Jean-François Simard

Jean-François Simard MNA
Member of the National Assembly of Quebec for Montmorency
Incumbent
Assumed office October 1, 2018
Preceded by	Raymond Bernier
In office November 30, 1998 – April 14, 2003
Preceded by	Jean Filion
Succeeded by	Raymond Bernier
Quebec Minister of Employment
Incumbent
Assumed office April 21, 2026
Premier	Christine Fréchette
Preceded by	Pascale Déry
Personal details
Born	(1966-12-10) December 10, 1966
Party	Coalition Avenir Québec
Other political affiliations	Parti Québécois (former) Liberal Party of Canada (former) Bloc Québécois

Jean-François Simard (born December 10, 1966) is a Canadian politician and teacher. He was a member of the National Assembly of Quebec (MNA) for the riding of Montmorency from 1998 to 2003, representing the Parti Québécois. He served as a delegate minister in the Cabinet of Quebec Premier Bernard Landry for over a year. He returned to the National Assembly as a Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) MNA in 2018.

Biography

Simard holds several degrees, including a doctorate in sociology from the Université Laval, a master's degree in regional development from the Université du Québec à Rimouski, a bachelor's degree in communications and sociophysiology from the Université du Québec à Montréal, and a diploma in European federalism in Italy.

In the late 1980s, Simard was the vice-president of the Canadian liberal youth-wing but resigned following the failure of the Meech Lake Accord in 1990. He then joined the Bloc Québécois and later the Parti Québécois, where he was a political adviser for former Quebec Premier Jacques Parizeau during the 1995 Quebec referendum campaign. In the 1998 election, he was elected as MNA for Montmorency, serving until 2001 as the Parliamentary Assistant to the State Minister of Education and Youth, François Legault. In 2002 until the end of the PQ mandate, he was named the Delegate Minister for Environment and Water. When the PQ lost the 2003 elections to the Quebec Liberal Party and Jean Charest, Simard was defeated by Liberal Candidate Raymond Bernier. He would return to Cabinet in the CAQ government.

After the 2003 elections, Simard worked as a lecturer at Université Laval in the faculty of industrial relations. Since 2004, he has been a teacher at the faculty of social sciences and social work at the Université du Québec en Outaouais, where he also serves as an administration staff member since 2006.

Electoral record

2022 Quebec general election: Montmorency
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Coalition Avenir Québec	Jean-François Simard	19,124	45.18	-5.69
	Conservative	Mylene Bouchard	11,031	26.06	+22.27
	Québec solidaire	Annie-Pierre Bélanger	5,100	12.05	-1.09
	Parti Québécois	Cynthia Therrien	4,773	11.28	+0.67
	Liberal	Mustapha Berri	1,969	4.65	-13.95
	Green	Nicholas Lescarbeau	274	0.65	-0.75
	Marxist–Leninist	Jean Bédard	55	0.13	-0.04
Total valid votes			42,326	98.85
Total rejected ballots			494	1.15
Turnout			42,820	73.94
Electors on the lists			57,913

2018 Quebec general election: Montmorency
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Coalition Avenir Québec	Jean-François Simard	20,233	50.87	+17.04
	Liberal	Marie France Trudel	7,397	18.6	-21.82
	Québec solidaire	Marie-Christine Lamontagne	5,225	13.14	+8.46
	Parti Québécois	Alexandre Huot	4,221	10.61	-6.5
	Conservative	Daniel Beaulieu	1,507	3.79	+1.39
	Independent	Jean-François Simard	561	1.41
	Green	Nicholas Lescarbeau	558	1.4	+0.44
	Marxist–Leninist	Jean Bédard	69	0.17
Total valid votes			39,771	98.02
Total rejected ballots			802	1.98
Turnout			40,573	70.96
Eligible voters			57,179
	Coalition Avenir Québec gain from Liberal		Swing		+19.43
Source(s) "Rapport des résultats officiels du scrutin". Élections Québec.

1998 Quebec general election: Montmorency
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Parti Québécois	Jean-François Simard	19,946	45.16
	Liberal	Jacques Langlois	14,818	33.55
	Action démocratique	Yves Leclerc	7,154	16.20
	Independent	Jean Filion	1,774	4.02
	Socialist Democracy	Linda Fick	267	0.60
	Marxist–Leninist	Jean Bédard	204	0.46
Total valid votes			44,163	100.00
Rejected and declined votes			481
Turnout			44,644	80.73
Electors on the lists			55,300
Source: Official Results, Government of Quebec

External links

• "Biography". Dictionnaire des parlementaires du Québec de 1792 à nos jours (in French). National Assembly of Quebec.