Pierre Blais, PC (born December 30, 1948) is a Canadian jurist and former politician and Cabinet minister.^[1] He is currently the Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Appeal.^[2]

Education [link]

Blais holds both a BA (1968) and an LLB (1976) from Laval University.^[1]

Political career [link]

Blais entered the Canadian House of Commons as the Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Bellechasse, Quebec through the 1984 election.

In 1987, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney appointed Blais to Cabinet as Minister of State for agriculture.^[2] Two years later, he was promoted to the position of Solicitor-General.^[2] In 1990, he became Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs and, in 1993, was appointed by Mulroney to the position of Minister of Justice.^[2]

Blais retained this position, and added the position of President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada when Kim Campbell succeeded Mulroney as PC leader and prime minister.^[2]

Blais' political career came to an end when he was defeated, along with the Campbell government, in the 1993 election.

Judicial career [link]

A member of both the Quebec and Ontario bar, Blais was appointed a Justice of the Federal Court of Canada, Trial Division, an ex officio member of the Court of Appeal and Judge of the Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada in June 1998.

Through 2004, Blais presided over hearings related to Holocaust denier Ernst Zündel's detention under a National Security Certificate. In February 2005, he ruled that the security certificate was valid and that the government could deport Zundel immediately.

On February 20, 2008, Blais was appointed to the Federal Court of Appeal. On September 9, 2009, he was appointed chief justice of the Federal Court of Appeal.^[3]

References [link]

v t e Cabinet of Prime Minister Kim Campbell (1993) Perrin Beatty • Pierre Blais • Pauline Browes • Kim Campbell • Jean Charest • Mary Collins • Jean Corbeil • Paul Dick • Jim Edwards • Tom Hockin • Monique Landry • Doug Lewis • Gilles Loiselle • Peter McCreath • Charles Mayer • Lowell Murray • Rob Nicholson • Ross Reid • Larry Schneider • Tom Siddon • Bobbie Sparrow • Garth Turner • Bernard Valcourt • Pierre H. Vincent • Gerry Weiner

v t e Solicitors General of Canada Curran Tupper Fitzpatrick Carroll Lemieux Bureau Meighen Guthrie Fauteux McKenzie McMurray Cannon Fauteux Cannon Dupré Jean Lapointe Garson Campney Macdonald Balcer Browne MacNaught Pennell Turner McIlraith Goyer Allmand Fox Basford (acting) Blais Lawrence Kaplan MacKay Beatty Kelleher Beatty (acting) Blais Cadieux Lewis Gray Scott MacAulay Easter1 1The office of Solicitor General was abolished and the office of Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness was in force April 4, 2005.

v t e Current Canadian Federal Judges Supreme Court Beverley McLachlin, Louis LeBel, Marie Deschamps, Morris Fish, Rosalie Abella, Marshall Rothstein, Thomas Cromwell, Michael Moldaver, Andromache Karakatsanis Court of Appeal Pierre Blais, Gilles Létourneau (S), Marc Noël, Marc Nadon (S), John Maxwell Evans, Karen Sharlow, J.D. Denis Pelletier, Johanne Trudel, Carolyn Layden-Stevenson, Eleanor Dawson, David Stratas, Robert Mainville, Johanne Gauthier Federal Court Paul S. Crampton , Yvon Pinard (S), Sandra J. Simpson, Danièle Tremblay-Lamer (S), Douglas R. Campbell (S), Allan Lutfy (S), François Lemieux (S), John A. O'Keefe, Elizabeth Heneghan, Dolores Hansen, Edmond Blanchard, Michael A. Kelen, Michel Beaudry (S), Luc Martineau, Simon Noël, Judith A. Snider, James Russell, James O'Reilly, Sean J. Harrington, Richard Mosley, Michel M.J. Shore, Michael L. Phelan, Anne L. Mactavish, Yves de Montigny, Roger T. Hughes, Robert L. Barnes, Leonard S. Mandamin, Russel Zinn, David Near, Richard Boivin, Marie-Josée Bédard, André F.J. Scott, Donald J. Rennie, Mary J.L. Gleason, Jocelyne Gagné Tax Court Gerald J. Rip, Eugene Rossiter, Theodore E. Margeson (S), Pierre Archambault (S), Cameron Hugh McArthur (S), Lucie Lamarre, Alain Tardif (S), Eric A. Bowie (S), Joe E. Hershfield, Diane Campbell, Campbell J. Miller, François M. Angers, Leslie M. Little, Brent Paris, Judith Woods, Georgette Anne Sheridan, Paul Bédard, Réal Favreau, Wyman W. Webb, Gaston Jorré, Patrick J. Boyle, Valerie Miller, Robert Hogan, Steven K. D'Arcy, Frank J. Pizzitelli, Johanne D'Auray