Denis de Belleval
Encyclopedia
Denis de Belleval is a former politician and administrator in the Canadian
province of Quebec
. He was a Parti Québécois
member of the National Assembly of Quebec
from 1976 to 1982 and was a cabinet minister in the government of René Lévesque
. He has also held several administrative positions, including a two-year tenture as the president of VIA Rail
.
. He has a Bachelor of Arts
degree in Philosophy
(1960) and a master's degree
in the social sciences with a focus in public administration (1965), both from the Université Laval
. He met future prime minister
Brian Mulroney
while attending university and remained friends with Mulroney for many years thereafter. In 1964, De Belleval was a co-founder of the Union generale des etudiants du Quebec (UGEQ).
De Belleval took doctoral
studies in political science at the London School of Economics
from 1965 to 1967. After returning to Quebec, he served as executive assistant to the deputy minister of education from 1967 to 1969. He held other government positions related to development and planning from 1970 to 1974 and was the assistant deputy minister of transport from 1974 to 1976.
De Belleval was elected to the Quebec legislature in the 1976 provincial election
, defeating Liberal incumbent André Harvey in the Charlesbourg
division in the Quebec City area. The Parti Québécois won a historic majority government
in this election, and de Belleval was appointed to René Lévesque's first cabinet on November 26, 1976, as minister of the public service and vice-president of the treasury board. The Lévesque cabinet included representatives from different sides of the political spectrum, and de Belleval was regarded as one of its more conservative members.
On March 2, 1978, Lévesque shifted the vice-presidency of the treasury board from de Belleval to Jacques Léonard
. He said the change would allow de Belleval to better focus on upcoming negotiations with civil servants, nurses, and teachers. De Belleval took part in difficult wage negotiations with the Syndicat des Fonctionnaires Provinciaux du Québec in mid-1979; at one stage, the civil servants took part in rotating walkouts and de Belleval threatened to lock out entire government departments.
De Belleval argued in April 1978 that Quebec's hiring laws should be modified to facilitate the entry of more anglophones into the civil service. He added that the anglophone community would need to be more active in engaging with the civil service than in years past. In the winter of 1979–80, he said that the Quebec government would not object to civil servants taking part in the upcoming referendum campaign on sovereignty.
Separate from his duties as the public service minister, de Belleval also proposed a reciprocity formula that allowed English Canadians moving to Quebec from other provinces to enroll their children in English-language schools, in return for the other provinces making similar arrangements for their own minority language communities. The provincial cabinet had previously been divided on the issue of English-language education, and Lévesque agreed to de Belleval's formula as a compromise.
Transport minister
De Belleval was named as transport minister after a cabinet shuffle on September 21, 1979. In December of the same year, he issued a five-year transit plan for Montreal
valued at just under one billion dollars. The plan called for expanded subway lines, the integration of commuter lines between Montreal and its suburbs, and a new electric train system on existing lines. After some delays, the project was re-launched with assistance from the federal government in February 1981. In the same period, de Belleval oversaw grants for three traffic projects in the Quebec City area and pledged $8.5 million to complete an expressway interchange for the city.
In September 1980, de Belleval announced that the Quebec government had purchased an eleven per cent stake in the Nordair
airline and was supporting efforts from a group led by Quebecair
president Alfred Hamel to purchase Nordair from Air Canada
. The Canadian federal government questioned the legality of this purchase and subsequently announced an indefinite delay of the airline's sale. De Belleval later issued an alternate proposal that Nordair purchase Quebecair in a "reverse takeover" that would lead to a merger. These plans were ultimately unsuccessful, and the airlines were not merged.
Government backbencher
De Belleval was re-elected without difficulty in the 1981 provincial election
as the Parti Québécois won a second majority government across the province. He was dropped from cabinet on April 30, 1981, and afterwards served as a government backbencher; the journalist Graham Fraser has suggested that his demotion was prompted by a intense argument with Lévesque at a cabinet meeting in late 1980. It was rumoured that he might return to cabinet in 1982, after he submitted a twenty-page policy paper proposing a "solitary fund" for development to be administered jointly by business, labour, and the state. He was not promoted, however, and he resigned his seat in the legislature on December 7, 1982, to accept a job in the private sector.
International from 1983 to 1985, working in Algiers
. He returned to Quebec in 1985 when the government of Canada
appointed him as president and chief executive officer of Ports Canada. Some critics described the appointment as patronage
, citing de Belleval's longtime friendship with prime minister
Brian Mulroney. De Belleval rejected this charge.
De Belleval oversaw federally owned harbour land in Montreal and Quebec City during his time as president of Ports Canada. The crown corporation posted a fifty-two million dollar profit for 1985, six million lower than the previous year; de Belleval blamed a fall in grain shipments for the discrepancy.
VIA Rail
The Mulroney government subsequently appointed de Belleval as president and chief executive officer of Via Rail
, with a term starting on July 1, 1987. Following his appointment, de Belleval pursued a expansion strategy for VIA's services and said that he wanted to "[build] a modern railway for the 21st century." In September 1989, he announced the opening of a maintenance centre in Montreal valued at $139 million. During the same period, he acknowledged that VIA had often ignored the needs of Western Canada
and pledged to correct this in the future. He was able to announce that VIA had increased its ridership by ten per cent in 1988, following years of decline.
Rumours circulated in early 1989 that the Mulroney government was planning significant cuts to passenger rail. De Belleval responded with a forceful appeal in defense of the sector, arguing that rail service was vital to Canada's transport needs and rejecting suggestions that public money would be better spent on road construction or upgrades to air travel. Promoting long-term strategies such as a high-speed link between Montreal and Toronto
and increased tourist travel, de Belleval urged the Mulroney government to maintain its existing levels of support. He also launched a cross-Canada tour in support of passenger rail, before being ordered to stop by Mulroney.
De Belleval's efforts were ultimately unsuccessful, and the Mulroney government announced in April 1989 that it would cut VIA's subsidy by five hundred million dollars over the next four years. De Belleval resigned his position a week later at the request of federal transport minister
Benoît Bouchard
. At a press conference, de Belleval said that the Mulroney government's funding cuts were incompatible with his plans for the company. VIA later made massive cuts to its passenger service lines across the country.
1990 to present
De Belleval was appointed as director general of Quebec City, the top administrative position in the city, in May 1990. He served in this position until 1995. He was then the province of Quebec's delegate-general in Brussels
from 1996 to 1999, before returning to serve another term as director general of Quebec City from 2001 to 2006.
A longtime friend of prominent Quebec politician Lucien Bouchard
, de Belleval was present when Bouchard was hospitalized in late 1994 to receive treatment for a life-threatening battle with necrotizing fasciitis
, a flesh-eating disease.
In the fall of 2007, De Belleval began work on a Ph.D.
in public administration from the Université du Québec
.
De Belleval strongly criticized a 2011 deal between Quebec City and Quebecor
to oversee a future ampitheatre in the city. He described the city's deal with Quebecor with a phrase translating as "worthy of a banana republic
" and announced in April 2011 that he would seek to nullify it via a court challenge.
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...
province of 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....
. 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...
from 1976 to 1982 and was a cabinet minister in the government of René Lévesque
René Lévesque
René Lévesque was a reporter, a minister of the government of Quebec, , the founder of the Parti Québécois political party and the 23rd Premier of Quebec...
. He has also held several administrative positions, including a two-year tenture as the president of VIA Rail
VIA Rail
Via Rail Canada is an independent crown corporation offering intercity passenger rail services in Canada. It is headquartered near Montreal Central Station at 3 Place Ville-Marie in Montreal, Quebec....
.
Early life and career
De Belleval was born in Quebec CityQuebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...
. He has a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree in Philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
(1960) and a master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in the social sciences with a focus in public administration (1965), both 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...
. He met future 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...
Brian Mulroney
Brian Mulroney
Martin Brian Mulroney, was the 18th Prime Minister of Canada from September 17, 1984, to June 25, 1993 and was leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1983 to 1993. His tenure as Prime Minister was marked by the introduction of major economic reforms, such as the Canada-U.S...
while attending university and remained friends with Mulroney for many years thereafter. In 1964, De Belleval was a co-founder of the Union generale des etudiants du Quebec (UGEQ).
De Belleval took doctoral
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
studies in political science at the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
from 1965 to 1967. After returning to Quebec, he served as executive assistant to the deputy minister of education from 1967 to 1969. He held other government positions related to development and planning from 1970 to 1974 and was the assistant deputy minister of transport from 1974 to 1976.
Legislator and cabinet minister
Public Service ministerDe Belleval was elected to the Quebec legislature in the 1976 provincial election
Quebec general election, 1976
The Quebec general election of 1976 was held on November 15, 1976 to elect members to National Assembly of the Province of Quebec, Canada. It was one of the most significant elections in Quebec history, rivalled only by the 1960 general election, and caused major repercussions in the rest of Canada...
, defeating Liberal incumbent André Harvey in the Charlesbourg
Charlesbourg (provincial electoral district)
Charlesbourg is a provincial electoral district in Quebec, Canada that elects members to the National Assembly of Quebec. The district is located in Quebec City. The riding was created in 1972 from parts of Chauveau and Montmorency...
division in the Quebec City area. The Parti Québécois won a historic 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...
in this election, and de Belleval was appointed to René Lévesque's first cabinet on November 26, 1976, as minister of the public service and vice-president of the treasury board. The Lévesque cabinet included representatives from different sides of the political spectrum, and de Belleval was regarded as one of its more conservative members.
On March 2, 1978, Lévesque shifted the vice-presidency of the treasury board from de Belleval to Jacques Léonard
Jacques Léonard
Jacques Léonard is an accountant, educator, and politician in the Canadian province of Quebec. He served in the National Assembly of Quebec from 1976 to 1985 and again from 1989 to 2001 and was a cabinet minister in the governments of René Lévesque, Jacques Parizeau, and Lucien Bouchard...
. He said the change would allow de Belleval to better focus on upcoming negotiations with civil servants, nurses, and teachers. De Belleval took part in difficult wage negotiations with the Syndicat des Fonctionnaires Provinciaux du Québec in mid-1979; at one stage, the civil servants took part in rotating walkouts and de Belleval threatened to lock out entire government departments.
De Belleval argued in April 1978 that Quebec's hiring laws should be modified to facilitate the entry of more anglophones into the civil service. He added that the anglophone community would need to be more active in engaging with the civil service than in years past. In the winter of 1979–80, he said that the Quebec government would not object to civil servants taking part in the upcoming referendum campaign on sovereignty.
Separate from his duties as the public service minister, de Belleval also proposed a reciprocity formula that allowed English Canadians moving to Quebec from other provinces to enroll their children in English-language schools, in return for the other provinces making similar arrangements for their own minority language communities. The provincial cabinet had previously been divided on the issue of English-language education, and Lévesque agreed to de Belleval's formula as a compromise.
Transport minister
De Belleval was named as transport minister after a cabinet shuffle on September 21, 1979. In December of the same year, he issued a five-year transit plan for Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
valued at just under one billion dollars. The plan called for expanded subway lines, the integration of commuter lines between Montreal and its suburbs, and a new electric train system on existing lines. After some delays, the project was re-launched with assistance from the federal government in February 1981. In the same period, de Belleval oversaw grants for three traffic projects in the Quebec City area and pledged $8.5 million to complete an expressway interchange for the city.
In September 1980, de Belleval announced that the Quebec government had purchased an eleven per cent stake in the Nordair
Nordair
Nordair is a defunct Quebec-based regional airline founded in 1947 from the merger of Boreal Airways and Mont Laurier Aviation. The airline operated from the 1950s to the 1980s. Most of its business was international and transatlantic passenger and freight charters and other contracts. It also...
airline and was supporting efforts from a group led by Quebecair
Quebecair
Quebecair was a Canadian airline that operated from 1947 until 1986. Quebecair was headquartered in Saint-Laurent, Quebec, now a part of Montreal.-Company history:...
president Alfred Hamel to purchase Nordair from Air Canada
Air Canada
Air Canada is the flag carrier and largest airline of Canada. The airline, founded in 1936, provides scheduled and charter air transport for passengers and cargo to 178 destinations worldwide. It is the world's tenth largest passenger airline by number of destinations, and the airline is a...
. The Canadian federal government questioned the legality of this purchase and subsequently announced an indefinite delay of the airline's sale. De Belleval later issued an alternate proposal that Nordair purchase Quebecair in a "reverse takeover" that would lead to a merger. These plans were ultimately unsuccessful, and the airlines were not merged.
Government backbencher
De Belleval was re-elected without difficulty in the 1981 provincial election
Quebec general election, 1981
The Quebec general election of 1981 was held on April 13, 1981, to elect members of the National Assembly of the Province of Quebec, Canada. The incumbent Parti Québécois, led by René Lévesque, won re-election, defeating the Quebec Liberal Party, led by Claude Ryan.The PQ won re-election despite...
as the Parti Québécois won a second majority government across the province. He was dropped from cabinet on April 30, 1981, and afterwards served as a government backbencher; the journalist Graham Fraser has suggested that his demotion was prompted by a intense argument with Lévesque at a cabinet meeting in late 1980. It was rumoured that he might return to cabinet in 1982, after he submitted a twenty-page policy paper proposing a "solitary fund" for development to be administered jointly by business, labour, and the state. He was not promoted, however, and he resigned his seat in the legislature on December 7, 1982, to accept a job in the private sector.
Administrator
De Belleval served as vice-president of LavalinLavalin
Lavalin was a Canadian civil engineering firm located in Montreal, Quebec. After a major expansion program in the 1980s that led to financial difficulties, in 1991 Lavalin merged with its long-time competitor to become today's SNC-Lavalin, forming one of the ten largest engineering firms in the...
International from 1983 to 1985, working in Algiers
Algiers
' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...
. He returned to Quebec in 1985 when the government of Canada
Government of Canada
The Government of Canada, formally Her Majesty's Government, is the system whereby the federation of Canada is administered by a common authority; in Canadian English, the term can mean either the collective set of institutions or specifically the Queen-in-Council...
appointed him as president and chief executive officer of Ports Canada. Some critics described the appointment as patronage
Patronage
Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows to another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings or popes have provided to musicians, painters, and sculptors...
, citing de Belleval's longtime friendship with 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...
Brian Mulroney. De Belleval rejected this charge.
De Belleval oversaw federally owned harbour land in Montreal and Quebec City during his time as president of Ports Canada. The crown corporation posted a fifty-two million dollar profit for 1985, six million lower than the previous year; de Belleval blamed a fall in grain shipments for the discrepancy.
VIA Rail
The Mulroney government subsequently appointed de Belleval as president and chief executive officer of Via Rail
VIA Rail
Via Rail Canada is an independent crown corporation offering intercity passenger rail services in Canada. It is headquartered near Montreal Central Station at 3 Place Ville-Marie in Montreal, Quebec....
, with a term starting on July 1, 1987. Following his appointment, de Belleval pursued a expansion strategy for VIA's services and said that he wanted to "[build] a modern railway for the 21st century." In September 1989, he announced the opening of a maintenance centre in Montreal valued at $139 million. During the same period, he acknowledged that VIA had often ignored the needs of Western Canada
Western Canada
Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces and commonly as the West, is a region of Canada that includes the four provinces west of the province of Ontario.- Provinces :...
and pledged to correct this in the future. He was able to announce that VIA had increased its ridership by ten per cent in 1988, following years of decline.
Rumours circulated in early 1989 that the Mulroney government was planning significant cuts to passenger rail. De Belleval responded with a forceful appeal in defense of the sector, arguing that rail service was vital to Canada's transport needs and rejecting suggestions that public money would be better spent on road construction or upgrades to air travel. Promoting long-term strategies such as a high-speed link between Montreal and Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
and increased tourist travel, de Belleval urged the Mulroney government to maintain its existing levels of support. He also launched a cross-Canada tour in support of passenger rail, before being ordered to stop by Mulroney.
De Belleval's efforts were ultimately unsuccessful, and the Mulroney government announced in April 1989 that it would cut VIA's subsidy by five hundred million dollars over the next four years. De Belleval resigned his position a week later at the request of federal transport minister
Minister of Transport (Canada)
The Minister of Transport is the Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for overseeing the federal government's transportation regulatory and development department, Transport Canada...
Benoît Bouchard
Benoît Bouchard
Benoît Bouchard, PC is a Canadian public official and former politician.After a career as a professor and teacher, Bouchard was elected to the Canadian House of Commons as the Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament for Roberval in the 1984 election...
. At a press conference, de Belleval said that the Mulroney government's funding cuts were incompatible with his plans for the company. VIA later made massive cuts to its passenger service lines across the country.
1990 to present
De Belleval was appointed as director general of Quebec City, the top administrative position in the city, in May 1990. He served in this position until 1995. He was then the province of Quebec's delegate-general in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
from 1996 to 1999, before returning to serve another term as director general of Quebec City from 2001 to 2006.
A longtime friend of prominent Quebec politician Lucien Bouchard
Lucien Bouchard
Lucien Bouchard, is a Canadian lawyer, diplomat, politician and former Minister of the Environment of the Canadian Federal Government. He was the Leader of Opposition in the Canadian House of Commons from 1993 to 1996, and the 27th Premier of Quebec from January 29, 1996 to March 8, 2001...
, de Belleval was present when Bouchard was hospitalized in late 1994 to receive treatment for a life-threatening battle with necrotizing fasciitis
Necrotizing fasciitis
Necrotizing fasciitis , commonly known as flesh-eating disease or Flesh-eating bacteria syndrome, is a rare infection of the deeper layers of skin and subcutaneous tissues, easily spreading across the fascial plane within the subcutaneous tissue.Necrotizing fasciitis is a quickly progressing and...
, a flesh-eating disease.
In the fall of 2007, De Belleval began work on a Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in public administration from the Université du Québec
Université du Québec
The University of Quebec is a system of ten provincially-run public universities in Quebec, Canada. Its headquarters are in Quebec City. The university coordinates university programs for more than 87,000 students. It offers more than 300 programs...
.
De Belleval strongly criticized a 2011 deal between Quebec City and Quebecor
Quebecor
Quebecor Inc. is a communications company based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was founded by Pierre Péladeau, and remains run by his family. Quebecor Inc. owns 55% of Quebecor Media Inc...
to oversee a future ampitheatre in the city. He described the city's deal with Quebecor with a phrase translating as "worthy of a banana republic
Banana republic
In political science, the pejorative term Banana Republic denotes a politically unstable country dependent upon limited primary productions , which is ruled by a plutocracy, a small, self-elected, wealthy group who exploit the country by means of a politico-economic oligarchy...
" and announced in April 2011 that he would seek to nullify it via a court challenge.