Benoît Pelletier

Infobox QuebecMNA | name= Benoit Pelletier


caption=
cabinet= Deputy House leader of the government, Minister responsible for Intergovernmental Affairs, Indians Affairs, Canadian Francophone Affairs, Democratic Institution Reform, Information Access and Outaouais region
term_start=November 30, 1998
term_end=
predecessor= Claire Vaive
birth_date= birth date and age |1960|01|10
birth_place= Quebec City, Quebec
successor=
death_date=
death_place=
profession= lawyer
party= Quebec Liberal Party
party colour= Liberal
residence=
riding=Chapleau (1998-present)
portfolio=
footnotes=
term_start2=
term_end2=
predecessor2=
successor2=
spouse= |

Benoît Pelletier (born January 10, 1960 in Quebec City, Quebec) is a politician and lawyer in Quebec, Canada. He is the current Liberal Party Member of the National Assembly (MNA) for the provincial riding of Chapleau in the Outaouais region. He is the current Minister for Canadian Intergovernmental Affairs, Aboriginal affairs, Francophones within Canada, the Reform of Democratic Institutions and Access to Information in the Jean Charest government. He is also the minister responsible for the Outaouais region, for the région of the North of Québec and the deputy leader of the government in the National Assembly of Québec.

He studied law at the Université Laval in 1981 and obtained a licence and was admitted to the Barreau du Quebec soon after. He worked for the federal Ministry of Justice as a legal adviser.

He received a masters degree in law at the University of Ottawa in 1989 where he taught there for several years and obtained an award for best teacher in 1998.

He travelled to France in the late 1990s and 2000s and received two doctors degree in law at the and the Marseille universities.

At the same time in 1998, Pelletier entered politics and won the 1998 provincial election in the Chapleau riding which includes much of the old city of Gatineau. During his tenure in the Opposition he was the critic for Intergovernmental Affairs.

When the Liberal Party gained power in the 2003 election, Pelletier was named the minister for this portfolio. During his tenure, he treated the issue about the fiscal imbalance, Quebec's position in the international community as well as the federal Liberal government's sponsorship scandal that presumably involved some non-governmental members of the provincial party including former Liberal minister Marc-Yvan Côté. From 2003 to 2005, he was also the Delegate Minister for aboriginal affairs before handing this portfolio to Geoffrey Kelley. He was also the Minister for Parliamentary Reform, which looks at modifications to the electoral system which was criticized by the Action democratique du Quebec after the 2003 elections.

In the 2007 elections, Pelletier was re-elected for a third term defeating ADQ Jocelyn Dumais and Edith Gendron, the Parti Québécois candidate and wife of Gatineau MP Richard Nadeau. He was renamed the Minister for Intergovermental affairs and responsible for the Outaouais region. He reclaimed the portfolio of aboriginal affairs but lost the Parliamentary reform portfolio to Jean-Marc Fournier.

External links

* [http://www.assnat.qc.ca/eng/Membres/notices/o-p/pelb3.shtml Benoit Pelletier profile]