Jacques Brassard

Who is Jacques Brassard?

Jacques Brassard is a former Quebec politician and Cabinet Minister. He was the National Assembly of Quebec for Lac-Saint-Jean from 1976 to 2002 and occupied several portfolios as a Minister under the Parti Québecois governments of René Lévesque, Pierre-Marc Johnson, Jacques Parizeau, Lucien Bouchard and Bernard Landry.

Brassard made his university studies at Université de Montréal and Université de Sherbrooke and obtained a degree in pedagogy. After being teacher a local school board, he was a history teacher for nine years at Collège d'Alma before his entry to provincial politics in 1976. He was elected in Lac-Saint-Jean as the Parti Québécois won the elections for their first time since their creation. He was a backbencher member for the first mandate and was re-elected in 1981 and named the government Deputy Whip. He was later promoted as the Chief Whip in 1982 before being named into the Cabinet for the first time in 1984 as Minister of Recreation, Hunting and Fishing until the 1985 elections. Despite the PQ losing the election to the Quebec Liberal Party, Brassard was re-elected in 1985 and 1989 serving as the chief whip of the Official Opposition.