Michel Pagé

Michel Pagé (December 4, 1949 – September 4, 2013) was a Canadian businessman and politician in the province of Quebec. He served in the National Assembly of Quebec from 1973 to 1992 as a Liberal and was a cabinet minister in the government of Robert Bourassa.[1]

He is not to be confused with another Michel Pagé who has written about the linguistic integration of immigrants in Quebec.[2]

Early life and career

Pagé was born in Saint-Basile, Quebec. He received a Bachelor of Laws degree from Université Laval in 1973, was called to the Quebec Bar in 1974, and practiced law from 1974 to 1985.[3]

Legislator

Pagé was first elected to the National Assembly of Quebec in the 1973 provincial election, defeating one-term Créditiste incumbent Antoine Drolet in the division of Portneuf, near Quebec City.[4] He was only twenty-three years old at the time. The Liberals won a landslide majority government in this election, and Pagé served as a backbench supporter of Robert Bourassa's administration.

The Liberals lost to the Parti Québécois in the 1976 provincial election, although Pagé kept his seat by a reduced margin. After the election, he served as his party's critic for tourism. He supported Raymond Garneau's unsuccessful bid for the party leadership in 1978.[5]

Pagé fought for the "non" side in Quebec's 1980 referendum on sovereignty and was at the time considered a strong supporter of Canadian federalism.[6] After the "non" side's victory, he introduced an unsuccessful motion to have the Canadian flag permanently displayed in the national assembly.[7]

He was re-elected again in 1981 and served as chief opposition whip and caucus chair for the next four years.[8] He was neutral in the Liberal Party's 1983 leadership contest, citing the responsibilities of his office.[9]

In 1981, Pagé alleged that pornographic videotapes had been made in the legislature using provincial television equipment. An investigation found there was no substance to the charge and that no such tapes were made.[10]

Cabinet minister

Agriculture Minister

The Liberal Party returned to power under Robert Bourassa's leadership in the 1985 provincial election. When Bourassa formed his first cabinet in December 1985, he named Pagé as his minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. After the 1989 provincial election, Pagé received additional responsibilities as government house leader.

Pagé supported the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement in October 1987, saying that it would not affect Quebec's agricultural programs.[11] The deal later met with opposition from some in the agricultural sector, and Pagé called on the federal government to ensure that guarantees over import restrictions were included in the final settlement.[12]

Pagé announced changes to Quebec's milk distribution program in 1986, introducing a new program for low-income pregnant mothers and reducing the distribution of free milk to elementary school children from five days per week to three. The Parti Québécois alleged that the latter change would hurt low-income Quebecers, though Pagé disagreed with this conclusion.[13] Following criticism, Pagé agreed to restore free milk on a daily basis.[14] In 1989, he announced that Quebec would become the first jurisdiction to ban dioxins and furans from Quebec milk cartons.[15]

In 1987, Pagé led cabinet in passing an order in council that required margarine produced in Quebec to be a different colour from butter. The intent of the legislation was to support dairy production and to make consumers aware of the difference between "a natural product and a synthetic one."[16] Margarine producers strongly opposed the change.[17]

Pagé announced an aid package for Quebec's horse breeding sector in 1987.[18] He later reached an agreement to save the financially troubled Blue Bonnets harness raceway in early 1988.[19]

In 1989, Pagé recommended that cabinet transfer its authority over agricultural rezoning to a quasi-judicial commission. (This followed a controversy over a proposed land sale that would have resulted in financial gain for some prominent donors to the Quebec Liberal Party; Pagé postponed the sale following the revelations.)[20] The Bourassa government imposed a rezoning moratorium and commissioned a task force to find ways of ending speculation on such property.[21]

Pagé supported the Bourassa's government's shift toward Quebec nationalism after the failure of the Meech Lake Accord on reforms to the Canadian constitution in June 1990. Among other things, the accord would have recognized Quebec as a "distinct society" within Canada; after its collapse, Pagé said that Quebec's future would be determined only by Quebecers.[22] He boycotted all but one event at a policy conference for Canada's agriculture ministers later in the year.[23]

Pagé was the acting Public Security minister when the Oka crisis first broke out in 1990. He has said that he did not authorize the police assault on a Mohawk barricade that resulted in the death of a Quebec officer.[24] The government later stated that an assistant to regular minister Sam Elkas knew of the raid, but did not inform either Elkas or Pagé.[25]

Education Minister

In 1990, Pagé was transferred from the Agriculture portfolio to Education. He retained his position as government house leader.

Pagé ended Quebec's involvement with a national Canadian task force on education in November 1990, citing the failure of the Meech Lake Accord and noting that education was largely a provincial responsibility. His decision effectively stopped the task force's work.[26] He later opposed a federal literacy and training strategy as an encroachment into the province's jurisdiction.[27]

In May 1991, Pagé rejected a Parti Québécois suggestion to bus non-francophone immigrant students to schools in predominantly francophone neighbourhoods.[28] He considered, but ultimately did not accept, changes to a clause in Quebec's Charter of the French Language that required all immigrant students to attend French-language schools.[29] In September 1991, he announced a five-year program to reduce Quebec's high dropout rate, added more school days, and provide greater flexibility for the province's education providers.[30]

Pagé announced in May 1991 that several schools in low-income neighbourhoods would serve free breakfasts to students at the start of each day.[31] The following year, he again introduced cutbacks to Quebec's free milk program (after the program was transferred from the Agriculture ministry to Education).[32]

Government House Leader

In May 1991, Pagé blocked an effort by the Equality Party to have the Canadian flag permanently displayed in the national assembly.[33] He acknowledged that he had introduced an identical motion eleven years earlier, though he said his purpose (like that of the Equality Party) was simply to embarrass the government of the day.[7] As a compromise, the Liberals agreed to bring out the Canadian flag on special occasions.[34]

Pagé oversaw legislation for a provincial referendum in late 1992. The Bourassa government's original intent was to have a vote on Quebec sovereignty, but it later changed the referendum to a vote on the Charlottetown Accord, a post-Meech Lake effort at constitutional reform.[35] The accord was defeated in Quebec and in a national vote across Canada. Following the vote, Pagé said that Canadians could no longer live happily together and that sovereignty-association could be an interesting concept for Quebec's future.[36] (Several years later, Pagé said that he made these comments in the emotion of the moment and that they were not representative of his beliefs.)[37]

He resigned from cabinet in October 1992 and formally resigned from the legislature a month later.[3]

After politics

Pagé was the president and chief executive officer of Donohue Inc., a pulp and newsprint company based in Quebec City, from October 1992 until his sudden resignation in August 1994.[38] He announced in March 1993 that the company would post a profit after two years of losses, due in large part to rising lumber prices.[39] He was named as the honorary chairman of Lithos Corp. in October 1995.[40]

He made a guest appearance at a Bloc Québécois policy convention in 1995, although he said that his intent was to discuss non-partisan issues and that he had not become a Quebec sovereigntist.[41] He later said that he voted against sovereignty in the province's 1995 referendum.[37]

Pagé was appointed as interim president of the educational channel Radio-Quebec on December 17, 1995, following the death of Jean Fortier. His first responsibility was to oversee a restructuring plan that had been approved by the previous leadership, involving several layoffs.[42] In June 1996, he agreed to a program exchange with Radio-Canada.[43]

In March 1998, he was nominated to the board of Searchgold Resources Inc.[44] He led a group of investors in purchasing the Montreal-based airline firm Inter-Canadien later in the same year, and he later served as the company's vice-present.[45] Inter-Canadien suspended operations in December 1999 and declared bankruptcy the following year.[46]

Pagé tried to purchase the International Hockey League's Quebec Rafales in 1998, but was not successful.[47]

Pagé was president of the Commission canadienne du lait in 2001–02. In this capacity, he announced a support price increase for skim milk powder and butter in late December 2001 that was criticized by both producers and consumers. He later promised producers a more significant price increase, but was forced to withdraw this pledge after meeting with opposition from the Canadian government.[48]

Electoral record

1989 Quebec general election: Portneuf
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Michel Pagé	17,768	70.70
	Parti Québécois	Michelle Labrie	7,362	29.30
Total valid votes			25,130	100.00
Rejected and declined votes			858
Turnout			25,988	78.34
Electors on the lists			33,173
Source: Official Results, Le Directeur général des élections du Québec.

1985 Quebec general election: Portneuf
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Michel Pagé	18,406	69.10	+17.96
	Parti Québécois	Robert Jasmin	7,187	26.98	−18.68
	New Democratic Party	Gilles Harvey	726	2.73
	Humanist	Jean Paradis	264	0.99
	Christian Socialist	Mario Paradis	52	0.20
Total valid votes			26,635	100.00
Rejected and declined votes			279
Turnout			26,914	81.34	−5.62
Electors on the lists			33,087
Source: Official Results, Le Directeur général des élections du Québec.

1981 Quebec general election: Portneuf
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Michel Pagé	14,120	51.14
	Parti Québécois	André Girard	12,607	45.66
	Union Nationale	Yves Bernatchez	884	3.20	–
Total valid votes			27,611	100.00
Rejected and declined votes			242
Turnout			27,853	86.96
Electors on the lists			32,028
Source: Official Results, Le Directeur général des élections du Québec.

1976 Quebec general election: Portneuf
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Michel Pagé	10,362	40.47	−12.67
	Parti Québécois	Gilles Naud	7,579	29.60	+12.50
	Union Nationale	Antoine-B. Dussault	3,815	14.90	+10.72
	Ralliement créditiste	Roland Godin	3,741	14.61	−10.97
	Parti national populaire	Pierre Castonguay	106	0.41
Total valid votes			25,603	100.00
Rejected and declined votes			407
Turnout			26,010	89.04	+3.61
Electors on the lists			29,210
Source: Official Results, Le Directeur général des élections du Québec.

1973 Quebec general election: Portneuf
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Michel Pagé	12,638	53.14
	Ralliement créditiste	Antoine Drolet	6,083	25.58
	Parti Québécois	Jean-Paul Julien	4,067	17.10
	Union Nationale	Paul-Émile Langevin	993	4.18
Total valid votes			23,781
Rejected and declined votes			242
Turnout			24,023	85.43
Electors on the lists			28,119
Source: Official Results, Le Directeur général des élections du Québec.

External links

• "Biography". Dictionnaire des parlementaires du Québec de 1792 à nos jours (in French). National Assembly of Quebec.

References

1. "L'ex-ministre Michel Pagé n'est plus". Radio-Canada.ca. Retrieved 2013-09-23.
2. Michel Pagé avec la collaboration de Patricia Lamarre, "L’intégration linguistique des immigrants au Québec" Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine, Institute for Research on Public Policy, 3 February 2010. The author's career summary at the end of the document indicates that this a different person.
3. "Biography". Dictionnaire des parlementaires du Québec de 1792 à nos jours (in French). National Assembly of Quebec.
4. Official Results, Le Directeur général des élections du Québec, accessed 8 January 2011.
5. Graham Fraser, PQ: René Lévesque and the Parti Québécois in Power, (Toronto: MacMillan of Canada), 1984, p. 141.
6. "PQ's Duhaime faces attack on press trip $", Globe and Mail, 18 August 1978, p. 8; Rhéal Séguin, "Quebec Liberals weigh sovereignty option," Globe and Mail, 24 February 1990, A1; Robert McKenzie, "Bourassa's course uncertain," 23 June 1990, A10.
7. Robert Sheppard, "The ups and downs of inside, outside," Globe and Mail, 2 May 1991, A19.
8. "Caucus gives Ryan vote of confidence as Liberal leader," Globe and Mail, 30 April 1981, p. 8.
9. Some believe Pagé was planning to support Raymond Garneau, who ultimately chose not to run. Margot Gibb-Clark, "Experience, youth seen as choices in Quebec contest," Globe and Mail, 5 September 1983, p. 1.
10. "Porno tapes won't bring prosecution," Globe and Mail, 11 December 1981, p. 10.
11. Bertrand Marotte, "Bourassa willing to help PM sell agreement to Canadians," 8 October 1987, A5.
12. Bertrand Marotte, "Quebec to demand import controls, minister says," Globe and Mail, 4 December 1987, A15.
13. "Plan to reduce free milk distribution creates storm for Quebec minister," Globe and Mail, 27 September 1986, A2.
14. "Producers cough up, school milk back daily," Montreal Gazette, 11 October 196, A3.
15. "Toxic chemicals in milk cartons banned in Quebec," Globe and Mail, 14 March 1989, A14.
16. "Quebec move on margarine is praised," Globe and Mail, 7 August 1987, A5.
17. Penny MacRae, "Quebec margarine makers gather petition to fight color change," Toronto Star, 11 August 1987, B3.
18. "Racehorse breeder goes to stock market," Toronto Star, 2 October 1987, B10.
19. "Quebec government to operate ailing Blue Bonnets racetrack," Toronto Star, 17 October 1987, B4; "Blue Bonnets May See Last Race," Associated Press, 17 December 1987; Harvey Enchin, "Bonnets is given new life," 1 July 1988, A17.
20. "Get rid of rezoning role, Quebec minister urges," Globe and Mail, 13 June 1989, A14.
21. "Quebec halts farmland rezoning," Globe and Mail, 17 June 1989, A2.
22. Robert McKenzie, "Bourassa's course uncertain," 23 June 1990, A10.
23. The meeting that Pagé attended was on international trade. "Quebec to boycott farm conference," Globe and Mail, 10 August 1990, B2; "Ottawa to study GST exemptions, farm ministers told," Toronto Star, 25 August 1990, B2.
24. "Police, Mowhawks [sic] Trade Gunfire In Land Dispute, One Officer Killed," Associated Press, 11 July 1990.
25. Eloise Morin, "Quebec aide scapegoat for Oka, Parizeau says," Toronto Star, 17 October 1990, A12.
26. Rosemary Spiers, "Quebec blocks national study on education," Toronto Star, 25 January 1991, A14.
27. Rhéal Séguin, "Proposals on education anger Quebec ministers," Globe and Mail, 15 May 1991, A6.
28. "Quebec says no to busing students," Globe and Mail, 11 May 1991, A7.
29. "Quebec to study future of English schools," Toronto Star, 6 September 1991, A16; Andre Picard, "Change Bill 101, task force urges," Globe and Mail, 13 February 1992, A4; Rhéal Séguin, "Law on language in school splitting Quebec ministers," Globe and Mail, 3 June 1992, N4; Tu Thanh Ha and Geoff Baker, "No change to Bill 101 on schools," Montreal Gazette, 14 November 1992, A1.
30. Rhéal Séguin, "Quebec promises major cut in student dropout rate," Globe and Mail, 11 September 1991, A5; Mary Lamey and Tu Thanh Ha, "Page's prescription: more school days," Montreal Gazette, 11 September 1991, A4.
31. Andre Picard, "Breakfast program gives food for thought," Globe and Mail, 31 May 1991, A5.
32. Andre Picard, "Funding runs dry for milk program," Globe and Mail, 4 September 1992, A4; "New milk policy unfair: school chairman," Montreal Gazette, 10 September 1992, G3.
33. Rhéal Séguin, "Quebec House keeps out Canadian flag," Globe and Mail, 2 May 1991, A1.
34. "Waving a red flag over unity debate," Toronto Star, 3 May 1991, A25.
35. Edison Stewart, "Referendum logistics top agenda in Ottawa," Toronto Star, 2 September 1992, A9.
36. "Political fog suits Bourassa just fine," Toronto Star, 3 November 1992, A21; Robert McKenzie, "Quebec cabinet retreat to ponder unity options," Toronto Star, 5 November 1992, A14.
37. "Ex-minister is new big cheese: Page takes on top dairy job," Montreal Gazette, 21 March 2001, A6.
38. "Page to quit Quebec politics, head Donohue," Globe and Mail, 29 October 1992, B4; "Resignation of Michel Page president and chief executive officer of Donohue Inc.", Business Wire, 26 August 1994.
39. "Donohue sees profitable 1993 after losses," Reuters News, 20 April 1993; Barrie McKenna, "Donohue chairman buoyed by good results," Globe and Mail, 21 April 1993, B9.
40. Oscar Rojo, "Large franchise holder to take senior job at Cara Operations," Toronto Star, 9 October 1995, C2. See "Lithos Corp - Lithos to construct new plant; new board of directors," Canada Stockwatch, 29 July 1999, which identifies him as the chairman of the board.
41. Tu Thanh Ha, "Bloc to debate temporary role," Globe and Mail, 5 April 1995, A4.
42. "Radio-Quebec slashes TV staff," Globe and Mail, 1 January 1996, C2.
43. Ray Conlogue, "Quebec TV networks to exchange programs," Globe and Mail, 6 June 1996, C1.
44. "Searchgold Resources Inc - Board nominations," Canada Stockwatch, 3 March 1998.
45. "Canadian Airlines Corporation - Inter-Canadien acquired by local investors," Canada Stockwatch, 10 June 1998; "CANADIAN SELLS AIRLINE," Toronto Star, 12 June 1998, E4; "Regional carrier victim of air wars?", Associated Press Newswire, 8 November 1999, 19:33.
46. Richard Maslen, "Short term shutdown could mark closure of Canadian regional," Airclaims, 3 December 1999.
47. "IHL Rafales to shut down for season as deal dies," Winnipeg Free Press, 11 August 1998, C1.
48. "Canadian dairy prices to rise," Agra Europe, 21 December 2001, N/5; "Dairy Commission backs down on promise to raise price," Dairy Markets, 7 February 2002, p. 4.