Québec Aujourd'hui

Please join us today at 5 pm in Gorgas 205:

Thursday, January 31, 2008 from 5:00 to 6:15 p.m. in Gorgas Library room 205.
Canadian Senator Céline Hervieux-Payette will present "Québec Aujourd'hui" (Québec Today)
This, her second lecture at UA on 1/31 will be given in French*

Hervieux-Payette, a lawyer by trade, represents the province of Quebec and the Senatorial Division of Bedford. She rose to opposition leader in 2007. She also served as an elected member of Parliament from 1979 to 1985.

Hervieux-Payette was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 1979 election as the Liberal Member of Parliament for Mercier, Quebec. She was re-elected in the 1980 election, and became parliamentary secretary to the Solicitor General of Canada. In 1983, she was appointed by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau to the Canadian Cabinet as Minister of State (Fitness and Amateur Sport). She then served as Minister of State (Youth) from January to June 1984.

She was not appointed to the Cabinet of John Turner who succeeded Trudeau as Liberal leader and prime minister in June 1984. She stood as a candidate in the 1984 election, but was defeated.

She returned to the private sector and served as vice-president, business ventures at the SNC Group, an engineering and manufacturing firm, from 1985 to 1989. From 1991 to 1995, she was Vice-President, Regulatory and Legal Affairs for Fonorola Inc., a telecommunications firm. She has been counsellor for Fasken Martineau DuMoulin since 1995.

Hervieux-Payette attempted to re-enter the House of Commons in the 1988 and 1993 elections but was defeated in both attempts. In 1995, she returned to Parliament when she was appointed to the Canadian Senate by Jean Chrétien. She is expected to remain in the Senate until she reaches the mandatory retirement age of 75 in 2016.As a Senator, Hervieux-Payette has been an outspoken advocate; for example, on May 3, 2006, she asked Bank of Canada David A. Dodge how he could sleep at night when he is contemplating raising national interest rates that would increase borrowing costs for the Quebec government.

On 18 January 2007, Hervieux-Payette was appointed Leader of the Opposition in the Senate by Liberal leader Stephane Dion, whom she had supported during the leadership race. She also became Quebec lieutenant for Stéphane Dion in October 2007.


A reception will follow her lecture. Co-sponsored by the department of modern languages and classics; the department of women's studies; the department of political science, the College of Arts and Sciences, University Libraries and Capstone International Program Center.

* The first talk, in English, will take place from 2 to 3:15 p.m. in Room 127, a large lecture hall in the Biology building at UA. The topic is "Current Trends in Canada and Implications for the United States."