Breton was born in
Montreal and studied
political science at the
University of Montreal and the
University of Quebec at Montreal. He was a principal organizer of a November 2001 march in Montreal against Canada's military intervention in
Afghanistan. During the march, he was quoted as saying, "We held this demonstration because we are against a military solution to settle the conflict and the fight against terrorism. We are against terrorism, but war is not the solution." Breton subsequently founded Québec-Vert-Kyoto (later known as QuébecKyoto), which advocated in favour of the
Kyoto Accord on
climate change. In 2004, he led an ultimately successful protest against
Hydro-Quebec's plans to launch the Suroit
natural gas power project near
Beauharnois. The following year, he called for the
Montreal Transit Corporation to invest in suburban commuter trains rather than building a new bridge between
Laval and Montreal. In June 2007, Breton called on
Canadian environment minister John Baird to resign over the
Stephen Harper government's handling of the Kyoto Accord. Breton described Baird as "neither competent nor willing to carry in a serious, non-partisan manner, the heavy burden of the environment portfolio." Breton spoke against Quebec's plans for
shale gas exploration in 2010. On November 29, 2012, Daniel Breton resigned from his post as environment minister less than two months after taking office. He was an unsuccessful candidate during the 2018 election. ==Political activism==