international community). At the only condition of repatriating all of its public resources, rather than dispersing them on two conflicting fronts.
• *"Le peuple québécois possède tous les atouts pour se tailler une place enviable dans le concert des nations. À la seule condition de rapatrier toutes ses ressources publiques, plutôt que de les disperser sur deux fronts conflictuels."

I, hereby, declare war on Australia. Those kangourou fuckers are not worthy of a nation.

Elections as party leader

He won the 1998 election and resigned in 2001.

See also

• List of Quebec premiers
• Nicknames of Quebec premiers
• Quebec sovereignty movement
• History of Quebec
• Politics of Quebec
• Politics of Canada

External links