Normand Cherry | |
|---|---|
| Member of theNational Assembly of Quebec forSainte-Anne | |
| In office 1989–1994 | |
| Preceded by | Maximilien Polak |
| Succeeded by | District was abolished in 1994 |
| Member of theNational Assembly of Quebec forSaint-Laurent | |
| In office 1994–1998 | |
| Preceded by | Robert Bourassa |
| Succeeded by | Jacques Dupuis |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1938-06-02)June 2, 1938 |
| Died | (2021-04-11)April 11, 2021 |
| Party | Liberal |
Normand Cherry (June 2, 1938 – April 11, 2021) was a Canadian politician and union leader in the province ofQuebec. He was aLiberal member of theNational Assembly of Quebec from 1989 to 1998 and served as acabinet minister in the governments ofRobert Bourassa andDaniel Johnson.
Cherry was born inMontreal and received his early education in theRosemont area of the city. He worked forCanadair from 1954 to 1989 and became a prominent labour activist, serving as president of theInternational Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW) Local 712 from 1969 to 1989. From 1985, he also lectured at the IAMAW Training and Conference Center inMaryland.[1]
Cherry formed a "Canadair Survival Committee" in late 1985, after thegovernment of Canada announced that it was planning to sell the company to a private investor. Cherry's group sought to ensure that Canadair would remain publicly owned, stay in Montreal, and protect the jobs of its employees.[2] Cherry nonetheless supportedBombardier's successful offer to purchase the company in 1986, saying that the terms of the deal were favourable.[3]
In September 1986, Cherry argued that a federal contract to maintainCF-18 fighter jets should be given to Canadair rather than to a competing bid led by foreign-owned firms inManitoba andOntario. He said that it was not his intent to promote Quebec's interests at the expense of other provinces and that his primary concern was to ensure the CF-18 technology would remain under Canadian control.[4] The government ofBrian Mulroney ultimately awarded the contract to Canadair.[5]
Cherry served as chief organizer for the oppositionUnion Nationale in the1973 provincial election.[6] The party fared poorly in the election, losing all of its seats in the legislature.
Cherry ran as astar candidate for the Liberal Party in the1989 provincial election and was narrowly elected in the Montreal division ofSainte-Anne. He was appointed to the Bourassa ministry on October 11, 1989, serving as the juniorminister responsible for cultural communities.[7]
In early 1990, Cherry took part in plans to modernize the manufacturing firm Valmet-Dominion Inc. (a unit of theFinnish companyValmet) and relaunch its corporate office in Montreal.[8] He spoke at the opening ceremonies and announced that Quebec would provide $11.1 million in development assistance. Less than a month later, Valmet-Dominion issued layoff notices to one third of its workforce; company officials said that the layoffs were cyclical, resulting from a downturn in the sector, though others expressed concern about the timing of the announcement.[9]
Cherry was promoted tominister of labour on October 5, 1990, while retaining ministerial responsibility for cultural communities.[1] In late 1991, he took part in a ceremony that launched theCanadair CL-415 and announced that Quebec would purchase eight of the new amphibious aircraft.[10] In the same time period, Cherry appointed a business-labor advisory panel to suggest amendments to Quebec's 1981 law on workers' compensation that some critics believed was overly generous.[11]
In 1993, Cherry took part in negotiations with officials from Ontario andNew Brunswick in an effort to resolve long-standing differences in the construction sector.[12] In October 1993, he announced that Quebec would continue to require that out-of-province workers earn a "certificate of competence" before being allowed to work on Quebec sites.[13] The following month, however, he introduced legislation to deregulate homebuilding sites and permit the use of non-union labour. Construction workers organized several protests and strikes in a bid to defeat the legislation; the government responded with harsh back-to-work legislation, which Cherry himself described as "probably the most severe legislation ever introduced" on the matter.[14] Despite the protests, the legislation was approved by the assembly and brought into law.[15] Cherry was expelled from his IAWAW local at around the same time.[16]
Robert Bourassa announced his resignation as Liberal Party leader and premier in late 1993, and Cherry supported Daniel Johnson's bid to become the party's new leader.[17] When Johnson became premier on January 11, 1994, he appointed Cherry astransport minister.[18] In this position, Cherry initiated fifty million dollars' worth of road repairs and introduced a camera system to review congestion on Montreal roads.[19] He also sought to co-ordinate better links between Quebec's road, rail, and ship transportation lines.[20] In September 1994, he launched a thirty-six million dollar project to linkSaint-Bruno-de-Montarville with theJacques Cartier Bridge.[21]
Cherry's Sainte-Anne division was eliminated by redistribution before the1994 provincial election, and he was re-elected inSaint-Laurent, a safe Liberal seat in Montreal.[22] TheParti Québécois defeated the Liberals in this election, and Cherry resigned from cabinet with the rest of the Johnson ministry on September 26, 1994. He served as a member of theofficial opposition for the next four years and was his party's critic for transport issues.[23]
An ardentCanadian federalist, Cherry spoke againstQuebec separatism in the 1994 election and campaigned for the "non" side in the1995 Quebec referendum on sovereignty.[24]
When Daniel Johnson resigned as Liberal Party leader in 1998, Cherry was among the first Liberals to suggest thatJean Charest become his successor.[25] Charest was subsequently chosen as party leader.
Cherry was not a candidate in the1998 election.
| 1994 Quebec general election:Saint-Laurent | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| Liberal | Normand Cherry | 25,711 | 76.73 | +24.60 | ||||
| Parti Québécois | Louis Thibaudeau | 5,602 | 16.72 | −1.98 | ||||
| Action démocratique | Daniel Murray | 1,061 | 3.17 | – | ||||
| Equality | Ray Moscato | 362 | 1.08 | −22.81 | ||||
| CANADA! | Tony Kondaks | 243 | 0.73 | – | ||||
| Natural Law | Marc Hindle | 154 | 0.46 | – | ||||
| Economic | François Blouin | 147 | 0.44 | – | ||||
| Communist | Robert Bob Aubin | 94 | 0.28 | −0.25 | ||||
| Non-affiliated | Annette Kouri | 72 | 0.21 | – | ||||
| Republic of Canada | Seng Phlang | 61 | 0.18 | – | ||||
| Total valid votes | 33,507 | 98.60 | – | |||||
| Total rejected ballots | 476 | 1.40 | – | |||||
| Turnout | 33,983 | 81.83 | +7.71 | |||||
| Electors on the lists | 41,530 | – | – | |||||
| 1989 Quebec general election:Sainte-Anne | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |||||
| Liberal | Normand Cherry | 9,089 | 41.18 | |||||
| Parti Québécois | Gilles Cormier | 7,977 | 36.14 | |||||
| Equality | Richard Lord | 3,057 | 13.85 | |||||
| Green | Serge Bellemare | 941 | 4.26 | |||||
| New Democratic | Suzy Potvin | 218 | 0.99 | |||||
| Independent | André 1er Le Pape Brabant | 177 | 0.80 | |||||
| Independent | Fergus V. Keyes | 170 | 0.77 | |||||
| Progressive Conservative | Réal Letendre | 141 | 0.64 | |||||
| Parti des travailleurs | Daniel McCrea | 78 | 0.35 | |||||
| Marxist–Leninist | Diane Johnston | 70 | 0.32 | |||||
| Social Credit | Jimmy Alcide Gallant | 68 | 0.31 | |||||
| Communist | Irène Dasylva | 44 | 0.20 | |||||
| Socialist Movement | Thérèse Spénard | 42 | 0.19 | |||||
| Total valid votes | 22,072 | 100.00 | ||||||
| Rejected and declined votes | 559 | |||||||
| Turnout | 22,631 | 67.31 | ||||||
| Electors on the lists | 33,623 | |||||||
 | ||
