Michelle Courchesne

Michelle Courchesne
MNA for Fabre
Incumbent
Assumed office May 1, 2003
Preceded by	Joseph Facal
Personal details
Born	May 6, 1953 (1953-05-06) (age 58) Trois-Rivières, Quebec
Political party	Quebec Liberal Party
Spouse(s)	Normand Filiatreault
Cabinet	President of Treasury Board

Michelle Courchesne (born May 6, 1953 in Trois-Rivières) is a Quebec politician. A member of the Quebec Liberal Party, she is the National Assembly Member for the riding of Fabre in Laval, Quebec. She is also the current President of the Treasury of Board and Minister responsible for the Laval region while being a former Minister of Education, Family, Immigration, Employment and Social Solidarity.

Courchesne went to the Université de Montréal and obtained a bachelor's degree in sociology and a master's degree in urban development. She would become an urbanist from 1976 to 1981 before being elected to the City Council of Laval. She would also work at the Ministry of Culture and Communications as a Deputy Minister before being a member of the administration council of the National Bank of Canada, Radio-Canada, the National Theater School of Canada and the Quebec Mental Health Foundation. She was then the director of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and a vice-president for Marketel and Cognicase.

Courchesne entered politics in 2003, where she was elected as the MNA for Fabre while the Liberals regained power after nine years of governing by the Parti Québécois. She was named by Jean Charest in the Cabinet as the Minister responsible for the relations with the Citizens and Immigration and was then promoted to Employment and Social Solidarity following a Cabinet shuffle in 2005 where she took the position occupied by Claude Bechard.

Following the 2007 elections, she was re-elected in a Liberal minority government, and named the Minister of Education, Leisure and Sports as well Minister of Family. On April 24, 2007 the Ministry of Education had announced that it will lift a tuition freeze for university studies and will increase it by 50$ per semester over the next five years which prompting fierce opposition by the University student association, the FEUQ. Quebec currently holds the lowest university tuition fees across Canada, with fees averaging 1,700$ per student per semester. Following the 2008 election, she kept most of the portfolios but gave up the Ministry of Family to LaFontaine MNA Tony Tomassi.

Electoral record

2008 Quebec provincial election : Fabre edit
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	+/-
	Liberal	(x)Michelle Courchesne	15,349	45.50
	Parti Québécois	François-Gycelain Rocque	12,425	36.83
	Action démocratique	Tom Pentefountas	4,024	11.93
	Green	Erika Alvarez	1,021	3.03
	Québec Solidaire	Pierre Brien	918	2.72
Total valid votes			33,737	100.00
Rejected and declined votes			517
Turnout			34,254	57.08
Electors on the lists			60,010

Source: Official Results, Government of Quebec

External links

• Biography of Michelle Courchesne (French)

Political offices
Preceded by Jean-Marc Fournier	Minister of Education, Sport and Leisure 2007–2010	Succeeded by Line Beauchamp
Preceded by Carole Theberge	Minister of Family 2007–2008	Succeeded by Tony Tomassi
Preceded by Claude Bechard	Minister of Employment and Social Solidarity 2005–present	Succeeded by Sam Hamad
Preceded by Monique Gagnon-Tremblay	President of the Treasury Board 2010–present	Succeeded by current
Preceded by Dominique Vien	Minister of government services 2010–present	Succeeded by current

Persondata
Name	Courchesne, Michelle
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	May 6, 1953
Place of birth	Trois-Rivières, Quebec
Date of death
Place of death