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Jean Marchand

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Jean Marchand
Marchand, c. 1973
Minister of the Environment
In office
January 22, 1976 – June 30, 1976
Prime MinisterPierre Trudeau
Preceded byJeanne Sauvé
Succeeded byRoméo LeBlanc (Acting)
Minister of Transport
In office
November 27, 1972 – September 25, 1975
Prime MinisterPierre Trudeau
Preceded byDon Jamieson
Succeeded byOtto Lang
Minister of Regional Economic Expansion
In office
April 1, 1969 – November 26, 1972
Prime MinisterPierre Trudeau
Preceded byOffice Established
Succeeded byDon Jamieson
Minister of Forestry and Rural Development
In office
July 6, 1968 – March 31, 1969
Prime MinisterPierre Trudeau
Preceded byMaurice Sauvé
Succeeded byOffice Abolished
Secretary of State for Canada
In office
April 20, 1968 – July 5, 1968
Prime MinisterPierre Trudeau
Preceded byJohn Joseph Connolly (Acting)
Succeeded byGérard Pelletier
Minister of Manpower and Immigration
In office
October 1, 1966 – July 5, 1968
Prime MinisterLester B. Pearson
Pierre Trudeau
Preceded byOffice Established
Succeeded byAllan MacEachen
Minister of Citizenship and Immigration
In office
December 18, 1965 – September 30, 1966
Prime MinisterLester B. Pearson
Preceded byJohn Robert Nicholson
Succeeded byOffice Abolished
Senator for De la Vallière, Quebec
In office
December 9, 1976 – December 15, 1983
Appointed byPierre Trudeau
Preceded byRomuald Bourque
Succeeded byPierre de Bané
Member of Parliament
for Langelier
In office
June 25, 1968 – October 25, 1976
Preceded byRiding created
Succeeded byGilles Lamontagne
Member of Parliament
for Quebec West
In office
November 8, 1965 – June 24, 1968
Preceded byLucien Plourde
Succeeded byRiding dissolved
Personal details
Born(1918-12-20)December 20, 1918
Champlain, Quebec, Canada
DiedAugust 28, 1988(1988-08-28) (aged 69)
Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures, Quebec, Canada
Political partyLiberal
Spouse
Georgette Guertin
(m. 1942)
Alma materUniversité Laval
OccupationUnionist
Signature

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

Life and career

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

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, did not 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 as Liberal leader and Prime Minister. However, he declined, 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.

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.

In October 1976, he resigned his seat in the House of Commons over a disagreement with the government's position regarding the use of the French language by air traffic controllers in Quebec. Presenting himself as an opponent of the separatist program of the Parti Québécois, he stood as a Quebec Liberal Party candidate in the 1976 Quebec provincial election in the riding of Louis-Hébert but was defeated by Claude Morin of the PQ in an election that resulted in the Parti Québécois forming its first government.

One month after his defeat, Marchand was appointed to the Senate by Trudeau and became Speaker of the Senate of Canada in 1980. He resigned from the upper house in December 1983 in order to accept an appointment as president of the Canadian Transport Commission. Marchand was appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada in 1986.

1965 Canadian federal election: Quebec West
Party Candidate Votes
Liberal Jean Marchand 10,669
Ralliement créditiste Lucien Plourde 9,820
Progressive Conservative Jacques Lavoie 3,454
New Democratic Jean-Paul Bérubé 1,222
  Ouvrier indépendent Adélard Patry 298
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