The Honourable Steven Blaney
Minister of Veterans Affairs and Minister for La Francophonie
Biography
MP Lévis-Bellechasse
First elected to the House of Commons in 2006, as the member of Parliament for the Quebec riding of Lévis-Bellechasse, the Honourable Steven Blaney was re-elected in 2008 and 2011. On May 18th, 2011, Mr. Blaney was appointed minister of veterans affairs.
Mr. Blaney has served on several standing committees, including the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development and the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development. In light of the importance of Canada’s mission in Afghanistan, Mr. Blaney later joined the Standing Committee on National Defence and participated in a visit to Kandahar.
From May 2007 to March 2011, Mr. Blaney was the chair of the Standing Committee on Official Languages, which strives to promote linguistic duality throughout the country.
Since being appointed minister of veterans affairs, Mr. Blaney has joined the Cabinet Committee on Social Affairs, as well as the Cabinet Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence.
In February 2013, Prime Minister Stephen Harper asked him to assume additional responsibility, as minister for La Francophonie.
After he graduated from the University of Sherbrooke in 1988, Mr. Blaney became a civil engineer, then obtained a Master of Business Administration degree in 2002 at the Lévis campus of the University of Quebec at Rimouski. After his studies, he worked as a consultant, entrepreneur and adviser on urban infrastructure and environmental technologies. Before his first election, Mr. Blaney was working for Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (now Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada).
Mr. Blaney is married to Marie Bouchard and has two children.
