Second Premier of Québec. Born in Sainte-Rose-de-Laval, on June 2, 1823. He studied studies at the Seminary of Saint-Hyacinthe and at the College of Montréal. After his Law studies, he was admitted to the bar of the Province of Quebec on August 26, 1844. He was created Queen Councsel in law on March 28, 1868.He became president of the bar of Montreal in 1869 and of the bar of the province of Québec in 1869 and 1870.. Commissioner for the Industrial Exhibition of London in 1886. Founder of l’École Polytechnique de Montréal. President of the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society of Montréal in 1869 and 1870. President of l’Institut Canadien-français de Montréal in 1872. Mayor of Vaudreuil from 1852 to 1854. Conservative representative of Beauharnois to the Legislative Assembly of the province of Canada from January 1858 to June 1861. Elected without opposition to the new Legislative Assembly of Québec for the district of Deux-Montagnes in the elections of 1867. Re-elected in 1871. Attorney General in the Chauveau cabinet from July 15, 1867 to February 27, 1873. In this quality, he introduced the first municipal Code in 1870 and decentralized the courts. When Chauveau resigned, he replaced him as Premier on February 27, 1873 with the agreement of George-Étienne Cartier and Hector Langevin, heads of the Conservative Party. However, because of the scandal of the Tanneries, he had to resign on September 8, 1874. His government was marked by the adoption of a significant policy of railway development which aims at supplementing that of the federal government. To finance these ambitious projects (railroads of northern bank, of Laurentides and the Lake Saint-Jean), he had to negociate the first great loan of Quebec abroad: 4 million dollars on the London market. He was re-elected to his seat in the Assembly without opposition in 1875. He resigned it on January 28, 1876 due to his nomination as superintendent of the Council of Public Instruction, a post he kept until May 2, 1895 date of his appointment as Legislative Councillor for the division of Rougemont. He died in Office in Saint-Hilaire on April 23, 1905.