Provincial Politics
In 1988, he co-founded the Equality Party to protest against the Quebec Liberal Party government's decision to extend a ban on English commercial signs. In 1989, he was elected as a Member of the National Assembly in the Montreal riding of D'Arcy-McGee, winning 57.85% of the valid ballots.
Due in part to the surprise victory of the Equality Party, the Quebec government later lessened restrictions on English signs. During his term in office, Libman made headlines by using his Parliamentary privilege to reveal the details of confidential, money-losing contracts signed between Hydro-Québec and some of Quebec's aluminum producers.
Libman left the Equality Party and sat as an independent shortly before the 1994 general election. His supporters attempted to make him the Quebec Liberal Party candidate in his riding. However, new Quebec Liberal Party leader Daniel Johnson refused to sign his nomination papers. Libman ran as an independent and lost to the Quebec Liberal Party candidate Lawrence Bergman.
After his election defeat, he hosted an evening talk show on Montreal radio station CJAD for three years. He also became the Quebec Regional Director of B'nai Brith Canada.
In 1997 Libman won a unanimous Supreme Court Judgement in "Libman v. Quebec (Attorney General)" in which certain sections of the Quebec Referendum Law concerning restrictions on third party spending were struck down. The charges against federalist groups who participated in the large Pro-Canada Rally during the 1995 referendum campaign were cancelled as a result of this decision.
In 1995 Libman authored Riding the Rapids; The Whitewater Rise and Fall of Quebec's Anglo Protest published by Robert Davies Publishing.
Read more about this topic: Robert Libman
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