Former Liberal minister Benoît Pelletier died Saturday in Mexico at the age of 64, his family announced in a press release Monday.
The family of the deceased did not comment on the circumstances surrounding the death of the former Liberal minister, who had survived COVID-19 which almost felled him in 2021, contenting themselves with recalling his political and professional career.
“The Pelletier and Goulet families as well as all his loved ones are deeply saddened by the inestimable loss of Benoit Pelletier. They are privileged to have shared his life,” indicated the Pelletier family, who wish to experience this mourning in privacy.
The first to react to the death of Benoît Pelletier, former Prime Minister Jean Charest paid tribute to the memory of the deceased who had played a crucial role in particular in the creation of the Council of the Federation in 2003 and the signing of the Quebec-Ottawa Agreement.
“Today I lost a colleague, an advisor and a friend. Through his legal thinking and his political commitment, Benoît Pelletier has enabled Quebec to make significant gains within the Canadian federation and in the world,” Mr. Charest responded in a press release.
“He represents a tremendous source of inspiration for anyone who wishes to advance the interests of the Quebec nation in Canada and internationally,” continued the former prime minister, who offered his condolences to the family.
The former MP for Chapleau had served in the Charest cabinet on several occasions, occupying various ministerial functions before retiring from politics to return to his first professional love, law.
“A great loss for Quebec”
For his part, the Minister of Culture and Communications, Mathieu Lacombe stressed that Mr. Pelletier was “a great Quebecer, who defended our identity and our right to exist, as a nation.”
“It’s a great loss for Quebec,” he declared on X.
The leader of the official opposition in the National Assembly, Marc Tanguay, for his part recalled that the former deputy and minister “was a reference in the field of constitutional law”.
“His political talent and dedication as a lawyer and professor at the University of Ottawa inspired many of us. Scholar, great orator and always ready to help, he will remain a model for us all,” he wrote on the same social network.
“I read with interest several of his texts and publications and perceived a Quebecer attached to his nation and what makes it such. I also remember that he was one of those who wanted to draft a constitution for Quebec that would define us and bring us together. A project to continue,” responded the leader of the Bloc Québécois, Yves-François Blanchet.