Éric R. Mercier (born October 3, 1967) is a military officer, publicist, and politician from

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. As a member of the

Quebec Liberal Party The Quebec Liberal Party (QLP; , PLQ) is a provincial political party in Quebec. It has been independent of the federal Liberal Party of Canada since 1955. The QLP has traditionally supported a form of Quebec federalist ideology with nuance ...

, Mercier represented the Charlesbourg

electoral district An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

in the

National Assembly of Quebec The National Assembly of Quebec (, ) is the Legislature, legislative body of the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec in Canada. Legislators are called MNAs (Members of the National Assembly; ). The lieutenant governor of Que ...

from 2003 to 2007.Staff report (March 27, 2007)
ADQ shines in Quebec City.

CBC News CBC News is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC ...

Life and career

His father Ralph Mercier (1937–2020) was also a politician from Quebec. Mercier attended Campus Notre-Dame-de-Foy in

Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures () is a city in central Quebec, Canada, on the Saint Lawrence River, adjacent to Quebec City. The town was founded in 1691 by three families (Desroches, Racette, Couture). It was merged with Quebec City on January 1, ...

, graduating in 1987. He then attended

Université Laval (; English: ''Laval University)'' is a public research university in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The university traces its roots to the Séminaire de Québec, founded by François de Montmorency-Laval in 1663, making it the oldest institutio ...

, earning a bachelor's degree in communications and public relations in 1991 and a bachelor's degree in political science in 1996. He also took courses in the law school while attending Laval. He earned a degree in tourism at Collège Mérici in 1994. Mercier was appointed project manager for the

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Pu ...

group at the Mallette Maheu division of

Arthur Andersen Arthur Andersen LLP was an American accounting firm based in Chicago that provided auditing, tax advising, consulting and other professional services to large corporations. By 2001, it had become one of the world's largest multinational corpo ...

in 1996. Mercier then took military training courses for officers and leadership at

Royal Military College Saint-Jean The Royal Military College Saint-Jean (), commonly referred to as RMC Saint-Jean and CMR, is a Canadian Military academy, military college and university. It is located on the historical site of Fort Saint-Jean (Quebec), Fort Saint-Jean, in Sai ...

, completing the work in 1998. After naval training in

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Gre ...

, he studied information and public affairs for the

Canadian Forces The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; , FAC) are the unified Military, military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air commands referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force. Under the ''National Defenc ...

in Victoria until 2001. He was appointed as a career officer of the

Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; , ''MRC'') is the Navy, naval force of Canada. The navy is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of February 2024, the RCN operates 12 s, 12 s, 4 s, 4 s, 8 s, and several auxiliary ...

in 1998, training on '' HMCS Oriole'' in 1998 and the frigate HMCS ''Ottawa'' in 1999 and 2000. He served as liaison officer and administrative assistant at the

Canadian Forces Naval Reserve The Naval Reserve (NAVRES, ) is the Primary Reserve component of the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN). The primary mission of the NAVRES is to force generate sailors and teams for Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) operations, including: domestic safety operati ...

in 1999 and 2000, then as public communications officer attached to the headquarters of the Naval Reserve in 2000 and 2001. Mercier was Divisional Officer at Department of Education at the Naval Unit HMCS ''Montcalm'' in Quebec in 2002 and 2003. He served as Deputy Director and Director of Communications Office of the Leader of the Official Opposition in

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

in 2002 and 2003. He was elected in the

2003 Quebec general election The 2003 Quebec general election was held on April 14, 2003, to elect members of the National Assembly of Quebec (Canada). The Parti libéral du Québec (PLQ), led by Jean Charest, defeated the incumbent Parti Québécois, led by Premier Berna ...

, succeeding the retiring Jean Rochon of

Parti Québécois The Parti Québécois (PQ; , ) is a sovereignist and social democratic provincial political party in Quebec, Canada. The PQ advocates national sovereignty for Quebec involving independence of the province of Quebec from Canada and establishi ...

. Mercier was defeated by Catherine Morissette of

Action Démocratique du Québec The (, ), commonly referred to as the , was a right-wing populist and conservative provincial political party in Quebec, Canada. On the sovereignty question, it defined itself as autonomist; it had support from nationalists and federalists. Its ...

in the

2007 Quebec general election 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has symbolic associations in religion, mythology, supers ...

References

External links

Éric R. Mercier
via

1967 births Living people Politicians from Quebec City Quebec Liberal Party MNAs 21st-century members of the National Assembly of Quebec Université Laval alumni {{Quebec-MNA-stub