Prior to entering politics, Garneau served as a naval officer and was selected as an astronaut as part of the 1983 NRC Group.

[1] Garneau graduated from the Royal Military College of Canada in 1970 with a bachelor of science in engineering physics and began his career in the Canadian Forces Maritime Command.

[2] In 1973 he received a PhD in electrical engineering from the Imperial College of Science and Technology in London, England.

[8] On September 28, 2001, the government announced his appointment as president of the CSA, replacing Mac Evans in that position on November 22, 2001.

[9] Garneau served as the member of Parliament (MP) for the Montreal riding of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, and its predecessor Westmount—Ville-Marie since the 2008 federal election, winning by over 9,000 votes.

[14] Garneau resigned as the president of the Canadian Space Agency to run for the Liberal Party of Canada in the 2006 federal election in the riding of Vaudreuil—Soulanges, which was then held by Meili Faille of the Bloc Québécois.

[15] The Liberal Party's support dropped off considerably in Quebec after the Sponsorship scandal and though considered a star candidate, Garneau lost to Faille by over nine thousand votes.

[16][17] In the 2006 Liberal Party leadership election Garneau announced his support for perceived front-runner Michael Ignatieff, who lost to Stéphane Dion on the final ballot.

[21][22] However, the by-election was cancelled during the campaign when Prime Minister Stephen Harper called a general election for October 14, 2008.

[24] Garneau was narrowly re-elected in the 2011 election where he beat New Democratic Party candidate Joanne Corbeil.

[28][29] On November 21, 2012, Garneau was named his party's natural resources critic after David McGuinty resigned the post.

[30] On November 28, 2012, Garneau announced his bid for the leadership of the Liberal Party, placing a heavy focus on the economy.

[33] With his entrance into the leadership race he resigned his post as Liberal House leader, while remaining the party's critic for natural resources.

[36] On March 13, 2013 Garneau announced his withdrawal from the race, and threw his support to front-runner Justin Trudeau.

The legislation would create minimum compensation rates for overbooking, lost or damaged luggage, and bumping passengers off flights.

He was at Transport for the first two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, and thus he was responsible to enforce the Quarantine Act as lieutenant to the Minister of Health Patty Hajdu; during this time he made many decisions that would affect the lives of travellers in co-ordination with Hadju.

[52] Some have speculated that Garneau did not remain in cabinet due to his age, being sacrificed in the name of gender parity, and that he reportedly refused to be subservient to the Prime Minister’s Office.

[56] Liberal Anna Gainey succeeded him, with almost as big a majority of votes as Garneau had won previously.