Jean Charest, Canadian lawyer and politician, 5th Deputy Prime Minister of Canada
John James "Jean" Charest (French pronunciation: ​[ʒɑ̃ ʃɑʁɛ]; born June 24, 1958) is a Canadian politician who served as the 29th premier of Quebec from 2003 to 2012 and the fifth deputy prime minister of Canada in 1993. Charest was elected to the House of Commons in 1984 and would serve in several federal cabinet positions between 1986 and 1993. He became the leader of the Progressive Conservative (PC) Party in 1993 and remained in the role until he entered provincial politics in 1998. Charest was elected as the leader of the Quebec Liberal Party, and his party went on to form government in 2003.Born in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Charest studied law and worked as a lawyer before he became a member of Parliament (MP) following the 1984 federal election. In 1986 he joined Brian Mulroney's government as a minister of state, but resigned from cabinet in 1990 after improperly speaking to a judge about an active court case. He returned to cabinet in 1991 as the minister of the environment. Kim Campbell won the PC leadership election in 1993 and became prime minister and Charest was appointed industry minister and deputy prime minister. The PCs lost the 1993 federal election and Campbell resigned as leader. Charest was named interim PC leader before he was acclaimed as the permanent leader in 1995. He left federal politics in 1998 and was elected to lead the Quebec Liberals, the province's main federalist political party. His party won the 2003 provincial election and Charest became premier of Quebec, winning two more elections until losing the 2012 election to the sovereigntist Parti Quebecois (PQ) and resigned as premier. After politics, Charest worked as a consultant, including for Huawei on the Meng Wanzhou case and for its 5G network plans in Canada, and joined McCarthy Tétrault LLP as a partner.

Charest is a candidate in the race for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada.