Jean Garon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jean Garon (born May 6, 1938) is a politician, academic and economist in Quebec, Canada.
He was born in Saint-Michel, Quebec, and graduated from Laval University with a bachelor's degree in 1960 and a master's in economics two years later.
He taught at Laval University and Cégep Limoilou. As an early supporter of the Quebec independence movementm he became the vice-president of the pro-sovereignty group Rassemblement pour l'indépendance nationale in the Quebec City area in 1962.
He was one of the founding members of the Parti québécois in 1968. He ran for the National Assembly of Quebec in the 1973 in the constituency of Charlevoix, but lost. He was elected in the constituency of Lévis in 1976 and was re-elected in 1981, 1985, 1989 et 1994. Under René Lévesque, he was agriculture minister. After Lévesque resigned as party leader in 1985, Garon ran for the Parti québécois leadership in 1985 but finished third, beaten by Pierre-Marc Johnson.
Premier Robert Bourassa named him to head a commission on the economy. After Jacques Parizeau was elected premier in 1994, Garon was appointed education minister. Later, Premier Lucien Bouchard appointed him as head of the culture commission.
After leaving the National Assembly in 1998, he was elected mayor of Lévis, Quebec, but lost in 2005 to Danielle Roy-Marinelli.
