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Simon Jolin-Barrette

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Simon Jolin-Barrette
Jolin-Barrette in 2018
Member of the National Assembly of Quebec for Borduas
Assumed office
April 7, 2014
Preceded byPierre Duchesne
Personal details
Born1987 (age 36–37)
Political partyCoalition Avenir Québec

Simon Jolin-Barrette MNA (born 1987) is a Canadian lawyer and politician in Quebec. He was elected to the National Assembly of Quebec in the 2014 Quebec election.[1] He represents the riding of Borduas as a member of the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ).[2]

Personal life

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Jolin-Barrette grew up in Mont-Saint-Hilaire, a south-shore suburb of Montreal.[3] He is a practicing lawyer, with a BCL (civil law), Juris Doctor (common law) and Master of Laws from the Université de Sherbrooke, where he wrote his Masters Thesis on the subject of Senate reform (comparing the Senate of Canada to the Australian Senate).[4]

At the time of his election in 2014, Jolin-Barrette was employed as a lawyer by the City of Montreal. He was also pursuing a LL.D in constitutional law at the Université de Montréal as well as a diploma in public administration at the École nationale d'administration publique.[3]

Political career

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Jolin-Barrette was part of a group of 40 young entrepreneurs who joined the CAQ at the time of the party's founding in 2011. He ran as the CAQ candidate in Marie-Victorin in the 2012 Quebec election, coming in second to Bernard Drainville of the Parti Québécois (PQ).[3][5]

In the 2014 election, Jolin-Barrette defeated the PQ candidate in Borduas, Pierre Duchesne (the then Minister of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology), by 99 votes.[6] Notwithstanding the small margin of defeat, Duchesne and the PQ chose not to seek a judicial recount of the ballots.[7]

Minister of Immigration (2018–2020)

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On October 18, 2018, Jolin-Barrette was sworn in as Minister of Immigration of Quebec, under Quebec Premier François Legault.[1]

As Minister of Immigration Jolin-Barrette in 2019, he introduced and passed Bill 21, the bill bans public workers in positions of authority from wearing religious symbols. The government invoked section 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (the notwithstanding clause) so as to prevent it from being overturned by the courts.[8]

Jolin-Barrette has been criticized by some for his introduction of Bill 9,[9] on February 7, 2019, cancelling out 18,000 immigration applications (Quebec Selection Certificates). The 18,000 applications from various parts of the world were accepted by the immigration department of Quebec according to the existing immigration intake rules at the time. After the CAQ government took charge, those applications were cancelled for which the immigration lawyer's association of Quebec has filed [10] and won a temporary injunction from the Superior court of Quebec.[11]

In late 2019, under Jolin Barrette term as Minister of Immigration Quebec he introduced a Quebec values test where immigrants would have to pass.[12][13][14][15][16]

Also in 2019, under Jolin Barrette term as Minister the title of Minister of Immigration, Diversity, and Inclusion was changed to Minister of Immigration, Francization and Integration.[17]

Minister of Justice and French Language (2020–present)

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On June 22, 2020, Premier Legault shuffled his cabinet, and Jolin-Barrette was moved to the Ministry of Justice.[18]

In late 2020, Jolin-Barrette announced plans for 2021 that he will be strengthening Bill 101, the French language in the province of Quebec.[19][20]

On May 12, 2021, he announced bill 96 which will strengthen Bill 101.[21][22][23][24][25][26][27]

On October 21, he announced bill 2, an omnibus bill meant to reform family law. This bill faced unanimous disapproval from the trans community in Quebec.[28][29][30] Members of the trans community expressed fears that it would return Québec to the legal gender recognition laws that existed before 2015, could forcibly out trans people (if they chose to add the "gender" option instead of applying to change the "sex" field), and could potentially lead to people being "forced" into having surgery in order to change the contents of the "sex" field.[28] Celeste Trianon of the Centre for Gender Advocacy at Concordia University argued that the bill was "attempting to reintroduce a sterilizing surgical requirement," calling it "a direct attack on the trans community." Manon Massé, Québec solidaire co-leader, said that her party still needed to review the entirety of the bill, but that it appeared like it would move Québec "backwards in terms of the rights of trans, intersex and non-binary people."[31] Quebec Liberal Party LGBT+ spokesperson Jennifer Maccarone stated that the provisions were a "regressive change."[32]

On June 1, 2022, Jolin-Barette became the first to hold the position of minister of the French language; this was following the gaining of royal assent of Bill 96.[33]

Electoral record

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2022 Quebec general election: Borduas
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Coalition Avenir Québec Simon Jolin-Barrette
Parti Québécois Paule Laprise
Québec solidaire Benoît Landry
Conservative Jean-Félix Racicot
Liberal Eribert Charles
Green Thomas Thibault-Vincent
Climat Québec Marcel Thibodeau
Démocratie directe Stephen Gauthier
Total valid votes
Total rejected ballots
Turnout
Electors on the lists
2018 Quebec general election: Borduas
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Coalition Avenir Québec Simon Jolin-Barrette 20,852 47.78 +14.28
Parti Québécois Cédric G.-Ducharme 9,339 21.4 -11.87
Québec solidaire Annie Desharnais 6,828 15.65 +7.05
Liberal Martin Nichols 5,012 11.48 -11.76
Green Nicolas Gravel 836 1.92
Conservative André Lecompte 290 0.66 +0.13
New Democratic André Martin 184 0.42
Citoyens au pouvoir Stéphane Thévenot 164 0.38
Bloc Pot Razz E. 135 0.31
Total valid votes 43,640 98.65
Total rejected ballots 597 1.35
Turnout 44,237 76.41
Eligible voters 57,897
Coalition Avenir Québec hold Swing +13.08
Source(s)
"Rapport des résultats officiels du scrutin". Élections Québec.
2014 Quebec general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Coalition Avenir Québec Simon Jolin-Barrette 14,331 33.50 -0.45
Parti Québécois Pierre Duchesne 14,232 33.27 -6.05
Liberal Jean Murray 9,944 23.24 +6.12
Québec solidaire Jean Falardeau 3,678 8.60 +2.79
Option nationale Marc-Olivier Siouï 246 0.58 -1.43
Conservative Gilbert Gour 225 0.53
Parti indépendantiste Michel Lepage 126 0.29 +0.05
Total valid votes 42,782 98.33
Total rejected ballots 727 1.67
Turnout 43,509 76.79 -7.64
Electors on the lists 56,663

References

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  1. ^ a b "Simon Jolin-Barrette - National Assembly of Québec". www.assnat.qc.ca. Retrieved January 27, 2022.
  2. ^ "François Legault indique qu'il restera à l'Assemblée nationale pour quatre ans". La Presse, April 8, 2014.
  3. ^ a b c "Simon Jolin-Barrette". Coalition Avenir Québec. Archived from the original on April 13, 2014. Retrieved April 11, 2014.
  4. ^ "Entrevue avec M. Simon Jolin-Barrette, avocat et candidat aux élections provinciales". Jurizone. August 27, 2012. Archived from the original on April 13, 2014. Retrieved April 11, 2014.
  5. ^ "Marie-Victorin". Les résultats électoraux depuis 1867, Maisonneuve à Matane–Matapédia. National Assembly of Quebec. Archived from the original on April 13, 2014. Retrieved April 11, 2014..
  6. ^ "Borduas - Preliminary results". Directeur général des élections du Québec. Retrieved April 11, 2014.
  7. ^ "Pas de dépouillement judiciaire dans Ste-Marie-St-Jacques". La Presse. April 11, 2014. Archived from the original on April 14, 2014. Retrieved April 11, 2014. Dans la circonscription de Borduas, l'ex-ministre de l'Enseignement supérieur et ténor péquiste Pierre Duchesne a décidé de ne pas contester le résultat du scrutin.
  8. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on March 29, 2019. Retrieved March 29, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. ^ "Bill n°9 : An Act to increase Québec's socio-economic prosperity and adequately meet labour market needs through successful immigrant integration - National Assembly of Québec". assnat.qc.ca. Retrieved February 26, 2019.
  10. ^ Feb 22, Benjamin Shingler · CBC News · Posted; February 22, 2019 6:43 AM ET | Last Updated. "Lawyers fight Quebec in court over plan to scrap 18,000 immigration applications | CBC News". CBC. Retrieved February 26, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ "Quebec judge orders province to continue processing Skilled Worker Program applications". CIC News. February 25, 2019. Retrieved February 26, 2019.
  12. ^ "Quebec to impose a 'values test' on immigrants as of Jan. 1". October 30, 2019.
  13. ^ "Newcomers to Quebec will have to pass values test". October 31, 2019.
  14. ^ "Here's a sample of the questions on Quebec's new values test | CBC News".
  15. ^ "Quebec introduces 'values test' for immigrants". Business Standard India. October 31, 2019.
  16. ^ "Quebec Immigration Minister working on French-language, values test for newcomers - Montreal | Globalnews.ca".
  17. ^ "The CAQ Changed the Name of the Ministry of Immigration, "Inclusion & Diversity" Are Out". October 11, 2019.
  18. ^ "Danielle McCann out as health minister as François Legault shakes up cabinet". cbc.ca. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  19. ^ "On Bill 101 anniversary, Jolin-Barrette pledges to strengthen role of French".
  20. ^ "Quebec government plans to table expanded French language law next year - Montreal | Globalnews.ca".
  21. ^ "Quebec seeks to change Canadian Constitution, make sweeping changes to language laws with new bill | CBC News".
  22. ^ "French in Quebec: Here are the main changes proposed in Bill 96".
  23. ^ "Quebec tables sweeping bill to reinforce and protect French language | Globalnews.ca".
  24. ^ "Bill 101 'constitutional curveball' puts Ottawa on the spot politically, experts say". May 13, 2021.
  25. ^ "With Bill 101 reforms, François Legault risks upending Quebec's hard-won linguistic peace | CBC News".
  26. ^ "French in Quebec: 'It's nothing against the English Quebecers,' Legault says of new bill | Montreal Gazette".
  27. ^ "Quebec's Bill 96 could make French the only language needed to get a job | CBC News".
  28. ^ a b "Trans-rights advocates raise alarm over Quebec birth certificate proposal, calling it 'huge regression'". Montreal. October 21, 2021.
  29. ^ "Réforme du droit de la famille | Des trans dénoncent un recul majeur". La Presse. October 23, 2021.
  30. ^ "Projet de loi 2 : TransEstrie dénonce une réforme " transphobe "". La Tribune. October 24, 2021.
  31. ^ "Bill 2 is "the most transphobic bill ever proposed in Quebec," activist says". montrealgazette.
  32. ^ "Proposed Quebec law slammed as 'regressive' and an affront on rights of trans people | CBC News".
  33. ^ "Simon Jolin-Barrette appointed as Quebec's new French language minister". Montreal. June 1, 2022. Retrieved June 2, 2022.
[edit]
Quebec provincial government of François Legault
Cabinet post (1)
Predecessor Office Successor
David Heurtel Minister of Immigration, Francization and Integration
October 18, 2018–present
Incumbent