Provincial politician a ‘great lover of Quebec’
Advocated for asymmetric federalism
MONTREAL • Former Quebec Liberal cabinet minister and well-known constitutional expert Benoit Pelletier has died in Mexico at age 64, his family announced Monday.
In a statement, his wife and four children described him as “a caring husband, a devoted, funny, generous and attentive father and a great lover of Quebec and the French language.”
Pelletier served as a cabinet minister in former premier Jean Charest’s government, where he held numerous portfolios between 2003 and 2008.
“He dedicated his life to serving Quebec and Canada with devotion, force and passion,” his family wrote. “His brilliant career as a lawyer, politician, University of Ottawa professor and jurist all bear witness to it.”
Born in 1960, Pelletier was a well-known University of Ottawa law professor when he made the leap into provincial politics in 1998 by winning a seat in the western Quebec Chapleau riding for Charest’s Liberals. He presided over the Liberal party’s special committee on the province’s political and constitutional future, and was considered the father of the Charest Liberals’ policy on Quebec’s place in Canada.
When the party came to power in 2003, Pelletier was named Canadian intergovernmental affairs minister, a portfolio he would hold, along with others, until he left politics in 2008.
Although a federalist, Pelletier was considered a Quebec nationalist who advocated for asymmetric federalism — a framework that allows Quebec to have specific agreements and arrangements with Ottawa — and fought to limit the federal government’s spending powers.
In 2006, he helped finalize an agreement with the Harper government to allow Quebec to name a permanent representative to Canada’s delegation to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO.
He was also an advocate for a Quebec constitution — an idea he admitted would anger some federalists.
In a lengthy statement, Charest described Pelletier as a “colleague, adviser and a friend” who leaves a strong intellectual and political legacy.
Pelletier returned to law and teaching after his political career.