A member of the Liberal Party, he served as a cabinet minister in the governments of Robert Bourassa, Daniel Johnson Jr. and Philippe Couillard.
[4] He left when he learned that Union Nationale leader Rodrigue Biron was planning to support the "Oui" side in Quebec's 1980 referendum on sovereignty.
[6] He increased his profile in early 1983 by asking rigorous questions of Parti Québécois members during a televised hearing into the role played by Quebec Premier René Lévesque's office in approving a contentious out-of-court settlement.
Paradis centred his campaign around three principles: "respect for individual rights and freedoms", "the leading role of private enterprise in our economy", and "a firm commitment to [Canadian] federalism.
[11] This notwithstanding, he also supported Quebec's universal medicare policy; one newspaper article described him as ideologically closer to Brian Mulroney, the leader of the federal Progressive Conservatives, than he was to Ronald Reagan, the President of the United States.
"[12] Robert Bourassa won the 1983 Quebec Liberal Party leadership election with seventy-five per cent of delegate support at the convention.
[21] Paradis also announced in 1986 that social assistance recipients who owned cottages, boats, second cars, snowmobiles, or houses with more than $50,000 equity would have their rates reduced.
While acknowledging that out-of-work adults who had exhausted their unemployment insurance had the right to keep some of their possessions, he added that the government had to set limits on luxury items and that this reform would allow greater payments to the "truly needy.
The reforms also required that able-bodied recipients take training, do community work, or accept minor, low-paid jobs; failure to do any of these would result in payment cuts.
Access to the construction trade had previously been determined by work experience, and Paradis said the new system would provide opportunities for younger workers.
The strike affected garbage collection and road repair, and Paradis argued it had created a safety concern; he also charged that the union neglected its responsibility to provide essential services.
Paradis said in April 1989 that the situation had "sufficiently exhausted the patience of government", although he resisted calls to impose trusteeship before a key municipal by-election.
The most notable change was the appointment of a deputy minister for sustainable development, charged with ensuring that new industrial projects would be environmentally sound.
[35] As Environment Minister, Paradis was responsible for overseeing Quebec's environmental assessment of the proposed Great Whale River project.
Paradis initially agreed, but he later called for a single comprehensive assessment when the Cree warned that a two-stage process would violate a prior agreement.
[37] Paradis also opposed the federal government's bid to conduct an independent environmental assessment, on the grounds that Great Whale was within Quebec's jurisdiction.
[38] He reached an agreement with federal Environment Minister Robert de Cotret in January 1991 to conduct a shared review of the project's dams, but not of its roads and other infrastructure.
[42] The Bourassa government curtailed its development plans in August 1991, and Paradis announced that construction would not begin until a thorough environmental review had taken place.
[46] In 1989, Paradis and Ontario Environment Minister Jim Bradley successfully pressured the federal government to increase standards for motor vehicle emissions.
[47] Paradis and Bradley also worked to harmonize their respective environmental laws, to ensure that companies would not be able to leave one province for the other to avoid regulation.
[50] In early 1994, Paradis reached an agreement with new federal Environment Minister Sheila Copps for a six-year program to clean up the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence River.
[53] Paradis ordered the closure of a Tioxide plant in Tracy, Quebec in 1992, saying that the company had repeatedly broken its promise to improve environmental standards.
[55] A Montreal Gazette report in late 1991 noted that Paradis had "injected new vigor into the enforcement of anti-pollution laws" but added that he had not succeeding in making the environment a priority of the Bourassa government.
[56] As a vocal supporter of Canadian federalism, Paradis had little involvement in the Bourassa government's turn to Quebec nationalism after the failure of the Meech Lake Accord.
[65] In the buildup to a possible leadership contest, Paradis criticized the federal government's Millennium Fund and a new program for the elderly as encroachments on Quebec's jurisdiction.
Despite his own right-wing background, Paradis was by this period regarded as a moderate who supported a role for the state in Quebec life and opposed Charest's labour policies and funding cuts.
[73] The Liberals were reduced to a minority government in the 2007 provincial election, and Paradis was re-elected by the narrowest margin of his career at that time against a candidate from the upstart Action démocratique du Québec party.
[76] He remained a government backbencher until the Liberals were defeated in the 2012 election, Paradis was narrowly re-elected in Brome-Missisquoi edging out his CAQ opponent by 0.72% or 303 votes the closest margin of his career.
The next day he was removed from caucus after Premier Philippe Couillard received a letter from a complainant alleging that Paradis had engaged in sexual harassment.