Jean Charest

**John James** "**Jean**" **Charest** (born 24 June 1958) is a French Canadian politician. He was Premier of Quebec from 2003 until 2012 under the Quebec Liberal Party.

## Early life

Charest was born and grew up in Sherbrooke, Quebec. Before politics, he worked as a lawyer. He received his diploma from the University of Sherbrooke in 1981, and was admitted to the Bar of Quebec the same year.  After 3 years of working in court, Charest decided to join the Conservative Party of Canada in 1984. He was only 26 years old when he was elected as the representative of Sherbrooke.

## Conservative Party of Canada

Jean Charest had joined the Conservative Party of Canada in 1984. In the same year, he was appointed as Assistant Deputy Chair of Committees of the House of Commons. On June 1986, he joined the Cabinet of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. He was the youngest person to serve in the Cabinet. He was given the job of Minister of State for Youth. Charest was re-elected in 1988, and served as Minister of State for Fitness and Amateur Sport.

In 1984, the Prime Minister of Canada, Brian Mulroney, promised that Quebec would sign the Canadian Constitution, which every other province had already signed two years before. Jean Charest was very involved in this project, but it did not succeed.

## Referendum of 1995

In 1995, Quebec was governed by the Parti Québécois, who started a referendum about whether Quebec should stay as a part of Canada. In others words, the population had the choice of staying or leaving the country.  Jean Charest was against the idea of Quebec leaving the union. The results were very close, but Quebec stayed as part of the country.

## Liberal Party of Quebec

During the 1990s, the sovereignty movement was at its height. Jean Charest, who was a big part of the _No_ campaign in 1995, had won the support of many federalists from Quebec. This is why he joined the Liberal Party of Quebec in 1998, as the leader of the party. In 1998, Charest participated at his first election as a leader of a party. He received more votes than his opponent, but did not reach the majority. He stayed as official Leader of the Opposition until 29 April 2003.

Charest won the next election and became Premier of Quebec on the 29 April 2003 by receiving 45.99% of the votes from the electors. Mario Dumont from the _Action Démocratique du Québec_ and Bernard Landry from the _Parti Quebecois_ were his opponents. The Liberal Party won 76 out of 125 seats.

## Premiership

During his government, there were crises with the housing industry and university funding. Charest was not able to lower taxes as he had promised during his campaign. In the 2008 election, the Liberal Party under Jean Charest got re-elected as the government, with 66 out of 125 seats and 42% of the votes from Quebec's electors. Charest himself was less popular in this election than the other one before. He gained 33.08% of the votes from the electors.

The popularity of Jean Charest dropped down very quickly. On 4 September 2012, Charest had been defeated and he decided to quit.

After his resignation, Jean Charest decided to give more time to his family and begin working again as lawyer.  At least five law firms have shown interest in his services, especially one in Toronto.

## 2022 Conservative leadership race

In March 2022, Charest announced his candidacy in the race for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada. He lost the election in September 2022 to Pierre Poilievre.

## Family

At the age of 18 years old, Jean Charest met Michèle Dionne who became his wife.  They met while they were studying in Sherbrooke. Michèle Dionne had been considerate as a big part of his career, she has supported and has influenced many of his choices while he was in politics.  Amélie, Antoine and Alexandra are their 3 children.

## Infobox (officeholder)

- **embed**: yes
- **office2**: Leader of the Official Opposition (Quebec), Leader of the Opposition in Quebec
- **term start2**: April 30, 1998
- **term end2**: April 29, 2003
- **predecessor2**: Monique Gagnon-Tremblay
- **successor2**: Bernard Landry
- **office3**: Leader of the Quebec Liberal Party
- **term start3**: April 30, 1998
- **term end3**: September 5, 2012
- **predecessor3**: Monique Gagnon-Tremblay (interim)
- **successor3**: Jean-Marc Fournier (interim)
- **office4**: Leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
- **term start4**: December 14, 1993
- **term end4**: April 2, 1998
Interim leader (Canada), Interim: December 14, 1993 – April 29, 1995
- **predecessor4**: Kim Campbell
- **successor4**: Elsie Wayne (interim)


## Infobox (officeholder)

- **embed**: yes
- **office5**: Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry#Preceding offices, Minister of Industry
- **primeminister5**: Kim Campbell
- **term start5**: June 25, 1993
- **term end5**: November 4, 1993
- **predecessor5**: Pierre H. Vincent (Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs; Registrar General of Canada)
Michael Wilson (Canadian politician), Michael Wilson (Minister of Industry, Science and Technology)
- **successor5**: John Manley
- **office7**: Minister of the Environment (Canada), Minister of the Environment
- **primeminister7**: Brian Mulroney
- **term start7**: April 21, 1991
- **term end7**: June 24, 1993
- **predecessor7**: Robert de Cotret
- **successor7**: Pierre H. Vincent
- **office8**: Minister for Sport (Canada), Minister of State (Fitness and Amateur Sport)
- **primeminister8**: Brian Mulroney
- **minister8**: Jake Epp
Perrin Beatty
- **term start8**: March 31, 1988
- **term end8**: January 23, 1990
- **predecessor8**: Otto Jelinek
- **successor8**: Marcel Danis
- **office9**: Minister of State (Canada), Minister of State (Youth)
- **primeminister9**: Brian Mulroney
- **minister9**: David Crombie
Lucien Bouchard
Gerry Weiner
- **term start9**: June 30, 1986
- **term end9**: January 23, 1990
- **predecessor9**: Andrée Champagne
- **successor9**: Marcel Danis


## Infobox (officeholder)

- **embed**: yes
- **office10**: Committee of the whole#Canada, Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons
Assistant Deputy Chair of the Committees of the Whole
- **1blankname10**: Speaker
- **1namedata10**: John Bosley (politician), John Bosley
- **term start10**: October 31, 1984
- **term end10**: June 29, 1986
- **predecessor10**: Jacques Guilbault
- **successor10**: Andrée Champagne


## Infobox (officeholder)

- **embed**: yes
- **office11**: Member of the National Assembly (Quebec), Member of the
National Assembly of Quebec
 for Sherbrooke (provincial electoral district), Sherbrooke
- **term start11**: November 30, 1998
- **term end11**: September 4, 2012
- **predecessor11**: Marie Malavoy
- **successor11**: Serge Cardin
- **parliament12**: Canadian
- **riding12**: Sherbrooke (federal electoral district), Sherbrooke
- **term start12**: September 4, 1984
- **term end12**: April 30, 1998
- **predecessor12**: Irénée Pelletier
- **successor12**: Serge Cardin


## Infobox (officeholder)

- **honorific-prefix**: The Honourable
- **name**: Jean Charest
- **image**: Agriculture Secretary Perdue Visit to Canada 20170605-OSEC-RV-0003 (34337316314) (cropped).jpg
- **caption**: Charest in 2017
- **office**: Premier of Quebec
- **order**: 29th
- **term start**: April 29, 2003
- **term end**: September 19, 2012
- **monarch**: Elizabeth II
- **predecessor**: Bernard Landry
- **successor**: Pauline Marois
- **office1**: Deputy Prime Minister of Canada
- **order1**: 5th
- **term start1**: June 25, 1993
- **term end1**: November 4, 1993
- **primeminister1**: Kim Campbell
- **predecessor1**: Don Mazankowski
- **successor1**: Sheila Copps
- **birth name**: John James Charest
- **birth place**: Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada
- **party**: Conservative Party of Canada, Conservative (federal)
Quebec Liberal Party, Quebec Liberal (provincial)
- **otherparty**: Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, Progressive Conservative (before 2003)
- **residence**: Westmount, Quebec, Westmount, Quebec, Canada
- **alma mater**: Université de Sherbrooke