After studying at
Montreal's
Ahuntsic College in
social sciences, Charbonneau attended the
Université de Montréal in
criminology and obtained a
bachelor's degree in 1972. He later had a lengthy journalistic career in which he worked for several media outlets in the Montreal region including radio stations
CKAC and
CKVL,
newspapers including
Le Devoir and
La Presse and various
magazines and revues. He was mostly a journalist and specialist in crime news. He also published several books related to
organized crime which earned him an award. On May 1, 1973, Antonio Mucci, a
Montreal Mafia member, fired three times at him in the offices of
Le Devoir. One shot hit him in the arm. He was back at work two months later. Charbonneau first entered politics in
1976 when he was elected in Vercheres and the Parti Québécois, led by
René Lévesque defeated
Robert Bourassa's
Liberals during that election. He was a prominent figure in attracting supporters of sovereignty during the
1980 referendum which resulted in a victory for the No side. He was re-elected in
1981 and
1985 before stepping down the first time in 1989 prior to a
humanitarian trip to
Africa organized by the
Université de Montréal and the criminology
faculty. He was not named as a minister during his first 13 years but was the parliamentary secretary to Lévesque in 1983 and 1984 and headed several committees. He was also briefly an administration member of
Oxfam-Quebec, an
NGO concentrating in
international development and aid. He also taught
Tai chi in his area for five years and returned to co-host a radio show on
CHKL. While being away from politics he participated in
Belanger-Campeau Committee which was launched by the Bourassa government in the fallout of the failure of the
Meech Lake Accord which would have accorded Quebec a distinct society mention. Charbonneau re-entered politics in
1994 where he was elected as an MNA for the
riding of Borduas when the Parti Québécois under the leadership of
Jacques Parizeau, defeated the
Liberals led by
Daniel Johnson, Jr. He was re-elected successfully in
1998 and
2003. ==References==