Jean Lesage

Infobox President
name = Jean Lesage


imagesize = 200px
caption = Statue in Quebec City.
birth_date = birth date|1912|6|10|mf=y
birth_place = Montreal, Quebec
residence =
death_date = death date and age | 1980|12|12|1912|06|10
death_place = Sillery, Quebec
order = 19th Premier of Quebec
term_start = July 22, 1960
term_end = August 16, 1966
predecessor = Antonio Barrette
successor = Daniel Johnson Sr.
party = Quebec Liberal Party
religion = Roman Catholic
spouse = Corinne Lagarde
profession = Lawyer

Jean Lesage, PC, CC, CD (June 10, 1912 – December 12, 1980) was a lawyer and politician in Quebec, Canada. He served as Premier of Quebec from July 22, 1960, to August 16, 1966. Alongside Georges-Émile Lapalme, René Lévesque and other French-Canadians, he is often viewed as the father of the Quiet Revolution.

Biography

Background

Born in Montreal to Xavéri Lesage, teacher and public servant, and Cécile Côté. Jean Lesage's education included the kindergarten Saint-Enfant-Jésus de Montréal, the boarding school Saint-Louis-de-Gonzague in Quebec City, the Quebec City Seminary, and Université Laval in Quebec City where he received a law degree. He was admitted to the Barreau du Québec on 10 July 1934. He also served in the Canadian Army reserve from 1933 to 1945.

Legal career

He practiced law in Quebec City with Paul Lesage in 1934, then with Charles Gavan Power, Valmore Bienvenue, Paul Lesage, and Jean Turgeon. He married Corinne Lagarde, a singer and the daughter of Alexander Lagarde and Valéria Matte.

He was made a Crown attorney for Wartime Prices and Trade Board from 1939 to 1944.

Political Career in Ottawa

Jean Lesage was elected as a federal Member of Parliament for the riding of Montmagny-L'Islet as a Liberal for the first time in the 1945 general election. After his re-election in 1949, he was first named Parliamentary Secretary to the Secretary of State for External Affairs from 25 January 1951 to 31 December 1952, he was then named Parliamentary Secretary for the Minister of Finance from 1 January 1953 to 13 June 1953. Following his re-election in 1953, Jean Lesage was appointed Minister of Resources and Development from 17 September 1953 to 15 December 1953 and then Minister of Northern Affairs and National Resourcesfrom 16 December 1953 to 21 June 1957 [Government of Canada. Privy Council Office. "Seventeenth Ministry" [http://www.bcp-pco.gc.ca/index.asp?lang=eng&page=information&sub=publications&doc=min/min_17_e.htm] ]

He survived the Progressive Conservative ascendancy and was re-elected in both 1957 and 1958. However, he resigned from his seat 13 June 1958 following his election as leader of the Liberal Party of Quebec on 31 May 1958.

The Lesage Government

Elected to the National Assembly of Quebec, Jean Lesage's Liberal Party won the 1960 Quebec general election, campaigning with the slogan of "C’est le temps que ça change"(It’s time for a change) and putting an end to the long reign of the Union nationale that had government Quebec under Maurice Duplessis since 1935 (except for the period from 1940 to 1944). Lesage began Premier, President of the Executive Council, and Minister of Finance from 5 July 1960 to 16 June 1966; he was also Minister of Federal-Provincial Affairs from 28 March 1961 to 16 June 1966 and Minister of Revenue from 30 May 1963 to 8 August 1963.

Lesage's election campaign ushered the Quiet Revolution, which began to change the traditional domination of Quebec's economy by English-speaking Canadians, and the traditional domination of the public lives of French-speaking Quebeckers by the Catholic Church was replaced by a larger role for the government of Quebec.

In 1962, the Liberal Party of Quebec won re-election with the slogan "Maitres chez nous" (Masters in Our Own Home). In the last decade, it had already ended its affiliation with the Liberal Party of Canada.

Some of the major accomplishments were the creation of the Ministry of Education, the nationalization of hydro-electricity (Hydro-Québec) and a bigger control over the health care system. Major reforms were also made in the public sector and improved working conditions were implemented as well.

Following Pierre Virion, he participated in the meeting of the Bilderberg Group in 1965. VIRION, Pierre. Vers un gouvernement mondial, 1989

ee also

*Politics of Quebec
*Quebec general elections
*Quiet Revolution
*History of Quebec
*Mackenzie King

Book References

* Rouillard, Jacques (2003), "Le syndicalisme Québécois : Deux siècles d'histoire", Boréal Editions, 335p.
* Comeau, Robert & Bourque, Gilles (1989), "Jean Lesage et l'éveil d'une nation" Sillery Editions, 367p.
* Thomson, Dale Carins (1984), "Jean Lesage et la révolution tranquille", du Trecarre Editions, 615p.
* Fullerton, Douglas H. (1978), "The dangerous delusion" McClelland and Stuart Editions, 240p.

References

External links

* [http://www2.marianopolis.edu/quebechistory/readings/lesage.htm Jean Lesage and the Quiet Revolution, 1960-1966]
* [http://www.gg.ca/honours/search-recherche/honours-desc.asp?lang=e&TypeID=orc&id=2114 His Order of Canada citation]
* [http://www.assnat.qc.ca/fra/membres/notices/j-l/LESAJ.htm National Assembly biography] (in French)