Lessard obtained a
licence in
law at the
Université de Sherbrooke. He was a notary from 1989 to 1998 before being elected as
mayor of Thetford Mines in 1999. He would also be a member of the executive committee of the
L'Amiante Regional County Municipality, Quebec. He jumped to provincial politics in the
2003 provincial election and was elected in Frontenac. After being for nearly two years the
Parliamentary Secretary for the Minister of Municipal Affairs,
Sport and
Leisure he would become after a
Cabinet shuffle the Minister of
Labour in 2005. When
Yvon Vallières took time off for health reasons in 2006, he would temporarily had the portfolios of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food for a few weeks before obtaining them after the 2007 elections when Vaillières was no longer part of the cabinet. He was also temporarily the Minister responsible for
Chaudière-Appalaches prior to the
2007 elections. Lessard kept the same Cabinet positions following the Liberal majority gained in the
2008 elections. On June 23, 2009, following a Cabinet shuffle, Lessard replaced
Nathalie Normandeau as the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Regions and Land Occupancy while
Claude Béchard became the new Minister of Agriculture. ==External links==