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The Minister
The Honorable Jean-Pierre
Blackburn
Minister of Labour and
Minister of the
Economic Development Agency of Canada
for the Regions
of Quebec
Jean-Pierre Blackburn was first elected to the House of Commons in 1984 and
re-elected in 1988 as the Member of Parliament for the constituency of
Jonquière.
During his two mandates, he worked on the reform of unemployment insurance
and served on a number of parliamentary committees, including the
Communications, Labour and Employment and Immigration committees and on the
Beaudoin–Dobbie and Beaudoin–Edwards constitutional committees. He was also
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Defence under Prime Minister Brian
Mulroney.
He was sworn in on February 6, 2006 as a minister in Stephen
Harper’s government.
Mr Blackburn has been successively a teacher, administrator and businessman.
He taught computer science and introduction to business at the Montfort school
in 1973.
From 1974 to 1984, he held the position of CEO of the Société
d'initiatives et de développement des artères commerciales (SIDAC) in
Chicoutimi. Prior to his return to politics, Mr Blackburn was president of a
business development and public relations firm, established in Jonquière since
1996.
Mr Blackburn was born in Jonquière on July 6, 1948. He holds a bachelor’s
degree in business administration and a master’s degree in regional studies and
intervention from the University of Quebec at Chicoutimi.
He and his wife, Ginette Laforest, have two children, Marie-Christine and
Charles.
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