Jean-Louis Roux | |
|---|---|
| 26th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec | |
| In office August 8, 1996 – January 30, 1997 | |
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Governor General | Roméo LeBlanc |
| Premier | Lucien Bouchard |
| Preceded by | Martial Asselin |
| Succeeded by | Lise Thibault |
| Senator forMille Isles, Quebec | |
| In office August 31, 1994 – August 8, 1996 | |
| Appointed by | Jean Chrétien |
| Preceded by | Solange Chaput-Rolland |
| Succeeded by | Léonce Mercier |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1923-05-18)May 18, 1923 Montreal,Quebec |
| Died | November 28, 2013(2013-11-28) (aged 90) Montreal, Quebec |
| Spouse | |
| Alma mater | Université de Montréal |
| Profession | Playwright,entertainer,politician |
Jean-Louis RouxCC CQ (May 18, 1923 – November 28, 2013) was a Canadian politician, entertainer and playwright who was briefly the26thLieutenant Governor of Quebec.[2][3]
Born inMontreal, Quebec, he originally studied medicine at theUniversité de Montréal, but gave it up to pursue acting. After travelling and performing inNew York City andParis he returned to Montreal and helped create theThéâtre du Nouveau Monde and became a frequent actor in and director of its productions for the next several years. He also turned to writing and wrote successful plays,radio dramas, and television shows.
His greatest fame comes from his role onLa famille Plouffe, a very successful Quebecsituation comedy. Roux served as President of theCanadian Conference of the Arts from 1968 through 1970.
A staunch federalist, Jean-Louis Roux was appointed to the Senate by his longtime friendJean Chrétien in 1994. During the1995 Quebec referendum campaign, Roux was arguably the best-known personality in the area of art and culture to campaign for the "no". His public statement that Quebec intellectuals should not remain passively on the sideline as German intellectuals had done during the rise of Nazism in their country provoked an uproar.
The following year, Prime Minister Chrétien appointed him as the newlieutenant governor of Quebec, a move that was seen as a provocation by many since it was customary to appoint to that ceremonial function uncontroversial figures who had never, or long ceased to be politically active. He resigned abruptly and spectacularly barely two months into his five-year mandate shortly after the publication of a cover story titledL'Affaire Jean-Louis Roux in the magazineL'Actualité on 1 November 1996. Adding to what former federal cabinet ministerGérard Pelletier had already disclosed to L'Actualité journalist Luc Chartrand regarding his longtime friend Jean-Louis Roux having drawn aswastika on the sleeve of this lab coat during his World War II medical school days, Roux revealed during his pre-publication interview with Chartrand that he had taken part, and had even been once in the front-line of anti-conscription protests in 1942 during which the windows of Jewish-owned stores had been smashed, and that he had even held pro-Mussolini, pro-Franco and pro-Pétain sympathies during those years.[Note 1][4][5] There were rapidly increasing calls coming from all quarters that he resign as lieutenant governor,[6] which he did on 5 November.[7] Jean Chrétien angrily accused "the separatists" of having engineered the whole thing in order to discredit a man of honour but Roux himself did not support that accusation and there was general agreement that it was Gérard Pelletier’s swastika leak during the L’Actualité interview that was at the origin of the scandal.
Roux tearfully told a news conference the day after his resignation that "the carefree attitude of youth may be an explanation, but it can't in any way serve as an excuse and especially not as a justification; I committed a mistake by yielding to the anti-Semitic feelings that poisoned our minds at the time."[8]
On May 31, 1997 Roux returned to public life when the federal government appointed him to be chair of theCanada Council.
In 1971 he was made an Officer of theOrder of Canada and was promoted to Companion in 1987. In 1989, he was made a Knight of theNational Order of Quebec. Roux received aGovernor General's Performing Arts Award for his lifetime contributions to Canadian theatre in 2004.[9]
He died in Montreal on November 28, 2013.[10]
 |
|
| Post-Confederation (1867–present) |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Province of Canada (1841–66)* | ||
| Lower Canada (1791–1841) | ||
| British Province of Quebec (1759–91)* | ||
| ||
