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Jean Charest  Jean Charest faces a political moment of truth in the election of 2003. As leader of the Quebec Liberal Party, he stands to become premier if his party can win a majority of seats (and assuming, of course, that he's re-elected in his Sherbrooke riding).If the Liberals lose, however, it will be Charest's second failed campaign since he assumed the party leadership -- and most likely his last. Charest was born in Sherbrooke on June 24, 1958. He went to law school in his hometown and was called to the Quebec Bar in 1981. His victory as a Conservative in the federal election of 1984 made him one of the youngest sitting members in the House of Commons. In the 1993 contest to replace Brian Mulroney as leader of the federal PC party, he was beaten by cabinet colleague Kim Campbell. Months later, he had the last laugh when he was one of just two Conservative candidates -- the other was Elsie Wayne -- to win a seat in the 1993 federal election. He was elected party leader that December.  Under Charest, the Tories staged a modest comeback in the election of 1997. Charest was recruited in 1998 to lead the federalist Liberal party against the governing separatists of the Parti Québécois. Months later, he won a seat in the National Assembly but lost his first provincial campaign.Now, if he can shake off the threat of a vote-splitting drive by the chippy Action Démocratique du Québec, Charest stands poised to finally inherit Bourassa's mantle. If the Liberals don't win, however, the conventions of Canadian party politics will demand that he step down and let someone else become leader of Quebec's official opposition |
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