Robert Benoit

Robert Benoit (born April 11, 1944) is a Canadian politician in the province of Quebec. He served in the National Assembly of Quebec from 1989 to 2003 as a member of the Quebec Liberal Party.

Benoit was born in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec and studied commerce and administration at the Collège Paul-Valéry in Montreal. He received an investment dealer's diploma in 1968 and was hired by Dominion Securities Quebec in the same year. He became active with the Liberal Party in 1978 and campaigned for the "non" side in the 1980 Quebec referendum on sovereignty.

Benoit was president of the Quebec Liberal Party from 1985 to 1989 and led the party's finance committee for at least part of this time. At the party's 1987 conference, he called for Liberals to shift from a purely economic focus and devote more attention to social issues, creating policies to benefit the homeless and unemployed. The following year, Benoit helped persuade the party's youth wing to endorse the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement. He also supported the unsuccessful Meech Lake Accord on reforming the Canadian constitution.

For twenty-three years, Benoit was the next-door neighbour of Canadian author Mordechai Richler.

Benoit was chosen as the Liberal candidate for Orford in the 1989 provincial election, despite objections from some local organizers who regarded him as a candidate of the party establishment. He was easily elected. The Liberals won a second consecutive majority government, and Benoit entered legislature as a backbench supporter of Robert Bourassa's government. He was appointed as parliamentary assistant to the premier on November 29, 1989, and served in this position until December 14, 1993.

...
Wikipedia