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Bernard Landry received a degree in economics and finance from the Université de Montréal in Montreal, Quebec and a degree in economics and finance from L'Institut d'études politiques in Paris.
A practicing lawyer, he was a partner in the Montreal law firm of "Lapointe Rosenstein" when he was elected to the National Assembly of QuebecThe National Assembly is the legislative body of the Canadian province of Quebec. It operates in a fashion similar to that of other British-style parliamentary systems. Since the abolition of the Legislative Council (an "upper house") in 1968, the Nationa in the 1976 general electionThe Quebec general election on November 15, 1976 was one of the most significant elections in Quebec history, rivaled perhaps only by the 1960 general election, and caused major repercussions in Canada. The Parti Quebecois under Rene Levesque defeated the. Under the Parti Québécois government of René LévesqueRene Levesque ( August 24, 1922 November 1, 1987), was a reporter, a minister of the government of the Canadian province of Quebec ( 1960 1966), the founder of the Parti Quebecois political party, and Prime Minister of Quebec ( November 25, 1976 October 3, he became Minister of State of Economic Development from February 2February 2 is the 33rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 332 days remaining (333 in leap years). Events 962 Pope John XII crowns Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor. 1032 Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor becomes King of Burgundy. 1119 Callixtus II, 1977For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). Events January 1 First woman Episcopal priest ordained January 6 EMI sacks the Sex Pistols January 18 Scientists identify a previously unknown bacterium as the cause of the mysterious " legionnaire's disease" Januar to March 12March 12 is the 71st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (72nd in Leap years). There are 294 days remaining. Events 515 BC Construction is completed on the Temple in Jerusalem. 1664 New Jersey becomes a colony of Britain. 1894 For the first time Coc, 1981Events January-February January Sarawak Chamber found January 1 Greece enters the EEC January 1 Palau becomes self-governing January 4 Sheffield police arrests Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper January 16 Protestant gunmen shoot and wound Bernadette D. Re-elected in the riding of Laval-des-rapides at the 1981 general electionIn the Quebec general election on April 13, 1981, the incumbent Parti Quebecois under Rene Levesque won re-election, defeating the Quebec Liberal Party under Claude Ryan. The PQ won re-election despite having lost the 1980 Quebec referendum on sovereignty, he was again Minister of State of Economic Development until September 9, 1982 when he was made Delegate Minister to Exterior Commerce. He was later Minister of International Relations and Exterior Commerce and Minister of Finance in the same government.
After the defeat of Parti Québécois in the 1985 general election, he began teaching at the department of administrative sciences at the Université du Québec à Montréal, which he did until 1994. After the victory of the PQ in the 1994 general election, the newly elected premier Jacques Parizeau made him his Deputy Minister, a function he kept from September 26, 1994 to December 15, 1998.
He became premier of Quebec on March 8, 2001 following the resignation of Lucien Bouchard. Landry is a Quebec independentist advocating a supranational confederation of Quebec and Canada, inspired by the institutions of the European Union. As such, he is one of the most faithful followers of René Lévesque and the other sovereignists-associationists. He is the author of Commerce sans frontières (barrierless trade), published in 1987.
In 2003 he lost the Quebec general election to Jean Charest's Liberal Party of Quebec. A renown documentary named À Hauteur d'homme about Bernard Landry's viewpoint of the election was produced in 2003. At the August 2004 Parti Québécois National Council, after a long reflexion that began the day after the election, he finally announced on August 27, 2004 that he would remain president of the party, lead the PQ to the next election and to bring Quebec to its independence. He declared to an ovation of delegates: I want to govern provincially no more. I want national independence. [...] I took time for this decision because I know all the perils of this mission. I want to ask you to struggle also in order that our country can be born in a close future.