Jean Ouimet



Jean Ouimet (born September 3, 1954 in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Quebec) is a Québécois politician and the president of Naviga-Cité, a multimedia company. He is the former leader of the Parti vert du Québec, a green party, and now a militant of the sovereigntist and social democratic Parti Québécois.

Biography
After attending CEGEP in sciences, Jean Ouimet studied mathematics at McGill University and the Université de Montréal before doing the same with philosophy at the Université du Québec à Montréal. After 5 years of university, a research in cognitive sciences and complexity followed.

Militant of the Parti Québécois in the 1970s and of the Parti vert du Québec in the 1980s, he became the latter's leader in 1989, a role he would play until the year 1993. He then left to become counsellor in ecology for Jacques Parizeau, then leader of the Parti Québécois and Leader of the Opposition at the National Assembly of Quebec.

In 2001, after the resignation of Parti Québécois leader Lucien Bouchard, Ouimet tried to enlist as a contestant for the party leadership. His ambition was said to be motivated in his desire to provoke the debate a race sparks, a debate that would not happen since, out of three possible aspirants to the leadership, François Legault and Pauline Marois withdrew, leaving Bernard Landry unopposed. Ouimet did not gather the necessary number of signatures in time to enter and Landry became leader.

Bernard Landry's resignation of 2005 left him the opportunity to try again, one that he seized. He has officially issued his candidacy on September 15, 2005 for the Parti Québécois leadership campaign of 2005. He ran on a series of projects of wealth redistribution, environmentalism and participatory democracy, notably. He also proposed a collegial structure for the party and ties his vision of sovereignty with the elaboration of a social contract. Ouimet fared poorly in the cotest winning 247 votes or 0.2% of ballots cast.