Jean Charest Menu

After meeting with his cabinet this morning to approve the decision, Charest and his wife Michelle Dionne...

Still, the plan's goal of cutting emissions 1.5 per cent below the 1990 level by 2012 falls well short of Kyoto's six-per-cent goal. New roads will help keep Quebec from making a serious cut.

The province's highways get tens of thousands more cars and trucks every year, and the new roads will spur more use of the latter in particular. According to Natural Resources Canada, it takes 13 times as much fossil fuel to carry a tonne of freight by truck than as train.

Memo to the Suzuki Foundation and others: Hold your applause for Charest until you see what he actually does. And factor this into your assessment: Charest commutes weekly between Montreal and Quebec City by government or private jet. This costs his supposedly penny-pinching government about $10,000 a week and burns profligate amounts of fuel - all to save less than an hour in travel time.

Quite a role model, our premier.

Monday 13 November 2006 QUEBEC CITY: PREMIER INSISTS THAT HIS PROVINCE IS A NATION
Premier Jean Charest of Quebec insisted on Saturday that his province is a nation regardless of what people in the rest of Canada considered it. The majority of people in Quebec speak French. Many of them support moves to separate from Canada and form an independent nation or some form of sovereignty association with Canada. Speaking to a regional meeting of his Liberal Party, Mr. Charest said that Quebecers do not need to have permission to ask from anyone to be who they are. The question of Quebec's status as a nation was again raised recently when one of the leading candidates for the federal Liberal Party leadership, Michael Ignatieff, declared that he wants to recognize Quebec formally as a nation within Canada. But recent opinion polls show that less than half of Canadians agree.

Tuesday May 9, 2006
Quebec pouring billions into hydro projects
Hydro-Quebec will invest $25 billion for new hydro dams, generating 4,500 megawatts with 1,000 megawatts earmarked for export sales, Premier Jean Charest said as he unveiled his government's long-awaited energy policy Thursday.

May 4 2006 Billion-dollar energy plans in works
The Charest government is ordering the construction of a new round of hydro dams and wind farms with the hope of dramatically increasing energy exports.
As part of a nine-year, multi-billion-dollar energy strategy released Thursday, the province also aims to curb residential power consumption.
Hydro-Québec president Thierry Vandal says increased power production will result in exports to the U.S. and Ontario which can be sold at a premium.
"I mean, we're talking about billions. It's in the billions, not in the hundreds of millions," Vandal said.
But the price tag, too, would be in the billions of dollars.
The government is forecasting it will cost $25 billion to develop the new hydro and wind power sources.

Friday Feb 17, 2006 cc

2005

September 26, 2005 gaz Charest is well surrounded in China
SHANGHAI -- Power Corporation President Andre Desmarais, one of Quebec's most successful businessmen, was present at the signing of a deal between Shanghai's Science and Technology Commission and the Quebec government Sunday, where Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng and Premier Jean Charest were also in attendance.
Desmarais said, "The premier's trip to China will open doors for Canada's and Quebec's businesses."

Sunday Apr 24, 2005 QUEBEC: QUEBEC GETS NEW BUDGET
The Liberal party in Canada's mainly French-speaking province of Quebec has presented a balanced budget for the fiscal year 2005-2006. However, there is a deficit the year after. The $55.4-billion budget offers an $81-million tax cut worth about about $500 per person. The budget also promises an increase of $826 million in health spending. It's the first budget for Quebec's new finance minister, Michel Audet, and the third budget for Quebec's Liberal party under Jean Charest.

Saturday Apr 9, 2005 lp
Bien mauvaise nouvelle pour Jean Charest: deux Québécois sur trois pensent qu'il ne devrait pas demeurer à la tête du Parti libéral du Québec pour les prochaines élections.
Ainsi, quand on demande ce que devrait faire M. Charest dans l'avenir, seulement 29 % des Québécois estiment qu'il doit demeurer à la barre du Parti libéral pour les prochaines élections.
Pas moins de 44 % des gens (et 48 % des francophones) soutiennent qu'il devrait «quitter la politique», et 19 % croient que l'heure est venue qu'il rejoigne le Parti conservateur fédéral.
Lorsqu'on demande aux Québécois en quel politicien ils ont confiance, M. Charest fait aussi piètre figure. Gilles Duceppe arrive premier, même s'il obtient un score partagé - 47 % lui font confiance, mais 43 % lui font peu ou pas du tout confiance.

Thursday Apr 7, 2005 ts Quebec premier could be drawn in
MONTREAL—Quebec Premier Jean Charest is being dragged into the sponsorship morass with news that a senior organizer for former public works minister Alfonso Gagliano also raised money for the provincial Liberals.

Tuesday Feb 1, 2005 gaz Charest shrugs off criticism
Premier Jean Charest says he is not disturbed by criticism his government is adrift and has been tagged by critics as one of the worst in Quebec's history, because he's convinced he is on the right track

Friday Jan 21, 2005 Facing a provincewide revolt, Premier Jean Charest retreated yesterday from a controversial proposal to boost funding for private Jewish schools

Friday 21 January 2005 From The Gazette
Charest bristles at criticism of fund hike for Jewish schools
The Quebec government yesterday stood by its decision to increase funding to Jewish private schools amid a wave of criticism from the Parti Quebecois opposition and other groups accusing it of creating social tensions.

Charest won't campaign for megacity

The Gazette Wednesday, June 02, 2004

Jean Charest, Westmount resident and Quebec premier, will vote against demerging because he believes in the success of the new city of Montreal.

But he won't be campaigning for his choice.

"As a citizen, I have a responsibility to vote and to express myself. And what I've said - and what I'm saying today - is what I said during the campaign (that I am in favour of municipal mergers)."

Charest said his government is giving communities the opportunity to uphold the current megacities or to demerge them.

"I made a commitment as premier that I would allow people to vote," he said yesterday.

Friday May 7, 2004 cbc
QUEBEC TO CUT 16,000 PUBLIC SERVICE JOBS BY 2013 Quebec will cut 16,000 public service jobs by 2013 to reduce the size of the government bureaucracy.

Wednesday Apr 14, 2004 Gazette
Protests a tactic: Charest Premier Jean Charest dismissed protests today to mark the first anniversary of his election win as a bargaining tactic by public-sector unions. ..."It's all about renegotiating the labour contracts," Charest said in an hour-long interview with the Gazette editorial board yesterday. "That's what it's about. Period."
And Charest said his chances of re-election should not be written off so soon, despite polls suggesting the Parti Quebecois would form a government if there were a rematch now.
"It's all about renegotiating labour contracts, and that's the way it should be understood," the premier said. Public opinion polls indicate that about 70 per cent of Quebecers are dissatisfied with the Charest government.

Tuesday Jan 20, 2004

“My vision is of a radiant Quebec. A Quebec that shines among the best. A Quebec that can give root to more than seven million different hopes and dreams.
This is the Quebec of tomorrow. This is the Quebec we are building together.” Jean Charest

see W-N Jean Charest ARCHIVES 2003-1998