Bio

Born in Quebec City, on April 17, 1961, Alain Paquet is an economist specializing in monetary and

fiscal policy, econometrics and financial economics. He is a tenured Professor of Economics at the

University of Quebec in Montreal since 1988. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Rochester, N.Y.,

an MA from Queen's University in Ontario and a BA from Laval University, all in economics.

Alain Paquet has had a diversified experience as an academics, a researcher and consultant to several

public and private organizations in Canada and around the world and as a politician. He is a specialist

in fiscal and monetary policy, as well as in financial economics.

He has been a consultant and visiting scholar at the Bank of Canada, the Federal Department of

Finance, the Department of Human Resources Development Canada, the Canada Mortgage and

Housing Corporation, the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, the Central Bank of Madagascar and

the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research. His various work focused on the determinants of

interest rates and of the exchange rates, economic forecasting, portfolio choice, fiscal and monetary

policies, business cycles, taxation and government debt. He has published numerous articles in

professional journals and has been regularly called upon as a speaker at national and international

meetings.

His has been involved as a volunteer with various community organizations, including the Quebec

Consumers' Association from 1990 to 1997 (as Chairman from 1991 to 1994). In this capacity, he

participated in the analysis, development and promotion of the association's positions, using his

economic expertise to defend the interests of consumers before the media, parliamentary committees

and government agencies regulation. He was also co-chair of the secular parish Pastoral Council of St.

Paul L'Ermite from 1999 to 2002. He has acted as honorary president for several weeks and activities

held for social and cultural causes. He received the 1998 Recognition Award of the Alumni Association

of the Petit Séminaire de Québec for the quality of his professional, social and international activity.

The organizing committee of Laval's Annual Vigil Night for the Homeless also gave him the 2008

award for "for what he has accomplished, his good deeds, his support and his constant presence to

improve the conditions of Laval’s poorest citizens."

Alain Paquet was elected MP for the riding of Laval-des-Rapides in the general election of 14 April

2003 and re-elected in the general elections of 26 March 2007 and 8 December 2008. He held this

post until the dissolution of the National Assembly on August 1, 2012, having not been re-elected in

the election of September 4, 2012. During his terms, he was a member of the Committee on Public

Finance, Member of the Commission of Public Administration and a member of the Committee on

Institutions. He served as chairman of the Committee on Public Finance from June 2003 to March 2005

and from May 2007 to February 2011. From March 2005 to May 2007, he served as Parliamentary

Assistant to the Minister of Finance and, from January 2009 to February 2011, he was Parliamentary

Assistant to Quebec's Premier on economics. His mandate was to assist in implementing the

government's economic priorities and in providing advice on specific issues, such as productivity,

innovation and entrepreneurship. From February 2011 to September 2012, he was Minister for Finance,

which led him, in particular, to oversee the regulation of the financial markets and the protection of

savers. He also was Minister responsible for the regions of Laval, Laurentides and Lanaudière from

May to September 2012.

Member of the Policy Steering Committee of the Quebec Liberal Party and responsible for economic

affairs, Alain Paquet has actively participated in the preparation of the following documents: "La

société libérale de demain : working document" (1981), the manifesto "Forging ahead" (1982)

"Securing our Future" (1997), "The Government of Quebec and Poverty" (1998), "Acting for Growth"

(1998), "Freedom of choice" (2000), the submission to the Quebec Government Commission on Fiscal

Imbalance, "Autonomy and Cooperation: leadership Quebec" (2001), the action plan for the next

Liberal government "A government at the service of citizens" and its financial framework (2002), and

"For a better life in Quebec " (2004)," Un Québec en meilleure position pour l'avenir " (2010),

"Harnessing the energies of Quebec" (2011), numerous motions and electoral programs of 1998, 2002,

2007, 2008 and 2012 and their financial frameworks.

For his work on numerous guidance documents and its contribution to the definition of the economic

program of the Quebec Liberal Party, he is the initiator or has put forward positions that were

developed, debated and adopted by the party and put in place by the Liberal government from 2003

to 2012, including the work premium incentive, the child support allowance program, the reduction and

elimination of the tax on capital, the reduction of individuals and families' tax burden on income, the

revision of the government involvement in venture capital, improvements to the tax credit for home

support for people older than 70 years-old, the protection of investors, the Québec Strategy for

Research and Innovation 2010-2013, the Québec Strategy on Entrepreneurship, etc..

June 6, 1992, he married Liliane Brouillette in the parish of Notre-Dame-de-Pontmain, Laval-des-

Rapides. They are the parents of Ariel.