Article

Francis Fox

Published Online February 13, 2008

Last Edited October 27, 2014

Francis Fox, lawyer, politician (b at Montréal 2 Dec 1939). He was educated at Jean-de-Brébeuf College, Université de Montréal (LL.L), Harvard Law School (LL.M) and Oxford (MA). He was called to the Québec Bar in 1963 and worked as a lawyer from 1965 to 1968.

Fox, Francis

Francis Fox, lawyer, politician (b at Montréal 2 Dec 1939). He was educated at Jean-de-Brébeuf College, Université de Montréal (LL.L), Harvard Law School (LL.M) and Oxford (MA). He was called to the Québec Bar in 1963 and worked as a lawyer from 1965 to 1968. In 1972 he was first elected Liberal MP in Montréal. He was re-elected 1974, 1979 and 1980 and was solicitor general of Canada 1976-78, resigning over a controversy. He returned as secretary of state and minister of communications 1980-82 and continued as minister of communications 1982-84. He oversaw a major reorganization of the 2 departments and was instrumental in initiating many new federal cultural policies, including the creation of Telefilm Canada, the broadcast fund and co-production treaties in film and television.

After a brief stint as minister of international trade in the Turner cabinet, he was defeated in the fall election of 1984. He returned to private life as a partner with the law firm Martineau, Walker, and he was also chairman of the board of Young Canada Television (1985). Fox was asked to sit on the federal INFORMATION HIGHWAY Task Force in 1994.