Rodrigue Tremblay is a Canadian-born economist, humanist and political figure. He taught economics at the
Université de MontréalThe Université de Montréal is a public francophone research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It comprises thirteen faculties, more than sixty departments and two affiliated schools: the École Polytechnique and HEC Montréal...
. He specializes in
macroeconomicsMacroeconomics is a branch of economics dealing with the performance, structure, behavior, and decision-making of the whole economy. This includes a national, regional, or global economy...
,
international tradeInternational trade is the exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories. In most countries, such trade represents a significant share of gross domestic product...
and
finance"Finance" is often defined simply as the management of money or “funds” management Modern finance, however, is a family of business activity that includes the origination, marketing, and management of cash and money surrogates through a variety of capital accounts, instruments, and markets created...
, and
public financePublic finance is the revenue and expenditure of public authoritiesThe purview of public finance is considered to be threefold: governmental effects on efficient allocation of resources, distribution of income, and macroeconomic stabilization.-Overview:The proper role of government provides a...
. He is a prolific author of books in
economicsEconomics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
and
politicsPolitics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
.
Biography
Born in Matane, Québec, Canada, he has a
B.A.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...
from the
Université LavalLaval University is the oldest centre of education in Canada and was the first institution in North America to offer higher education in French...
(1961), a B.Sc. in Economics from the Université de Montréal (1963). Tremblay did his graduate work at
Stanford UniversityThe Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
where he obtained a M.A. in Economics (1965) and a Ph.D. in Economics (1968).
He has been a professor of economics at the Université de Montréal since 1967. He is professor emeritus since 2002.
Tremblay was president of the Association canadienne de science économique (1974–75) and of the North American Economics and Finance Association (1986–87). He was chairman of the Department of Economics of the Université de Montréal (1973–76)), member of the Committee of Dispute Settlements of the
North American Free Trade AgreementThe North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA is an agreement signed by the governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The agreement came into force on January 1, 1994. It superseded the Canada – United States Free Trade Agreement...
(NAFTA) (1989–93) and vice-president of the Association internationale des économistes de langue française (AIELF), from 1999 to 2005.
He was invited scholar and economic consultant at the
Bank of CanadaThe Bank of Canada is Canada's central bank and "lender of last resort". The Bank was created by an Act of Parliament on July 3, 1934 as a privately owned corporation. In 1938, the Bank became a Crown corporation belonging to the Government of Canada...
, the Economic Council of Canada, the Quebec Commission of Inquiry on the Quebec Liquor Trade, the West African Monetary Union, the Royal Commission on the Economic Union and Development Prospects for Canada (MacDonald Commission) and the
United NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
. Tremblay presided at the foundation of the North American Review of Economics and Finance and was associate editor of the
Review L'Action nationaleL'Action nationale is a French-language monthly published in Quebec, Canada.The magazine publishes critical analysis of Quebec's linguistic, social, cultural and economic realities...
and the financial weekly
Les Affaires.
Rodrigue Tremblay was elected member of the
National Assembly of QuebecThe 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 Montreal riding of
GouinGouin is a provincial electoral district in Quebec, Canada that elects members to the National Assembly of Quebec. The district is located in Montreal between the Canadian Pacific Railway and Jean-Talon Street and west of 6th Avenue...
on November 15, 1976, as candidate of the
Parti QuébécoisThe 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...
. He served as Minister of Industry and Trade in the
Government of QuebecThe Government of Quebec refers to the provincial government of the province of Quebec. Its powers and structure are set out in the Constitution Act, 1867....
, from 1976 to 1979. He sponsored the sale of wine in Quebec's 12,000 private grocery stores. He resigned from the Lévesque Cabinet on September 19, 1979. He resumed his academic career on April 15, 1981.
Contributions to economics
Rodrigue Tremblay has made contributions in many fields of economics and economic policy, especially in vulgarisation,
international economicsInternational economics is concerned with the effects upon economic activity of international differences in productive resources and consumer preferences and the institutions that affect them...
,
international tradeInternational trade is the exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories. In most countries, such trade represents a significant share of gross domestic product...
, and has authored several textbooks on economics and macroeconomics.
There are his contributions in the fields of
international economicsInternational economics is concerned with the effects upon economic activity of international differences in productive resources and consumer preferences and the institutions that affect them...
,
economic developmentEconomic development generally refers to the sustained, concerted actions of policymakers and communities that promote the standard of living and economic health of a specific area...
and economic cycles. He demonstrated the crucial role of short term capital movements in
balance of paymentsBalance of payments accounts are an accounting record of all monetary transactions between a country and the rest of the world.These transactions include payments for the country's exports and imports of goods, services, financial capital, and financial transfers...
adjustment (
Canadian Journal of Economics, 1968). His work on economic cycles innovated by identifying economic and political shocks as factors of economic
instabilityIn numerous fields of study, the component of instability within a system is generally characterized by some of the outputs or internal states growing without bounds...
(
Review of North American Economics and Finance, 1988). Tremblay then linked trade and development through economies of scale and increasing returns in his work on "Export-Led Growth" (
Review of North American Economics and Finance, 1991).
Dr. Tremblay's works in international trade and economic integration have been highly influential, especially in trade policy and monetary policy. In the early 1970s, Tremblay influenced monetary policy in Africa as an adviser to the West African Monetary Union (see his book on
Africa and Monetary integration, 1970). In 1988, Tremblay presided the committee of Canadian economists that argued successfully for the establishment of a Canada-U.S. free trade agreement and later, the
North American Free Trade AgreementThe North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA is an agreement signed by the governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The agreement came into force on January 1, 1994. It superseded the Canada – United States Free Trade Agreement...
(NAFTA) between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico.
Contributions to politics
Rodrigue Tremblay is a public intellectual who is known for his contributions to the understanding of international, Canadian and Quebec politics. His political analyses have been published in
The New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
,
The Wall Street JournalThe Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
,
The Globe and MailThe Globe and Mail is a nationally distributed Canadian newspaper, based in Toronto and printed in six cities across the country. With a weekly readership of approximately 1 million, it is Canada's largest-circulation national newspaper and second-largest daily newspaper after the Toronto Star...
, in French-language newspapers such as
Le DevoirLe Devoir is a French-language newspaper published in Montreal and distributed in Quebec and the rest of Canada. It was founded by journalist, politician, and nationalist Henri Bourassa in 1910....
,
La PresseLa Presse, founded in 1884, is a French-language Monday-Saturday newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is owned today by Groupe Gesca, a subsidiary of Power Corporation of Canada. The Sunday version was dropped in 2009.-Description:...
,
Le Soleil, and several other publications.
In 1970, he was among the first economists to propose a North American Common Market with his book
Indépendance et marché commun Québec–États-Unis. Nineteen years later, on January 1, 1989, Canada and the United States entered into a North American Free Trade Area which was enlarged to include Mexico in 1994. On the invitation of the Canadian government, he served as an arbiter on the Committee of Dispute Settlements of NAFTA, from 1989 to 1993. Previously, he had served as Minister of Industry and Commerce in the
Government of QuebecThe Government of Quebec refers to the provincial government of the province of Quebec. Its powers and structure are set out in the Constitution Act, 1867....
, from 1976 to 1979. Also in 1979, he published a manifest for the reform of Canadian federalism entitled
La 3e option (The 3rd Option) which envisaged a greater degree of political autonomy for the French-speaking province of
QuebecQuebec 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....
. In 1987, when the federal government under Prime Minister
Brian MulroneyMartin 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...
introduced the
Meech Lake AccordThe Meech Lake Accord was a package of proposed amendments to the Constitution of Canada negotiated in 1987 by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and ten provincial premiers. It was intended to persuade the government of the Province of Quebec to endorse the 1982 Canadian Constitution and increase...
, it included some of Tremblay's ideas about political decentralization.
From 1999 to 2004, Rodrigue Tremblay published four books about politics and geopolitics. The first, in 1999, (
Les grands enjeux politiques et économiques du Québec) reproduced a series of articles published in the financial weekly
Les Affaires. In 2002, Rodrigue Tremblay published a book of political philosophy entitled
L’Heure Juste (The Way It Is). In 2003, his book entitled
Pourquoi Bush veut la guerre, Religion, politique et pétrole dans les conflits internationaux, published more than one month before the event, dealt with the March 20, 2003 American-led invasion of Iraq.
Contributions to ethics
In 2009 (in French) and in 2009 and in 2010 (in English), Dr. Tremblay published
The Code for Global Ethics, with a preface by Dr.
Paul KurtzPaul Kurtz is a prominent American skeptic and secular humanist. He has been called "the father of secular humanism." He is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the State University of New York at Buffalo, having previously also taught at Vassar, Trinity, and Union colleges, and the New School for...
.
The book codifies in a pedagogical way the most fundamental humanist principles of human behavior.
The Code for Global Ethics, proposes a progressive and modern code of global ethics that is summarized under 10 general humanist rules or principles. The themes range from human dignity, human life, tolerance, the need to share, and the requirement to avoid domination and superstition, to the preservation of the Earth's natural environment, the issue of violence and wars, the question of political and economic democracy, the separation of Church and State, and the central role of education and knowledge as gateways to personal happiness, independence, and individual freedom. The book is also a critique of many religion-based ethical rules and raises the issue of moral dilemmas.
Honours
- Fellow, Université de Montréal, 1961
- Woodrow Wilson Fellow, 1963
- Ford International Fellow, Stanford University, 1964
- Prize for excellence in teaching, Université de Montréal, 1998
- Emeritus professor, 2002
- Prix Condorcet
Prix Condorcet was instituted in 1993 by the Mouvement laïque québécois to honour a public personality who had worked for the defense of secularity and freedom of thought...
, 2004
Partial bibliography
- The Code for Global Ethics, Ten humanist Principles, Rodrigue Tremblay, Prometheus, 2010, ISBN 978-1616-141721
- The Code for Global Ethics, Toward a Humanist Civilization, Rodrigue Tremblay, Trafford, 2009, ISBN 978-1426-913587
- Le code pour une éthique globale, vers une civilisation humaniste, Rodrigue Tremblay, Liber, 2009, ISBN 978-2895-781738
- The New American Empire, (in Turkish), Rodrigue Tremblay, Nova publishing, Ankara, Turkey, 2006, ISBN 9944119399
- The New American Empire
The New American Empire is a geopolitical book by economist Rodrigue Tremblay that analyses the causes and consequences of the political shift taking place in U.S...
, Rodrigue Tremblay, Infinity, 2004, ISBN 0-7414-1887-8
- Le Nouvel Empire Américain, Causes et conséquences pour les Etats-Unis et pour le monde, Rodrigue Tremblay, L'Harmattan, 2004, ISBN 2-7475-6287-5
- Pourquoi Bush Veut la Guerre, Rodrigue Tremblay, Les Intouchables, 2003, ISBN 2-89549-099-6
- L'Heure Juste, Rodrigue Tremblay, 2002, Stanke International, ISBN 2-7604-0850-7
- Les Grands Enjeux Politiques et Économiques du Québec, Transcontinental Inc., Rodrigue Tremblay, 1999, ISBN 2-89472-115-3.
Other
Department of Economics of the Université de Montréal
http://www.assnat.qc.ca/fr/deputes/tremblay-rodrigue-5615/biographie.html
External links