Lucien Bouchard

Born in Quebec in 1938, Lucien Bouchard was always very patriotic about his people. In 1959 he graduated from Jonquière Classical Collège, followed by bachelor's degrees in arts and social sciences. He received a degree in law from the Laval University in 1964. Also in that year, he was admitted to the Quebec Bar. He first entered politics in 1970, and practiced law in Chicoutimi until 1985. From 1970-76, he was president of the arbitration tribunals in education. He was the chief of legal counsel to the Cliche Commission (which involved the Quebec construction industry), and, with Yves Martin, started a new commission, the Martin-Bouchard Commission. He also co-wrote the Martin-Bouchard Report from 1977-78. He negotiated labor contracts for the Government of Quebec in 1980 and 1982. He was appointed as ambassador of Canada in France from 1985-88, and then joined the federal Conservative cabinet as secretary of state and elected member of Parliament for Lac-Saint-Jean in that year, as the Conservative MP. In 1989, he became Acting Minister of the Environment, but the following year quit Tories after the Meech Lake accord's collapse. On July 25, 1990, he formed the Bloc Quebecois, which he was elected chairman and leader of in 1991. In 1993, he became re-elected as the Member for Lac-Saint Jean, and proceeded to become leader of the Official Opposition in the House of Commons. In 1996, he retired from the Bloc Quebecois (his position taken by Michel Gauthier then Gilles Duceppe) to become leader of the Parti Quebecois early in January. Later in that month, he was sworn in as Premier of Quebec. The next month, he became the elected member of the Jonquière riding. He was the province's twenty-seventh premier and was re-elected in 1998. He retired, feeling unappreciated and not making enough of an impact, in 2001, replaced by Bernard Landry.