Éric Dorion (born June 2, 1970) is an administrator and politician in the

Canadian province Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North ...

of Quebec. He served in the National Assembly of Quebec from 2007 to 2008, representing

Nicolet-Yamaska Nicolet-Yamaska is a former provincial electoral district in the Centre-du-Québec and Montérégie regions of Quebec, Canada that elected members to the National Assembly of Quebec. As of its final election, it included the cities or municipali ...

as a member of the

Action démocratique du Québec Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

(ADQ).

Early life and career

Dorion was born in

Drummondville Drummondville is a city in the Centre-du-Québec region of Quebec, located east of Montreal on the Saint-François River. The population as of the Canada 2021 Census was 79,258. The mayor of Drummondville is Stéphanie Lacoste. Drummondville is ...

, Quebec, and by his own admission had a troubled early life. He received a two-year suspended sentence for illegal possession of a vehicle in 1992, at a time when he was battling drug and alcohol addiction. He has also admitted to having written false cheques in this period. He later regained control of his life and began working for the treatment and prevention of drug addiction; he founded the intervention centre "De l'autre côté de l'ombre" in 1996 and served as its president and director until his election to the Quebec legislature. He also completed a training program in drug addiction and psychology at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières in 1997-98. In his spare time, he has been a minor league hockey coach in Bécancour.

Legislator

Dorion was elected to the National Assembly of Quebec in the 2007 general election, winning a seat that was previously held by the Parti Québécois. His criminal background was discovered by the media during the campaign and was reported in newspapers across Canada; he initially denied having a police record, but acknowledged the truth when presented with incontrovertible evidence. ADQ leader

Mario Dumont Mario Dumont (born May 19, 1970) is a Canadian television personality and former politician in Quebec, Canada. He was a Member of the National Assembly of Quebec (MNA), and the leader of the Action démocratique du Québec (ADQ), from 1994 to 20 ...

accused the media of conducting a "witch hunt" against Dorion, who he said had turned his life around several years earlier. After his election, Dorion said that his top priority would be preventing drug addiction. The

Quebec Liberal Party The Quebec Liberal Party (QLP; french: Parti libéral du Québec, PLQ) is a provincial political party in Quebec. It has been independent of the federal Liberal Party of Canada since 1955. The QLP has always been associated with the colour red; e ...

formed a

minority government A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and Cabinet (government), cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or Coalition government, coalition of parties do ...

after the 2007 election, and the ADQ became the

official opposition Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. This article uses the term ''government'' as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning ''th ...

in the National Assembly. Dorion was appointed as his party's critic for social solidarity. As a legislator, he took part in all-party efforts to ensure that future Quebec legislation would be free of

homophobia Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitude (psychology), attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, h ...

. He later helped promote his party's controversial social security reforms in the

2008 Quebec election The 2008 Quebec general election was held in the Canadian province of Quebec on December 8, 2008. The Quebec Liberal Party, under incumbent Premier Jean Charest, was re-elected with a majority government, marking the first time since the 1950s ( ...

.Antoine Robitaille, "Dumont veut mettre un terme à l'aide sociale comme «mode de vie»," ''Le Devoir'', 21 November 2008, A5. Dorion was personally defeated in 2008, finishing third against Parti Québécois candidate Jean-Martin Aussant amidst a provincial swing away from the ADQ. He returned to work at "De l'autre côté de l'ombre" after the election.

Electoral record

Footnotes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dorion, Eric 1970 births Action démocratique du Québec MNAs French Quebecers Living people People from Drummondville 21st-century Canadian politicians