Louis J. Robichaud died on January 6, 2005.

On January 6, 2005, the former premier of New Brunswick, Louis J. Robichaud, died.

A young Acadian prime minister

Born in 1925 in Saint-Louis-de-Kent, Louis J. Robichaud very quickly became interested in active politics.

In 1952, at the age of 27, he was elected to the New Brunswick parliament.

In 1958, he was chosen leader of the New Brunswick Liberal Party.

Aged 34 in 1960, he won the provincial general election and became premier of New Brunswick.

He is only the second Acadian to hold this position since the birth of the Canadian Confederation in 1867.

On January 6, 2005, journalist Achille Michaud presented to Téléjournal/Le Point a short biography of Louis J. Robichaud.

In the 1960s, across Canada, a wind of reform was blowing in which Louis Robichaud fully participated.

Louis J. Robichaud notably deployed his political program Equal chance so that the Acadian population has the same economic and social rights and the same services as the English-speaking community of the province.

In particular, he passed the Official Languages ​​Act which made New Brunswick the only bilingual province in Canada.

He also contributed to the building of a complete French-speaking education structure in New Brunswick, the culmination of which was the creation of the University of Moncton.

Louis J. Robichaud also modernized and made the New Brunswick health system more accessible by abolishing the tax on hospitalization premiums.

It also encourages the development of the forestry and mining industries.

These reforms often arouse opposition, particularly from a part of the English-speaking community of New Brunswick as well as the economic elites of the province.

In 1970, he was defeated in the general election by the Conservative Party led by Richard B. Hatfield.

Louis J. Robichaud was appointed to the Senate of Canada in 1973 from where he continued his fight for bilingualism and Canadian national unity.