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Francis Fox, lawyer, politician (born 2 December 1939 in Montreal; died 24 September 2024). Francis Fox 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 Quebec Bar in 1963 and worked as a lawyer from 1965 to 1968.
In 1972, Fox was first elected Liberal MP in Montreal. 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 two 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 cabinet of Prime Minister John Turner, Fox 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.
