Jacques Côté was a politician and notary in Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. He was a Parti Québécois

Parti Québécois

The Parti Québécois is a centre-left political party that advocates national sovereignty for the province of Quebec and secession from Canada. The Party traditionally has support from the labour movement. Unlike many other social-democratic parties, its ties with the labour movement are informal...

 member of the National Assembly of Quebec

National Assembly of Quebec

The National Assembly of Quebec is the legislative body of the Province of Quebec. The Lieutenant Governor and the National Assembly compose the Parliament of Quebec, which operates in a fashion similar to those of other British-style parliamentary systems.The National Assembly was formerly the...

 for the electoral district of Dubuc

Dubuc (electoral district)

Dubuc is a provincial electoral district in Quebec, Canada that elects members to the National Assembly of Quebec. The riding was created in 1965 from parts of Chicoutimi and Jonquière-Kénogami...

 from 1998 to 2008.

Côté holds a bachelor's degree in arts and a law license from the Université Laval

Université Laval

Laval University is the oldest centre of education in Canada and was the first institution in North America to offer higher education in French...

, a bachelor's degree in political science from the Université du Québec à Montréal

Université du Québec à Montréal

The Université du Québec à Montréal is one of four universities in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.-Basic facts:The UQAM is the largest constituent element of the Université du Québec , a public university system with other branches in Gatineau , Rimouski, Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec City, Chicoutimi, and...

 and a diploma from the Canadian Securities Institute

Canadian Securities Institute

CSI Global Education Inc. is a Canadian financial services education company that provides courses and credentials for financial services professionals across all pillars of the financial services industry...

. He then became a notary

Civil law notary

Civil-law notaries, or Latin notaries, are lawyers of noncontentious private civil law who draft, take, and record legal instruments for private parties, provide legal advice and give attendance in person, and are vested as public officers with the authentication power of the State...

 and legal adviser.

Cote was an active member of the Parti Québécois since 1970 as he was a member of the executive council, the treasurer, the legal adviser and the vice-president and president of the party for the Dubuc riding. He was also part of the YES committee for the 1980 Quebec referendum

1980 Quebec referendum

The 1980 Quebec referendum was the first referendum in Quebec on the place of Quebec within Canada and whether Quebec should pursue a path toward sovereignty. The referendum was called by Quebec's Parti Québécois government, which strongly favoured secession from Canada...

 on sovereignty

Sovereignty

Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...

. He was also involved in the economic development of the La Baie

La Baie, Quebec

La Baie is a borough of the city of Saguenay, Quebec, located where the Rivière à Mars flows into the Baie des Ha! Ha!, a bay of the Saguenay River. Formerly an independent city, its population in 2006 was 19,639....

 region in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean

Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean

Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean is a region in Quebec, Canada. It contains the Saguenay Fjord, the estuary of the Saguenay River, stretching through much of the region...

, and the regional board of the Caisses Desjardins.

He was first elected in the 1998 provincial election

Quebec general election, 1998

The Quebec general election of 1998 was held on November 30, 1998, to elect members of the National Assembly of the Province of Quebec, Canada. The incumbent Parti Québécois, led by Lucien Bouchard, won re-election, defeating the Quebec Liberal Party, led by Jean Charest.After the narrow defeat of...

. He was Minister for Housing from January 30, 2002 until April 29, 2003. He was re-elected in the 2003

Quebec general election, 2003

The Quebec general election of 2003 was held on April 14, 2003, to elect members of the National Assembly of Quebec . The Parti libéral du Québec , led by Jean Charest, defeated the incumbent Parti Québécois, led by Bernard Landry.-Unfolding:...

 and 2007 elections

Quebec general election, 2007

The Quebec general election of 2007 was held in the Canadian province of Quebec on March 26, 2007 to elect members of the 38th National Assembly of Quebec. The Quebec Liberal Party led by Jean Charest managed to win a plurality of seats, but were reduced to a minority government, Quebec's first in...

. During his second mandate, he was named the assistant whip

Whip (politics)

A whip is an official in a political party whose primary purpose is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. Whips are a party's "enforcers", who typically offer inducements and threaten punishments for party members to ensure that they vote according to the official party policy...

for the PQ until his retirement in 2008.