Gilles Carle, OC GOQ (July 31, 1928 – November 28, 2009) was a French Canadian director, screenwriter and painter.

Carle was born in Maniwaki, Quebec. His film 50 ans, celebrating the 50 years of the National Film Board of Canada, won the Short Film Palme d'Or at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival.

He joined the NFB in 1960, where his credits included La vie heureuse de Léopold Z. But after the NFB rejected several of Carle's projects, he began working independently. In 1972 Carle won the Canadian Film Award for best Director for his The True Nature of Bernadette.

In 1990, he was awarded the Government of Quebec's Prix Albert-Tessier. In 1998, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 2007, he was made a Grand Officer of the Ordre National du Quebec.

Carle died aged 81 on November 28, 2009 of complications from Parkinson's disease at the hospital in Granby, Quebec. He is survived by his son and three daughters as well as his companion of 27 years, Chloé Sainte-Marie.Quebec Premier Jean Charest described him, at his death, as one of Quebec's most influential filmmakers.

Armand Vaillancourt is a Québécois sculptor, painter and performance artist born on September 3, 1929, in the city of Black Lake, Quebec, Canada.

L'arbre de la rue Durocher is a public sculpture in Montreal. In 1953, Armand sculpted directly from the street, an elm tree on Durocher street, in Montreal. Very controversial, this sculpture made passersby curious, not knowing how to label it. Symbolising the relationship between art and nature, the sculpture remained there for several years before being finally moved to the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec. This work of art would awaken the conscience of many artists concerned by ecology and is now considered by many to be a key work of modern Quebec sculpture.

In 1980, Vaillancourt created for an environmental sculpture symposium at Chicoutimi his work Intemporel with a field of white stones surrounded by "cages". 1500 tons of rocks were used for this monumental work of art. The white stones, representing nature, were put into metal cages, symbolising humanity's efforts to control everything.

John James "Jean" Charest, PC, MNA (pronounced: [ʒɑ̃ ʃɑʁɛ]; born June 24, 1958) is a Canadian politician who has been the 29th Premier of Quebec since 2003. He was the Deputy Prime Minister of Canada from June 25, 1993 until November 3, 1993. Charest was the leader of the federal Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1993 to 1998 and has been leader of the Quebec Liberal Party since 1998.

Charest was born in the Eastern Townships central city of Sherbrooke, Quebec, the son of Rita (née Leonard), an Irish Quebecer, and Claude "Red" Charest, a French Canadian. He obtained a law degree from the Université de Sherbrooke and was admitted to the Barreau du Québec in 1981. He is married to Michèle Dionne (since June 21, 1980) and they have three children, Amélie, Antoine, and Alexandra. Charest is completely bilingual in French and English.

He worked as a lawyer until he was elected Progressive Conservative member of the Canadian Parliament for the riding (electoral district) of Sherbrooke in the 1984 election. From 1984 to 1986, Charest served as Assistant Deputy Chair of Committees of the Whole of the House of Commons. In 1986, at age 28, he was appointed to the Cabinet of then Prime Minister Brian Mulroney as Minister of State for Youth. He was thus the "youngest cabinet minister in Canadian history." He was appointed Minister of State for Fitness and Amateur Sport in 1988, but had to resign from cabinet in 1990 after improperly speaking to a judge about a case regarding the Canadian Track and Field Association. He returned to cabinet as Minister of the Environment in 1991.

Mario Pelchat (born 1 February 1964) is a francophone singer from Quebec. He received the Felix Award in 1990 and 1992.

Pelchat was born in Dolbeau-Mistassini, Quebec and has performed since 1973. His first 45 RPM single was released in September 1981. His early albums include 1982's Je suis un chanteur (I Am a Singer) and Tu m’as fait mal (You hurt me) the following year. His 1988 self-titled album and 1990's Couleur Passion (The Color of Passion) attained gold record sales status. His 1992 double-platinum album Pelchat on the Sony label included a duet with Céline Dion. He also recorded with Belgian singer Maurane on his Pelchat 2002 album.

Pelchat has performed in various theatrical productions. He played the title role in a 1998 musical on the artist Picasso during a European tour. He portrayed Quasimodo in a production of Notre Dame de Paris, Moses in a production of The Ten Commandments and Don Carlos in Don Juan.

He earned ADISQ's Félix Awards for Male Singer of The Year in 1990 and Album of the Year for 1992's Pelchat. He also earned a Jazz album Félix for the 2009 collaborative album Mario Pelchat-Michel Legrand. Besides touring in Canada, Pelchat has performed in Europe, the Middle East and the United States.