1922-
1987. Best known as a leader of the
Quebec separatist movement. Born in
New Carlisle, Quebec.
Lévesque left the Faculty of Law at Laval University to become a radio war correspondent. He continued a career in radio with Radio-Canada, and eventually became host of the public affairs program "Point de Mire" (Point of View).
Lévesque entered politics in 1960 as a Liberal in Quebec's legislature. In 1967, he founded a separatist party that eventually became the Parti Québécois. He became premier of Quebec in 1976 and presided over an unsuccessful sovereignty referendum in 1980. He is also notable as the only dissenting premier of the 1982 Canada Act, which repatriated the Canadian Constitution (Trudeau supposedly left him out of the final discussions, resigned to the fact that Lévesque wouldn't bend).
In 1985, Lévesque resigned as Parti Québécois leader, and died of a heart attack in 1987.