Complex sentence: Lucien Bouchard succeeded Parizeau as party leader and premier in 1996 and shortly thereafter appointed Assimopoulos as president of the Conseil supérieur de la langue francaise in a bid to rebuild connections with Quebec's cultural communities.
Split into simpler sentences: Lucien Bouchard succeeded Parizeau as party leader and premier in 1996. Shortly thereafter, he appointed Assimopoulos as president of the Conseil supérieur de la langue francaise in a bid to rebuild connections with Quebec's cultural communities.