Pierre Curzi

Pierre Curzi (born February 11, 1946 in Montreal, Quebec) is an actor, screenwriter and politician in Quebec. He is a former Member of the National Assembly of Quebec (MNA) for the riding of Borduas in the Montérégie region south of Montreal. Elected under the Parti Québécois (PQ) banner, he later sat as an independent.

Pierre Curzi
Member of the National Assembly of Quebec for Borduas
In office
April 25, 2007 – September 4, 2012
Preceded byJean-Pierre Charbonneau
Succeeded byPierre Duchesne
Personal details
Born (1946-02-11) February 11, 1946
Montreal, Quebec
Political partyParti Québécois → Independent
Spouse(s)Marie Tifo
ResidenceMontreal
ProfessionActor, Screenwriter, Unionist
PortfolioCulture, Communications, Language

Acting and screenplay career

Curzi went to the École nationale de Théâtre in 1969. Prior to his political career, he played in numerous popular Quebec movies, plays, television shows and documentaries including Duplessis, Maria Chapdelaine, The Crime of Ovide Plouffe (Le Crime d'Ovide Plouffe), Babylone, Les Filles de Caleb, Million Dollar Babies, Virginie, Suzanne, Matroni and Me (Matroni et moi), The Barbarian Invasions, Le Négociateur, The New Life of Paul Sneijder (La nouvelle vie de Paul Sneijder) and Romeo and Juliet.

Overall, he played roles in about 50 productions since 1971 and had been nominated for four Genie Awards for his roles in Maria Chapdelaine (1983), Lucien Brouillard (1983) and The Decline of the American Empire (Le Déclin de l'empire américain) (1986) and a nomination for best screenplay for Intimate Power (Pouvoir intime) in 1986.

He was also the president of the Union des artistes for eight years. The UDA is the main union group for cinema, theatre and television actors in Quebec.

He is married to Marie Tifo, an actress with whom he costarred in the films Lucien Brouillard, Le jour S... and Intimate Power.

Politics

Curzi entered politics when he announced his candidacy for the riding of Borduas in the 2007 provincial elections, following the retirement of Jean-Pierre Charbonneau. He defeated the Action démocratique du Québec's Claude Gauthier by over 2,000 votes. He was later named the PQ critic for culture, communications and language.

Curzi was forced to apologize and retract a statement he made in October 2007 during a radio interview that appeared to suggest that a sovereign Quebec would have "more teeth" and could potentially remove the voting rights of Quebec's English-speaking community living on Montreal's West Island.[1] He faced some criticism in 2008 as one of two MNAs, along with Daniel Turp, who endorsed a controversial petition opposing Paul McCartney's performance at Quebec City's 400th anniversary celebrations.[2] In September 2010, Curzi expressed on the television interview show Les Francs-tireurs his theory that there was a shortage of Francophone players on the National Hockey League team the Montreal Canadiens and that this was "damned well political" and the result of a federalist plot.[3]

On June 6, 2011, Curzi and caucus mates Louise Beaudoin and Lisette Lapointe resigned from the Parti Québécois to sit as independents over the PQ's acceptance of a bill changing the law to permit an agreement between the City of Québec and Quebecor Inc. concerning the construction of an arena in Quebec City.[4]

Electoral record
2008 Quebec general election: Borduas
Party Candidate Votes%±%
Parti QuébécoisPierre Curzi13,32947.66+8.90
LiberalJacques Charbonneau9,12532.63+10.95
Action démocratiqueJean Dion3,43012.26−19.05
Québec solidaireÉric Noël9663.45+0.53
GreenMarco Caron9043.23−1.28
Parti indépendantisteMichel Lepage2140.77-
Total valid votes 27,968 98.30
Rejected and declined votes 485 1.70
Turnout 28,453 65.87 −13.71
Electors on the lists 43,198
Source: Official Results, Le Directeur général des élections du Québec.
2007 Quebec general election: Borduas
Party Candidate Votes%±%
Parti QuébécoisPierre Curzi12,52938.76−8.06
Action démocratiqueClaude Gauthier10,12331.31+13.44
LiberalJacques Charbonneau7,01021.68−12.08
GreenOlivier Adam1,4594.51–
Québec solidaireJulie Raby9442.92–
IndependentSuper Cauchon2620.81–
Total valid votes 32,32799.12–
Total rejected ballots 2860.88–
Turnout 32,61379.58+1.74
Electors on the lists 40,980––
Source: Official Results, Le Directeur général des élections du Québec.
gollark: I run two D-Ds feeding into a D-T.
gollark: I really must wonder why you would want the reactions like B11-B11, though...
gollark: The best (for power output) reaction is D-T, it seems.
gollark: (note: may not actually cancel out)
gollark: You can make the bath contain plasma *and* neutron fluid *and* liquid helium, so it cancels out.

References
  1. "PQ language critic backtracks" Archived December 8, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, Montreal Gazette, October 23, 2007.
  2. "Separatists decry McCartney's Quebec concert", National Post, July 16, 2008.
  3. Hamilton, George (September 14, 2010), "Federalists taking control of Montreal Canadiens: Parti Quebecois", National Post, retrieved September 15, 2010
  4. Chouinard, Tommy (June 6, 2011). "Trois députés claquent la porte du PQ". Le Soleil (in French). Quebec City. Retrieved June 6, 2011.
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