Assemblee Nationale: Quebec.

• Author: Lamarche, Francine Boivin
• Position: Legislative Reports

The Member for Gouin and Official Opposition House Leader, Andre Boisclair, announced his retirement from politics last August 17. Mr. Boisclair resumed his studies and is currently registered in the Master's programme in public administration at Harvard University. The following day, Bernard Landry, Leader of the Official Opposition, appointed Diane Lemieux, the Member for Bourget, as Official Opposition House Leader. Mrs. Lemieux is the first woman in the history of the National Assembly to hold this office. On September 9, 2004, Mr. Landry announced the appointment of Jacques Cote, the Member for Dubuc, as Deputy Opposition Whip, thus replacing Nicole Leger, the Member for Pointe-aux-Trembles.

By-elections were held in four electoral divisions on Monday, 20 September 2004. Nicolas Girard (Parti Quebecois) was elected in the riding of Gouin, Elsie Lefebvre (Patti Quebecois) in the riding of Laurier-Dorion, Yolande James (Quebec Liberal Party) in the riding of Nelligan and Sylvain Legare (Action democratique du Quebec) in the riding of Vanier. The membership of the Assembly currently stands as follows: Liberal Party, 73 Members; Parti Quebecois, 46 Members; independent, 6 Members, 5 of whom are from the Action democratique du Quebec party.

Interparliamentary Relations

On September 1, 2004, the President of the National Assembly of Quebec and his counterpart from the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick, Bev Harrison, signed an agreement establishing the New Brunswick-Quebec Parliamentary Association. This initiative on the part of President Bissonnet aims to develop interparliamentary dialogue between both institutions for the purpose of reinforcing exchanges and friendly relations between New Brunswickers and Quebecers.

Nancy Charest, the Member for Matane and parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Finance, and Serge Deslieres, the Member for Beauharnois, were respectively designated chair and vice-chair of the Quebec section of this new association, which will meet once a year and will be composed of five members from both assemblies.

The proceedings of the 18th session of the Commission interparlementaire francoquebecoise, which met from September 4-16, 2004, focussed mainly on the health systems in Quebec and France, particularly with regard to funding, the impact of ageing populations and health insurance.

The Quebec delegation was composed of Dominique Vien (Bellechasse), Maxime Arsenault (Iles-de-la-Madeleine), Normand Jutras...