Alain Paquet is a full professor in the Department of Economics and a researcher at the Chair in Macroeconomics and Forecasting at the Université du Québec à Montréal’s School of Management. A specialist in business cycles, fiscal and monetary policy, and innovation issues, he holds a PhD from the University of Rochester, a master’s degree from Queen’s University and a bachelor’s degree from Université Laval. He has published and pursued research in macroeconomics and has diverse experience as an academic, public policymaker, and consultant to several public and private organizations in Canada and around the world.

A member of the National Assembly of Québec for Laval-des-Rapides from 2003 to 2012, he was chair of the Committee on Public Finance, parliamentary assistant to the minister of finance then to the premier for economic issues, and minister of finance and minister responsible for the Laval-Laurentides-Lanaudière region. As minister of finance, he was responsible for the legislative and regulatory framework for Quebec’s financial markets and protection of investors. These mandates led him to assist the premier of Quebec in the development, pursuit and implementation of the government’s economic priorities, and to advise the premier on issues such as productivity, innovation and entrepreneurship, including a leading involvement in the development of Quebec’s second research and innovation strategy and first entrepreneurship strategy.

Alain’s community involvement includes terms as president of the Association des consommateurs du Québec in the early 1990s and, more recently, chair of the board of directors of Théâtre Bluff, a Laval-based theatre production and distribution company active in Quebec and France; and vice-president of the Maison de la coopération du Montréal métropolitain. He is a member of the Actuarial Profession Oversight Board and its Risk Committee.