Rufus Bousquet

Who is Rufus Bousquet?

Rufus George Bousquet is a Saint Lucian politician who formerly represented the constituency of Choiseul for the United Workers Party. Bousquet last won the seat at the general election held on 11 December 2006 but lost it to Lorne Theophilus in the November 2011 General Elections. Prior to 2000 his name was Bruce Tucker or, from 1989, Joseph Michael Bousquet.

He was born in St Lucia and educated until 1975 at St Mary's College. From 1989 until his first election to Parliament in 1992 to represent Choiseul, he was Managing Direction of a holiday real estate company.

Bousquet served in the government under Prime Minister John Compton as Minister for Financial Services and the National Development Corporation before being dismissed in 1995. Following the UWP victory in December 2006, he became Minister for External Affairs, International Financial Services, Information and Broadcasting in Compton's new government, sworn in on 19 December.

On May 1, 2007, he signed an agreement with Taiwanese foreign minister James Huang restoring diplomatic relati ons between the two countries at the expense of St. Lucia's relations with the People's Republic of China. In early June 2007 Bousquet was dismissed from the government by Compton; some speculation attributed the dismissal to the restoration of relations with Taiwan.