24th Premier of Quebec
Pierre-Marc Johnson took which position in Oct 1985?
Pierre-Marc Johnson Pierre-Marc Johnson , ( born July 5 , 1946 ) is a Quebec lawyer , physician and politician . He was the 24th Premier of Quebec from October 3 to December 12 , 1985 , making him the provinces shortest-serving premier . Early background . Born in Montreal , Quebec , on July 5 , 1946 , Johnson is of French-Canadian and Irish descent and is a Roman Catholic . He received a degree in law from the Université de Montréal in 1970 and a medical degree from the Université de Sherbrooke in 1976 . He is the son of Reine Gagné and Daniel Johnson , Sr. , who served as Premier of Quebec from 1966 to 1968 . His brother , Daniel Johnson , Jr. , served as Premier for nine months in 1994 . Each of the Johnsons led different political parties : - Daniel , Sr. , was leader of the conservative Union Nationale party , and had an ambiguous position on the question of independence for Quebec ; - Pierre-Marc joined the sovereigntist PQ in the aftermath of the 1970 October Crisis ; - Daniel , Jr . backed the federalist Liberals by 1977 . Member of the Cabinet . In 1976 , Pierre-Marc Johnson successfully ran as the Parti Québécois candidate for the district of Anjou . Premier René Lévesque appointed him to the cabinet in 1977 and he was re-elected in 1981 . Johnson served as Minister of Labour from 1977 to 1980 , Minister to Consumers , Cooperatives and Financial Institutions from 1980 to 1981 , Minister of Social Affairs from 1981 to 1984 and Attorney General from 1984 to 1985 . Premier of Quebec . In the leadership election of 1985 , Johnson was chosen , following PQ founder René Lévesque as leader of the party and , consequently , as Quebec Premier . Johnson was generally considered to be soft on the sovereignty of Quebec issue . He put independence on the back burner , as Lévesque had begun to do under the Beau risque approach and eventually made this approach the official constitutional policy of his party , calling it National Affirmation . Johnson was described as somewhat to the right of the PQ as a whole . Leader of the Official Opposition . He was re-elected to the legislature in 1985 , but his party was defeated by the Liberals , led by Robert Bourassa . His leadership was contested by more radical PQ supporters , such as Gérald Godin . On November 10 , 1987 , he resigned as head of the party , Leader of the Opposition and member of the National Assembly . He was succeeded as head of the PQ by interim leader Guy Chevrette and later Jacques Parizeau , who again made independence a primary goal . Elections as party leader . Johnson lost in the December 1985 election after becoming leader in October . Johnson became as opposition leader and stepped down as party leader in 1987 ( with next election in 1989 ) . Life after leaving politics . Both a lawyer and a physician , he is a former Professor of Law at McGill University in Montreal and was Counsel at the firm of Heenan Blaikie LLP in Montreal , Quebec until 2014 . He is now Counsel at the firm of Lavery , also in Montreal . In 2001 he was appointed as chief advisor and negotiator of the Quebec government in the Softwood Lumber dispute between Canada and the United States by then Premier Bernard Landry . In October 2006 , he was chosen by the Charest government to preside over a public inquiry into the collapse of a viaduct over Autoroute 19 in Laval , Quebec , leaving five dead and six injured . The choice of Johnson was criticized by both leaders in opposition André Boisclair ( PQ ) and Mario Dumont ( Action démocratique du Québec ) because of the possibility of conflict of interest . As president , he was invested with the responsibility of investigating government administration while being a former Minister of the Quebec Government , a former Premier of Quebec , and , until shortly after this nomination , member of the board of directors of Ciment Saint-Laurent , a cement company . Johnson was appointed by the minority Conservative government to the Canadian delegation at the United Nations Bali Conference on climate change . Johnson was Quebecs negotiator for CETA ( Canada-European-union Trade Agreement ) . Attitude about sovereignty . Johnson refused to take a stance regarding the 1995 Quebec referendum on independence . In December 2005 he made waves in sovereigntist circles by supporting Liberal candidate and close , longtime friend Raymond Bachand in a provincial by-election in the Outremont riding . Select publications . - Johnson , Pierre Marc & Karel Mayrand . Beyond Trade : Broadening the Globalization Governance Agenda . Guiding Global Order : G8 Governance in the Twenty First Century . ( Ashgate : Aldershot , 2000 ) . Link to item - Johnson , Pierre Marc & Andre Beaulieu . The Environment and NAFTA : Understanding and Implementing the New Continental Law . ( Island Press , 1996 )