THE POLITICAL POWER

• 25 October 1993 - present

BORN

• 11 January 1934, Shawinigan, Quebec

EDUCATION

• Laval University (LL.B.)

PERSONAL STATUS

• Married 1957, Aline Chainé (b. 1936)
• One daughter, two sons

OCCUPATION

• Lawyer (called to the Quebec Bar in 1958)
• 1958 -1963 Lawyer with Chrétien, Landry, Deschênes, Trudel and Normand
• 1962 -1963 Director of the Bar of Trois-Rivières
• 1986 -1990 Counsil with Lang, Mitchener, Lawrence and Shaw, and Senior Advisor with Gordon Capital Corporation, Montreal

PARTY

• Liberal
• 1990 Party Leader

CONSTITUENCIES

• 1963 - 1968 St-Maurice-Laflèche, Quebec
• 1968 - 1986 St-Maurice, Quebec
• 1990 - 1993 Beauséjour, New Brunswick
• 1993 - present, St-Maurice, Quebec

OTHER MINISTRIES

• 1965 Parliamentary Secretary to Prime Minister Pearson
• 1965 Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Finance
• 1967 - 1968 Minister Without Portfolio
• January - July 1968 Minister of National Revenue
• July 1968 - August 1974 Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
• August 1974 - September 1976 President of the Treasury Board
• September 1976 - 1977 Minister of Industry, Trade and Commerce
• September 1977 - 1979 Minister of Finance
• March 1980 - September 1982 Minister of Justice and Attorney Ceneral of Canada, Minister of State for Social Development, Minister responsible for constitutional negotiations
• September 1982 - June 1984 Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources
• June 1984 - September 1984 Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for External Affairs

POLITICAL RECORD

• Entrenched the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms into the Constitution Act 1982
• Appointed Bertha Wilson first woman justice of the Supreme Court of Canada 1982