Claude Cousineau (born February 20, 1950, in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

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, ...

) is a

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politician and teacher, who represented the constituency of

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in the

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as a member of the

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 ...

from 1998 to 2018. Cousineau studied at the

Université du Québec à Montréal The (UQAM; ), is a French language, French-language public university, public research university based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the largest constituent element of the system. UQAM was founded on April 9, 1969, by the government o ...

and obtained a bachelor's degree in cellular and molecular biology. He also received a

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in education at the same university. He was a teacher from 1975 to 1978 at a secondary school in Montreal and a science and mathematics teacher at

Collège Charles-Lemoyne The Collège Charles-Lemoyne is a private high school with campuses in Longueuil and in Sainte-Catherine, near Montreal, Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in ...

between 1978 and 1985. He was a program coordinator for three years at the same college and was the general manager of the Académie Laurentienne located near

Sainte-Adèle Sainte-Adèle () is a municipality in Quebec, Canada, and is part of the Les Pays-d'en-Haut Regional County Municipality. It lies on Route 117 about north-west of Montreal. Its tourism-based economy centres on its skiing and hotel industry. Sai ...

in the Laurentians. He was also the mayor and councillor of the town of Sainte-Lucie-des-Laurentides. He was mayor of the municipality from 1989 to 1998 and was also the chairman in 1982 of an urban planning commission. He was involved in the economic development in the Laurentians region particularly in Municipalité régionale de comté (MRC) des Laurentides in which he served as warden and was president of a regional

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in 1996. He was also a board member of the Québec Regional County Municipality Association. Cousineau entered politics in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

where he was elected the MNA in Bertrand in the northern Laurentians. He was the Parliamentary Secretary (Assistant) to the State Minister for Municipal Affairs, the State Minister for Health and Social services, the State Minister of Economic Development and the Minister of Finance during his mandate. When the Parti Québécois lost to the Liberals in

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

, he was re-elected and was named the critic for research, science and technology in 2003 and in innovation in 2005. He was re-elected for a third term in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, a fourth in 2012.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cousineau, Claude 1950 births Heads of schools in Canada Living people 20th-century mayors of places in Quebec Parti Québécois MNAs Politicians from Montreal Université du Québec à Montréal alumni Vice presidents of the National Assembly of Quebec 20th-century members of the National Assembly of Quebec 21st-century members of the National Assembly of Quebec