Jean Marchand

Jean Marchand, PC, CC, LL.D (December 20 1918 – August 28 1988) was a well known French Canadian public figure, trade unionist and politician in Quebec, Canada.

During the 1949 Asbestos Strike in Quebec, Marchand led the striking workers as secretary of the Catholic Workers Confederation of Canada (CCCL). It was during this time that he met Pierre Trudeau. Marchand was approached to be a Liberal candidate in the federal election of 1963, but disagreements scuttled a run that year.

In the 1965 federal election, Marchand along with Gérard Pelletier and Pierre Elliott Trudeau, were persuaded to run as Liberal candidates. Dubbed the "Three Wise Men" in English, and "les trois colombes" (three doves) in French, they were seen as destined to shake Canadian politics. Trudeau and Pelletier were provided "safe" ridings in Montreal while Marchand won a hard fight in Quebec City for his riding. Marchand was given a post in the government of Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson promptly after winning the election.

After Charles de Gaulle's infamous cry of "Vive le Québec Libre", the Cabinet met to decide the response. The French-speaking ministers, led by Jean Marchand, wanted Prime Minister Pearson to tell de Gaulle to go home. The English-speaking ministers, on the other hand, didn't want to go that far: a public rebuke was sufficient.

When Pearson retired in 1968, Marchand was seen as the most likely and strongest Quebec candidate to replace him but he declined to run for the Liberal party leadership, claiming that his English was not good enough. It then fell upon Trudeau to make a credible run by a French Canadian for the leadership of the Liberal party. Trudeau won the Liberal leadership and the 1968 federal election.

In the Trudeau government, Marchand held a variety of posts. In October 1976, he resigned his seat in the House of Commons over a disagreement with the government position regarding the use of French language by air traffic controllers in Quebec. Presenting himself as an opponent of the separatist program of the "Parti Québécois", he stood unsuccessfully as a candidate in the 1976 Quebec provincial election, which the "Parti Québécois" won.

Marchand was appointed to the Senate less than a month later, and became Speaker of the Canadian Senate in 1980. He was made a Companion of the Order of Canada in 1986.

Cabinet posts

Under Pearson he was appointed Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, and later of Manpower and Immigration by Prime Minister Pearson.

Under Trudeau he held many senior portfolios. He was Minister of Forestry and Rural Development from 1968 to 1969, Minister of Regional Economic Expansion from 1969 to 1972, Minister of Transport from 1972 to 1975, a Minister without portfolio from 1975 to 1976, and Minister of the Environment in 1976.

External links

* [http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/people/key/bio.asp?lang=E&query=1340&s=M Political biography from the Library of Parliament]
* [http://www.gg.ca/honours/search-recherche/honours-desc.asp?lang=e&TypeID=orc&id=1094 Order of Canada Citation]