jean lesage

Jean Lesage (June 10, 1912–December 12, 1980) was a lawyer and politician in the Canadian province of Quebec. He served as premier from July 22, 1960, to August 16, 1966.

Profile

Born in Montreal, he studied law at Laval University in Quebec City and was admitted to the Barreau du Quebec in 1934. He served in the Canadian army reserve from 1933 to 1945. He practised law in Quebec City, and was also a Crown attorney from 1939 to 1944. He was elected to the Canadian House of Commons as a member of the Liberal Party of Canada in 1945, and served as a Member of Parliament until 1957. He was appointed to the federal cabinet minister in 1953 He left the federal Parliament and Cabinet in 1957 after the fall of the St. Laurent government, and became leader of the Quebec Liberal Party in 1958. He became premier of Quebec after winning the 1960 election with the slogan Matres chez nous (masters in our own house). Lesage's victory brought to an end the long reign of the conservative Union Nationale party that had governed Quebec since 1944 under the leadership (until 1959) of Maurice Duplessis. Lesage's campaign ushered in the Quiet Revolution, which began to change the traditional domination of Quebec's economy by English-speaking Canadians, and the traditional domination of the public lives of French-speaking Quebecers by the Catholic Church was replaced by a larger role for the government of Quebec. In 1962, while Lesage was its leader, the Parti libral du Qubec ended its affiliation with the Liberal Party of Canada. His government was unexpectedly defeated by the Union Nationale of Daniel Johnson, Sr, in 1966. Lesage continued as leader of the Quebec Liberal Party until 1970. In 1970 he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada. On his passing in 1980, Jean Lesage was interred in the cimetire Notre-Dame-de-Belmont in Sainte-Foy, Quebec.