Lucienne Robillard
Lucienne Robillard, PC, MP (born June 16, 1945 in Montreal, Quebec) is a Canadian politician and former cabinet minister. She sits in the Canadian House of Commons as Member of Parliament for the Montreal riding of Westmount—Ville-Marie.
Robillard had a career as a social worker before entering politics. In the Quebec election of 1989, she was elected to the Quebec National Assembly as a member of the Liberal Party of Quebec. She was appointed to the provincial cabinet of Premier Robert Bourassa as Minister of Cultural Affairs. In 1992, she became Minister of Education, and then served as Minister of Health and Social Services from 1994 until the defeat of the Liberal government.
She then moved to federal politics as a "star candidate" when she was elected to the Canadian House of Commons as a Liberal Party of Canada MP. Jean Chrétien appointed her to the federal cabinet as Minister of Labour and Minister responsible for the federal campaign in the 1995 Quebec referendum.
In 1996, she became Minister of Citizenship and Immigration. On August 3, 1999, she assumed the responsibilities of President of the Treasury Board.
When Paul Martin became Prime Minister of Canada in 2003, he moved Robillard to the position of Minister of Industry and Minister for the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec. With the cabinet shuffle that followed the 2004 election, she became Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada.
Upon Judy Sgro's resignation from Cabinet on January 14, 2005, Joe Volpe moved to fill the vacant position of Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, and Robillard assumed his prior responsibilities as Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development. When Belinda Stronach crossed the floor and joined the Liberals in the House of Commons on May 17, 2005, she replaced Robillard as Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development.
On February 1, 2006, she was named deputy leader of the Liberal Party in the House of Commons by Interim Leader Bill Graham.