Jean Charest

Jean Charest is a Canadian lawyer, politician, and the premier of Quebec. His legal name is John James Charest.

Born on June 24, 1958, in Sherbrooke, Quebec, he was elected member of Parliament for Sherbrooke in 1984 and was appointed to Brian Mulroney's cabinet as secretary of state in 1984. In 1991 he became Environment minister. He ran for the leadership of the Conservative Party after Mulroney's retirement but lost to Defence Minister Kim Campbell. After the 1993 election, in which all but two of the Conservative Party's candidates lost their seats, Charest was elected party leader.

In the 1997 election the Conservative Party received 19% of the vote, but won only 20 seats out of 301. A year later Charest left federal politics to become leader of the Quebec Liberal Party. In the provincial election later that year, the Liberals received more votes than the incumbent Parti Québécois, but the PQ won enough seats to form a majority government. In 2003 Charest was elected premier of Quebec, ending nine years of rule by the PQ.

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Preceded by: Bernard Landry

List of Quebec premiers

Succeeded by: Charest is the current premier of Quebec.