Fred Doucet
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January 30, 1939
Fred Doucet | |
|---|---|
| Born | Jean Alfred Doucet January 30, 1939 Grand Étang, Nova Scotia |
| Known for | Chief of Staff and Adviser to Brian Mulroney |
Jean Alfred "Fred" Doucet (born January 30, 1939) is a Canadian lobbyist, educator, university administrator, and political aide. He was chief of staff to Brian Mulroney, from 1983 to 1984, when he was Leader of the Opposition and was a senior adviser, from 1984 to 1987, after Mulroney was elected Prime Minister of Canada.[1] He was involved in the Airbus affair.
Born in Grand Étang, Nova Scotia, Doucet received a Bachelor of Science degree from St. Francis Xavier University in 1960, a Bachelor of Education degree in 1964 from Mount Allison University, and a Master of Education degree in 1966 from Mount Allison University. In 1976, he received a doctorate in educational administration from the University of Ottawa.[1] It was while Doucet was at St. Francis Xavier University he met Brian Mulroney.[2] Fred Doucet is the younger brother of Gerald Doucet, a Canadian Progressive Conservative politician and lobbyist.
Academic career
From 1960 to 1962, Doucet was a high school teacher in Manitoba. From 1962 to 1965, he was a high school principal in Quebec. In 1965, he was appointed dean of studies at St. Lawrence College, Université Laval. In 1968, he was appointed administrative assistant to the president of St. Francis Xavier University. After a doctoral study leave from 1974 to 1976, he was appointed a director of student services and a professor of organizational behavior & administration theory at St. Francis Xavier University. From 1979 to 1982, he was a director of development. Doucet enlisted Mulroney to spearhead a fundraising drive for the school; Mulroney's leadership helped bring in $11 million, $4 million over the original goal (The Politics of Ambition, by John Sawatsky, 1991, p. 498).
Business career
In 1982, he was appointed CEO of East Coast Energy Limited.[1] This company, which aimed to develop offshore oil and gas resources in Atlantic Canada, was highly speculative, and wound up being significantly undercapitalized. Offshore petroleum development is much more expensive than land-based petroleum development, with exploration, well-drilling, and extraction costs being in the hundreds of millions of dollars, restricting entry to the major industry players. East Coast Energy, a new company with little specialized expertise, foundered in 1983 (On The Take: Crime, Corruption, and Greed in the Mulroney Years, by Stevie Cameron, 1994), and most of its investors, including Walter Wolf, Brian Mulroney, and others, lost everything, as no petroleum was ever produced by the company.