CPA activities: the Canadian scene: new speakers in Quebec and Saskatchewan.

Quebec

On March 12, 1996, Jean-Pierre Charbonneau was elected President of the Quebec National Assembly. He was born in Saint-Eustache, near Montreal, on January 3, 1950 and holds a diploma from Ahuntsic College in social science and a Bachelor's degree in criminology from the University of Montreal.

From 1968 to 1976 he worked as a journalist for the Quartier Latin, Vie et Carriere-Actualite, Point de Mire, Le Devoir and La Presse as well as for Montreal radio stations CKAC and CKVL. As a specialist in investigative reporting he produced a number of articles on the Quebec underworld and on political and police corruption. His 1975 book on organized crime and the international drug trade, La filiere canadienne, was awarded the Beccaria Prize by the Quebec Criminology Society. In 1976 he was a consultant and special advisor for the Commission of Inquiry on Organized Crime.

He was elected as the PQ Member for Vercheres on November 15, 1976 and was re-elected in the same riding in 1981 and 1985. In 1978, he was co-author with Gilbert Paquette, of L'Option, a book describing the political agenda of the Parti Quebecois. He chaired the Monteregie regional caucus of PQ Members in 1977 and 1978, sat on the National Executive Council of the Parti Quebecois from 1979 to 1981, chaired the special Parliamentary Commission on Youth Protection in 1981-82, and helped to found both the Student Yes Movement during the 1980 referendum and the Permanent Youth Secretariat. From March 9, 1983 to March 15, 1984, he was Premier Rene Levesque's parliamentary assistant.

Jean-Pierre Charbonneau chaired the Committee on Education and Labour from March 15, 1984 to October 23, 1985 and the Committee on the Economy and Labour from February 11, 1986 to June 30, 1989.

In 1988 he became coordinator of the Africa project of the University of Montreal's International Centre for Comparative Criminology. As part of this cooperation project he directed an on-site feasibility study in Zaire and Rwanda in January 1989, and on June 30, 1989 he resigned as Member for Vercheres in order to work in the field of international aid in Africa. From June 1989 to February 1991, he was responsible for the volunteer cooperation programme of the Canadian Organization for Solidarity and Development in Rwanda, Zaire and Burundi.

From 1990 to 1994, Mr. Charbonneau co-hosted a public affairs programme, Point de vue, on CKVL radio, and wrote columns...