'Pierre Marc Johnson' is a
Quebec lawyer,
physician and politician. He was the
Parti Québécois (PQ)
Premier of Quebec,
Canada, from October 3 to December 12,
1985.
[1]
Early background
Born in
Montreal, Quebec on
July 5,
1946, Johnson has
Irish descent. He received a degree in law from the
Université de Montréal in
1970 and a medical degree from the
Université de Sherbrooke in
1976.
His father,
Daniel Johnson, Sr, 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., who had close ties to
Power Corporation, 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 has begun to do under the so-called "
Beau risque" approach and eventually made this approach the official
constitutional policy of his party, calling it "National Affirmation".
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. In December 1987, he resigned as head of the party,
Leader of the Opposition and member of the
National Assembly. He was succeeded by
Jacques Parizeau as head of the PQ, who again made independence a primary goal.
Life after leaving politics
Both a lawyer and a physician, he is a former
Professor of Law at
McGill University in Montreal and is currently Counsel at the firm of
Heenan Blaikie LLP in Montreal, Quebec. In 2001 he was appointed as chief advisor and negotiator of the Québec 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 a
public inquiry over the collapse of a
viaduct over
Autoroute 19 in
Laval, Quebec, which caused five deaths and six wounded. 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.
[2]
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.
[3]
Elections as party leader
He lost the 1985 election.
Footnotes
1. Pierre Marc Johnson, Assemblée nationale du Québec
2. Une bisbille éclate à la commission Johnson, La Presse, July 17, 2007
3. Pierre Marc Johnson tourne le dos au PQ, Radio-Canada, November 25, 2005
See also
★
Politics of Quebec
★
List of Quebec general elections
★
Timeline of Quebec history
External links
★
National Assembly biography (in French)
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