Pierre Bussières, PC

Queen's Privy Council for Canada

The Queen's Privy Council for Canada ), sometimes called Her Majesty's Privy Council for Canada or simply the Privy Council, is the full group of personal consultants to the monarch of Canada on state and constitutional affairs, though responsible government requires the sovereign or her viceroy,...

  (born July 8, 1939) is a former Canadian

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...

 politician.

Bussières was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons

Canadian House of Commons

The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...

 in the 1974 federal election

Canadian federal election, 1974

The Canadian federal election of 1974 was held on July 8, 1974 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 30th Parliament of Canada. The governing Liberal Party won its first majority government since 1968, and gave Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau his third term...

 as the Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 (MP) for Portneuf

Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier

Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier is a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1867...

. He was re-elected in the 1979 election

Canadian federal election, 1979

The Canadian federal election of 1979 was held on May 22, 1979 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 31st Parliament of Canada. It resulted in the defeat of Liberal Party of Canada after 11 years in power under Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. Joe Clark led the Progressive...

, this time from Charlesbourg. He was chairman of the 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....

 Liberal

Liberal Party of Canada

The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...

 caucus

Caucus

A caucus is a meeting of supporters or members of a political party or movement, especially in the United States and Canada. As the use of the term has been expanded the exact definition has come to vary among political cultures.-Origin of the term:...

 while the party was in opposition.

The defeat of the Progressive Conservative

Progressive Conservative Party of Canada

The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....

  government of Prime Minister

Prime Minister of Canada

The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...

 Joe Clark

Joe Clark

Charles Joseph "Joe" Clark, is a Canadian statesman, businessman, and university professor, and former journalist and politician...

 on a non-confidence motion occurred after Pierre Trudeau

Pierre Trudeau

Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau, , usually known as Pierre Trudeau or Pierre Elliott Trudeau, was the 15th Prime Minister of Canada from April 20, 1968 to June 4, 1979, and again from March 3, 1980 to June 30, 1984.Trudeau began his political career campaigning for socialist ideals,...

 had announced his resignation as Liberal Party leader. Bussières quickly announced that the Quebec caucus unanimously supported Trudeau's return as leader, and urged the former prime minister] to rescind his resignation. After the rest of the federal caucus and the party executive followed suit in requesting his return, Trudeau announced that he would lead the Liberals into the 1980 federal election

Canadian federal election, 1980

The Canadian federal election of 1980 was held on February 18, 1980 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 32nd Parliament of Canada...

 held as a result of the Clark government's fall.

The Liberals were elected with a majority government

Majority government

A majority government is when the governing party has an absolute majority of seats in the legislature or parliament in a parliamentary system. This is as opposed to a minority government, where even the largest party wins only a plurality of seats and thus must constantly bargain for support from...

, and Trudeau appointed Bussières to cabinet as Minister of State

Minister of state (Canada)

A Minister of State is a junior cabinet minister in the Canadian Cabinet, usually given specific responsibilities to assist a senior cabinet minister in a specific area....

 for finance. In 1982, he was promoted to Minister of National Revenue

Minister of National Revenue (Canada)

The Minister of National Revenue is the Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for the Canada Revenue Agency and the administration of taxation law and collection....

.

Bussières was not included in the cabinet of Trudeau's successor, John Turner, which was formed in June 1984. Nevertheless, he was a candidate in the 1984 federal election

Canadian federal election, 1984

The Canadian federal election of 1984 was held on September 4 of that year to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 33rd Parliament of Canada...

, but was defeated as the Liberals lost government and were reduced to forty seats in the House of Commons.

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