Jean-C. Lapierre (born May 7, 1956) is a Canadian politician, born in Bassin, Quebec
Lapierre is a prominent member of the Liberal Party of Canada and Paul Martin's political lieutenant in Quebec. He returned to the Canadian House of Commons after an 11 year absence when he won a seat in 2004 federal election for the riding of Outremont. On July 20, 2004 he was appointed to the Canadian Cabinet as Minister of Transport.
He originally served in the House of Commons from 1979 to 1993, representing the riding of Shefford. He was a Liberal from 1979 to 1990, serving as a junior minister in John Turner's short-lived government. Lapierre supported Paul Martin's unsuccessful campaign for the Liberal leadership in 1990, but left that party after Jean Chrétien became leader. He helped found the Bloc Québécois and served as a Bloc Québécois MP until 1993, when he retired from politics for a time and abandoned his affiliation with the Bloc.
In private life, Lapierre had a very high profile in Quebec as a broadcaster and talk show host for Montreal radio station CKAC. He also worked simultaneously as a TV news presenter for a time. He had a reputation for being extremely well-connected, able to pick up the phone and arrange meetings between different Quebecers from all walks of life, and was sometimes sought for behind-the-scenes political advice. However, he never gave up his political ambitions and returned to politics soon after Paul Martin became Liberal leader in 2003.
Soon after his return to politics, Lapierre ridiculed the Clarity Act, which aims to set Canada's conditions for accepting the results of any future successful referendum on Quebec sovereignty.
As a talk show host, Lapierre was free to speak his mind (and in fact was paid to do so). Some have speculated that he may find the rules of politics to be somewhat constraining, in particular the requirement to stay "on message".
Lapierre was expected to deliver the vote in Quebec, but in the wake of the sponsorship scandal, the Bloc Québécois soundly beat the Liberals, winning 54 of the 75 seats in Quebec. There has been some backroom anger over the poor result and some Liberals feel that Lapierre should not have been appointed to the cabinet.
