André C. Côté, Lobbyists Commissioner

Born in Lévis on May 6, 1947, André C. Côté obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree (B.A.) in 1966, and in 1969, a Licence in Law (LL. L), from Université Laval. After being called to the Québec Bar in 1970, he earned, in 1974, a doctorate (Ph.D.) in Labour Law from the London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London).

Professor at the Faculty of Law of Université Laval from 1974 to 2002, he was an associate professor in 1980 and became a full professor in 1986. He has authored several research reports, articles and comments published in journals or conference proceedings.

He was visiting professor of Labour Law at the Institut d'études du travail et de la sécurité sociale of the Université Jean-Moulin (Lyon III) in 1979 and 1988 and at the Université Lumière (Lyon II) in 1995, at the Faculty of Law of the University of Lotz (Poland) in 1991, and at the Faculty of Law of the Université Montesquieu (Bordeaux IV) in 1992. On several occasions, between 1992 and 2001, he was guest speaker at the Multidisciplinary European Seminar of Canadian Studies organized by the Centre for Canadian Studies of the University of Messina (Italy). From 1977 to 1987, he lectured in Labour Law and was a member of the examiner committee of the Professional Training Centre of the Québec Bar.

Secretary of the Faculty of Law of Université Laval from 1978 to 1980, he was also Dean of this Faculty from 1989 to 1997. He was also secretary general and officer of Université Laval from 1997 to 2002.

He sat on the council of the Québec Bar from 1989 to 1997, on the board of directors of Hôpital Laval from 1995 to 2002 and on the board of directors of the Régie régionale de la santé et des services sociaux de Québec from 1997 to 2001.

André C. Côté acted as labour arbitrator from 1975 to 1996 and was chairman of the Québec Wildlife Conservation Officers Joint Committee from 1984 to 1989.

In 1994, at the request of Québec's Justice Minister, he presided over a Task Force on the ethics, probity and integrity of public administrators.

On June 14, 2002, he was the first to be appointed to the office of Lobbyists Commissioner by the National Assembly for a period of five years.

In September 2003, Mr. Côté was named Chevalier de l'Ordre des Palmes académiques by the government of the French Republic.