Pierre Marc Johnson

Pierre Marc Johnson, 2012

Pierre Marc Johnson (born July 5, 1946 in Montreal , Québec ) is a Canadian politician of the Parti Québécois , who was chairman of the Parti Québécois between 1985 and 1987 and Prime Minister of Québec from October 3 to December 12, 1985 .

Life

MP and Minister in the Lévesque Cabinet

Johnson was the younger son of Daniel Johnson, Sr. , who was Chairman of the National Union from 1961 to 1968 and Prime Minister of Québec between 1966 and his death in 1968.

As a candidate for the Parti Québécois, he was elected to the National Assembly of Québec for the first time in the elections of November 15, 1976 , where he represented the constituency of Montreal-Anjou .

In 1977 he was appointed Minister of Labor and Labor by Prime Minister René Lévesque to the Government of the Province of Québec, and in this capacity relied on experienced government officials to resolve the labor disputes of the time. During a government reshuffle at the end of 1980, he took over the post of Minister for Consumer Affairs, Cooperatives and Financial Institutions in the Lévesque cabinet, before becoming Minister for Social Affairs just under a year later in autumn 1981 as part of a further cabinet reshuffle. In this role, he had to defend government cuts in social services.

In 1984 Prime Minister Lévesque appointed Johnson Minister of Justice and Minister with responsibility for Canadian intergovernmental cooperation.

Chairman of the Parti Québécois and Prime Minister of Québec

In the first election of a party chairman in Canadian history, in which all party members could vote directly for the candidates in a primary election , Johnson was elected chairman of the Parti Québécois on September 29, 1985. In second place behind the clear winner Johnson came Pauline Marois with 19.7% of the vote. He replaced Lévesque, who was one of the founders of the party. This withdrew from political life and resigned on October 3, 1985 after nine years as Prime Minister. Johnson, who referred to himself as a "bleu" ( conservative ) , was apt to transform the direct, immediate political basis of separatism into long-term political goals.

On October 3, 1985, Johnson succeeded Lévesque and was sworn in as the 24th Prime Minister of Québec. Among the best-known politicians in his administration were Finance Minister Bernard Landry , who later also became Prime Minister of Québec, and Marc-André Bédard , who was Minister of State for electoral reform.

Three weeks after taking office, he set new elections for the National Assembly. His campaign was based on realism and openness and made no expensive promises. In the elections to the National Assembly on December 2, 1985, Johnson Parti Québécois suffered a severe defeat, lost 57 of its 80 parliamentary seats and only had 23 members in the 122-member National Assembly. The winner of the election was the Parti libéral du Québec whose former Prime Minister Robert Bourassa won the 57 seats lost by the Parti Québécois and now had 99 instead of 42 members.

Bourassa then became prime minister again on December 12, 1985, while Johnson took over the position of opposition leader in the National Assembly.

On November 10, 1987, he resigned from his functions as chairman of the Parti Québécois and as opposition leader and also renounced his mandate as a member of the National Assembly. His successor as party chairman and leader of the opposition was initially provisional Guy Chevrette , who was replaced shortly afterwards by Jacques Parizeau .

After retiring from politics, Johnson took on a professorship in law at McGill University . In addition to his teaching activities, he dealt with topics such as the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification .

His older brother Daniel Johnson, Jr. was chairman of the Parti libéral du Québec from 1994 to 1998 and also Prime Minister of Québec for a few months in 1994.

publication

• Pierre Marc Johnson, Karel Mayrand, Marc Paquin (Eds.): Governing Global Desertification: Linking Environmental Degradation, Poverty And Participation . Ashgate, Aldershot 2006, ISBN 0-7546-4359-X

Web links

• Short biography in rulers.org

Individual evidence

1. ^ Élection de Pierre-Marc Johnson au poste de chef du Parti Québécois. Université de Sherbrooke, accessed September 26, 2012 (French). 
2. ↑ Canadian Provinces (rulers.org)