II.

Early Life and Career

Robert Bourassa was born in Montréal on July 14, 1933. His father was a government clerk and died when Bourassa was a teenager. Despite his family’s modest means, Bourassa managed to receive an excellent education. A superior student, he obtained a law degree in 1956 from the Université de Montréal and was admitted to the Québec Bar the following year. He subsequently earned M.A. degrees from the University of Oxford in England and Harvard University in the United States. He was a fiscal adviser to the federal government—first for Revenue Canada and then for the Department of Finance—and an economics professor at the University of Ottawa.

In 1966 he was elected to the Québec legislature. Although young and relatively unknown, he made a successful bid to succeed Jean Lesage as leader of the Liberal Party of Québec in 1970. During the 1970 elections, Bourassa projected the image of an economist possessing the expertise needed to help remedy the province’s stagnant economy and soaring unemployment. He led the Liberals to victory in the elections. At age 36 he became the youngest premier in Québec’s history. Bourassa was reelected in 1973, but he was defeated in 1976 by the Parti Québécois, under René Lévesque. He became premier again in 1985.