Bernard Drainville

Bernard Drainville
MNA
Bernard Drainville MNA
	Drainville in 2024
MNA for Lévis
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; October 3, 2022
Preceded by	François Paradis
Quebec Minister of Education
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; October 20, 2022
Preceded by	Jean-François Roberge
MNA for Marie-Victorin
	In office; April 25, 2007 – June 13, 2016
Preceded by	Cécile Vermette
Succeeded by	Catherine Fournier
Personal details
Born	June 6, 1963 (age 61); La Visitation-de-l'Île-Dupas, Quebec, Canada
Political party	Coalition Avenir Québec
Other political; affiliations	Parti Québécois (2007–2022)
Residence	Quebec City
Profession	Journalist, television host
Portfolio	Health and Castonguay Commission (2008) affairs

Bernard Drainville MNA (born June 6, 1963) is a Canadian politician, television host and journalist. He was the Member of National Assembly of Quebec for the riding of Marie-Victorin in Longueuil from 2007 to 2016, representing the Parti Québécois.

Since 2022 He was the Member of National Assembly of Quebec for the riding of Lévis, representing the Coalition Avenir Québec. He is currently serving as the Minister of Education.

Biography

Drainville was born in La Visitation-de-l'Île-Dupas, Quebec. He attended the University of Ottawa, where he was president of the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa in 1984–85, and obtained a bachelor's degree in political science and a master's degree in international relations at the London School of Economics.

In 1989, Drainville joined Radio-Canada as a journalist, where he worked at the Windsor affiliate. He became a correspondent for Latin America in 2001, where he was arrested once in Mexico and detained by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Prior to 2007, he was a television host at the network's news channel RDI and the correspondent at the National Assembly, and a correspondent for the House of Commons of Canada from 1998 to 2001. He hosted the City of Montreal mayoral debate between Gérald Tremblay and Pierre Bourque during the 2005 municipal election campaign.

Drainville jumped into provincial politics and was elected in the 2007 elections in Marie-Victorin and was named the PQ's critic in health. He was re-elected in the 2008 and 2012 general elections.

On September 19, 2012, he became Minister responsible for Democratic Institutions and Active Citizenship^[1] under the Marois government. He was responsible for introducing the controversial Quebec Charter of Values, which would have banned state employees from wearing religious symbols.

He was re-elected in 2014, despite his party's defeat and was appointed the official opposition critic for energy and natural resources.^[2]

On October 20, 2014, he declared his candidacy for the Parti Québécois leadership election^[3] but dropped out on April 22, 2015, and endorsed Pierre-Karl Péladeau.^[4]

On September 7, 2015, he was appointed the Opposition House leader by Péladeau.

On June 13, 2016, he announced he was leaving politics, saying that Mr. Péladeau's departure had prompted a reflection on his own career. He is going back to work in the media, co-hosting with Éric Duhaime a noon hour radio show on FM93 in Quebec City.

On June 7, 2022, it was announced that Drainville was running as a candidate for the CAQ in Lévis in the upcoming 2022 Quebec general election.^[5] He was re-elected in the riding of Lévis and appointed Minister of education.

In April 2023, he announced plans to ban prayer in all provincial public schools.^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9]

Electoral record

v t e 2022 Quebec general election: Lévis
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Coalition Avenir Québec	Bernard Drainville	18,051	48.79
	Conservative	Karine Laflamme	7,677	20.75
	Parti Québécois	Pierre-Gilles Morel	4,775	12.91
	Québec solidaire	Valérie Cayouette-Guilloteau	4,244	11.47
	Liberal	Richard Garon	1,899	5.13
	Green	Mehdi Lahlou	213	0.58
	Climat Québec	André Voyer	138	0.37	–
Total valid votes			36,997	98.64	–
Total rejected ballots			511	1.36	–
Turnout			37,508	73.73
Electors on the lists			50,875	–	–

2014 Quebec general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Parti Québécois	Bernard Drainville	11,614	38.17	-8.94
	Liberal	Jean-Guy Tremblay	7,926	26.05	+8.51
	Coalition Avenir Québec	Guillaume Provencher	6,269	20.60	-1.02
	Québec solidaire	Carl Lévesque	3,518	11.56	+3.35
	Green	Catherine Lovatt-Smith	707	2.32	+0.35
	Option nationale	Fabien Villemaire	244	0.80	-1.73
	Marxist–Leninist	Pierre Chénier	107	0.35	–
	Équipe Autonomiste	Florent Portron	44	0.14
Total valid votes			30,429	98.09
Total rejected ballots			591	1.91	+0.44
Turnout			31,020	66.32	-5.55
Electors on the lists			46,770	–
	Parti Québécois hold		Swing		-8.72

2012 Quebec general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Parti Québécois	Bernard Drainville	15,506	47.10	-4.00
	Coalition Avenir Québec	Simon Jolin-Barrette	7,119	21.63	+10.30
	Liberal	Farida Chemmakh	5,773	17.54	-11.77
	Québec solidaire	Carl Lévesque	2,702	8.21	+3.83
	Option nationale	Olivier Chauvin	832	2.53
	Green	Mathieu Yargeau	648	1.97	-1.09
	Coalition pour la constituante	Jean Baillargeon	244	0.74	–
	Parti indépendantiste	Yves Ménard	94	0.29	-0.54
Total valid votes			32,918	98.54
Total rejected ballots			489	1.46
Turnout			33,407	71.88
Electors on the lists			46,478	–
	Parti Québécois hold		Swing		-7.15

v t e 2008 Quebec general election: Marie-Victorin
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Parti Québécois	Bernard Drainville	11,026	51.56	+11.96
	Liberal	Isabelle Mercille	6,185	28.92	+7.52
	Action démocratique	Roger Dagenais	2,369	11.08	-17.32
	Québec solidaire	Sebastien Robert	957	4.48	-0.60
	Green	Real Langelier	665	3.11	-1.64
	Parti indépendantiste	Yves Menard	182	0.85
Total valid votes			21,384	98.22
Total rejected ballots			388	1.78	+0.52
Turnout			21,772	53.29	-15.26
Electors on the lists			40,858	–
	Parti Québécois hold		Swing		+2.22

2007 Quebec general election: Marie-Victorin
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Parti Québécois	Bernard Drainville	11,055	39.61	-5.78
	Action démocratique	Roger Dagenais	7,927	28.40	+12.81
	Liberal	Nic Leblanc	5,974	21.40	-13.52
	Québec solidaire	Cyr François	1,418	5.08	+3.47
	Green	Réal Langelier	1,327	4.75
	Bloc Pot	Richard Lemagnifique	211	0.76	-0.89
Total valid votes			27,912	98.74
Total rejected ballots			357	1.26	-0.43
Turnout			28,269	68.54	+1.50
Electors on the lists			41,242	–
	Parti Québécois hold		Swing		-9.30

Notes and references

^ "Bernard Drainville - National Assembly of Québec". www.assnat.qc.ca.
^ "Bernard Drainville - Assemblée nationale du Québec".
^ "Bernard Drainville throws hat into ring to run for Parti Quebecois leadership". October 20, 2014.
^ "Bernard Drainville drops out of PQ leadership race to support Péladeau". Toronto Star. April 22, 2015. Retrieved April 22, 2015.
^ "Quebecers not interested in sovereignty, says ex-PQ candidate Drainville, now running for Legault". CTV News Montreal. June 7, 2022. Retrieved June 8, 2022.
^ "Muslim groups pledge to monitor Quebec ban on school prayer spaces | Globalnews.ca". Global News.
^ "Quebec Muslim associations denounce government ban on prayer rooms in schools". CBC. April 8, 2023. Retrieved May 16, 2023.
^ "Quebec to ban prayer rooms in public schools, says only 'silent' praying allowed". montrealgazette.
^ "CityNews". montreal.citynews.ca. April 5, 2023.

External links

"Biography". Dictionnaire des parlementaires du Québec de 1792 à nos jours (in French). National Assembly of Quebec.
PQ webpage (in French)
Marie-Victorin (electoral district)

[1] "Bernard Drainville - National Assembly of Québec". www.assnat.qc.ca.

[2] "Bernard Drainville - Assemblée nationale du Québec".

[3] "Bernard Drainville throws hat into ring to run for Parti Quebecois leadership". October 20, 2014.

[downthedrainville-4] "Bernard Drainville drops out of PQ leadership race to support Péladeau". Toronto Star. April 22, 2015. Retrieved April 22, 2015.

[5] "Quebecers not interested in sovereignty, says ex-PQ candidate Drainville, now running for Legault". CTV News Montreal. June 7, 2022. Retrieved June 8, 2022.

[6] "Muslim groups pledge to monitor Quebec ban on school prayer spaces | Globalnews.ca". Global News.

[7] "Quebec Muslim associations denounce government ban on prayer rooms in schools". CBC. April 8, 2023. Retrieved May 16, 2023.

[8] "Quebec to ban prayer rooms in public schools, says only 'silent' praying allowed". montrealgazette.

[9] "CityNews". montreal.citynews.ca. April 5, 2023.

[1]

v t e Current members of the National Assembly of Quebec
Coalition Avenir Québec	Legault Abou-Khalil Allaire Asselin Bachand G. Bélanger S. Bélanger Bernard Biron Blais Blanchette Vézina Blouin Bogemans Boivin Roy Bonnardel Boulet Bourassa Bussière Caire Carmant Caron Champagne Jourdain Charest Charette D'Amours Déry Dionne Dorismond Drainville Dubé Dufour Duranceau Émond Fréchette Gagnon Gendron Girard (Groulx) Girard (Lac-Saint-Jean) Grondin Guilbault Guillemette Haytayan Hébert Jacques Jeannotte Jolin-Barrette Julien Lachance Lacombe Laforest Laframboise Lafrenière Lamontagne Lamothe LeBel I. Lecours L. Lecours Lemay Lemieux M. Lévesque S. Lévesque Mallette Martel Montigny Picard Poulet Poulin Proulx Provençal Reid Rivest Roberge Rouleau N. Roy S. Roy Sainte-Croix St-Louis Schmaltz Schneeberger Simard Skeete Soucy Tardif Thouin F. Tremblay S. Tremblay
Quebec Liberal Party	Tanguay Beauchemin Benjamin Cadet Caron Ciccone Derraji Dufour Fortin Garceau Kelley Lakhoyan Olivier Maccarone McGraw Morin Prass Rizqy Rotiroti Setlakwe
Québec solidaire	Labrie Nadeau-Dubois Bouazzi Cliche-Rivard Fontecilla Ghazal Grandmont Leduc Marissal Massé Zaga Mendez Zanetti
Parti Québécois†	St-Pierre Plamondon Arseneau Bérubé Paradis
Independent	Chassin Lefebvre Nichols
Party leaders listed first (in bold italics). Government members in bold denotes cabinet. † Party does not have official party status in the National Assembly.