Jean-Yves Duclos (French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃ iv dyklo]; born 1965) is a Canadian economist and politician. A member of the Liberal Party, he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Québec since 2015. He previously served as Minister of Families, Children and Social Development from 2015 to 2019, President of the Treasury Board from 2019 to 2021, Minister of Health from 2021 to 2023, and Minister of Public Services and Procurement from 2023 to 2025.
Early career and education
Duclos attended the University of Alberta, where he earned an undergraduate degree in economics, followed by graduate and doctoral studies in economics at the London School of Economics. His doctoral thesis in 1992 was titled "Progressivity, equity and the take-up of state benefits, with application to the 1985 British tax and benefit system". Prior to his election to the House of Commons, he headed the economics department at Université Laval and was the president-elect of the Canadian Economics Association. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2014.
Tenure in Parliament
Electoral History
In 2015, Duclos was elected to represent the riding of Québec in the House of Commons in the 2015 general election as a member of the Liberal Party of Canada. In a hotly contested four-way race, Duclos faced candidates from three parties all having more recently held the seat. Ousting incumbent NDP MP Annick Paillon by exactly 1,000 votes, Duclos became the first Liberal elected to represent this riding since Gilles Lamontagne, who left office in 1984. He also had the distinction of being the only successful Liberal candidate in the 2015 election who secured less than 30% of the vote cast.
In 2019, Duclos faced stiff competition from former Bloc MP Christiane Gagnon who represented the district for six terms between 1993 and 2011. He emerged victorious with an increased vote share of 33.3% but substantially reduced margin of 325 votes.
With comparatively less established rivals, Duclos secured his third mandate in 2021 with a 3,300 votes, 6 points margin.
Cabinet Career
Duclos served as a cabinet minister throughout the 29th Canadian Ministry, headed by Justin Trudeau. He was first appointed as Minister of Families, Children and Social Development and remained in that role throughout the first mandate.
Upon being re-elected in 2019, he was sworn in as President of the Treasury Board and served in that role throughout the second mandate.
Upon being re-elected in 2021 while the COVID-19 pandemic was ongoing, Duclos was appointed Minister of Health. This made him a prominent figure in Canadian government response to the pandemic, which he supported an end to most generalized public health restrictions, such as face mask mandates until the emergence of fourth COVID-19 wave due to the highly transmissible Deltacron hybrid variant, a pre-dominant strain in the country that is combined of Delta and Omicron variants, started from July 2021 to the end of April 2022. He also expanded the COVID-19 vaccination program in Canada.
At the cabinet shuffle on July 26, 2023, Duclos appointed Minister of Public Services and Procurement and through that position became Receiver General for Canada ex officio.
Electoral record
References
External links
- Media related to Jean-Yves Duclos at Wikimedia Commons
- Official website
- Bio & mandate from the Prime Minister
- Jean-Yves Duclos – Parliament of Canada biography
