Pierre Paradis represented Brome-Missisquoi in the National Assembly of Quebec from 1980 to 2018.
64 Facts About Pierre Paradis
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Pierre Paradis earned a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Ottawa and later took graduate studies in bills of exchange and business law at the same institution.
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Pierre Paradis was called to the Quebec Bar in 1975 and worked as a lawyer before entering politics, specializing in constitutional and administrative cases.
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Pierre Paradis was a riding association president in the 1976 provincial election and later served on the party's provincial executive.
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Pierre Paradis left when he learned that Union Nationale leader Rodrigue Biron was planning to support the "Oui" side in Quebec's 1980 referendum on sovereignty.
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Pierre Paradis was elected to the National Assembly in a by-election held shortly after the 1980 referendum.
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The Parti Quebecois was in government during this period, and Pierre Paradis sat as a member of the official opposition.
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Pierre Paradis was appointed as his party's labour critic in October 1982.
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Pierre Paradis increased his profile in early 1983 by asking rigorous questions of Parti Quebecois members during a televised hearing into the role played by Quebec Premier Rene Levesque's office in approving a contentious out-of-court settlement.
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Pierre Paradis favoured the sale of some crown corporations and was considered the most right-wing of the leadership candidates.
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Pierre Paradis finished a distant second, narrowly ahead of third-place candidate Daniel Johnson Jr.
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Pierre Paradis revived a dormant government policy of sending inspectors to the homes of people receiving social assistance in 1986.
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Pierre Paradis said this would reduce the number of erroneous files and likely save the province sixty-eight million dollars in one year.
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Pierre Paradis responded that the Justice Ministry had determined the visits were legal and that a provincial code of ethics would prevent abuses.
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Pierre Paradis announced in 1986 that social assistance recipients who owned cottages, boats, second cars, snowmobiles, or houses with more than $50,000 equity would have their rates reduced.
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In late 1987, Pierre Paradis introduced further reforms that increased payments for those unfit to work, provided financial assistance to low-paid parents of young children, introduced a tax credit allowing welfare recipients to take minor jobs without jeopardizing their payments, and ended a policy of paying older recipients more than younger recipients.
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Pierre Paradis argued that the new policy would allow more recipients to enter the workforce; critics argued it would provide a supply of cheap labour for Quebec businesses.
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Pierre Paradis introduced legislation in 1986 to create the Commission de la construction du Quebec to oversee Quebec's construction sector.
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Access to the construction trade had previously been determined by work experience, and Pierre Paradis said the new system would provide opportunities for younger workers.
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Pierre Paradis initiated a back-to-work order in March 1986 that ended a strike of 4,200 blue-collar workers in Montreal.
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The strike affected garbage collection and road repair, and Pierre Paradis argued it had created a safety concern; he charged that the union neglected its responsibility to provide essential services.
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In 1987, Pierre Paradis led cabinet in suspending the right to strike of maintenance workers in Montreal Transit.
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Pierre Paradis increased the provincial minimum wage from four dollars to $4.75 per hour between 1986 and 1988.
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Pierre Paradis worked to prevent layoffs at the Steinberg grocery chain in 1988.
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Pierre Paradis was appointed as Minister of Municipal Affairs and Minister responsible for Housing in July 1988.
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Pierre Paradis said in April 1989 that the situation had "sufficiently exhausted the patience of government", although he resisted calls to impose trusteeship before a key municipal by-election.
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In July 1989, Pierre Paradis initiated legislation that saved the city of Montreal from paying $228 million in business tax refunds.
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Pierre Paradis was re-elected in the 1989 provincial election and was promoted to Minister of the Environment in October 1989.
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Pierre Paradis served as the Government House Leader from 1992 to 1994.
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Pierre Paradis initially agreed, but he later called for a single comprehensive assessment when the Cree warned that a two-stage process would violate a prior agreement.
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Pierre Paradis stressed that Great Whale could be shut down if it was found to be environmentally unsound, while Bacon argued that it was necessary for Quebec's energy needs.
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Pierre Paradis opposed the federal government's bid to conduct an independent environmental assessment, on the grounds that Great Whale was within Quebec's jurisdiction.
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Pierre Paradis reached an agreement with federal Environment Minister Robert de Cotret in January 1991 to conduct a shared review of the project's dams, but not of its roads and other infrastructure.
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De Cotret's successor, Jean Charest, tried to establish a single, comprehensive assessment involving both levels of government; although Pierre Paradis still supported the idea of a single assessment, he opposed what he described as Charest's encroachment into the provincial domain.
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Pierre Paradis expressed support for their position, although he criticized tactical decisions made by the Cree leadership.
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The Bourassa government curtailed its development plans in August 1991, and Pierre Paradis announced that construction would not begin until a thorough environmental review had taken place.
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Pierre Paradis described the law as "totalitarian", arguing that it encroached on Quebec's jurisdiction.
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In early 1994, Pierre Paradis reached an agreement with new federal Environment Minister Sheila Copps for a six-year program to clean up the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence River.
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In October 1991, Pierre Paradis approved a gas processing and storage project by Soligaz in Varennes.
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Pierre Paradis ordered the closure of a Tioxide plant in Tracy, Quebec in 1992, saying that the company had repeatedly broken its promise to improve environmental standards.
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Pierre Paradis initially challenged the ruling, but shut down part of the operation in 1993.
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Pierre Paradis opposed the nationalist Allaire Report and promoted changes to Quebec's Charter of the French Language to permit an increased use of languages other than French on public signs.
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In 1994 Pierre Paradis said that his party would need to reach out to Quebec nationalists for the "Non" side to win the next referendum on sovereignty.
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Pierre Paradis chose not to run for the Liberal Party leadership when Robert Bourassa resigned for health reasons in 1993.
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Pierre Paradis, who was re-elected in his own riding without difficulty, served as opposition house leader after the election.
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Pierre Paradis campaigned for the "non" side in the 1995 Quebec referendum on sovereignty.
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Pierre Paradis initially supported Daniel Johnson against challenges to his leadership in early 1997.
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Relations between the two men later became tense and Pierre Paradis did not support Johnson against similar challenges in 1998.
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When Johnson announced his resignation in March 1998, Pierre Paradis was again rumoured as a possible leadership candidate.
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Pierre Paradis was known in this period as a strong parliamentary tactician whose fiscal conservative still put him on the right wing of the party.
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Pierre Paradis ultimately decided not to seek the leadership, and Jean Charest was chosen as Liberal leader without opposition.
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Pierre Paradis remained as opposition house leader for the next five years, and it was expected that he would be included in cabinet if and when his party returned to power.
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Pierre Paradis said that his exclusion marked a shift in the Liberal Party from the values of Robert Bourassa and Claude Ryan to a more right-wing approach.
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Pierre Paradis considered running as a Liberal for Saint-Jean in the next federal election and there were rumours that he would be appointed as a judge.
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Pierre Paradis eventually chose to take his seat on the government backbenches in November 2003.
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The Liberals were reduced to a minority government in the 2007 provincial election, and Pierre Paradis was re-elected by the narrowest margin of his career at that time against a candidate from the upstart Action democratique du Quebec party.
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Pierre Paradis considered running for speaker of the assembly in 2008, but he declined after meeting with opposition from others in his party.
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Pierre Paradis was returned again by an increased margin in the 2008 election as the Liberals returned to a majority government.
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Pierre Paradis was sworn in as Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and Minister responsible for the Eastern Townships on 23 April 2014.
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Pierre Paradis held the latter post until 28 January 2016.
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On 26 January 2017, Pierre Paradis stepped down as Minister of Agriculture due to a concussion after a riding accident.
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On 19 June 2017, Pierre Paradis was cleared of any charges by the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions.
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Pierre Paradis was invited back to the Liberal caucus on 16 August 2018.
64.
Denis Pierre Paradis won the election and was later a cabinet minister in the governments of Jean Chretien and Paul Martin.