Political Career
Ouellet was active with the Bloc Québécois and its provincial counterpart, the Parti Québécois, before running for office himself. He first sought election to the House of Commons in the 2004 federal election and finished a close second against incumbent Liberal cabinet minister Denis Paradis in Brome—Missisquoi. He challenged Paradis again in the 2006 election and won by over five thousand votes.
During the 2006 election, Ouellet said that he would downplay Quebec sovereigntism if elected and would instead focus on tackling economic issues and opposing corruption. Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe criticized this statement, saying that his party would promote sovereignty as well as defending Quebec's interests in other areas. After talking with Duceppe, Ouellet agreed to support the Bloc's full platform on sovereignty.
Ouellet was re-elected in the 2008 federal election, defeating Paradis by a reduced margin in a rematch from 2006.
In parliament, Ouellet has served as the Bloc's critic for social housing and as an associate critic for natural resources and the environment. He has also promoted increased Via Rail access from Montreal to Sherbrooke via Quebec's Estrie. In 2009, he introduced a Private Member's Bill to remove waiting times for Employment Insurance benefits.
Ouellet was one of eight Canadian parliamentarians to meet with Chen Shui-bian, the president of Taiwan, in 2006.
On February 24, 2011, the Bloc announced that Ouellet would not be a candidate in the next federal election.
Read more about this topic: Christian Ouellet
Famous quotes containing the words political and/or career:
“Man is naturally a political animal.”
—Aristotle (384–322 B.C.)
“Whether lawyer, politician or executive, the American who knows what’s good for his career seeks an institutional rather than an individual identity. He becomes the man from NBC or IBM. The institutional imprint furnishes him with pension, meaning, proofs of existence. A man without a company name is a man without a country.”
—Lewis H. Lapham (b. 1935)