Charles Milliard
Charles Milliard is a Canadian politician, businessman, and pharmacist. He was most notably president of the from 2020 to 2024.
Early life and education
Charles Milliard was born in Lévis in the Chaudière-Appalaches region to a carpenter-joiner father and a French teacher mother who later became a high school principal, both from Kamouraska in the Bas-Saint-Laurent. He has a brother, who is a pharmacist in the Mauricie region. His aunt Louise Chamberland is the mayor of Saint-Pacôme, Quebec, which is also located in Kamouraska.Milliard holds a bachelor's degree in pharmacy and a certificate in economics from Université Laval, obtained in 2002. He was the president of the Canadian Pharmacy Students' Association. He continued his studies, obtaining a postgraduate certificate in management in 2005 and completed an MBA in business administration at HEC Montréal in 2007.
Professional career
From 2003 until 2016, Milliard held several positions within Uniprix, a chain of drugstores, before becoming its executive vice-president in 2013. He was seen on the show Deux filles le matin, presenting segments on medications. Between 2017 and 2019, he held various positions, including vice president of the public relations firm National Public Relations. He was then responsible for provincial, national and international mandates related to the health sector. In 2019, Milliard became président-directeur général of the before announcing his resignation in June 2024.Millard was also on the board of directors of Festival de Lanaudière and Festival TransAmériques.
Following the 2025 leadership campaign, Milliard accepted a position at Bishop's University's Williams School of Business for the fall 2025 term.
Political career
When Milliard was 18, he started to become involved with the Quebec Liberal Party. From 1997-2000, he was also involved with the Progressive [Conservative Youth Federation|Progressive Conservatives Youth Federation]. In 2024, Milliard was offered by the Liberal Party of Canada to be their candidate in the 2024 LaSalle–Émard–Verdun federal by-election. He revealed that he considered it but ultimately declined to do so in order to focus on the upcoming QLP leadership race.In 2024, Milliard declared his candidacy for the 2025 [Quebec Liberal Party leadership election|2025] party's leadership race on Linkedn. He stood against former federal Minister of Transport Pablo Rodriguez, who was the front runner, Marc Bélanger, Karl Blackburn and Mario Roy. He ran on generational renewal and focused his platform on the issues of the economy, education, health and transportation. He was defeated by Rodriguez with a narrow margin of roughly 52% to 48% in the second round. After Rodriguez's resignation in December 2025, he declared his candidacy for the party's 2026 Quebec [Liberal Party leadership election|2026 leadership election] in January. He states that he supports federalism but considered himself a Quebec nationalist in the vain of former Quebec premier Robert Bourassa. At his official campaign launch, Millard revealed his five priorities are public services, the economy, housing, regions and culture.