{{Short description|Canadian politician}} {{Use Canadian English|date=September 2021}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = The Honourable | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=CAN|PC|CM}} | office1 = Canadian commissioner at the International Joint Commission | term1 = 2013–2017 | office2 = Chair of the Transportation Safety Board of Canada | term2 = 1996–2001 | riding3 = Roberval | parliament3 = Canadian | term_start3 = September 4, 1984 | term_end3 = June 17, 1993 | predecessor3 = Suzanne Beauchamp-Niquet | successor3 = Michel Gauthier | birth_place = Roberval, Quebec, Canada | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1940|4|16}} | party = Progressive Conservative | occupation = teacher, public official, politician }} '''Benoît Bouchard''' {{post-nominals|country=CAN|PC|CM}} ({{IPA|fr|bənwa buʃaʁ}}; born April 16, 1940) is a Canadian public official and former politician.
==Biography== After a career as a professor and teacher, Bouchard was elected to the House of Commons of Canada as the Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament for Roberval in the 1984 election. He was immediately elevated to Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's Cabinet as Minister of State for Transport.
In 1985, he was promoted to Secretary of State for Canada. He subsequently served as Minister of Employment and Immigration (June 30, 1986 – March 30, 1988), Minister of Transport (March 31, 1988 – February 22, 1990), Minister of Industry, Science and Technology (February 23, 1990 – April 20, 1991), and Minister of National Health and Welfare (April 21, 1991 – June 1993).
In 1989, the federal budget mandated fiscal cuts to a broad range of departments and agencies, one of which was Bouchard's ministry at Transport Canada. As part of his department's efforts to cut its budget, Bouchard authorized Transport Canada to slash the subsidy to the national intercity passenger railway, Via Rail by 55%. Responding to the cuts, Bouchard said in a television interview several weeks later: "Ten years from now, no one will remember Benoît Bouchard cut Via Rail".<ref>{{cite news |first=Benoît |last=Bouchard |author2=Pamela Wallin |title=Interview by Pamela Wallin with Minister of Transport Benoit Bouchard. |work=Question Period |publisher=CTV News |date=February 1990 }}</ref>
He retired from politics in June 1993 to accept an appointment as Canada's Ambassador to France.
In 1996, Bouchard returned to Canada and was appointed Chair of the Transportation Safety Board of Canada by Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chrétien. He oversaw the Canadian portion of the investigation of the Swissair Flight 111 air crash. He retired from the board in 2001.
In 2012, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gg.ca/document.aspx?id=14390&lan=eng|title=Appointments to the Order of Canada|work=Governor General of Canada|date=20 September 2017 }}</ref> Between 2013 and 2017, Benoît Bouchard was a Canadian commissioner at the International Joint Commission.<ref>{{cite web |title=Commissioners of the International Joint Commission |url=https://www.ijc.org/en/commissioners-international-joint-commission |publisher=International Joint Commission |access-date=31 May 2024}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}} * {{Canadian Parliament links|ID=9129}} *[http://www.international.gc.ca/department/history-histoire/hplPeople-en.asp?lan=1 Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada Complete List of Posts] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005081341/http://www.international.gc.ca/department/history-histoire/hplPeople-en.asp?lan=1 |date=5 October 2013 }}
{{s-start}} {{s-dip}} {{succession box |title=Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to France |before=Claude Talbot Charland |after=Jacques Sylva Roy |years=1993–1996}} {{s-end}} {{Mulroney Ministry}} {{CA-Ministers of Transport}} {{CA-Secretaries of State of Canada}} {{CA-Ministers of Employment and Immigration}} {{CA-Ministers of Communications}} {{CA-Ministers of Health}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bouchard, Benoit}} Category:1940 births Category:Ambassadors of Canada to France Category:Ministers of transport of Canada Category:Living people Category:Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Quebec Category:Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada Category:People from Roberval, Quebec Category:Progressive Conservative Party of Canada MPs Category:Ministers of health and welfare of Canada Category:Members of the Order of Canada Category:Members of the 24th Canadian Ministry Category:20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada