Yves Duhaime
Yves Duhaime is a former politician in Quebec, Canada. He served as Cabinet Member and Member of the National Assembly of Quebec.
Early life
Duhaime was born in Chicoutimi, and grew up in Shawinigan.In the 1960s, Duhaime was an officer with the 62nd (Shawinigan) Field Artillery Regiment. He reached the rank of Captain and served as Adjutant of the military unit; he also served as president of the Officers' Mess in 1964. He completed officer training at the Royal Artillery School in Picton, Ontario, before commencing his legal career.
He attended Séminaire Sainte-Marie and obtained a law degree from McGill University in Montreal, then pursued studies in international relations at the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris. He was admitted to the Barreau du Québec in June 1963 and practised law in the Mauricie region during the 1960s and 1970s.
Provincial politics
Duhaime ran as a Parti Québécois candidate in 1970, 1973 and 1976 in the district of Saint-Maurice. He was elected on his third attempt.Premier René Lévesque appointed him to the Cabinet. Duhaime served as Minister of Tourism during his first term, with a mandate that included reform of access to hunting and fishing territories in Quebec. In 1978 the government terminated the historic system of private hunting and fishing clubs and created the network of zones d'exploitation contrôlée, which opened large areas to the public under non-profit management. Contemporary analyses noted that, prior to the reform, more than 1,200 clubs controlled about 65,000 square kilometres of territory. Duhaime has been described in later commentary as one of the “pères des zecs”.
He was re-elected in 1981; he served as Minister of Energy and Resources from 1981 to 1984 and Minister of Finance from 1984 to 1985. As Energy and Resources minister, he advanced electricity export strategies and represented Quebec in energy files that included export arrangements with New England utilities, such as the 1983 Hydro-Québec agreement with the New England Power Pool, used to support major hydroelectric development. As Finance minister, he presented the provincial budget on April 23, 1985.
He did not run in 1985.