Yves Blais (June 5, 1931 – November 22, 1998) was a politician in the Canadian province of Quebec. He served inNational Assembly of Quebec from 1981 to 1998 as a member of theParti Québécois (PQ).

Blais was born inSaint-Placide, Quebec and raised inRouyn-Noranda, in theTémiscamingue area. He took classical studies at College Mont-Laurier and received abachelor's degree in literature in 1950.^[1]

Blais worked forHydro-Québec from 1951 to 1966, initially in land surveying and later at the installations department of the company's main office. He also studied in journalism, communications, administration, and social work inMontreal during the 1960s and opened a series of nightclubs and coffee houses, including thePatriote de Montréal, theThéâtre de Saint-Sauveur, and theComédie nationale.^[2][3]

He became aQuebec nationalist in his youth and joined theRassemblement pour l'Indépendance Nationale (RIN) on the recommendation of party leaderPierre Bourgault in the 1960s. He also rented space in his Montreal nightclub toRené Lévesque, who merged his ownMouvement Souveraineté-Association with the RIN and a third group to create the Parti Québécois in 1969.^[4]

Government backbencher

Blais was elected to the Quebec legislature for theTerrebonne division in the1981 provincial election. The Parti Québécois won amajority government in this election, and Blais entered the legislature as abackbench supporter ofRené Lévesque's government. He served on the party's executive during the mid-1980s.^{[citation needed]}

In 1981, thefederal government ofPierre Trudeau reached an agreement with all provincial premiers except Lévesque to patriate theCanadian constitution. Lévesque was not included in the final negotiations (which took place overnight at a constitutional summit inOttawa) and described the agreement as a betrayal. In a subsequent legislative debate, Blais likened the constitutional agreement to the 1759battle of the Plains of Abraham and compared Trudeau and the other premiers to GeneralJames Wolfe, who "climbed the banks of theSaint Lawrence in the middle of the night to attackMontcalm and his sleeping soldiers."^[5]

The PQ faced an extremely divisiveinternal debate as to its position onQuebec independence in 1984. Some party members favoured a hardline stance, while others sought to win increased autonomy for Quebec within the Canadian federation (a position known as the "beau risque"). Blais was not regarded as a hardliner in this period; he argued that the terms "separatist", "indépendantiste", and "sovereigntist" had different meanings and said that the PQ was "sovereigntist in a Canadian economic whole."^[6] The "beau risque" supporters won the debate (in the short term), and several of the more militantPéquistes left the party.^{[citation needed]}

Blais served asparliamentary assistant to theminister of cultural communities and immigration from February 12 to October 23, 1985.^{[citation needed]}

Opposition backbencher

Blais was re-elected in the1985 provincial election as the PQ was defeated by theQuebec Liberal Party. Fe was appointed as the PQ's environment critic in theofficial opposition after the election.^[7] He criticized the Liberal government's passage of a law guaranteeing English-language health and social services in 1985, on the grounds that it would give Quebec's anglophone population the "hope of becoming once again a dominant minority."^[8]

Blais fell out with PQ party leaderPierre-Marc Johnson in 1987, after Johnson attempted to shift him from the environmental portfolio and subsequently dropped him from theshadow cabinet entirely.^[9] Blais subsequently became affiliated with a dissident group of legislators who opposed Johnson's leadership, and, after Johnson resigned, he supported hardlineindépendantisteJacques Parizeau's successful bid to lead the party.^[10] In the years that followed, Blais himself became more aligned the party's hardline separatist position. He was co-president of the PQ's fundraising efforts in early 1988.^[11]

He was elected to a third term in the Quebec legislature in the1989 provincial election, running in the division ofMasson after boundary changes. The Liberals were re-elected with a second consecutive majority government, and Blais was appointed as the PQ's communications critic.^[12] In 1990, he unsuccessfully called for the PQ to boycottpremierRobert Bourassa's commission on Quebec's constitutional future.^[13]

Government backbencher (second time)

Blais was re-elected again in the1994 provincial election as the PQ returned to power until Parizeau's leadership. Following the election, he was appointed as the government'sregional delegate for the Outaouais. This was not aministerial position, although Parizeau said that it would be almost equal in power.^{[citation needed]}

One day after his appointment, Blais announced that he would make a decision on the location of apromised casino for the Outaouais within ten days and that the PQ government would act on his decision.^[14] The ten-day deadline was not kept, although the PQ government later approved a casino forHull.^[15] Blais subsequently indicated that only companies with offices in Quebec would be able to work on the building's construction.^[16]

Blais campaigned in favour ofQuebec sovereignty in theOutaouais region in the buildup to the1995 provincial referendum and highlighted the need for the Parizeau government to ensure that federalcivil service workers would have job security in a sovereign Quebec.^[17] In January 1995, he promised that the PQ would soon provide "irrefutable proof" that all federal civil servants would be hired by the Quebec public service in the event of Quebec sovereignty.^[18] (A representative of thePublic Service Alliance of Canada responded that a promise would not suffice and demanded a signed legal document. The PSAC and the PQ government reached anagreement in principle in June.)^[19] Blais also took part in the Parizeau government's public commission on sovereignty during the same period.^[20]

He suffered aheart attack in March 1995, but was back at his desk the following week.^[21] Fellow legislatorDenis Perron said as Blais, "`For him, it's Quebec before everything else. Before himself, before his health." Blais himself said, "Politics and humor are my two drugs. That's what keeps me alive. That, and the hope of having a new country very soon."^[22]

During Quebec's legislative debates on sovereignty in 1995, Blais compared Quebecers to theJewish people in their search for a homeland, saying "We losta war in 1760 and have been searching for a country since then."^[23] The sovereigntist side was narrowly defeated in the referendum, and Parizeau resigned as premier shortly thereafter.^{[citation needed]}

WhenLucien Bouchard succeeded Parizeau as premier in January 1996, one of his first decisions was to eliminate the "regional delegate" positions. He appointed Blais asparliamentary assistant to theminister responsible for regional development on January 29, 1996; Blais held this position for the remainder of his time as a legislator.^[24]

Blais died of a heart attack on November 22, 1998. At the time, he was seeking re-election to the Quebec legislature in the1998 provincial election. Premier Bouchard cancelled some campaign appearances as a tribute to Blais.^[25]

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• 1931 births
• 1998 deaths
• Parti Québécois MNAs
• People from Rouyn-Noranda
• Politicians from Laurentides
• 20th-century members of the National Assembly of Quebec

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