| Pierre Curzi | |
|---|---|
| MNA for Borduas | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office April 25, 2007 |
|
| Preceded by | Jean-Pierre Charbonneau |
| Personal details | |
| Born | February 11, 1946 Montreal, Quebec |
| Political party | Parti Québécois → Independent |
| Spouse(s) | Marie Tifo |
| Residence | Montreal |
| Profession | Actor, Screenwriter, Unionist |
| Portfolio | Culture, Communications, Language |
Pierre Curzi (born February 11, 1946 in Montreal, Quebec) is an actor, screenwriter and politician in Quebec, Canada. He is the Member of the National Assembly of Quebec (MNA) for the riding of Borduas in the Montérégie region south of Montreal. Elected under the Parti Québécois (PQ) banner, he now sits as an independent.
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Curzi went to the Ecole nationale de Théâtre in 1969. Prior to his political career, he played in numerous popular Quebec movies, plays, television shows and documentaries including Duplessis, Maria Chapdelaine, Le Crime d'Ovide Plouffe, Babylone, Les Filles de Caleb, Million Dollar Babies, Virginie, Matroni et moi, The Barbarian Invasions, Le Négociateur and Romeo and Juliette.
Overall, he played roles in about 50 productions since 1971 and had been nominated for four Genie Awards for his roles in Maria Chapdelaine (1983), Lucien Brouillard (1983) and Le Déclin de l'empire américain (1986) and a nomination for best screenplay for Pouvoir intime in 1986.
He was also the president of the Union des artistes for eight years. The UDA is the main union group for cinema, theatre and television actors in Quebec.
He is married to Marie Tifo, an actress with whom he costarred in the films Pouvoir intime and Le Jour "S".
Curzi entered politics when he announced his candidacy for the riding of Borduas in the 2007 provincial elections, following the retirement of Jean-Pierre Charbonneau. He defeated the Action démocratique du Québec's Claude Gauthier by over 2,000 votes. He was later named the PQ critic for culture, communications and language.
Curzi was forced to apologize and retract a statement he made in October 2007 during a radio interview that appeared to suggest that a sovereign Quebec would have "more teeth" and could potentially remove the voting rights of Quebec's English-speaking community living on Montreal's West Island.[1] He faced some criticism in 2008 as one of two MNAs, along with Daniel Turp, who endorsed a controversial petition opposing Paul McCartney's performance at Quebec City's 400th anniversary celebrations.[2] In September 2010, Curzi expressed on the television interview show Les Francs-tireurs his theory that there was a shortage of Francophone players on the National Hockey League team the Montreal Canadiens and that this was "damned well political" and the result of a federalist plot.[3]
On June 6, 2011, Curzi and caucus mates Louise Beaudoin and Lisette Lapointe resigned from the Parti Québécois to sit as independents over the PQ's acceptance of a bill changing the law to permit an agreement between the City of Québec and Quebecor Inc. concerning the construction of an arena in Quebec City.[4]
| 2008 Quebec provincial election : Borduas edit | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | +/- | ||
| Parti Québécois | (x)Pierre Curzi | 13,329 | 47.66 | |||
| Liberal | Jacques Charbonneau | 9,125 | 32.63 | |||
| Action démocratique | Jean Dion | 3,430 | 12.26 | |||
| Québec Solidaire | Éric Noël | 966 | 3.45 | |||
| Green | Marco Caron | 904 | 3.23 | |||
| Parti indépendantiste | Michel Lepage | 214 | 0.77 | |||
| Total valid votes | 27,968 | 100.00 | ||||
| Rejected and declined votes | 485 | |||||
| Turnout | 28,453 | 65.87 | ||||
| Electors on the lists | 43,198 | |||||
Source: Official Results, Government of Quebec