Jean-Pierre Bélisle
(Photo: Martin Alarie)
Jean-Pierre Bélisle returns to political life
Will seek federal seat in Laval riding as a Conservative
Former Liberal MNA Jean-Pierre Bélisle will make a return to politics under the banner of Stephen Harper’s Conservative Party.
The news, which leaked out this past Wednesday, was quickly confirmed by Mr. Bélisle himself.
“If party members want me, I’ll be the Conservative candidate in the next election in the riding of Laval,” Mr. Belisle told Courrier Laval from his office at the SNF company where he is currently vice-president of public and environmental affairs.
In the event of a nominating convention, Mr. Bélisle would only have to show up to go through the formalities, since he is really the first star candidate for the Conservatives in Laval. In the next federal electiuon it is likely that he'll face the BQ's Nicole demers, who has represented the riding since 2004.
Laval riding
Well known to voters in Laval east where he represented the Mille-Îles riding in the Quebec National Assembly from 1985 to 1994, Jean-Pierre Bélisle will this time around have to convince voters in the central part of Île-Jésus, because the Alfred Pellan riding (which covers the eastern end of the island) already has a Conservative candidate – Alexandre Salameh.
“This (Laval riding) is an area I know well,” he says, relating that in 1965, at the age of 17, he went to live there with his family, in the parish of St-Claude in Laval-des-Rapides.
Lobbied for the past 18 months by the Conservatives, especially cabinet minister Lawrence Cannon with whom he worked for eight years in the National Assembly, Mr. Bélisle took great care in “testing the waters”, consulting the people of the district and those most active in the riding before deciding to jump into the federal arena.
Affinity for Conservative policies
A lawyer specializing in environmental legislation, he says he’s “close to environmental groups in Quebec” and is “at ease with respect to the environmental policies” of the Harper government whose vision is similar to his. To this end, he intends “to better communicate” the intentions of the party in matters pertaining to the environment.
Mr. Bélisle lives in Saint-Joseph-du-Lac where he owns a vineyard and orchard and has presided over the affairs of the Quebec Association of Vineyard Owners since 2004.
Also trained as an economist, he is concerned about fiscal policy and the management of public funds. A parliamentary assistant to the Quebec Minister of Finance in 1990, he intends to raise these issues publicly in the next federal election campaign, he assures.
Jean-Pierre Bélisle, who resigned in March of 1994 from his position as MNA and deputy house leader in the Bourassa government because he no longer believed in his party’s style of governing, is more at home with the approach of the Conservative government. “Mr. Harper makes commitments and fulfills them, unlike politicians who make thousands of promises they don’t keep.”
Photo:Belisle
(Photo: Martin Alarie)
Météo: Laval, 18 juillet 2008 / 19°C
/ Couvert
/ Vents: 11 Km/h / Humidité relative: 88 % 
Steven Guilbeault - Chronique environnement
Richard Cléroux - Le fouineur politique
