Christian Paradis


Christian Paradis, is a Canadian politician who was the Conservative Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of Canada for Mégantic—L'Érable from 2006 to 2015. He was first elected in the 2006 federal election and served as parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources until January 4, 2007, when he was appointed Secretary of State for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the Rural Secretariat. On June 25, 2008, Paradis was appointed Minister of Public Works and Government Services, retaining his position as Secretary of State for Agriculture until October that same year. On October 30, 2008, in a cabinet shuffle following the election, he retained the Public Works portfolio. In addition, he succeeded Lawrence Cannon as Quebec Lieutenant. On January 19, 2010, in a cabinet shuffle, Prime Minister Harper appointed him Minister of Natural Resources. On May 18, 2011, in a cabinet shuffle he was appointed to be the Minister of Industry. On July 15, 2013, in a cabinet shuffle, he was appointed as Minister of International Development and Minister for La Francophonie.
A lawyer by profession, Paradis had a legal practice in Thetford Mines where he also served as president of the chamber of commerce. He is a graduate of the Université de Sherbrooke and has a master's degree in corporate law from Université Laval.
Paradis has been a staunch defender of Canada's asbestos mines, but recently gave in to global pressure to list asbestos as a hazardous chemical.
On April 3, 2015, Paradis announced that he would not seek re-election.

Achievements and positions

Paradis served as representative of the riding of Megantic-L'Érable from 2006 to 2015. He received nearly 50% of the vote in each federal election.
In March 2011, as Minister of Natural Resources, Minister Paradis in the company of Minister Normandeau announced that the governments of Canada and Quebec reached a historic agreement in principle for the co-management of the Old Harry hydrocarbon reservoir, located in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Telecommunications - As Minister of Industry and therefore responsible for telecommunications, Minister Paradis stood up to the telecommunications industry, stressing the need for four national carriers to maintain competition in all regions of the country. He announced in March 2012, the lifting of restrictions on foreign ownership for smaller players in the wireless industry and in March 2013, he announced a new broadband wireless spectrum auction to enable access to new entrants and incumbents.

Information request tampering

Paradis' aide Sebastien Togneri resigned on September 30, 2010 for meddling in access-to-information requests while working under Paradis at the Public Works ministry. When Paradis was asked whether Togneri was the only person involved in these incidents, he did not directly answer the question. In November 2010 two further aides that had accompanied Paradis from Public Works to Natural Resources were found to also have been involved in the interference with information requests at Public Works. The opposition called for Paradis to resign.